Pipe protection structure

Abstract

To provide a pipe protection structure capable of appropriately protecting a fuel pipe.SOLUTION: A pipe protection structure comprises a plurality of fuel pipes 12f, 12s arranged in a wheel house 10, and a resin protector 20 that protects the plurality of fuel pipes 12f, 12s. The protector 20 has a plurality of protective parts 22f, 22s that cover and protect a part of each of the plurality of fuel pipes 12f, 12s, and a spacer part 24 that connects adjacent protective parts 22f, 22s. At least a part of at least one of the protective parts 22f, 22s is tubular and covers the entire circumference of the fuel pipes 12f, 12s.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] This specification discloses a pipe protection structure for protecting a fuel pipe routed inside a wheel house of a vehicle. [Background technology]

[0002] A plurality of fuel pipes may be arranged in a wheel house of a vehicle. Such fuel pipes need to be appropriately protected even if an obstacle (such as a pillar) hits the side of the vehicle. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2009-036271 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In view of this, protectors have been proposed for protecting each of the multiple fuel pipes in the wheel house. However, since the space in the wheel house is limited, it is often difficult to arrange multiple protectors. As a result, the conventional technology has sometimes been unable to adequately protect the multiple fuel pipes in the wheel house.

[0005] Patent Document 1 discloses a tubular protector made of rubber containing hollow fillers. Such a tubular protector can protect the fuel pipe while saving space. However, in the configuration of Patent Document 1, multiple protectors are independent of each other, so the fuel pipe is prone to relative displacement, and there are cases where the fuel pipe cannot be adequately protected.

[0006] Therefore, this specification discloses a pipe protection structure that more appropriately protects the fuel pipe. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The pipe protection structure disclosed in this specification comprises a plurality of fuel pipes arranged within a wheel house, and a resin protector that protects the plurality of fuel pipes, the protector having a plurality of protective portions that cover and protect a portion of each of the plurality of fuel pipes, and a spacer portion that connects adjacent protective portions, and at least a portion of at least one of the protective portions is tubular and covers the entire circumference of the fuel pipes. Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the pipe protection structure disclosed in this specification, a single protector protects a plurality of fuel pipes, and therefore the plurality of fuel pipes can be appropriately protected even in a small space. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. [Diagram 2] FIG. [Diagram 3] 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 2. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] The pipe protection structure will be described below with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the periphery of a wheel house 10. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the periphery of a protector 20, and Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in Fig. 2. The wheel house 10 is a panel material shaped to fit along the upper surface and inner end surface of a tire 40 in the vehicle width direction. A small gap is formed between the wheel house 10 and the tire 40.

[0011] A first fuel pipe 12f and a second fuel pipe 12s are arranged in the gap between the wheel house 10 and the tire 40. In the following, when there is no need to distinguish between the first and second fuel pipes, the suffix alphabet will be omitted and the fuel pipe will be referred to as "fuel pipe 12." In this example, the first fuel pipe 12f passes more inward in the vehicle width direction than the second fuel pipe 12s and has a larger diameter than the second fuel pipe 12s.

[0012] The two fuel pipes 12 are fixed to the vehicle body by connectors and brackets. Hereinafter, such fixing points are referred to as "fixing positions 11." At this time, in order to prevent the two fuel pipes 12 from interfering with each other, the two fuel pipes 12 are fixed apart from each other so that a predetermined gap is formed between them. The two fuel pipes 12 are gently curved in the process from one fixing position 11 to the next fixing position 11.

[0013] In this example, a protector 20 is provided between the two fixing positions 11, i.e., at a location where the two fuel pipes 12 are not fixed to the vehicle body, to protect the two fuel pipes 12. The protector 20 is composed of a first protector piece 30f and a second protector piece 30s (see FIG. 3) that sandwich the first fuel pipe 12f and the second fuel pipe 12s together. The first protector piece 30f and the second protector piece 30s are connected by a connecting means (not shown) such as a claw engagement while sandwiching the two fuel pipes 12. By being connected, the two protector pieces 30f, 30s form the first protective portion 22f, the second protective portion 22s, and the spacer portion 24.

[0014] The first protective portion 22f is a portion that covers and protects a part of the first fuel pipe 12f. In this example, the first protective portion 22f is tubular and covers the outer periphery of the first fuel pipe 12f. The second protective portion 22s is a portion that covers and protects a part of the second fuel pipe 12s. In this example, a part of the second protective portion 22s is tubular and covers the outer periphery of the second fuel pipe 12s, and another part of the second protective portion 22s only partially covers the outer periphery of the second fuel pipe 12s. The first protective portion 22f and the second protective portion 22s are radially separated from each other, and between the first protective portion 22f and the second protective portion 22s, there is a groove 32 (see FIG. 2) having a bottom surface on a connecting plate 26 described later.

[0015] A spacer portion 24 is provided between the first protective portion 22f and the second protective portion 22s. The spacer portion 24 is a portion that generates a high reaction force between the first protective portion 22f and the second protective portion 22s in order to maintain the relative positional relationship between the first protective portion 22f and the second protective portion 22s. More specifically, the spacer portion 24 has a connecting plate 26 and a plurality of partition walls 28.

