US20080006969A1 - Method of adjusting the capacity of a tank, a method of producing a tank, and a tank using the methods - Google Patents

Method of adjusting the capacity of a tank, a method of producing a tank, and a tank using the methods Download PDF

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Publication number
US20080006969A1
US20080006969A1 US11/822,660 US82266007A US2008006969A1 US 20080006969 A1 US20080006969 A1 US 20080006969A1 US 82266007 A US82266007 A US 82266007A US 2008006969 A1 US2008006969 A1 US 2008006969A1
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US
United States
Prior art keywords
tank
insert
insert block
main body
full capacity
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Abandoned
Application number
US11/822,660
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English (en)
Inventor
Takayuki Date
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Nissan Motor Co Ltd
Original Assignee
Nissan Motor Co Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Nissan Motor Co Ltd filed Critical Nissan Motor Co Ltd
Assigned to NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD. reassignment NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: DATE, TAKAYUKI
Publication of US20080006969A1 publication Critical patent/US20080006969A1/en
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
    • B60K—ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF PROPULSION UNITS OR OF TRANSMISSIONS IN VEHICLES; ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF PLURAL DIVERSE PRIME-MOVERS IN VEHICLES; AUXILIARY DRIVES FOR VEHICLES; INSTRUMENTATION OR DASHBOARDS FOR VEHICLES; ARRANGEMENTS IN CONNECTION WITH COOLING, AIR INTAKE, GAS EXHAUST OR FUEL SUPPLY OF PROPULSION UNITS IN VEHICLES
    • B60K15/00—Arrangement in connection with fuel supply of combustion engines or other fuel consuming energy converters, e.g. fuel cells; Mounting or construction of fuel tanks
    • B60K15/03—Fuel tanks
    • B60K15/03177—Fuel tanks made of non-metallic material, e.g. plastics, or of a combination of non-metallic and metallic material

