Classifications

• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F02—COMBUSTION ENGINES; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS
  • F02M—SUPPLYING COMBUSTION ENGINES IN GENERAL WITH COMBUSTIBLE MIXTURES OR CONSTITUENTS THEREOF
  • F02M25/00—Engine-pertinent apparatus for adding non-fuel substances or small quantities of secondary fuel to combustion-air, main fuel or fuel-air mixture
  • F02M25/08—Engine-pertinent apparatus for adding non-fuel substances or small quantities of secondary fuel to combustion-air, main fuel or fuel-air mixture adding fuel vapours drawn from engine fuel reservoir

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a canister mounting structure.
• Engine vehicles that use volatile fuel as their power source are typically equipped with a canister (charcoal canister, carbon canister, vapor collector) to collect evaporated fuel generated in the fuel tank and supply it to the engine.
• a canister (charcoal canister, carbon canister, vapor collector) to collect evaporated fuel generated in the fuel tank and supply it to the engine.
• Such canisters are one of the vehicle's important safety components and are fixed to structural members such as the body frame via metal brackets (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
• canisters When installed in passenger cars, canisters are often placed near the engine or fuel tank, and can be fixed to side members, cross members, or dash panels that make up the vehicle's structural members.
• a typical canister has a main chamber connected to the fuel tank and engine, respectively, and an auxiliary chamber open to the atmosphere, with the two chambers communicating internally.
• the main chamber contains a porous material such as activated carbon or zeolite, which temporarily adsorbs evaporated fuel flowing from the fuel tank through the tank port, and supplies the recovered fuel to the engine via the purge port in a timely manner.
• the auxiliary chamber also mediates the airflow between the atmosphere and the main chamber, and contains a porous material such as activated carbon or zeolite to prevent foreign matter other than air from entering or leaving.
• Such canisters can be configured as so-called split canisters, where the main chamber and the sub-chamber each have their own housing, although a partition wall can be provided inside a single housing to form a main chamber and a sub-chamber.
• Patent Document 2 discloses a split canister in which a roughly rectangular main chamber and a roughly cylindrical sub-chamber communicate with each other via a connecting pipe.
• one possible method would be to mold the fastening mechanism for securing the pre-chamber housing to the vehicle's frame as a single unit beforehand.
• this method if the relative positions of the pre-chamber housing and the fastening points of the frame differ depending on the vehicle model, it would be necessary to change the housing design of the split canister for each vehicle model.
• the present invention was made in light of these issues, and its purpose is to provide a canister mounting structure that is easy to install and remove, and that allows split canisters to be shared across different vehicle models.
• the canister mounting structure of the present invention is a canister mounting structure for mounting a canister, which includes a main chamber connected to the engine and fuel tank, and an auxiliary chamber that is open to the atmosphere and communicates with the main chamber, to a vehicle frame member. It comprises a main chamber housing having the main chamber therein and fixed to the frame member, a cylindrical auxiliary chamber housing having the auxiliary chamber therein and connected to the main chamber housing, and a C-clamp connecting the auxiliary chamber housing to the frame member, the C-clamp including a clamp portion that curves along the outer peripheral surface of the auxiliary chamber housing, and an extended fastening portion that extends from the clamp portion to a fastening point on the frame member.
• the canister mounting structure of the present invention allows the auxiliary housing to be supported by a C-clamp fixed to the vehicle body without the use of bolts or nuts, even in cases where the auxiliary housing is separate from the main housing. Furthermore, even if the distance from the fastening point of the frame member to the auxiliary housing varies depending on the model of the vehicle on which it is installed, the auxiliary housing is fixed by a C-clamp with a corresponding extended fastening portion, allowing canisters of the same specifications to be used for different vehicle models. Therefore, the canister mounting structure of the present invention makes installation and removal easy, and split canisters can be shared across different vehicle models.
• FIG. 1 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of a canister mounting structure according to the present invention
• FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a horizontal section of the canister mounting structure
• FIG. 10 is a side view showing a fixing structure according to a modified example of the auxiliary chamber housing and the C-clamp.
• FIG. 1 is a side view showing the general configuration of the canister mounting structure according to the present invention.
• FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a horizontal cross section of the canister mounting structure, and more specifically, a schematic view of the A-A cross section in FIG. 1.
• the canister mounting structure is a configuration for fixing a canister 10, which collects evaporated fuel generated in a fuel tank in a vehicle powered by volatile fuel, to the vehicle body using a C-clamp 20, which will be described later.
• a canister 10 which collects evaporated fuel generated in a fuel tank in a vehicle powered by volatile fuel, to the vehicle body using a C-clamp 20, which will be described later.
• the mutually perpendicular X and Y directions indicate the horizontal direction
• the Z direction indicates the vertical direction.
• the canister 10 mainly comprises a main chamber housing 11, an auxiliary chamber housing 12, and a connecting pipe 13, all of which are made of synthetic resin in this embodiment.
• the material of the canister 10 is not limited to synthetic resin, and it may be made of other materials such as metal.
• the main chamber housing 11 is a roughly rectangular parallelepiped housing having a main chamber 11a therein, which houses a porous material such as activated carbon or zeolite.
• the main chamber housing 11 also has a tank port 11b at its bottom that connects the main chamber 11a to a fuel tank (not shown), and a purge port 11c that connects the main chamber 11a to an engine (not shown).
• the main chamber housing 11 also has a main chamber-side fixing portion 11d that protrudes from the side, and is bolted to a vehicle frame member via fastening holes FH formed in the main chamber-side fixing portion 11d.
