Cover device

Abstract

To provide a cover device capable of protecting components mounted on a vehicle (for example, piping and cables connected to a battery) while reducing a labor required for maintenance.SOLUTION: A cover device disposed on a component mounted on a vehicle includes: a bottom wall part inclined from a side surface of the component toward a tire side of the vehicle and having a plurality of through holes formed therein; and a side wall part extending upward in the vehicle height direction from a tip end portion of the bottom wall part and spreading between the tire of the vehicle and a member connected to the component.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a cover device.

Background Art

[0002] In recent years, from the perspective of reducing environmental impact, electrification of commercial vehicles such as trucks using electric motors has been progressing.

[0003] In an electrified commercial vehicle, a battery that supplies power to an electric motor is mounted on a side rail of the vehicle. Further, cooling pipes, electrical cables, etc. are arranged in the battery.

[0004] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an electric truck in which a battery pack is mounted from the center of a side rail to the outside in the vehicle width direction, and a refrigerant pipe is arranged on the side surface of the battery pack on the outside in the vehicle width direction.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0005]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0006] When a battery is disposed outside the side rail in the vehicle width direction as in Patent Document 1, the battery is positioned behind the front wheels of the vehicle. Usually, a mudguard or the like is provided behind the tire to suppress the splashing of mud and stones to the rear side of the front wheels. However, for example, among commercial vehicles, when a device such as a crane device is provided between the cab and the loading platform as in a crane-equipped vehicle, the distance from the front wheels to the battery becomes long. As a result, there is a risk that a stone (flying stone) splashed up by the front wheels passing under the mudguard may hit the battery body, the pipes connected to the battery, or the cables.

[0007] On the other hand, since the battery mounted on the commercial vehicle is exposed, simply providing a cover that covers the battery, pipes, and cables will cause water, mud, snow, etc. to accumulate on the cover, increasing the weight and causing rust, etc., so it is necessary to regularly maintain the cover.

[0008] Therefore, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a cover device that can protect components (for example, pipes and cables connected to the battery, etc.) mounted on the vehicle while suppressing the labor of maintenance.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0009] The present disclosure has been made to solve at least a part of the above-described problems, and can be realized as the following aspects or application examples.

[0010] The cover device according to this application example is a cover device provided on a component mounted on a vehicle, and includes a bottom wall portion that is inclined from the side surface of the component toward the tire side of the vehicle and has a plurality of through holes, and a side wall portion that extends upward in the vehicle height direction from the tip portion of the bottom wall portion and spreads between the tire of the vehicle and a member connected to the component.

[0011] By providing a cover device having a side wall portion and a bottom wall portion that spread between the tire and the member connected to the component on the component in this way, damage to the component (battery and members (pipes and cables) connected to the battery) caused by mud splashing and flying stones can be suppressed. In addition, the bottom wall portion that connects the side wall portion and the side surface of the component is inclined and has through holes, so that drainage is good and mud and snow are not likely to accumulate. Thereby, it is possible to protect the components mounted on the vehicle while suppressing the labor of maintenance.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0012]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Embodiments for Carrying out the Invention

[0013] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the content described below, and can be arbitrarily changed and implemented within the scope of not changing the gist. In addition, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments schematically show the constituent members, and partial emphasis, enlargement, reduction, or omission are performed to deepen the understanding, and there are cases where the scale, shape, etc. of the constituent members are not accurately represented.

[0014] Hereinafter, the "vehicle height direction" refers to the vertical direction of the vehicle, the "vehicle width direction" refers to the left-right direction of the vehicle, and the "vehicle length direction" refers to the front-rear direction of the vehicle.

[0015] FIG. 1 is a side view showing the overall configuration of a vehicle 1 equipped with a cover device 40 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The vehicle 1 equipped with the cover device 40 of the first embodiment is a crane truck provided with a crane device 4 for loading and unloading materials between a cabin 2 and a cargo bed 3. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle 1 is an electric vehicle including a motor (electric motor) 10 serving as a driving source of the vehicle 1, a driving battery 11 that shares power with the motor 10, and a radiator 12 used for cooling the driving battery 11.