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a tank, and more particularly to a method of adjusting the capacity of a tank, a method of producing a tank by the adjusting method and, a tank produced by the adjusting method.
  • the amount of fuel in a fuel tank can be confirmed by a fuel gauge disposed at an instrument panel, the fuel gauge being adapted to measure a height of the surface of the fuel by using a float and a potentiometer, and to indicate a measured value at the gauge.
  • the float moves upward and downward in response to a variation of a height of the surface of the fuel, and the potentiometer recognizes the position of the float as a variation of electric resistance and indicates the variation of the resistance value by the fuel gauge.
  • a full tank capacity of a commonly used tank is changed. For example, if the full tank capacity is decreased, a full tank height is naturally lowered such that a lowered full tank fuel surface position, i.e., a lowered float position, is indicated as full by a fuel gauge.
  • the present invention relates to overcoming the disadvantages of the related art by providing a method of adjusting a tank capacity, which enables sharing of a fuel gauge, and a tank produced by using the adjusting method.
  • the invention provides a method of adjusting a capacity of a tank, including providing a mold assembly for the tank, the mold assembly configured to form the tank having a first full capacity, and installing an insert block in a cavity of the mold assembly, the mold assembly and insert block configured to form a tank having a second full capacity, the second full capacity being less than the first full capacity.
  • the invention provides a tank, including a tank main body, and an insert portion extending substantially vertically within the tank main body.
  • a ratio between a substantially horizontal cross-sectional area of the insert portion, and a substantially horizontal cross-sectional area of an inside of the tank main body from which the cross-sectional area of the insert portion is removed, is substantially constant.
  • FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tank according to an embodiment of the invention
  • FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line II-II of FIG. 1 ;
  • FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a mold assembly for molding the tank of FIG. 1 ;
  • FIG. 4 is a diagram representing a relation between a tank of a first full capacity or a second full capacity according to the embodiment, and a fuel gauge.
  • FIGS. 1 to 4 show a method of producing a tank, and a tank produced by the method according to an embodiment of the invention, wherein FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tank, FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 11 - 11 of FIG. 1 , FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a mold assembly for molding the tank, and FIG. 4 is a diagram representing a relation between a tank of a first full capacity or a second full capacity, and a fuel gauge.
  • a full tank height indicates a height of a liquid surface from a bottom surface of a tank when the tank is full.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates a tank 1 having a basic, first full tank capacity A.
  • the tank 1 is adapted for use with a shared automobile platform, and particularly a vehicle that requires the full tank capacity A of the tank 1 to be decreased.
  • the tank 1 is integrally molded from synthetic resin (e.g. parison) formed in a closed space by blow molding or the like.
  • An insert portion 10 is provided inside the tank 1 as shown in FIG. 2 to decrease the capacity inside the tank 1 and produce a second full capacity B so that the first full capacity A and the second full capacity B attain nearly the same full tank height H.
  • the method of producing the above-described tank 1 includes providing the insert portion 10 inside the tank 1 of the first full capacity A to decrease the capacity inside the tank 1 and provide the second full capacity B, and determining the shape of the insert portion 10 so that the first full capacity A and the second full capacity B attain nearly the same full tank height H.
  • the full tank height H is the height of the liquid surface from the bottom surface of the tank 1 .
  • the insert portion 10 includes two bottle-shaped insert sections, i.e., a first insert section 11 and a second insert section 12 having at one vertical end side straight tubular parts 11 a and 12 a , and at the other end side tapered parts 11 b and 12 b .
  • the first and second insert sections 11 and 12 are inverted relative to each other, such that the first insert section 11 is disposed so that the tubular part 11 a is positioned upward and the tapered part 11 b is positioned downward, while the second insert section 12 is disposed so that the tubular part 12 a is positioned downward and the tapered part 12 b is positioned upward.
  • the internal volume of the tank 1 of the full tank capacity A is adapted to provide the full tank capacity B (A>B) by the provision of the first and second insert sections 11 and 12 .
  • S(h) denotes the horizontal area of fuel when the insert portion 10 is not provided
  • the horizontal area of fuel when the insert portion 10 is provided is denoted by [S(h) ⁇ S 1 ( h )+S 2 ( h ) ⁇ ].
  • the ratio between both areas is determined to be equal to the ratio between the first full tank capacity A when the insertion portion 10 is not provided, and the second full tank capacity B when the insertion portion 10 is provided, as shown by the following equation.
  • a mold assembly 20 for molding the tank 1 includes an upper mold member 21 and a lower mold member 22 as shown in FIG. 3 , and is configured to mold the tank 1 by blow molding by inserting a parison into a cavity 23 at joining portions of the upper mold member 21 and the lower mold member 22 .
  • first and second insert sections 11 and 12 of the above-described insert portion 10 are molded by an insert block unit 30 detachably installed in the cavity 23 of the above-described mold assembly 20 .
  • the above-described insert block unit 30 includes of a plurality of insert blocks, e.g., an upper mold insert block 31 attached to the upper mold member 21 to protrude toward the lower mold member 22 for molding the first insert section 11 , and a lower mold insert block 32 attached to the lower mold member 22 to protrude toward the upper mold member 21 for molding the second insert section 12 .
