Oil pan noise enclosure and attachment system for same

Abstract

A vehicle oil pan assembly which is acoustically insulated for noise reduction includes an oil pan having a normal configuration with a base and enclosing sidewalls and further including a peripheral flange which is disposed adjacent an upper edge of the sidewall and which is used to attach the oil pan to the vehicle engine. In order to insulate the oil pan so as to reduce any noise which may otherwise be transmitted by the oil pan, a noise reducing/sound deadening enclosure is attached to the oil pan. In order to facilitate the attachment of the enclosure to the oil pan, a plurality of support brackets are welded to the oil pan and each bracket includes a plurality of support tabs. The noise-reducing enclosure is arranged with an outer skin and a foam isolation layer and the outer skin is molded so as to include a plurality of latching portions. The final component in the attachment system is a plurality of spring clips. There is one tab for each latching portion and one clip for each tab. Each clip is arranged with a hook end which is inserted into a corresponding tab and an opposite support end which is received within a corresponding latching portion. The attached and suspended nature of the noise enclosure creates a unitized assembly with the oil pan such that the enclosure does not have to be removed when the oil pan is removed for servicing.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.