Patent Application
20170074223
The present disclosure relates to a fuel injector mounting device. The present disclosure further relates to a fuel rail equipped with the fuel injector mounting device.
Conventionally, a fuel rail may be equipped to an internal combustion engine. A fuel rail may be equipped with a fuel injector to inject fuel into a combustion chamber of an engine. A fuel rail may employ a structure to receive a fuel injector.
According to an aspect of the preset disclosure, a cup may be in a bottomed tubular shape and may be configured to receive an injector along an injector axis. A bracket may be extended from a sidewall of the cup. The bracket may include at least one arm and a body. The at least one arm may connect the body with the cup. The body may form a screw opening configured to receive a screw along a screw axis. The body may have a pivot end on an opposite side of the screw axis from the injector axis.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description made with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:
As follows, a first embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to drawings. In the description, a vertical direction is along an arrow represented by “VERTICAL” in drawing(s). An axial direction is along an arrow represented by “AXIAL” in drawing(s). A longitudinal direction is along an arrow represented by “LONGITUDINAL” in drawing(s). A width direction is along an arrow represented by “WIDTH” in drawing(s). A radial direction is along an arrow represented by “RADIAL” in drawing(s). A circumferential direction is along an arrow represented by “CIRCUMFERENTIAL” in drawing(s).
As shown in
In
The bracket 50 may be extended from the sidewall 42 of the cup 40 along the longitudinal direction of the fuel rail 10. The bracket 50 may be formed of metal such as stainless steel by, for example, forging and/or machining. The bracket 50 may be may be integrally formed as a monolithic one piece. The bracket 50 may include a body 60 and two arms 70. The arms 70 connect the body 60 of the bracket 50 with the cup 40. The body 60 forms a screw opening 60a configured to receive the screw 160. When the screw opening 60a receives the screw 160, the screw 160 may be aligned along a screw axis 160ax. In the present example, the screw axis 160ax and the injector axis 110ax may be in parallel with each other.
The body 60 may have a top surface 61 and a bottom surface 62 each being a flat surface. The top surface 61 and the bottom surface 62 may be in parallel with each other. The body 60 has a pivot end 64 on the opposite side of the screw axis 160ax from an arm-side ends 66.
In
The injector 110 may have a fuel inlet end 112 to be seated within the internal space 40a of the cup 40. The fuel inlet end 112 may be equipped with an O-ring 114 to seal between the fuel inlet end 112 of the injector 110 and the inner periphery of the sidewall 42 of the cup 40 thereby to restrict fuel from leaking out from the internal space 40a of the cup 40. The sidewall 42 of the cup 40 may have a dimension to receive the fuel inlet end 112 of the injector 110 such that the fuel inlet end 112 of the injector 110 abuts the inner periphery of the sidewall 42 of the cup 40. In this way, the cup 40 may align the injector 110 along the injector axis 110ax. The injector axis 110ax may extend through an axial center of both the cup 40 and the injector 110, when the cup 40 receives the injector 110.
In
The bracket 50 may be in a U-shape. The U-shape may include an Ω-shape (Omega-shape) in which a body width W1 of the body 60 is greater than an arm width W2, which corresponds to the outer dimension of the arms 70. That is, the bracket 50 may be narrowed at the arms 70 relative to the body 60.
The U-shape may include a literally U-shape in which the body width W1 of the body 60 is the same as the arm width W2, which corresponds to the outer dimension of the arms 70. That is, the bracket 50 may be in a straight and round shape in which the arms 70 extend linearly to the body 60 without a narrowed portion.
In the example, the body 60 may be asymmetric relative to the screw axis 160ax in the longitudinal direction.
The body 60 may have an arc periphery in an arc shape on the side of the arm-side end 66. The arc periphery of the body 60 may extend along an imaginary circle 160c, which is coaxial with the screw axis 160ax. The imaginary circle 160c may inscribe the arc periphery of the body 60 or may circumscribe the arc periphery of the body 60. The screw axis 160ax may be at a distance L1 from the arm-side end 66. More specifically, the arm-side end 66 may be located on an end of the imaginary circle 160c on the side of the arms 70. Therefore, the distance L1 may be between the screw axis 160ax and an end of the imaginary circle 160c on the side of the arm-side end 66. The screw axis 160ax may be at a distance L2 from the pivot end 64. The distance L2 may be greater than the distance L1.
The cup 40 may be cantilevered from the fuel rail 10 via the connection between the curved dent 42b of the cup 40 and the surface of the fuel rail 10. The cup 40 may be extended from the fuel rail 10 perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction of the fuel rail 10.
