SE1451599A1 - Attachment device for containers on a vehicle, attachment arrangement and vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

lO l3 ABSTRACT 2 An attachment device (5) for a band-shaped tightening strap(6) for at least partly surrounding and fastening a container(3) to a body (chassis) (2) of a vehicle (l). The attachmentdevice (5) includes an intermediate part (ll) between thefirst and second end parts. The intermediate part (ll) isband-shaped so as, in use, to allow controlled bending of theattachment device (5) essentially in parallel with a general plane of the engaged tightening strap (6). Fig. 3

Description

lO ATTACHMENT DEVICE FOR CONTAINERS ON A VEHICLE, ATTACHMENTARRANGEMENT AND VEHICLE FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe invention relates to an attachment device for a band- shaped tightening strap for at least partly surrounding andfastening a container to a body of a vehicle, the attachmentdevice including: a first part for engagement with an endportion of the tightening strap, and a second part forengagement with an element being fixed on the vehicle. Theinvention also relates to an attachment arrangement and a vehicle including such attachment arrangements.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is previously known to fasten fuel tanks to a part ofthe underbody of a heavy vehicle, such as on a chassis beam,with the aid of band-shaped steel tightening straps. Alsoother tanks and containers are fastened to the vehicle body ina similar way.

The tightening straps include fastening means at theirrespective ends that are arranged to co-operate withcorresponding fasteners, pins, holes in holder profiles etc.on the vehicle body. According to one known solution, the tankto be fastened rests on brackets arms that at their endsprovide means for engagement with end portions of therespective tightening straps.

Since the tanks and containers are often of considerablevolume and arranged to receive considerable amounts of liquid,gas or solids, the tightening straps need to be tensioned towithstand considerable forces.

One particular problem is displacement of the tanks orcontainers occurring during the occurrence of great loads in longitudinal directions of the tanks or containers, since this lO tends to cause movement of the fastened tank or containerrelative to the chassis beam. This movement in turn causesoblique load on the tightening straps, which induces excessivestrain to an edge portion of a tightening strap being inengagement with a fixed fastener on the vehicle chassis.

In serious cases such excessive strain might results information of cracks and strap failure and eventually that thetank or container can fall off from the vehicle.

There have been made attempts to avoid the above problemsby providing particular means to reduce strap width at theengagement position, to provide rounded pins etc.

As examples of the background art can be mentioned DE lO20l2023l59 Al and EP l380462 A2.

AIM AND MOST IMPORTANT FEATURES OF THE INVENTION It is an aim of the present invention to address and atleast mediate the above mentioned problems. This aim isobtained in an attachment device as initially mentioned inthat the first part includes a seat having a seat axis for anengagement element adapted to be engaged with the tighteningstrap, that the first and second parts are at a distance fromeach other as seen in a tension direction, that a main planeextending through the first and second parts of the attachmentdevice includes said seat axis, that the attachment deviceincludes an intermediate part between the first and secondparts, and that the intermediate part is band-shaped and thatits cross section has its longest dimension extending in adirection essentially perpendicular to the main plane so as,in use, to allow, when subjected to a load, controlled bendingof the attachment device essentially in the main plane. Thismeans that controlled bending of the attachment device is possible essentially perpendicular to a main (clamping) plane lO of the attachment, being a plane onto which the container isclamped.With ”band-shaped” is here intended ”made thin", made ll ”weaker” and strip-like” to the extent that flex is madepossible given the prevailing conditions. It does not meanthat the intermediate part risks breakage or failure duringoperation.

Hereby it is achieved that the attachment device iscapable of flexing in its intermediate part so as to providesaid controlled bending essentially perpendicular to the mainplane of the attachment. Hereby it is achieved that thebending of the intermediate part allows the first part of theattachment device to yield together with the tightening strapwhereby no excessive loads on an edge portion of thetightening strap will occur or at least will occur at aconsiderable lower tension level, thereby at least reducingthe risk of induced harmful tension in said edge portion ofthe tightening strap.

