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US 6,616,007 B2Granted
Fuel tank
AssigneeToyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsTakashi Ishikawa, Tomoyasu Arase, Masahide Kobayashi, Katsuyuki Miura, Yoshihiko Hyodo
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A lower wall (8) forming a fuel storage chamber (5) becomes curved downward according to increase of the fuel amount, and at this time a support member (23) for supporting the fuel storage chamber (5) does not restrain the downward curvature of the lower wall (8), whereby the capacity of the fuel storage chamber (5) can be increased and whereby the amount of the fuel that can be stored in the fuel storage chamber (5) can be maintained at the maximum, as compared with structure inhibiting deformation of the lower wall (8).
Claims13
A fuel tank, comprising:
- a housing having an upper portion and a lower portion;
- a fuel storage chamber contained in said housing, said fuel storage chamber is deformable according to the amount of fuel stored therein, said fuel storage chamber comprising:
- an upper wall of a polygonal shape;
- a lower wall of a polygonal shape opposed to the upper wall, the lower wall moving downward according to an increase in said amount of fuel to an extent including a substantially horizontal state, and said lower wall being substantially spaced from said lower portion of said housing if said fuel storage chamber is empty of fuel;
- and
- peripheral walls connecting said upper wall and said lower wall to each other, the peripheral walls being flat,
- said fuel storage chamber being supported by a support member which permits downward curvature of said lower wall.
4 more elements
A fuel tank, comprising:
- a housing having an upper portion and a lower portion;
- a fuel storage chamber contained in said housing, said fuel storage chamber is deformable according to the amount of fuel stored therein, said fuel storage chamber comprising:
- an upper wall of a polygonal shape;
- a lower wall of a polygonal shape opposed to the upper wall, the lower wall curving downward according to an increase in said amount of fuel, and said lower wall being substantially spaced from said lower portion of said housing if said fuel storage chamber is empty of fuel;
- and
- peripheral walls connecting said upper wall and said lower wall to each other, the peripheral walls being flat,
- said fuel storage chamber being supported by a support member which permits downward curvature of said lower wall, and the volume of said fuel storage chamber increasing to an amount which is substantially the same as the increase in said amount of fuel.
4 more elements
A fuel tank, comprising:
- a housing having an upper portion and a lower portion;
- a fuel storage chamber contained in said housing, said fuel storage chamber is deformable according to the amount of fuel stored therein, said fuel storage chamber comprising:
- an upper wall of a polygonal shape;
- a lower wall of a polygonal shape opposed to the upper wall, the lower wall curving downward according to an increase in said amount of fuel, and said lower wall being substantially spaced from said lower portion of said housing if said fuel storage chamber is empty of fuel;
- and
- peripheral walls connecting said upper wall and said lower wall to each other, the peripheral walls being flat,
- said fuel storage chamber being supported by a support member which permits downward curvature of said lower wall, and the support member supporting the fuel storage chamber at upper and lower edges at the peripheral walls.
4 more elements
A fuel tank comprising:
- a fuel storage chamber which is deformable according to the amount of fuel stored therein, said fuel storage chamber comprising:
- an upper wall of a polygonal shape;
- a lower wall of a polygonal shape opposed to the upper wall, the lower wall moving downward according to an increase in said amount of fuel to an extent including a substantially horizontal state;
- and
- peripheral walls connecting said upper wall and said lower wall to each other, the peripheral walls being flat,
- said fuel storage chamber being supported by a support member which permits downward curvature of said lower wall, said support member comprising vibration suppressing means for suppressing input of vibration from the outside of said fuel storage chamber thereinto, wherein said vibration suppressing means is an elastic member, said elastic member supporting said fuel storage chamber in a vibration-isolating manner.
3 more elements
A fuel tank comprising:
- a fuel storage chamber which is deformable according to the amount of fuel stored therein, said fuel storage chamber comprising:
- an upper wall of a polygonal shape;
- a lower wall of a polygonal shape opposed to the upper wall, the lower wall moving downward according to an increase in said amount of fuel to an extent including a substantially horizontal state;
- and
- peripheral walls connecting said upper wall and said lower wall to each other, the peripheral walls being flat,
- said fuel storage chamber being supported by a support member which permits downward curvature of said lower wall, said support member comprising vibration suppressing means for suppressing input of vibration from the outside of said fuel storage chamber thereintoand support member is an elastically deformable support member which abuts against said lower wall and which supports said lower wall while being elastically deformed and dispersing a load exerted by said lower wall according to the downward curvature of said lower wall.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.