[0016] The motor 10 is provided between a pair of left and right side rails extending in the vehicle length direction (only the side rail on the left side of the vehicle is shown). The motor 10 drives the vehicle 1 by driving the rear wheels 15 via a power transmission device (not shown). The motor 10 is electrically connected to the drive battery 11 via the cable 5.

[0017] The drive battery 11 is a secondary battery such as a lithium-ion battery, for example. The drive battery 11 can convert the stored electric power from direct current to alternating current via an inverter-converter (not shown) and supply it to the motor 10. Also, the drive battery 11 can store the electric power regenerated by the motor 10. In FIG. 1, only the drive battery 11 provided on the left side of the vehicle is shown, but a drive battery having the same configuration is also provided on the right side of the vehicle. For the sake of simplifying the following description, the drive battery 11 on the left side of the vehicle will be described.

[0018] The drive battery 11 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape that is long in the vehicle length direction and is connected to the outside of the side rail 13 in the vehicle width direction via the bracket 20. The bracket 20 forms the outer shell of the drive battery 11 and covers a part or all of the front, rear, left, right, upper, and lower surfaces (six surfaces) of the drive battery 11. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the bracket 20 covering the front surface of the drive battery 11 is formed of a plate-like member. The drive battery 11 has a cooling passage through which cooling water (refrigerant) passes inside, and the cooling passage is connected to the radiator 12 via a cooling pipe 30 connected to the drive battery 11.

[0019] The radiator 12 is mounted in front of the cabin 2 of the vehicle and is a heat exchanger in which cooling water circulates inside and exchanges heat with the outside air to cool the cooling water. That is, the radiator 12 cools the cooling water that has become hot by cooling the drive battery 11 and circulates it back to the drive battery 11. Note that the refrigerant is not limited to cooling water and may be oil (oil cooling) or gas.

[0020] The cooling pipe 30 has a supply pipe 31 through which cooling water flows from the radiator 12 to the drive battery 11, and a discharge pipe 32 through which cooling water flows from the drive battery 11 to the radiator 12. The supply pipe 31 and the discharge pipe 32 are formed of a piping member made of metal or resin. Further, the supply pipe 31 and the discharge pipe 32 are extended along the side rail 13, for example, from the joint portion with the radiator 12 to the joint portion with the drive battery 11 of the vehicle 1 (see FIG. 1). Although not shown, a pump for circulating the cooling water is provided in the cooling pipe 30.

[0021] The front wheel 14 (front tire) is suspended in front of the side rail 13, and the rear wheel 15 (rear tire) is suspended behind it. As shown in FIG. 1, the motor 10 and the drive battery 11 are arranged between the front wheel 14 and the rear wheel 15 in the vehicle length direction. In particular, the drive battery 11 is located on the rear side of the front wheel 14 with a space for the crane equipment 4 left. The outer portion in the vehicle width direction of the front surface (one side surface) of the drive battery 11 is in a position facing the tire circumferential surface of the front wheel 14, and the supply pipe 31 and the discharge pipe 32 are connected at the outer portion in the vehicle width direction of the front surface of the drive battery 11 (that is, directly behind the front wheel 14).

[0022] As shown in FIG. 1, a cover device 40 is disposed between the front wheel 14 and the drive battery 11 so as to cover the connection portion of the supply pipe 31 and the discharge pipe 32 with the drive battery 11. The cover device 40 is manufactured by molding a metallic plate such as steel or stainless steel, and is attached to the bracket 20.

[0023] FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of a main part of the vehicle 1 provided with the cover device 40. FIG. 3 is a front perspective view showing a state in which the cover device 40 is attached to the bracket 20 of the drive battery 11, and FIG. 4 is a top view of the cover device 40.