A tension direction of the attachment device can bedefined as a direction between load supporting portions of thefirst and second parts.

The intermediate part is thus dimensions such that anattachment device has a weaker section allowing elasticbending, thereby providing relief for the tightening strap.

The attachment device can also be constructed such inrespect of its first part that full strap width is allowed allthe way to its end portion. This is an advantage since iteliminates need of tailoring the end portions of thetightening straps used.

The attachment device also can be manufactured indifferent lengths whereby tightening strap units of equallength can be used in applications where there is a variation of total required length for an attachment arrangement. This lO makes it possible to have modular strap adaption to differentrequirements.

A further advantage is that it is possible to useexisting tank brackets and tightening strap widths and at thesame time increase robustness of the entire installation ofalso the largest fuel tanks and also in respect of containersfor hybrid batteries which are subjected to very heavycontents.

Preferably a thickness of the intermediate part is l/50to l/2 of the longest dimension of the intermediate part.Hereby it is possible to achieve suitable flexing of theintermediate part.

The first part is preferably shallow U-shaped with seatin the form of bores in its U-shanks for reception of anengagement element in the form of a strap pin. This makes iteasy to connect the tightening strap to the attachment device.

In order to facilitate connection to a detail being fixedto the chassis, the second part is preferably provided with abore for reception of a pin for co-operation with said elementbeing fixed on the vehicle. In particular the pin extendsoutside the second part to engage bracket parts and/orreinforcements partly surrounding the second part.

It is advantageous that the second part has a width, seenin parallel with the general plane, that is smaller than awidth of a strap reception space of the second part. Thismakes it possible to use wider strap ends than otherwise wouldhave been possible at the same time as the second part issmall enough to be coupled inside the bracket/reinforcement.

In order to avoid disadvantageous stresses, it issuitable to provide rounded transition portions between theintermediate part and the first and second parts.

It is preferred that the attachment device is made from a material having properties being sufficient to resist expected lO loads and at the same time having good elastic properties. Oneexemplary material is a metal such as construction steel thatis dimensioned to resist a strap tensile force of at least lOkN.

The invention also relates to an attachment arrangementincluding a band-shaped tightening strap having tensioningmeans for at least partly surrounding and fastening acontainer to a chassis of a vehicle, the attachmentarrangement including an attachment device according to theabove.

Preferably a cross-sectional area of the intermediatepart is equal to or greater than a cross-sectional area of thetightening strap in order to provide secure load reception.

The invention also relates to a vehicle including one ormore attachment arrangements according to the above forfastening one or more of a fuel tank, a gas pressure tank, a hybrid battery container and an auxiliary container.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The invention will now be described in greater detail atthe background of embodiments and with reference to theannexed drawings, wherein: Fig. l shows a motor vehicle with attached fuel tank, Figs. 2a and 2b show in different views an attachmentarrangement according to the invention, Figs. 3a - c show in greater scale the attachment devicein Figs. 2a and 2b in different views, Fig. 4 shows a cross section through an intermediate part of an attachment device, Fig. 5 shows a view of a fuel tank fastened to a vehicle body, and Figs. 6a - c show different views of a variant of an attachment device.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS In Fig. 1 a motor vehicle 1 is shown having a vehiclebody with a chassis beam 2, whereon is fastened a fuel tank 3by means of three attachment arrangements 4 according to theinvention.

One attachment arrangement 4 is shown in Figs. 2a and 2b.The attachment arrangement 4 includes an attachment device 5which on the one hand is engages with and end portion being anend loop 12' of a tightening strap 6 and at the other end isengaged with an element 16' (and 16), which in turn is fixedon the chassis beam 2 of the motor vehicle. The attachmentarrangement 4 partly encloses a fuel tank which rests on agenerally L-shaped tank bracket 16. The end loop 12" of theattachment arrangement 4 opposite to the one 12' connected tothe attachment device 5 is coupled to a free shank end 19 ofthe bracket 16.

