BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a bottom plan view showing a bottom surface of a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line “II-II” in FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a graph showing noise from a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention in comparison with noise from a conventional vehicle.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a muffler included in a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a drawing showing change of overall length of a vehicle body by a vehicle type according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line “VI-VI” in FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The present invention will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown. As those skilled in the art will realize, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a fuel tank 300 is located below a rear seat 110 (FIG. 5) of the vehicle, and protrudes from a bottom surface 101 of a vehicle body 100. The suspension system 500 supports first and second rear wheels W1 and W2 to the vehicle body 100. The exhaust device 700, which is connected to a gas exhaust through-hole 201 of an engine 200, and extends to a rear end of the vehicle body 100, discharges exhaust gas to a rear end of the vehicle body 100.
Referring to FIG. 1, the exhaust device 700 includes a first exhaust pipe 750 connected between the gas exhaust through-hole 201 and a muffler 730, and a second exhaust pipe 770, connected to the muffler 730, extends to the rear end of the vehicle body 100.
The catalytic converter 710 is connected to the gas exhaust through-hole 201, and purifies exhaust gas.
The muffler 730, which is located at a lateral side of the fuel tank 300 and disposed along a longitudinal direction of the vehicle body 100, decreases noise. In some embodiments, only one muffler 730 is provided. Output of the engine can be improved by the decreased resistance of exhaust gas obtained by providing only one muffler 730.
When only one muffler 730 is included, a mounting position of the muffler 730 is important in order to effectively decrease exhaust noise. According to experiments, when muffler 730 is provided laterally alongside the fuel tank 300 and disposed along a longitudinal direction of the vehicle body 100 as described above, exhaust noise can be effectively decreased.
It is further preferable that an inlet of the muffler is located toward a front end of the vehicle body 100, and that an outlet of the muffler is located toward the rear end of the vehicle body 100.
As shown in FIG. 3, results of experiments using the muffler 730 disposed as described above show that an exhaust system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention decreases exhaust noise more than a conventional muffler when engine speed is 5000 RPM or less, but that it creates nearly the same amount of exhaust noise with the conventional muffler when engine speed is higher than 5000 RPM.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, the muffler 730 may include a case 735 forming an inner space 735a, a plurality of partitions 736 dividing the inner space 735a into several portions, and a plurality of inner pipes 737 penetrating the partitions 736 in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body 100. Therefore, exhaust gas may have less noise during passing through the several divided inner spaces, and it is finally discharged through the second exhaust pipe 770 at the outlet 732 of the muffler 730. Particularly, an inner pipe 737a is connected to the second exhaust pipe 770, and it is preferable that the inner pipe 737a has a bent end as shown at E in FIG. 4. When the inner pipe 737a has the bent end, length of the inner pipe can be resultantly extended, and noise can be more decreased because flow of exhaust gas is delayed as much as the extended length of the inner pipe. Particularly, when the inner pipe having the bent end is included in the muffler wherein sound pressure is high, noise can be further decreased. In addition, the second exhaust pipe 770 and the inner pipe 737a connected thereto may be integrally formed as a single member in order for the muffler to have a simple scheme.
As shown in FIG. 5, when a single muffler 730 is provided at the lateral side of the fuel tank 300, an expensive muffler need not be additionally designed because only the length of the second exhaust pipe 770 needs to be adjusted based on vehicle type even though lengths (refer to L1, L2) between the suspension system 500 and the rear end of the vehicle body 100 vary with vehicle type, such as a first vehicle type A, a second vehicle type B, and a third vehicle type C.
In addition, referring to FIG. 2, a gap G1 between the left edge of the vehicle body 100 and the left edge of the muffler 730 may have the same dimensions as a gap G2 between the right edge of the vehicle body 100 and the right edge of the fuel tank 300 in order to simplify the bottom of a vehicle.
Referring to FIG. 1, the muffler 730 may be located between a front side 301 and rear side 302 of the fuel tank 300. In addition, referring to FIG. 2, the muffler 730 may be also located between the bottom surface 101 of the vehicle body 100 and the bottom surface 303 of the fuel tank 300. When the muffler 730 is located in the position described in the above, the fuel tank 300 can protect the muffler 730 from external impacts when the bottom of the vehicle body collides with the ground.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 6, the suspension system 500 may include a first supporting member 510, which supports a first rear wheel (W1), and a second supporting member 520, which supports a second rear wheel (W2).
The suspension system 500 may further include a cross member 530, which connects the first supporting member 510 to the second supporting member 520.
The suspension system 500 may further include a first link member 540, one end of which is connected to a lower part of the first supporting member 510, and another end of which is connected to a first predetermined portion 531 on the cross member 530; and a second link member 550, one end of which is connected to a lower part of the second supporting member 520, and another end of which is connected to a second predetermined portion 532 on the cross member 530.
The second exhaust pipe 770 passes through a bottom surface of the cross member 530. It is preferable that one end of the first link member 540 and one end of the second link member 550 are connected to the cross member in the following scheme in order for the second exhaust pipe 770 to pass through the bottom surface of the cross member 530.
The first predetermined portion 531 may be located between ⅓ and ⅔ of the distance from the center CL of the cross member 530 to the first rear wheel (WI). In addition, the second predetermined portion 532 may be located between ⅓ and ⅔ of the distance from the center CL of the cross member 530 to the second rear wheel (W2). Therefore, the second exhaust pipe 770 can pass between the first predetermined portion 531 on the bottom surface of the cross member 530 and the center CL of the cross member 530.
In some embodiments, the first predetermined portion 531 is located at the halfway point from the center CL of the cross member 530 to the first rear wheel (W1). In addition, the second predetermined portion 532 is located at the halfway point from the center CL of the cross member 530 to the second rear wheel (W2).
As described above, a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may provide the following advantages.
Since only one muffler is included, output of engine can be improved, and manufacturing cost of the engine can be reduced. In addition, since the muffler is located at an optimal place, exhaust noise may be decreased. Furthermore, an expensive muffler need not be specifically designed for each vehicle type.
While this invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
Patent Application
20070240926
