Internal-combustion engines – Intake manifold – Manifold having plenum
Reexamination Certificate
2002-08-06
2004-10-19
Kamen, Noah P. (Department: 3747)
Internal-combustion engines
Intake manifold
Manifold having plenum
C123S19800E, C123S563000, C123S572000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06805088
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air intake system of an engine, especially to a unitization of the air intake system mounted on a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
In a conventional air intake system, a throttle and an air flowmeter or an air cleaner case are connected to each other by a duct in an engine room (compartment) and the air cleaner case is connected to a vehicle body. The air intake system requires a large space for arranging the air intake system between the air cleaner case and the engine, and a long connection line by the duct because the air cleaner case is mounted on the body. Therefore a large amount of man-hours is needed for designing an arrangement of members in an engine room. It is necessary to design the members so as to effectively fit to space and form of the engine room for every different kind of the vehicles, and therefore standardization or modularization of each of the members is difficult.
In order to solve the above problem, JP-A8-334070 discloses an air intake system shown in FIG.
21
. The air intake system is composed of an air cleaner case
110
comprising an air cleaner cap
112
and a dusty side case
11
provided in a vicinity of a cylinder head of an engine
100
, a surge tank
130
comprising a surge tank cap
132
and a lower case
131
provided on opposite side to the air cleaner case
110
at a different side of the engine, a throttle
140
connecting to the air cleaner case
110
, and an intake manifold
120
molded in a form of a tube by an upper wall side
121
and a lower wall side
122
extending from the surge tank
130
to an intake port of the engine
100
through an under side of the air cleaner case
110
. As shown in
FIG. 22
, the dusty side case
111
of the air cleaner case
110
, the upper wall side
121
of the intake manifold
120
, and the surge tank
130
of the lower case
131
are monolithically molded by using a plastic resin to form a housing. The upper wall side
121
is used in combination with a bottom side of the dusty side case
111
and a bottom side of the lower case
131
.
Then, the air cleaner case
110
, the throttle
140
, the surge tank
130
and the intake manifold
120
are assembled to be united whereby the intake system is prepared, respectively. The publication has suggested attaching the intake system to the engine
100
as a unit.
JP-A10-318056 discloses an intake system shown in FIG.
23
. The intake system is provided with an air cleaner case
153
having an element
152
therein, a throttle
154
into which air passed through the air cleaner case
153
is introduced, and the intake manifold
155
for introducing the air passed through the throttle
134
to the side of the engine
100
, and further provided with a bottom case
162
molded monolithically including the air cleaner case
153
and a part
156
of the intake manifold
155
, an intermediate case
163
which is removable from the case bottom
162
and inside which the element
152
is stalled, and a case cover
161
which is removable from the intermediate case
163
and which covers the air cleaner case
153
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the disclosures of JP-A8-334070 and JP-A10-318056, the intake system including the air cleaner case to the intake manifold is integrated as a unit, and it is mounted onto the engine as the unit. Therefore, the intake system is totally provided in the vicinity of the engine whereby the space within the engine room can be reduced and design of the arrangement of the members within the engine room can be easily carried out.
However, since the air cleaner case and the throttle are arranged over the intake manifold connected to the engine, the height of the intake system is increased to reduce clearance between the intake system and a hood covering the engine room. As a result, in case a pedestrian is contacted with a hood to apply impact load onto the hood, deformation of the hood is disturbed by the intake system. Therefore a disturbance affects adversely an absorption or decrease of the impact energy by the deformation of the hood. In contrast, in case the hood is raised for ensuring sufficient crush stroke, visible range of a driver or running resistance is affected badly and freedom of a body design is restricted.
In view of the above-mentioned problems, an object of the invention is to provide the air intake system which is mounted over the engine such as a horizontally opposed engine or V-type engine and which can be compactly prepared and easily modularized.
A first invention to attain the above object is provided by an air intake system of an engine which introduces air passed through a cleaner case having a filter element therein into a manifold through a throttle, and distributes the air from the manifold to each of cylinders of the engine by an intake element. The manifold is mounted on the upper side of the engine through the intake element connected to both sides of the manifold opposite to each other, and the cleaner case is connected to the manifold. The intake element also has plural intake pipes which are provided side by side and vertically to both of the sides of the manifold opposite to each other and of which each end on an upstream side of the intake pipes is opened and each end on a downstream side of the intake pipes connects to each of intake ports of the engine. In addition, the throttle is provided in the manifold such that a center axis of the throttle is substantially horizontal and centered in the vertical direction between the ends on the upstream side of the intake pipes provided vertically and extends to a center between the ends on the upstream side opposite to each other provided on both sides of the manifold.
According to the above invention, the throttle is provided such that a center axis of the throttle is provided substantially horizontal and in a center in a vertical direction between the ends on the upstream side of the intake pipes vertically provided and extended to a center between the ends on the upstream side opposite to each other provided on both sides of the manifold. Therefore, an occurrence of turbulent flow of air in the manifold is depressed, and the air is fed evenly to each of the intake pipes, and further the air is introduced horizontally into the manifold, whereby the height of the manifold can be reduced, and simultaneously the height of the cleaner case can be effectively reduced. Moreover, the connection of the manifold to the cleaner case requires no duct to become compact of an intake system.
Hence, in case the intake system of the present invention is mounted in the engine room, clearance between the hood and the intake system can be easily ensured. Therefore, even if the pedestrian applies impact load onto the hood from the upper side, sufficient crush stroke can be ensured and the impact energy can be sufficiently absorbed or reduced by the deformation of the hood with safety to pedestrian being improved. On the other hand, the hood can be lowered without affecting the intake system, i.e., slant nose can be adopt, whereby the visibility of the driver and the reduction of the running resistance can be expected and freedom of the design of the body is extended.
The manifold and the cleaner case can be mounted on the engine through the intake element as a sub-assembly unit. Therefore the production can be efficiently conducted, and the intake system is formed compactly, whereby it is easily mounted on other kinds of vehicles having the restricted form or effectively-spaced engine and the modularity is easily carried out.
A second invention to attain the above object is provided by an intake system of an engine which introduces air passed through a cleaner case having a filter element therein into a manifold through a main port and a throttle, and distributes the air from the manifold to each of cylinders of the engine by an intake element. The manifold is mounted on the upper side of the engine through
Chiba Yuji
Kobayashi Kensuke
Tachibana Yuki
Fuji Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Kamen Noah P.
Smith , Gambrell & Russell, LLP
LandOfFree
Air intake system of engine does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Air intake system of engine, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Air intake system of engine will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3331019