[0024] As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the cover device 40 is provided on the front surface 20b of the bracket 20. The cover device 40 includes an upper wall portion 41 that extends substantially horizontally forward in the vehicle length direction (toward the front wheel 14 side) from the upper surface 20a of the bracket 20, a bottom wall portion 42 that is inclined so as to rise from the lower part of the front surface 20b of the bracket 20 toward the front in the vehicle length direction (toward the front wheel 14 side), and a side wall portion 43 that expands in the vehicle height direction so as to connect the tip of the upper wall portion 41 and the tip of the bottom wall portion 42.

[0025] As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the proximal end side of the upper wall portion 41 is in contact with the upper surface 20a and is fixed to the upper surface 20a by a connecting tool 21 such as a bolt. As shown in FIG. 4, the upper wall portion 41 has a substantially right trapezoidal shape with a shorter side on the proximal end side (rear side), and the corner on the proximal end side is chamfered and curved. And the upper wall portion 41 is notched so that the cooling pipe 30 passes through the inner side in the vehicle width direction (see FIGS. 3 and 4).

[0026] As shown in FIG. 4, the bottom wall portion 42 has a substantially right trapezoidal shape with a shorter side on the proximal end side (rear side), and the outer side in the vehicle width direction is notched. In the present embodiment, a notch is provided on the surface facing the upper wall portion 41, and a notch is also provided on the surface of the upper wall portion 41 facing the bottom wall portion 42.

[0027] As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the bottom wall portion 42 has an inclination angle that inclines upward from the front surface 20b toward the side wall portion 43. A plurality of through holes 45 that are long in the vehicle width direction are formed in the front and rear of the bottom wall portion 42. The plurality of through holes 45 are formed in parallel at equal intervals, and the lengths in the vehicle width direction are also the same. The through holes 45 have a function of suppressing water drainage and snow accumulation.

[0028] Here, as shown in FIG. 2, a mudguard 6 extending in the vehicle height direction is provided in the cabin 2 of the vehicle 1 behind the front wheels 14. On the other hand, due to the layout where the crane equipment 4 is provided, the drive battery 11 is arranged behind the front wheels 14 with a space for the crane equipment 4 left. Since there is a certain gap between the front wheels 14 and the drive battery 11 in this way, as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 2, there is a possibility that the flying stones from the front wheels 14 pass below the mudguard 6 and reach the drive battery 11. The inclination angle of the bottom wall portion 42 is set such that the flying stones do not pass through the through hole 45, or even if they pass through the through hole 45, they do not hit or are less likely to hit the cooling pipe 30, with respect to the trajectory of the flying stones from the front wheels 14 shown by the dotted line in FIG. 2.

[0029] Further, a flange 44 extending downward is formed at the lower edge of the bottom wall portion 42. As shown in FIG. 3, the flange 44 is substantially parallel to the lower edge of the front surface 20b of the bracket 20 and is fixed to the bracket 20 by the connectors 21 at two positions on the left and right.

[0030] As shown in FIG. 3, the side wall portion 43 has a substantially square shape with the upper corner on the inner side in the vehicle width direction cut out, and extends parallel to the front surface 20b between the front wheels 14 and the drive battery 11. And there is a space between the front surface 20b and the side wall portion 43, and the cooling pipe 30 is disposed in the space. That is, from the front side in the vehicle length direction, the side wall portion 43 is configured to cover the cooling pipe 30 disposed in the drive battery 11.

[0031] As described above, the cover device 40 according to the first embodiment can be attached without changing the arrangement of the cooling pipe 30 by providing notches in the upper wall portion 41 and the bottom wall portion 42, and can be lightweight while maintaining the strength of the cover device 40.

[0032] Further, in the cover device 40, a side wall portion 43 extends between the front wheel 14 and the cooling pipe 30 connected to the drive battery 11, and damage to the drive battery 11, the cooling pipe 30, etc. caused by mud splashes or flying stones can be suppressed. Also, by inclining the bottom wall portion 42 to form the through hole 45, drainage is good and mud and snow are not likely to accumulate. Thereby, while reducing the labor of maintenance, it is possible to protect the refrigerant pipe piping, electrical cables, etc. connected to the battery.