  • a base end portion 31 a of the upper mold insert block 31 i.e., the portion 31 a at which the upper mold insert block 31 is received in the upper mold member 21
  • a base end portion 32 a of the lower mold insert block 32 i.e., the portion 32 a at which the lower mold insert block 32 is received in the lower mold member 22
  • the horizontal sectional area of the insert unit 10 is mainly adjusted based on the above-described equation (1).
  • the base end portion 31 a of the above-described upper mold insert block 31 corresponds to the tubular part 11 a of the first insert section 11
  • the base end portion 32 a of the lower mold insert block 32 corresponds to the tubular part 12 a of the second insert section 12
  • the leading end portion 31 b of the upper mold insert block 31 corresponds to the tapered part 11 b of the first insert section 11
  • the leading end portion 32 b of the lower mold insert block 32 corresponds to the tapered part 12 b of the second insert section 12 .
  • the above-described tank 1 attains the first full capacity A when not provided with the above-described insert portion 10 , and the second full capacity B when provided with the insert portion 10 , and further attains nearly the same full tank height H in each case.
  • fuel capacity V-needle indication characteristics 6 are adapted so as to be linear by making fuel capacity V-liquid surface height h characteristics be ⁇ , gauge characteristics be ⁇ , and fuel gauge indication characteristics ⁇ be linear.
  • tank 1 is provided with insert portion 10 by the above-described method to attain the second full capacity B, fuel capacity V-liquid surface height h characteristics ⁇ ′ is attained, thus enabling sharing of the above-described gauge characteristic ⁇ and thereby enabling to attain the fuel capacity V-liquid surface height h characteristics ⁇ ′ by using the same fuel gauge.
  • the first full capacity A and the second full capacity B can attain nearly the same full tank height H, thus enabling the full tank positions of the floats for measuring the liquid surface position to be nearly the same, and therefore enabling the fuel gauge for use with the tank 1 of the first full tank capacity A to be shared with the tank 1 of the second full capacity B. For this reason, in case the full tank capacity is decreased from A to B, it is not necessary to provide a new fuel gauge, thus preventing increased costs.
  • the above-described insert portion 10 is formed by the first insert section 11 and the second insert section 12 , the sectional areas S 1 ( h ) and S 2 ( h ) of the first and second insert sections 11 and 12 with respect to the horizontal direction relative to the height direction is adjusted so that the ratio between the horizontal area of fuel S(h) when the insert portion 10 is not provided, and the horizontal area of fuel [S(h) ⁇ S 1 ( h )+S 2 ( h ) ⁇ ] when the insert portion 10 is provided, is equal to the ratio between the first full tank capacity A and the second full tank capacity B (refer to equation (1)), thus improving the accuracy in the needle indication of the fuel gauge when the tank 1 is other than full.
  • the tank 1 of the first full capacity A can be molded by detaching the insert block unit 30 from the mold assembly 20
  • the tank 1 of the second full capacity B can be molded by installing the insert block unit 30 in the mold assembly 20 , thus enabling two kinds of tanks 1 that differ in the full tank capacity to be produced with ease, by providing the insert block unit 30 or not.
  • the insert block unit 30 includes a plurality of insert blocks, e.g., the upper mold insert block 31 attached to the upper mold member 21 to protrude toward the lower mold member 22 for molding the first insert section 11 and the lower mold insert block 32 attached to the lower mold member 22 to protrude toward the upper mold member 21 for molding the second insert section 12 , the base end portion 31 a of the upper mold insert block 31 and the base end portion 32 a of the lower mold insert block 32 being configured to have a minimum draft angle at an outer side, and the horizontal sectional area of the insert portion 10 being mainly adjusted by the leading end portion 31 b of the upper mold insert block 31 and the leading end portion 32 b of the lower mold insert block 32 , the upper mold insert block 31 and the lower mold insert block 32 are tapered toward the respective mold members facing the mold members to which they are attached, thus enabling the mold members to be removed with ease and also enabling the sectional area of the insert portion 30 to be adjusted by the plurality of leading end parts 31 b and 32 b such that
  • the insert block unit 30 has been described as including two insert blocks, i.e., the first and second insert blocks 31 and 32 , the insert block unit can include three or more blocks.
  • the shape of the insert block unit is not limited to a bottle shape of a circular cross section, but may be any shape that can attain easy adjustment of the horizontal area of liquid.
  • the invention has been described in one embodiment as pertaining to a fuel tank. However, the invention may pertain to any liquid tank. Accordingly, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the described embodiments, but that it have the full scope defined by the language of the following claims.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Sustainable Development (AREA)
  • Sustainable Energy (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
  • Transportation (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Containers Having Bodies Formed In One Piece (AREA)
  • Moulds For Moulding Plastics Or The Like (AREA)
  • Cooling, Air Intake And Gas Exhaust, And Fuel Tank Arrangements In Propulsion Units (AREA)
  • Details Of Rigid Or Semi-Rigid Containers (AREA)
US11/822,660 2006-07-10 2007-07-09 Method of adjusting the capacity of a tank, a method of producing a tank, and a tank using the methods Abandoned US20080006969A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP2006189340A JP2008013245A (ja) 2006-07-10 2006-07-10 タンクの製造方法およびその方法を用いたタンク
JP2006-189340 2006-07-10