A main plane M extends in a tension direction through theattachment device from the first to the second parts. Inparticular, the main plane M includes a seat axis (see detailS in Fig. 6b) of the first part for the strap pin 8 being anengagement element for the tightening strap.

As also can be seen in greater detail in Figs 3a - c, theend loop 12' encloses a tightening strap pin 8, which fitsinto bores (see detail 17 in Figs. 6b and c) in a U-shapedfirst part 9 of the attachment device 5. The strap pin 8 hasthinner portions close to the ends for seating in the bores inthe first part 9 so as to prevent the strap pin 8 fromescaping from the bores in the first part 9. Locking rings or similar can also be used for this purpose. The strap pin can support a suitably formed sleeve (not shown) which in turnsupports the end loop 12'.

At an opposite end of the attachments device 5, there isa second part 10 which is also equipped with a bore beingparallel to the bores in the first part 9. The bore in thesecond part 10 is intended to receive a pin 13 having a lengthto extend outside the width of the second part 2 and withportions close to its end to co-operate with bores in a U-shaped portion of the bracket 16 and/or with a reinforcementelement 16' arranged inside the bracket 16 so as to fix theattachment device to the vehicle body allowing it to pivotaround said pin 13.

Between the first and second parts 9 and 10 of theattachment device 5, there is an intermediate part 11 which isband-shaped and thereby weakened in such a way that it allowscontrolled elastic bending of the attachment device when thelatter is subjected to an oblique load affecting the firstpart 9 because of for example the occurrence of great loads inlongitudinal directions of the vehicle and therebydisplacement of the tank in the driving direction of thevehicle. In case the container is mounted at an angle to thedriving direction of a vehicle, it can be influenced by forcesacting in a longitudinal or sideward direction of thecontainer itself. Basically all forces having a forcecomponent acting perpendicular to an imagined plane throughthe complete attachment arrangement including tighteningstrap, attachment device, bracket or brackets tend to apply adisplacing action to the container.

In Fig. 4 is illustrated a cross section of theintermediate portion 11 which, as seen in Fig. 3, has itslongest dimension L extending in a direction essentially perpendicular to a general plane of the engaged tightening lO strap immediately close to the attachment device. The shortestdimension of the cross section in Fig. 4 is denoted l.

It is to be noted that, as can be seen in particular inFig. 2a, there is a slight deviation between a direction of animagined ”main plane” through the attachment device 5 and a”general plane” of the tightening strap adjacent to the firstpart at the place where these elements meet in the region ofthe strap pin 8. This deviation is because the attachmentdevice is positioned slightly below an upper surface of thefuel tank in order to provide a downwards directed holdingforce.

Irrespective this slight deviation, it is to beunderstood that forces affecting the tightening strap 6essentially in directions according to double arrow A in Fig.3a - c will cause bending of the attachment device 5 in theband-shaped and thereby flexible intermediate part ll in aplane which is essentially in the main plane.

Fig. 5 shows a fuel tank 3 attached to a chassis beam 2of a vehicle by means of four attachment arrangements 4 whicheach one co-operate with a container bracket l6 having an L-shape wherein the horizontal part of each L supports anunderside of the tank as can be seen in Figs 2a and b.

As also can be seen in Fig. 5, the attachment devices 5aand 5b are not equally long along the length extension of thefuel tank 3. The reason for this is that because of theconstruction of the vehicle body 2, there are requirements fordifferently long attachment arrangements. Since the attachmentdevices can be manufactured with different lengths, it isstill possible to make (within limits) the tightening strapswith the same length and have differently long attachmentdevices adapting to different length requirements.

Figs. 6a - c illustrate an attachment device 5 which differs from the one shown in the previously discussed Figs. in that the band-shaped intermediate part ll is made thinner(smallest dimension l) and has a longest dimension L beingextended to be greater than a general width B of theattachment device 5. 17 indicates a bore forming seat, havinga seat axis S, for a strap pin. M is the main plane of theattachment device.

