The invention relates to a fuel tank of a vehicle, with a wall and filling pipe for adding fuel, the filling pipe having a mouth.
Vehicles provided with large fuel tanks, such as lorries and trucks, are often subject to fuel thefts and/or vandalism. The size of a vehicle's fuel tank can be several hundreds of litres, so losing the entire content of the tank to a thief causes a big financial loss to the owner of the vehicle. Fuel is stolen from the fuel tank most often through the fuel filling pipe or through the fuel suction pipe leading from the tank to the motor of the vehicle. A hole can also easily be punctured to the wall of a fuel tank made of plastic or thin metal sheet, through which the tank can be drained empty.
For preventing thefts, locked caps and grates riveted to the filling pipe of the fuel tank are used in vehicle fuel tanks. A locked cap is usually made of plastic, which makes the cap or its lock section is easy to break. Retrofitted grates are usually attached in place by rivets so that they are easily removable. In current fuel tanks, it is in practice not possible to prevent the puncturing of a fuel tank wall or breaking of a suction pipe in any way.
The object of the invention is to introduce a fuel tank, with which it is possible to make stealing of fuel from the tank significantly more difficult. The objects of the invention are achieved with a fuel tank, which is characterised in what is disclosed in the independent claims. Some advantageous embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the dependent claims.
The object of the invention is a fuel tank of a vehicle, which has a wall and a filling pipe for adding fuel. The filling pipe has a mouth, through which there opens a connection into the fuel tank. The fuel tank comprises a protective cover attached movably to the wall, the protective cover being movable to a first position in front of the filling pipe mouth and to a second position away from the front of the filling pipe mouth. Preferably the fuel tank comprises slide elements, such as slide rods, on which the protective cover is arranged to move between the first and second position. The mouth of the filling pipe is usually covered by a releasable cap. When the protective over is in front of the mouth, it is not possible to access the cap in the mouth and it cannot be removed from the end of the filling pipe. Steeling fuel through the filling pipe is thus impossible, when the protective cover is in the first position. Respectively, when the protective cover is in the second position, it does not prevent or hinder the handling of the cap at the end of the filling pipe. The cap can then be removed from the front of the mouth in a conventional manner for adding the fuel and attached back in place after the fuel has been added.
An advantageous embodiment of the fuel tank of the invention comprises further a locking element for locking the protective cover in place to said first position. Because of the locking element the protective cover can only be opened by a person who is capable to open the locking element. Preferably the locking element can be opened from the cabin of the vehicle. In this case, opening the locking element requires access to the cabin of the vehicle, i.e. the person opening the locking has to have keys to the cabin of the vehicle. Because being able to access the cabin already requires the possession and use of the keys of the vehicle, opening the locking element from the cabin can be arranged to occur without a separate key.
In a second advantageous embodiment of the fuel tank of the invention said locking element comprises a lock cylinder, which has a locking pin moving in and out, and the protective cover has a locking hole for receiving the locking pin. When the locking pin of the lock cylinder has been moved into the locking hole of the protective cover, the protective cover is not able to move.
In a third advantageous embodiment of the invention said lock cylinder is connectable to the pneumatic system of the vehicle and the locking pin is arranged to set into a locking position preventing the moving of the protective cover, as the air pressure in the lock cylinder is lower than the set relief pressure. In the locking position, the locking pin is placed into the locking hole in the protective cover, thus preventing the protective cover from moving. The locking pin sets to the locking position, when the pressure in the vehicle's pneumatic system is sufficiently low. Preferably the locking pin of the lock cylinder is arranged to move to a release position allowing the protective cover to move, as the pressure in the lock cylinder is higher than the set relief pressure. In the release position the locking pin moves away from the hole of the protective cover and does not prevent the moving of the protective cover. Moving the locking pin from the locking position to the release position requires that the pressure in the vehicle's pneumatic system is sufficiently high.
Yet another advantageous embodiment of the fuel tank of the invention comprises a protective casing, into which the lock cylinder is fitted. The protective casing prevents the opening of the locking of the protective cover by force by breaking the lock cylinder.
Yet another advantageous embodiment of the fuel tank of the invention further comprises a suction pipe for leading fuel out from the fuel tank. The suction pipe is arranged at least partly inside a protective casing so that the protective casing prevents the suction pipe from being detached or cut.
In yet another advantageous embodiment of the fuel tank of the invention the wall, filling pipe, protective cover and protective casing are made of steel, preferably durable special steel. Fuel tank parts made of steel endure well mechanical stress, so puncturing the wall of the fuel tank or breaking the parts protecting the filling pipe is difficult.
It is an advantage of the invention that it makes the stealing of fuel from the fuel tank significantly more difficult. Thus the invention brings the vehicle owners savings in fuel costs.
Further, the invention improves traffic safety and shortens transport times, because fuel thefts do not slow down the operation of the vehicle.
It is further an advantage of the invention that it protects the environment by preventing fuel from leaking to the environment, caused by fuel thefts.
The invention is next explained in more detail, referring to the attached drawings, in which
In
In the lid 34 of the wall 26 there is provided a filling pipe 10, through which there opens a connection through the wall into the fuel tank. The filling pipe has a mouth, which is covered by an openable cap 14 (
In
The protective casing is a trough-type part opening towards the lid 34 of the fuel tank, which has an inner wall 50 and outer wall 52, and a neck 54 (
Below the protective cover 16 there are three polygon-shaped support plates 40a, 40b, 40c attached to the upper surface of the lid 34 by welding. The first support plate 40a is attached to the edge of the lid substantially in the same line with the second longitudinal edge of the protective casing 24. The third support plate 40c is attached in the same way to the edge of the lid at a distance of the length of the protective cover from the first support plate, and the second support plate 40b is attached to the lid substantially halfway of the first and second support plate. The filling pipe 10 of the fuel tank is located between the first and second support plate. The first and second support plate and the second and third support plate are connected to each other with three slide bars 28 of a circular cross-section (
In
The first end of the protective casing 24 extends to be nearly in contact with the second edge side 44b of the protective cover 16, and the open second end of the protective casing extends up to the back side 33 of the fuel tank. In a fuel tank installed in place to the vehicle, the second end of the protective casing is located very close to the vehicle body so that the protective casing is in practice closed also from its second end. Upon leaving the protective casing, the fuel suction pipe 12 leading from the protective casing to the vehicle's motor travels protected by the vehicle's body structures.
The lock cylinder 20 is connected to the vehicle's pneumatic system by pneumatic hoses 56. In a fuel tank installed in place to the vehicle, also the pneumatic hoses travel in the protection of the vehicle's body structures immediately when leaving the protective casing. Thus it is in practice very difficult to access the pneumatic hoses, the suction pipe of the fuel tank or the lock cylinder inside the protective casing, so that they are protected against thieves and vandalizers. A control device for the lock cylinder can be arranged into the locked cabin of the vehicle so that it can only be used by a person in possession of the keys to the vehicle's cabin.
Some advantageous embodiments of the fuel tank of the invention have been explained above. The invention is not restricted to the solutions disclosed above, but the inventional idea can be applied in different ways within the limits set by the patent claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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U20154056 | Mar 2015 | FI | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/FI2016/050086 | 2/11/2016 | WO | 00 |