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US20080006969A1 true US20080006969A1 (en) 2008-01-10

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Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US11/822,660 Abandoned US20080006969A1 (en) 2006-07-10 2007-07-09 Method of adjusting the capacity of a tank, a method of producing a tank, and a tank using the methods

Country Status (4)

Country Link
US (1) US20080006969A1 (de)
EP (1) EP1878603A1 (de)
JP (1) JP2008013245A (de)
CN (1) CN101104312A (de)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20190374316A1 (en) * 2015-05-04 2019-12-12 Loren S. Adell Thermoforming aids

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE102011122215B4 (de) 2011-12-24 2021-05-06 Audi Ag Kraftstoffbehälter für ein Kraftfahrzeug mit anpassbarem Füllvolumen

Citations (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4231482A (en) * 1979-01-11 1980-11-04 Bogan David B Underground storage vault
US4526286A (en) * 1982-02-17 1985-07-02 Basf Aktiengesellschaft Thermoplastic fuel tank having a splash baffle
US6135306A (en) * 1999-02-08 2000-10-24 Salflex Polymers Inc. Fuel tank anti-deflection device
US6293420B1 (en) * 1997-07-25 2001-09-25 Kautex Textron Gmbh & Co., Kg. Fuel tank
US6338420B1 (en) * 1999-06-08 2002-01-15 Delphi Technologies, Inc. Motor vehicle fuel tank and method
US6712234B2 (en) * 2000-02-14 2004-03-30 Ti Group Automotive Systems Technology Center Gmbh Fuel tank and method for its production
US20040134920A1 (en) * 2003-01-14 2004-07-15 Baron Richard D. Plastic bottle with extendable internal support
US20040195247A1 (en) * 2003-04-02 2004-10-07 Fuji Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha Fuel tank structure
US20050011890A1 (en) * 2000-06-28 2005-01-20 Shlomo Adler Modular cargo container
US7455190B2 (en) * 2004-11-15 2008-11-25 Automotive Components Holdings, Llc Fuel tank system having enhanced durability and reduced permeation

Family Cites Families (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2453012A2 (fr) * 1979-04-04 1980-10-31 Transformat Mat Plastiques Procede d'obtention de corps monobloc par soufflage et pourvu d'une partie saillante sur l'une de ses parois interieures
EP0064310A3 (de) * 1981-05-05 1983-01-26 A.G. INTERNATIONAL S.p.A. Kunststofftank
DE19909041A1 (de) * 1999-03-02 2000-09-07 Mannesmann Vdo Ag Zur Montage in einem Kraftfahrzeug vorgesehene Anordnung von Behältern

Patent Citations (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4231482A (en) * 1979-01-11 1980-11-04 Bogan David B Underground storage vault
US4526286A (en) * 1982-02-17 1985-07-02 Basf Aktiengesellschaft Thermoplastic fuel tank having a splash baffle
US6293420B1 (en) * 1997-07-25 2001-09-25 Kautex Textron Gmbh & Co., Kg. Fuel tank
US6135306A (en) * 1999-02-08 2000-10-24 Salflex Polymers Inc. Fuel tank anti-deflection device
US6338420B1 (en) * 1999-06-08 2002-01-15 Delphi Technologies, Inc. Motor vehicle fuel tank and method
US6712234B2 (en) * 2000-02-14 2004-03-30 Ti Group Automotive Systems Technology Center Gmbh Fuel tank and method for its production
US20050011890A1 (en) * 2000-06-28 2005-01-20 Shlomo Adler Modular cargo container
US20040134920A1 (en) * 2003-01-14 2004-07-15 Baron Richard D. Plastic bottle with extendable internal support
US20040195247A1 (en) * 2003-04-02 2004-10-07 Fuji Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha Fuel tank structure
US7455190B2 (en) * 2004-11-15 2008-11-25 Automotive Components Holdings, Llc Fuel tank system having enhanced durability and reduced permeation

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20190374316A1 (en) * 2015-05-04 2019-12-12 Loren S. Adell Thermoforming aids
US10751151B2 (en) * 2015-05-04 2020-08-25 Trigroup Technologies, Ltd. (A Texas Limited Partnership) Thermoforming aids

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP1878603A1 (de) 2008-01-16
CN101104312A (zh) 2008-01-16
JP2008013245A (ja) 2008-01-24

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Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
AS Assignment

Owner name: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD., JAPAN

Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:DATE, TAKAYUKI;REEL/FRAME:019592/0727

Effective date: 20070709

STCB Information on status: application discontinuation

Free format text: ABANDONED -- FAILURE TO RESPOND TO AN OFFICE ACTION