JPS6131858Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] <Industrial application field> The disclosed technology belongs to the technical field of varying the full capacity of a fuel tank installed in an automobile or the like.

Therefore, this invention makes it possible to change the actual capacity of the fuel tank installed in automobiles, etc.
This is a device related to a fuel tank that can display a full tank while making the storage capacity variable, and in particular,
A separate air chamber is provided within the tank body, and the air chamber and the tank body are disconnected from each other at least in the upper part, and the fuel storage capacity is changed by adjusting the amount of air stored in the air chamber using an on-off valve. It is a variable capacity type that can detect changes in the air storage capacity and the amount of fuel remaining in the tank body using an air amount detection device and a fuel gauge that are connected to the air chamber and the tank body, respectively. This idea is related to fuel tanks.

<Prior art> As is well known, vehicles such as automobiles are equipped with fuel tanks, and the casing of the mounted fuel tank is usually in the form of a fixed box, and its full tank capacity is assumed to be constant. .

Furthermore, in recent years, it has become desirable to be able to refuel vehicles during long-distance travel, and efforts have been made to design fuel tanks with as large a capacity as possible.

<Problem that the invention aims to solve> However, such a large-capacity fuel tank, when full, naturally increases the weight considerably, which has the disadvantage of worsening fuel efficiency when driving around town. It was hot.

To deal with this, for short-distance driving or daily driving, for example, it may be possible to use the tank with less than half a full tank, but since current fuel gauges measure the liquid level, Volumetric fuel loading has the disadvantage that the amount of residual fuel cannot be adequately measured, making it difficult to measure fuel efficiency, and there is also the disadvantage of not knowing when to deal with fuel shortages.

The purpose of this invention was to solve the problems of current fuel tanks based on the prior art described above, and to take advantage of the advantages of large-capacity fuel tanks that can be used for long-distance non-refueling runs, while also creating small-capacity fuel tanks. It is an object of the present invention to provide an excellent variable capacity fuel tank which is useful in the field of motor application in the transportation industry by making it appear to be full with a desired amount of fuel when loading fuel and allowing easy measurement. .

<Means/effects for solving the problems> In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the structure of this invention, which is based on the above-mentioned claims for utility model registration in accordance with the above-mentioned purpose, requires a large amount of fuel for short-distance driving, etc. If not, the desired amount of air is introduced into the air chamber in the tank body while being measured by an air amount detector, and the fuel excluding the amount of air introduced is stored in the tank body. As a result, the liquid level of the stored fuel can be measured using a normal fuel gauge, which makes it extremely easy to see the weight loss over time and the remaining fuel during operation, giving a sense of security, and the weight of the stored fuel is reduced accordingly. It takes technical measures to improve fuel efficiency.

<Example> Next, an example of this invention will be described below based on the drawings.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a fuel tank which constitutes the gist of this invention and is installed on a car.A tank body 3 having a fuel supply pipe 2 is similar to the conventional type. A partition wall 4 is welded to the upper surface and between the side walls at a set position approximately in the center to form an air chamber 5, and the upper part of the partition wall 4 does not communicate with the inside of the tank body 3. The lower part is communicated by a slit 6.

An air supply/discharge pipe 7 is connected from the air chamber 5 along the upper surface of the tank body 3 to the upper end of the oil supply pipe 2 through a bracket 8 and an on/off valve 9.

The opening/closing valve 9 is opened/closed by an operation knob 10 provided inside the trunk (not shown).

Further, 11 is an exhaust pipe, which is connected to a relief valve 12 and an evaporative emission pipe 13.

A well-known fuel gauge 15 and a well-known fuel gauge 15' serving as an air amount detector are connected to the fuel 14, 14 in the tank body 3 and the air chamber 5 to measure the stored amount of fuel. The liquid storage height of 14 is measured and displayed, and as shown in FIG. 2, they are arranged in a twin type for easy viewing.

In the above configuration, when the fuel tank 1 is almost empty, when refueling, first open the on-off valve 9 via the knob 10, fill the air chamber 5 with air while communicating with the atmosphere, and When the vehicle is running, the on-off valve 9 is immediately closed and fuel 14 is supplied from the fuel supply pipe 2.

Then, as shown in the figure, at a height above the slit 6 of the partition wall 4, due to the sealed air stored in the air chamber 5, the fuel 14 in the air chamber 5 rises only slightly above the slit 6, and the fuel 14 rises to the side of the tank body 3. Only when the fuel level rises,
The tank becomes full.

Therefore, the fuel gauge 15 connected to the tank body 3 shows a full tank, and the fuel gauge 15' connected to the air chamber 5 as an air amount detector is almost empty as shown in FIG. It is calculated as follows.

Therefore, the driver becomes aware of the reduced fuel storage amount.