• the auxiliary chamber housing 12 is a roughly cylindrical casing with an auxiliary chamber 12a inside, which contains a porous material such as activated carbon or zeolite.
• the auxiliary chamber housing 12 also has a vent port 12b at its bottom that opens the auxiliary chamber 12a to the atmosphere.
• the auxiliary chamber housing 12 has a positioning protrusion 12c formed on its outer periphery, and is fixed to the vehicle's frame member with a C-clamp 20.
• the canister 10 can be placed near the engine or fuel tank, and can be stably supported on the vehicle body by being fixed to a frame member that makes up the body, such as a side member, cross member, or dash panel.
• the communicating pipe 13 has both ends connected to the upper side surfaces of the main chamber housing 11 and the auxiliary chamber housing 12, respectively, and forms a gas flow path inside that connects the main chamber 11a and the auxiliary chamber 12a.
• the canister 10 adsorbs evaporated fuel that flows in from the vehicle's fuel tank via the tank port 11b using the porous material in the main chamber 11a.
• gas that passes through the main chamber 11a is supplied to the auxiliary chamber 12a via the connecting pipe 13, and after the remaining fuel components are adsorbed by the porous material in the auxiliary chamber 12a, the gas is released into the atmosphere as clean air through the vent port 12b.
• the canister 10 draws in air through the vent port 12b, purging the evaporated fuel adsorbed by the porous bodies through the auxiliary chamber 12a, the connecting pipe 13, and the main chamber 11a, and then supplies the evaporated fuel to the engine through the purge port 11c.
• the canister 10 is a so-called split canister, with the main chamber housing 11 and the auxiliary chamber housing 12 each being separate, so not only the main chamber housing 11 but also the auxiliary chamber housing 12 must be fixed to the vehicle's frame members.
• the auxiliary chamber housing 12 is fixed via a C-clamp 20.
• the C-clamp 20 is made of, for example, synthetic resin and is a single component that is continuously and integrally formed with a clamp portion 21 that curves along the outer periphery of the cylindrical auxiliary housing 12 and an extended fastening portion 22 that extends from the clamp portion 21 to the fastening point on the frame member. Furthermore, the C-clamp 20 is fixed to the frame member of the vehicle with a bolt via a fastening hole FH formed in the extended fastening portion 22.
• the C-clamp 20 is attached by sliding the clamp portion 21 from vertically below the auxiliary housing 12 while slightly widening it. Then, when the clamp portion 21 reaches a predetermined position on the outer periphery of the auxiliary housing 12, the C-clamp 20 fastens the extended fastening portion 22 to a frame member of the vehicle, thereby securing the auxiliary housing 12 to the vehicle body.
• the C-type clamp 20 is formed so that the tip surface of the clamp portion 21 forms an arc-shaped recess when viewed from the side.
• the auxiliary chamber housing 12 is formed with a positioning protrusion 12c at the position of the tip surface of the clamp portion 21, forming an arc-shaped protrusion relative to the tip surface of the clamp portion 21. Because the positioning protrusion 12c engages with the tip surface of the clamp portion 21 to restrict relative displacement, the auxiliary chamber housing 12 is stably supported by the vehicle body via the C-type clamp 20, even against vibrations and shocks while the vehicle is in motion, as well as against purging operations in the auxiliary chamber 12a.
• the tip surface of the clamp portion 21 and the positioning protrusion 12c of the auxiliary housing 12 are not limited to being arc-shaped, and may have other shapes as long as they are capable of engaging to restrict relative displacement between them. Furthermore, by extending along the longitudinal direction of the auxiliary housing 12 (Z direction in the figure), the positioning protrusion 12c functions as a reinforcing member that improves the rigidity of the auxiliary housing 12.
• the C-clamp 20 is provided with an elastic sheet 23 on the inner surface of the clamp portion 21, which reduces vibrations transmitted from the frame member to the auxiliary chamber housing 12 while the vehicle is in motion, and also suppresses the transmission of pulsating noise caused by the purging operation in the auxiliary chamber 12a to the frame member.
• the shape of the skeletal members of the vehicle in which the canister 10 is mounted and the position of the auxiliary chamber housing 12 relative to the skeletal members may differ depending on the vehicle model.
• the C-type clamp 20 is formed with different lengths and shapes of the extended fastening portion 22, which connects the position of the auxiliary chamber housing 12 to a fastening point (not shown) on the vehicle's skeletal members.
• the canister mounting structure of the present invention makes installation and removal easy, and split canisters can be shared even for different vehicle models.
• the canister mounting structure is not limited to the above embodiment.
• the above embodiment illustrates a configuration in which the tip surface of the C-clamp 20 engages with the positioning protrusion 12c of the auxiliary chamber housing 12, the engagement between the two may be changed as shown in Figure 3.
• Figure 3 is a side view showing a modified fixing structure between the auxiliary housing 12 and the C-clamp 20.
• the auxiliary housing 12 has a modified positioning protrusion 12d that has arc-shaped protrusions on both circumferential sides of its outer surface.
• the C-clamp 20 also has arc-shaped recesses formed not only on the tip surface of the clamp portion 21 but also on the modified extended fastening portion 22v. Therefore, with this modified fixing structure, the C-clamp 20 engages with the auxiliary housing 12 so as to sandwich the extended fastening portion 22v, thereby more stably supporting the auxiliary housing 12.
• the main chamber housing 11 and the auxiliary chamber housing 12 are connected via a communication pipe 13, but the main chamber 11a and the auxiliary chamber 12a may be connected within a single canister case without the communication pipe 13.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Supplying Secondary Fuel Or The Like To Fuel, Air Or Fuel-Air Mixtures (AREA)

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Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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ID=96921062

Family Applications (1)

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Citations (9)

• 2024
  • 2024-12-05 JP JP2026503510A patent/JPWO2025182219A1/ja active Pending
  • 2024-12-05 WO PCT/JP2024/042988 patent/WO2025182219A1/ja active Pending

Patent Citations (9)

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