Patent Application
20110226359
The present disclosure relates to a fluid reservoir with a light source.
This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art. Modern vehicles, such as automobiles, may be equipped with a variety of fluid holding reservoirs, or more simply, fluid reservoirs, located under a hood and/or within an engine compartment of a vehicle. However, such fluid reservoirs are not without their share of limitations. One such limitation of current fluid reservoirs is related to the material from which many are currently made. Many fluid reservoirs are molded or formed from a white or opaque material, such as plastic, and located in an area of a vehicle engine compartment that is not subjected to much natural light when a hood of the vehicle is opened. Moreover, due to the complexity of modern vehicles, fluid reservoirs may be obstructed by other objects, such as engine covers, hoses and other mechanical and electrical components. Utilizing a hand-held flashlight may assist a person in viewing the fluid level within a fluid reservoir; however, if the reservoir material is an opaque plastic, shining light directly on the reservoir from outside of the reservoir may cause such light to reflect, thereby making the viewing of a fluid level within the reservoir more difficult than if no exterior direct light were used. What is needed then, is a device that does not suffer from such limitations. Such a device will allow a user standing outside of the vehicle to look into an engine compartment and easily view a fluid level within a fluid reservoir.
This section provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features. An apparatus with a light source may employ a hollow container with a bottom exterior surface, which may define a cavity with the light source positioned with the cavity. A rigid base may be attached to the light source and be secured within the cavity. Moreover, the rigid base may form a flush surface with the bottom exterior surface of the hollow container to facilitate stable and secure placement of the hollow container within an engine compartment. The hollow container may define a hole in an exterior surface for facilitating addition or removal of a liquid within the hollow container. A cap may seal and unseal the hole in the top surface of the hollow container and provide selective access. The cavity defined by the bottom exterior surface may be concave inward toward a center of the hollow container. A fluid level sensor switch may protrude through a bottom wall of the hollow container to sense a level of a fluid inside the hollow container. An electrical control circuit may be connected to the fluid level sensor switch and the light source. The electrical control circuit may be wired or connected to cause the light source to flash when the fluid level sensor switch detects a predetermined fluid level within the hollow container. A vehicle hood may interact with a hood switch such that the hood switch may be wired to cause the light source to light when the vehicle hood is opened. A positive electrical wire may be connected to the light source, a negative electrical wire may be connected to the light source, a positive electrical wire may be connected to the fluid level sensor switch, a negative electrical wire may be connected to the fluid level sensor switch, and an electrical connector may secure or bind the positive electrical wire connected to the light source, the positive electrical wire connected to the fluid level sensor switch, the negative electrical wire connected to the light source, and the negative electrical wire connected to the fluid level sensor switch. The connector may plug into a vehicle wiring harness to obtain electrical current from a vehicle battery.
A method of controlling a light source may entail providing a light source within a fluid container, raising a hood on a vehicle thereby causing electrical closing of a hood switch, energizing a light source and causing the light source to illuminate upon electrical closing of the hood switch, sensing a fluid level below a predetermined level, causing the light source to flash in response to sensing the fluid level below the predetermined level, and installing the fluid container within an engine compartment of a vehicle.
Further areas of applicability of the present disclosure will become apparent from the description provided herein. The description and specific examples in this summary are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to
A method of controlling light source 54 may entail installing or providing a fluid reservoir 14, 28 within an engine compartment 12 of vehicle 10 and providing light source 54 within fluid reservoir 14, 28. Providing light source within fluid container may mean providing the light source within a concave cavity that is formed with an exterior wall of fluid reservoir 14, 28 such that light source 54 and any light source mounting bracket is located entirely or partially within such concave cavity. That is, light source 54, or at least an illuminating part of light source 54, may be completely, entirely or partially surrounded by a material (e.g. plastic) forming or defining such concave cavity. Thus, light may radiate from light source, through a wall thickness of the fluid container material, through a level of fluid within the container, out of the fluid within the container, again through a wall thickness of container, and reaching an eye 52 of a viewer. Continuing, method of controlling light source 54 may entail raising hood 16 on vehicle 10 thereby causing electrical closing (i.e. closing of electrical contacts) of hood switch 84, energizing light source 54 with electricity and causing light source 54 to illuminate upon electrical closing (i.e. closing of electrical contacts) of hood switch 84. Moreover, method of controlling light source 54 may entail sensing or measuring a level of fluid 42 as being below a predetermined level while hood 16 is raised, thereby causing a closed hood switch 84 to permit electricity to pass and thereby causing light source 54 to flash (i.e. blink “on” and “off”) in response to sensing the level of fluid 42 being below the predetermined level.
The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention. Individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the invention, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the invention.
Example embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough, and will fully convey the scope to those who are skilled in the art. Numerous specific details are set forth such as examples of specific components, devices, and methods, to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that specific details need not be employed, that example embodiments may be embodied in many different forms and that neither should be construed to limit the scope of the disclosure. In some example embodiments, well-known processes, well-known device structures, and well-known technologies are not described in detail.
When an element or layer is referred to as being “on”, “engaged to”, “connected to” or “coupled to” another element or layer, it may be directly on, engaged, connected or coupled to the other element or layer, or intervening elements or layers may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly engaged to”, “directly connected to” or “directly coupled to” another element or layer, there may be no intervening elements or layers present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., “between” versus “directly between,” “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent,” etc.). As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
Spatially relative terms, such as “inner,” “outer,” “beneath”, “below”, “lower”, “above”, “upper” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. Spatially relative terms may be intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is turned over, elements described as “below” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “above” the other elements or features. Thus, the example term “below” can encompass both an orientation of above and below. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly.
