KR200166098Y1 - Liquid gas tank for use in automotive vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

When installed in the trunk of a vehicle, the occupied space is small, thereby providing a substantial liquefied gas container for a vehicle which does not significantly reduce the actual article storage space in the trunk and can be installed even for vehicles with little or no space in the trunk.

The liquefied gas container is installed and used in a vehicle, and loaded with liquefied gas fuel and at least one valve is mounted at one side. The main body has a donut shape and an opening is formed in the outer circumferential surface thereof. The boss is joined to the body by welding around the opening, and at least one valve is mounted therein. A packing is located on the boss and prevents the liquefied gas fuel from leaking. A valve container is mounted on the packing and coupled to the boss with the packing in between to protect the at least one valve and to prevent the liquefied gas fuel from leaking into the vehicle.

Description

Liquid Gas Tank for Use in Automotive Vehicle

The present invention relates to a fuel tank, and more particularly to a liquefied gas container for use in a vehicle generating power by burning liquefied gas.

Conventionally, as a fuel used in automobiles, gasoline or diesel has been mainly used according to vehicle types, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has been used only in commercial taxis. However, as LPG is significantly cheaper than gasoline and the restrictions on the use of LPG as a vehicle fuel are being relaxed, in recent years, LPG combustion vehicles or vehicles that combine LPG and gasoline have attracted much attention, and the demand for them is rapidly increasing. It is growing.

LPG has a gas at room temperature and when compressed to fill the fuel tank in a liquid phase, a very high internal pressure is applied to the fuel tank, which requires more attention than the gasoline in the production and use of the fuel tank. Currently used LPG tanks for vehicles are usually in the form of a cylinder, and the outer peripheral surface is equipped with valves for gas injection and supply to the engine. An example of such an LPG tank was filed by the applicant on December 26, 1997 (application number: 10-1997-082663, title of the vehicle: LPG container for the vehicle), and published on October 26, 1998 (published number: 10- 1998-070321). Such a cylindrical LPG tank has a form in which a substantially hemispherical hard plate is coupled to both ends of the copper plate in a cylindrical copper plate, and is usually installed in the trunk of a vehicle.

However, the conventional cylindrical LPG tank has a problem in that a large volume of the cylindrical LPG tank occupies a lot of space, thereby greatly reducing a space in which a vehicle user can store articles in the trunk. In other words, the conventional cylindrical LPG tank occupies almost half of the interior space of the trunk even if installed in close proximity to the rear seat back of the vehicle, thereby greatly limiting the actual article storage space in the trunk. On the other hand, in the case of light vehicles and leisure vehicles (RV vehicles), which have recently increased in demand, it is very difficult to install a cylindrical LPG tank because there is little or small space in the trunk.

The present invention has been devised to solve the above-mentioned problems, and when occupied in the trunk of a vehicle, the occupied space is small so that the substantial storage space of the article in the trunk is not greatly reduced, and the vehicle has little or no space in the trunk. It is a technical subject to provide the liquefied gas container for vehicles which can be installed.

1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a liquefied gas container for a vehicle according to the present invention.

2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A of the liquefied gas container for a vehicle of FIG.

3 is a cross-sectional view of a tank body in another embodiment of a liquefied gas container for a vehicle according to the present invention.

4 is an exploded perspective view of the liquefied gas container for a vehicle of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating a state in which valves are mounted in a valve container in the vehicle liquefied gas container of FIG. 1. FIG.

6 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a liquefied gas container for a vehicle according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a view illustrating a valve in a valve container in a vehicle liquefied gas container of FIG. 6.

[Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawing]

10, 110: tank body 12, 24: top panel

15, 27: lower panel 22: vertical panel

30: Boss 40: Packing

50, 150: valve container 60, 160: container base

70, 170: container cover

The liquefied gas container of the present invention for achieving the above technical problem is used by being mounted on a vehicle, the liquefied gas fuel is loaded and at least one valve is mounted on one side. The main body has a donut shape and an opening is formed in the outer circumferential surface thereof. The boss is joined to the body by welding around the opening, and at least one valve is mounted therein. A packing is located on the boss and prevents the liquefied gas fuel from leaking. A valve container is mounted on the packing and coupled to the boss with the packing in between to protect the at least one valve and to prevent the liquefied gas fuel from leaking into the vehicle.