This variant increases flexibility without risking theintegrity of the attachment device since the area of theintermediate part can be held large at the same time as it isthinner. As can be understood from this variant, the term”band-shaped” does not limit side dimensioning of theintermediate part.

Figs. 6a - c also clearly illustrates rounded transitionportions R between the intermediate part ll and the first andsecond parts 9,10.

The invention can be modified within the scope of thefollowing claims. The invention is described at the backgroundof motor vehicle, but it is also applicable to trailers etc.The invention is applicable for hybrid battery containers fora battery or batteries for hybrid operation of a hybridvehicle. In that case, the weight of the contents of thehybrid battery container can amount to several hundred kilos.

The invention is applicable also for auxiliary containerswhich basically can be any other type of container to befastened to a vehicle.

The dimensions of the attachment devices can be variedaccording to requirements in respect of expected loads and available space.

Claims (9)

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1. l. Fästanordning (5) för ett remformat spännband (6) lämpadför att åtminstone delvis omsluta och fixera en behållare (3)mot ett fordons (l) chassi (2) innefattande: - en första del (9) för samverkan med spännbandets (6)ändstycke (l2'), och - en andra del (10) för samverkan med ett element(l6;l6')infäst i fordonet, kännetecknad av - att första delen (9) innefattar ett säte (l7) med ensätesaxel (S) för ett kopplingselement anordnad att samverkamed spännbandet (6), - att den första och andra delen (9,lO) är anordnade på ettavstånd från varandra i spänningsriktningen, - att ett huvudplan (M) som sträcker sig genomfästanordningens (5) första och andra del (9,lO) inkluderarsagda sätesaxel (S), - att fästanordningen (5) innefattar en mellandel (ll) mellanden första och andra delen (9,lO), och - att mellandelen (ll) är remformad och tvärsnittsytanslängsta dimension (L) sträcker sig i en väsentligen vinkelrätriktning i förhållande till huvudplanet (M), så attkontrollerad böjning av fästanordningen (5) väsentligen tillåts i huvudplanet (M).

2. Anordning enligt krav l, kännetecknad av att tjockleken (l)på mellandelen (ll) är l/50 till l/2 av mellandelens (ll) längsta dimension (L).

3. Anordning enligt krav l och 2, kännetecknad av att denförsta delen (9) är svagt U-format med ett säte (l7) i form av urtag i U-skänklarna för att ta emot ett remstift (8). lO ll

4. Anordning enligt krav l,2 eller 3, kånnetecknad av att denandra delen (10) har ett urtag för mottagande av ett stift(13) för samverkan med sagda element (l6;l6') infäst i fordonet (l).

5. Anordning enligt krav 4, kånnetecknad av att den andradelens (l0) bredd som år mindre än bredden på utrymmet för mottagandet av spånnbandet på den första delen (9).

6. Anordning enligt krav 5, kånnetecknad av rundade övergångar mellan mellandelen och den första och andra delen (9,lO).

7. Anordning enligt något av föregående krav, kännetecknad avatt fästanordningen (5) är tillverkad i ett material medelastiska egenskaper dimensionerat för att motstå en remspänning på åtminstone 10 kN.

8. Fåstarrangemang (4) innefattande ett remformat spånnband(6) med spànnmedel (7), varvid fàstarrangemanget årdimensionerat för att åtminstone delvis omsluta och fixera enbehållare (3) till ett fordons (l) chassi (2) och innefattar en fåstanordning (5) enligt något av krav l-7.

9. Fåstarrangemang (4) enligt krav 8, kånnetecknad av attmellandelens (ll) tvärsnittsarea är större eller lika stor som spännbandets (6) tvärsnittsarea. lO. Fordon (l) innefattande en eller flera fåstarrangemang (4)enligt krav 8 eller 9 för fixering av en eller flera av enbränsletank (3), en trycksatt gastank, en behållare för hybridbatterier och en extratank.