[0016] The connecting plate 26 is a flat plate-like part that is stretched between the first protection part 22f and the second protection part 22s so as to connect them. The connecting plate 26 is provided for each of the first protector piece 30f and the second protector piece 30s. As shown in FIG. 3, the connecting plate 26 of the first protector piece 30f and the connecting plate 26 of the second protector piece 30s face each other so as to overlap in the thickness direction. The connecting plate 26 becomes the bottom surface of the groove 32 formed between the first protection part 22f and the second protection part 22s. The partition wall 28 is a wall that divides the groove 32 into a plurality of parts in the longitudinal direction. Each partition wall 28 has a surface that is approximately perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the groove 32 (i.e., the direction parallel to the axial direction of the fuel pipe 12). By providing such a partition wall 28, a large reaction force is generated when the first protection part 22f and the second protection part 22s try to approach each other.

[0017] Next, the reason for providing such a protector 20 will be described. The fuel pipe 12 needs to be appropriately protected even when an obstacle (such as a columnar structure) collides with the side of the vehicle. For this reason, in the past, in order to protect the fuel pipe 12, a protective member called a crash shield was wrapped around the fuel pipe 12, or an iron protector was arranged. However, the crash shield had to be wrapped around the fuel pipe 12 manually, and the manufacturing costs were high. In addition, the iron protector has a low degree of freedom in shape, so it is difficult to obtain a shape suitable for a narrow space such as the periphery of the wheel house 10. In addition, the iron protector is heavy, and this leads to an increase in the weight of the vehicle.

[0018] Furthermore, in the first place, conventional protectors were often independent of each other for each fuel pipe 12. Therefore, conventionally, a protector was required for each fuel pipe 12. However, it was not possible to secure sufficient space around the wheel house 10 to arrange such multiple protectors. As a result, it was difficult with the conventional technology to adequately protect the multiple fuel pipes 12 routed in the wheel house 10.

[0019] On the other hand, in this example, as described above, a plurality of (two in this example) fuel pipes 12 are protected by one protector 20 formed by joining a plurality of protector pieces 30f, 30s. Since there is only one protector 20, the protector 20 can be disposed in a narrow space such as the gap between the wheel house 10 and the tire 40, and the plurality of fuel pipes 12 routed in the narrow space can be appropriately protected.

[0020] As described above, in this embodiment, the spacer portion 24 that generates a high reaction force is provided between the first protective portion 22f and the second protective portion 22s. This configuration effectively prevents the first protective portion 22f and the second protective portion 22s from approaching each other, and thus effectively prevents the two fuel pipes 12f and 12s from approaching each other. As a result, interference and crushing of the two fuel pipes 12f and 12s during a side collision can be effectively prevented, and the fuel pipe 12 can be more appropriately protected. In particular, the spacer portion 24 in this embodiment has a plurality of partition walls 28. By providing a plurality of partition walls 28, the strength of the spacer portion 24 is significantly improved, and damage to the spacer portion 24 can be effectively prevented even when the vehicle is side-collided.

[0021] Furthermore, the protector 20 of this embodiment has a tubular portion that covers the entire circumference of at least a portion of at least one fuel pipe 12. With this configuration, the fuel pipe 12 is prevented from coming off the protective portion 22. As a result, the fuel pipe 12 can be more appropriately protected.

[0022] As is clear from the above description, the protector 20 of this embodiment is made of resin. Since resin has higher moldability than metal, it can be molded even into a complex shape having multiple partition walls 28. Furthermore, by making the protector 20 from resin, the manufacturing cost and weight can be reduced.

[0023] The configurations described so far are all examples, and other configurations may be changed as long as the configuration described in claim 1 is included. For example, in the above description, the number of fuel pipes 12 is two, but the number of fuel pipes 12 may be greater. When one protector 20 is to protect three or more fuel pipes 12, the protector 20 may be provided with three or more protective portions 22 and two or more spacer portions 24. The shape of the protector 20 may also be changed as appropriate. For example, as long as the spacer portion 24 can ensure a sufficiently high reaction force, the shape and number of the connecting plate 26 and the partition wall 28 may be changed as appropriate, or some may be omitted. [Explanation of symbols]

[0024] 10 wheel house, 11 fixing position, 12f first fuel pipe, 12s second fuel pipe, 20 protector, 22 protective portion, 22f first protective portion, 22s second protective portion, 24 spacer portion, 26 connecting plate, 28 bulkhead, 30f first protector piece, 30s second protector piece, 32 groove, 40 tire.

Claims

[Claim 1] A plurality of fuel pipes are arranged in the wheel house; a resin protector for protecting the plurality of fuel pipes; The protector comprises: a plurality of protection parts that cover and protect a portion of each of the plurality of fuel pipes; a spacer portion connecting adjacent protective portions; At least a portion of at least one of the protective parts is tubular and covers the entire circumference of the fuel pipe. A piping protection structure comprising:

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