When driving in this state, the driver appears to be driving with a full tank, so the indication on the fuel gauge 15 changes more quickly than in normal situations.
By knowing this, you can easily know the refueling timing and know the next refueling timing from the consumption amount.

During this time, fuel efficiency is extremely good because there is little fuel stored.

Incidentally, if the internal pressure of the tank unexpectedly increases, the relief valve 12 is activated and the evaporated emissions are lost from the pipes 11 and 13.

Also, when refueling, if you want to store a desired amount of fuel 14 in the air chamber 5, the fuel 15, 15' during refueling.
While looking at the opening/closing valve 9, the tank body 3 and the air chamber 5 are filled with fuel 14 at the same level, and when the opening/closing valve 9 is closed at a predetermined level, the air chamber 5 is substantially filled upward. The fuel 14 is not stored inside, and only the inside of the tank body 3 is filled up.

Of course, if the opening/closing valve 9 is left open until the end, both the tank body 3 and the air chamber 5, that is, the entire tank 1 will be filled as usual.

In this way, the desired amount of fuel 1 can be obtained at any time according to the design.
4 is apparently full.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, a bag 17 is provided inside the tank body 3, which returns to a bellows-stopping rubber cylinder and lines the inside of the coil spring 16 to form a bag-like sealed air chamber 5'.
An electromagnetic three-way opening/closing valve 9' that communicates with the atmosphere is connected to the air supply/discharge pipe 11 having the relief valve 12.
The wire 2 is connected to the air pump 18 via the air supply pipe 7' as appropriate, and the wire 2 is connected via the tension spring 20 provided on the frame 19.
1 is stretched over the bottom of the bag 17 forming the air chamber 5',
The capacity of the air chamber 5' is appropriately measured by an air amount detector 15'' via a gauge roller 22.

Therefore, the electromagnetic valve 9' is opened and air is supplied from the air pump 18 into the bag 17 to fill the air chamber 5'.
When the capacity of the tank is expanded to a desired amount against the coil spring 16 and refueled, the fuel 14, which is smaller by that amount, is apparently filled up.

By opening and closing the on-off valve 9' while looking at the meter 15'', the amount of stored fuel can be adjusted by adjusting the balance with the coil spring 16, and when the tank is actually full, the bag 1
This is done by degeneracy of 7.

Incidentally, in this embodiment, by expanding the air chamber 5' with a certain amount of fuel, it is possible to make the tank appear to be full while the vehicle is running, that is, in a state of fuel consumption, and to measure the state of weight loss over time.

It goes without saying that the embodiments of this invention are not limited to the above two embodiments; for example, the first embodiment
In the figure, the air chamber can be divided into a plurality of parts, the air chamber can be connected to an air pump, and in the embodiment shown in Figure 3, a hole can be made in the bottom of the bag. Adoptable.

<Effects of the invention> As described above, according to this invention, in a fuel tank of a vehicle system, an air chamber whose at least the upper part is not communicated with the tank body is provided separately in the tank body, and the air chamber is connected to the atmosphere through an opening/closing valve. and communicate with each other, and further,
By linking the fuel gauge to the tank body and the air amount detection device to the air chamber, basically the amount of air sealed in the air chamber can be adjusted by the on-off valve, and the amount of stored fuel can be virtually full. It is possible to reduce the amount of air chambers by the total amount of air chambers, which makes it possible to go from long-distance driving without refueling to driving with a small amount of fuel in the city.
Running on light fuel has the advantage of reducing weight, which in turn leads to improved fuel efficiency.

In addition, even if the amount of fuel is reduced by the capacity of the air chamber, the stored fuel will be measured on the fuel gauge to appear to be full, and in this case, the amount of air in the air chamber can be visually confirmed using the air amount detector. The fuel consumed during driving, that is, the amount of residual fuel can be seen at a glance over time, which has the effect of saving fuel and refueling timing with confidence.

In this way, it is possible to increase the size of the fuel tank to extend the mileage without refueling, and it also has the advantage of being able to refill the tank to a seemingly full capacity after each short-distance trip, allowing for flexible use of the fuel tank.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show embodiments of this invention; Fig. 1 is a schematic partial sectional view of one embodiment, Fig. 2 is a surface view of the fuel gauge arrangement, and Fig. 3 is a partial sectional view of another embodiment. be. 1,1'...Fuel tank, 14...Fuel, 3...
...Tank body, 5,5'...Air chamber, 9,9'...
Open/close valve.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In a fuel tank installed in a vehicle whose full capacity of stored fuel is variable, a separate air chamber is provided within the tank body, and at least the upper part of the air chamber is located within the tank body. A variable capacity fuel tank, characterized in that it is disconnected and freely communicated with the atmosphere through an on-off valve, a fuel gauge is linked to the tank body, and an air amount detection meter is linked to the air chamber. .