In a preferred embodiment, the body comprises: an upper panel having a vertical cross section of a substantially circular shape and convex upwardly, the upper panel having a first flange and a second flange at a lower end thereof; And a lower panel having a vertically circular cross section and convex downward, and having a third flange and a fourth flange at an upper end thereof. Here, the first flange is welded to the third flange, the second flange is welded to the fourth flange.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

1 shows an embodiment of a liquefied gas container for a vehicle according to the present invention. The liquefied gas container (hereinafter, referred to as a “fuel tank”) includes a tank body 10 in the form of donuts and a valve container 50 provided on an outer circumferential surface of the tank body 10. As shown in FIG. 2, in the preferred embodiment, the tank body 10 is composed of an upper panel 12 that is approximately semicircular, and a lower panel 15 that is approximately semicircular. The upper panel 12 and the lower panel 15 are made of steel. Flanges 13 and 14 are formed at the lower end of the upper panel 12, and flanges 16 and 17 are also formed at the upper end of the lower panel 15. The upper panel 12 and the lower panel 15 are joined by welding the flange 13 and the flange 16 and the flange 14 and the flange 17, respectively.

In the embodiment of Figure 2 the tank body 10 is composed of two panels, while in other embodiments of the invention the tank body 10 may be composed of three panels. 3 shows an example of such a tank body 10. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the tank body 10 is composed of three members: a vertical panel 22, an upper panel 24, and a lower panel 27. The vertical panel 22 has a cylindrical shape. Meanwhile, flanges 25 and 26 are formed at both ends of the upper panel 24, and flanges 28 and 29 are formed at both ends of the lower panel 27. In this embodiment, the flange 25 at one end of the upper panel 24 is welded to the flange 28 of the lower panel 27 and the flange 26 at the other end is a vertical panel 22. Is welded to the upper end. In addition, the flange 29 of the lower panel 27 is welded to the lower end of the vertical panel 22. In this coupled state, the tank body 10 has a cross-sectional shape that is approximately circular.

4 is an exploded perspective view of the vehicle fuel tank of FIG. 1. As shown, the fuel tank includes a boss 30, a packing 40, and four valves (not shown) in addition to the tank body 10 and the valve container 50. The outer wall of the tank body 10 is formed with an opening 11 for mounting the valves through the boss 30. The boss 30 has four seat surfaces 34 for mounting the four valves, and a hole 36 is formed in the center of each seat surface 34 to allow the valve to pass therethrough. . In addition, a hole 38 for mounting the valve by a bolt is formed in the corner of each seat surface 34, and a screw structure is formed in the inner circumferential surface of the hole 38. In addition, bolt holes 32 for mounting the valve container 50 are formed at four corners of the boss 30. On the other hand, the packing 40 is made of a rubber material, and a hole having a substantially rectangular shape is formed at a central portion facing the four seat surfaces 34 so that the valves can pass therethrough. In addition, the bolt holes 42 are formed at four corners of the packing 40 corresponding to the bolt holes 32.

On the other hand, the valve container 50 has a container base 60 and a container cover 70. The bottom of the container base 60 is formed with a substantially rectangular hole corresponding to the four seat surfaces 34. Both sides of the container base 60 are formed with discharge ports 62 for discharging a small amount of gas leaking from the valves to the outside of the vehicle. The outlet can be connected with a hose, for example in the form of a bellows. Two locking jaws 64 are formed at the upper end of the container base 60. Two protrusions 74 are formed at the upper end of the container cover 70 to correspond to the two locking jaws 64 of the container base 60. In addition, a lever 72 for fastening the container cover 70 to the container base 60 is formed at the lower end of the container cover 70. A bolt structure is provided at the front of the lever 72 so that the container cover 70 may be coupled to the container base 60 by fastening the bolt to the hole of the container base 60.