[0033] Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[0034] FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional side view of a cover device according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and the following description will be based on this figure. The cover device 50 according to the second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that a plurality of flange portions 56 are provided downward in the vehicle height direction from the through hole 55 in the bottom wall portion 52. In the configuration of the second embodiment, the same components as those in the configuration of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted.

[0035] As shown in FIG. 5, in the cover device 50 of the second embodiment, a flange portion 56 that inclines downward in the vehicle height direction and toward the front surface 20b is provided for each through hole 55 from the through hole 55 in the bottom wall portion 52. The flange portion 56 is a substantially elliptical plate member and is formed to have a length approximately the same as the length in the vehicle width direction of the through hole 55. And the flange portion 56 is provided on the front side in the vehicle length direction of the through hole 55 and has a role of preventing flying stones from passing through the through hole 55.

[0036] The formation of the flange portion 56 is, for example, formed by bending, with a part of the portion to be drilled left connected to the bottom wall portion 52 during the process of forming the through hole 55 in the bottom wall portion 52. Note that the formation of the flange portion 56 is not limited to bending and may be formed by joining by welding or the like.

[0037] As described above, the cover device 50 according to the second embodiment can achieve substantially the same effects as the cover device 40 according to the first embodiment. Further, in the second embodiment, by providing the flange portion 56 in the through hole 55, it is possible to further suppress damage to the cooling pipe 30 caused by the flying stones passing through the through hole 55.

[0038] With the above, the description of the embodiments of the present invention is completed, but the aspects of the present invention are not limited to this embodiment.

[0039] For example, the notches in the upper wall portion and the bottom wall portion are not limited to the positions described in the above embodiments. For example, notches may be provided in accordance with the arrangement of pipes and cables, or notches may not be provided.

[0040] Also, the cover device according to each of the above embodiments is provided to protect the cooling pipe arranged from the radiator, but it is not limited to the cooling pipe. For example, a cover device may be provided to protect cables.

[0041] Also, the cover device according to each of the above embodiments is provided between the front wheel and the drive battery to protect the drive battery from flying stones bounced up by the front wheel, but the cover device may be provided between the rear wheel and the motor. For example, when the vehicle is moving backward, the cables arranged on the motor may be damaged by the flying stones bounced up by the rear wheel, and a cover device may be provided on the motor to suppress damage to the cables.

[0042] Also, the cover device is not limited to the drive battery and cables, and may be for protecting other vehicle parts.

[0043] The cover device according to each of the above embodiments is fixed at two locations each for the upper wall portion and the flange by a connecting tool, but it is not limited to this, and it may be fixed at one or more locations. Also, without using a connecting tool, for example, it may be joined to the bracket of the drive battery by welding or the like.

[0044] The bottom wall portion of the cover device according to each of the above embodiments is inclined so as to rise from the side surface of the component toward the front wheel. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, it may be inclined so as to descend from the side surface of the component toward the front wheel. That is, as long as the bottom wall portion is inclined at an angle such that the flying stones from each wheel such as the front wheel and the rear wheel do not pass through the through hole, or even if they pass through the through hole, they do not hit or hardly hit components such as the cooling pipe, the vertical direction of the inclination toward the tire side is not limited.

Explanation of Signs

[0045] 1 Vehicle 2 Cabin 3 Loading platform 4 Crane equipment 5 Cable 6 Mud guard 10 Motor 11 Driving battery 12 Radiator 13 Side rail 14 Front wheel 15 Rear wheel 20 Bracket 20a Upper surface 20b Front surface 21 Connector 30 Cooling pipe 31 Supply pipe 32 Discharge pipe 40, 50 Cover device 41 Upper wall portion 42, 52 Bottom wall portion 43 Side wall portion 44 Flange 45, 55 Through hole 56 Flange portion

Claims

【Claim 1】 A cover device disposed on a component mounted on a vehicle, a bottom wall portion that is inclined from a side surface of the component toward a tire side of the vehicle and has a plurality of through holes formed therein; a side wall portion that extends upward in the vehicle height direction from a tip portion of the bottom wall portion and spreads between a tire of the vehicle and a member connected to the component; The cover device is characterized by comprising the above.

Images