The body 60 of the bracket 50 may be cantilevered from the cup 40 via the arms 70. In the example, the bracket 50 may be indirectly supported by the fuel rail 10 via the cup 40. The bracket 50 may be extended from the cup 40 along the longitudinal direction of the fuel rail 10. The bracket 50 may be spaced from the surface of the fuel rail 10. In the example, the bracket 50 may be angled by 90 degrees twice relative to the longitudinal direction of the fuel rail 10.
In
In the state, the injector 110 is enabled to inject fuel into a combustion chamber of the engine 100. In this case, the injector 110 may inject fuel at high pressure into the combustion chamber within which fuel (fuel mixture) may be burned at high pressure. When the injector 110 injects fuel into the combustion chamber, the injector 110 may be applied with a reactive force F-INJ, which may act the cup 40 through the injector 110 upward in the drawing. Thus, the reactive force F-INJ may act the cup 40 through the injector 110 to raise the cup 40 to be away from the cylinder head 102. To the contrary, the screw 160 may apply a screw force F-SCR onto the bracket 50 downward in the drawing. Thus, the screw force F-SCR may act to hold down the cup 40 and the injector 110 toward the cylinder head 102 via the bracket 50.
The reactive force F-INJ may act to rotate the injector mounting device 20 in the clockwise direction about the pivot end 64, and to the contrary, the screw force F-SCR may act to rotate the injector mounting device 20 in the counterclockwise direction about the pivot end 64. In the state, the pivot end 64 may function as a pivot (fulcrum).
The cylinder head 102 may apply a reactive force F-HEAD onto the pivot end 64 in response to the reactive force F-INJ and the screw force F-SCR. In the state, the screw force F-SCR may be balanced to sum of the reactive force F-INJ and the screw force F-SCR.
In
In the example, the body 60 may be asymmetrical relative to the screw axis 160ax in the longitudinal direction, and the distance L2 between the screw axis 160ax and the pivot end 64 is set to be greater than the distance L1 between the screw axis 160ax and the arm-side end 66. In this way, the pivot end 64 may be set to be farther away from the screw axis 160ax. As the distance L2 is set greater, the moment (F-HEAD×L2) may become greater accordingly. Therefore, the present example may enable to increase the moment (F-HEAD×L2) effectively by employing the asymmetric shape for the body 60 to set the distance L2 at a high value.
In the example, the bracket 50 may be cantilevered from the cup 40. The arms 70 may form the gap 70a therebetween. Thus, the bracket 50 may be less rigidly supported by the fuel rail 10. The entire structure of the fuel rail 10 and the injector mounting device 20 may permit to flex itself and may allow flexure and torsional deformation. The structure may enhance dimensional tolerance of the entire structure including the fuel rail 10 and the injector mounting devices 20 reactive to the cylinder head 102 of the engine 100.
As shown in the example of
In the example, the cutout portions 270a may be distant from a connection between the bracket 50 and the cup 40 by a distance L8 to avoid stress concentration at the connection.
As shown in the example of
As shown in the example of
The configuration may enable the center axis of the positioner 470 to coincide with the longitudinal axis of the stud 162 of the screw 160. The configuration may enable to tightly control a tolerance of the inner aperture of the positioner 470 with respect to the screw 160. Alternatively, the inner diameter of the inner aperture of the positioner 470 may be greater than an outer diameter of the stud 162 of the screw 160. The positioner 470 may be configured to function as a washer.
The screw opening 60a of the body 60 may be formed greater than the size of the stud 162 of the screw 160 to enable the stud 162 to move within the screw opening 60a. The positioner 470 may enable a screw head 164 of the screw 160 to be seated on the positioner 470.
The distance L3 between the injector axis 110ax and the screw axis 160ax may vary due to dimensional tolerance of the components and deformation caused by, for example, thermal application caused by brazing. The positioner 470 may absorb variation in dimension of the components and may enable to increase dimensional tolerance.
As shown in the example of
Inner surfaces of the arms 70, which are opposed to each other, may be at an angle relative to each other. That is, the inner surfaces of the arms 70 may be not in parallel with each other. The non-parallel inner surfaces of the arms 70 may reduce resonance caused therebetween.
As shown in the example of
The sidewall of the cup may have two key slots corresponding to the two arms. In this case, the two key slots may receive one ends of the two arms, respectively. The two key slots may have shapes corresponding to the shapes of the one ends of the two arms, respectively.
The features of the above-described embodiments may be arbitrarily combined with each other and/or may be replaced with each other.
It should be appreciated that while the processes of the embodiments of the present disclosure have been described herein as including a specific sequence of steps, further alternative embodiments including various other sequences of these steps and/or additional steps not disclosed herein are intended to be within the steps of the present disclosure.
While the present disclosure has been described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not limited to the preferred embodiments and constructions. The present disclosure is intended to cover various modification and equivalent arrangements. In addition, while the various combinations and configurations, which are preferred, other combinations and configurations, including more, less or only a single element, are also within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.