Such a fuel tank is assembled as follows. First, the boss 30 is joined to the tank main body 10 by welding to the position where the opening 11 is formed in the outer wall of the tank main body 10. In this way, in the state where the boss 30 is coupled to the tank body 10, four valves are mounted on the four seat surfaces 34 of the boss 30. The valve is mounted using bolts. After mounting the valve, the container base 60 is in close contact with the boss 30 with the packing 40 therebetween, and the packing 40 and the container base 60 are fastened to the boss 30 using bolts. do. Then, the projection 74 of the container cover 70 is inserted into the locking jaw 64 of the container base 60, and the lever 72 is rotated to fix the container cover 70 on the container base 60. do. On the other hand, although not shown, in order to ensure the sealing between the container base 60 and the container cover 70, a separate packing member may be mounted on the corner of the container base 60.

5 shows a state in which valves are mounted in a valve container in the vehicle fuel tank. In FIG. 5, four valves, a filling valve 81, a gas phase service valve 82, a liquid phase service valve 83, and a gauge 84, are mounted. However, the specific arrangement order, size and shape of the valve may be modified in various ways, the present invention is not limited to the valve structure of FIG.

6 shows another embodiment of a fuel tank according to the present invention. In FIG. 6, the valve container 150 is attached to the inner peripheral surface of the tank body 110. According to this embodiment, the fuel tank can be made more compact such that the overall volume of the fuel tank can be further reduced. However, in this case, it is preferable that the valve container 150 is smaller than that shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 7 illustrates a state in which valves are mounted in a valve container in the fuel tank of FIG. 6. As described above, in the fuel tank structure of FIG. 6, it is preferable that the size of the valve container 150 is small. In response to this demand, only one multifunctional valve assembly 180 is employed in FIG. 7. Since only one valve assembly 180 performs filling, service, and gauging functions, the size of the valve container 150 may be sufficiently small. Meanwhile, in an embodiment in which the valve container and the valve assembly of FIG. 7 are modified, two or three valves may be used.

On the other hand, the fuel tank of the present invention as described above is in the form of a donut, and has a shape such as a tire, it can be mounted in a space having a spare tire in a vehicle. In such a case, it is possible to fix the fuel tank to the vehicle by installing the bracket on the vehicle, the fuel tank, or both, and fastening by bolts. On the other hand, in another application example of the present invention, it is possible to provide an installation space of a similar form separately from the spare tire beach space and to install a fuel tank in this space. Even in this case, the shape of the fuel tank will be similar to that with spare tires. When installed in this manner, it is possible to greatly reduce the proportion of the fuel tank occupying the cargo loading space in the vehicle.

As described above, according to the present invention, since the fuel tank is in the form of a donut and installed in a form similar to a spare tire, the fuel tank does not significantly reduce the substantial cargo storage space in the vehicle. In addition, there is an effect that can be easily installed in the case of vehicles with little or no space inside the trunk, such as light cars or leisure vehicles.

Claims (3)

In a vehicle liquefied gas container which is fired in a vehicle, is loaded with liquefied gas fuel and is equipped with at least one valve on one side, A main body having a donut shape and having an opening formed on an outer circumferential surface thereof; A boss coupled to the body by welding around the opening, the boss having the at least one valve mounted therein; A packing positioned on the boss to prevent leakage of the liquefied gas fuel; And And a valve container installed on the packing and coupled to the boss with the packing therebetween to protect the at least one valve and to prevent the liquefied gas fuel from leaking into the vehicle. . The method of claim 1, wherein the body is An upper panel whose vertical cross section is substantially circular and is convexly arranged upward; And And a lower panel having a substantially vertical cross section and convex downward, and having an upper end welded to a lower end of the upper panel. 3. The upper panel of claim 2, wherein the upper panel has first and second flanges at the inner and outer lower ends, respectively, and the lower panel has a third flange and a fourth flange at the inner and outer upper ends, respectively. 1, wherein the flange is welded to the third flange, and the second flange is welded to the fourth flange.