tank

Abstract

To provide a tank that can be filled with liquid without burdening the worker. [Solution] The tank 1 is a tank for storing liquid and comprises a base 10 that forms a storage space S for storing liquid, a cylindrical portion 20 that forms a flow path C communicating with the storage space S, a guide portion 50 that is rotatable in the flow path C around a rotation axis A2 perpendicular to the central axis A1 of the cylindrical portion 20, and an operating portion 60 for rotating the guide portion 50 around the rotation axis A2. The guide portion 50 has a first hole h1 that passes through the center O of the guide portion 50 in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis A2, and a second hole h2 that passes through the center O of the guide portion 50 in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis A2 but different from the first hole h1, and the opening of the second hole h2 is larger than the opening of the first hole h1.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a tank.

Background Art

[0002] Vehicles are equipped with tanks for storing liquids such as fuel (diesel or gasoline) for running and a reducing agent (aqueous urea) for exhaust gas purification. When filling such a tank with a liquid, a gun nozzle may be used at a gas station or the like. For example, Patent Document 1 describes filling aqueous urea into a filling port of an aqueous urea tank of a vehicle by inserting a gun nozzle of a liquid storage tank.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] However, filling a liquid into a tank is not limited to using a gun nozzle. For example, for an aqueous urea tank of a vehicle, there may be a case where a flexible resin nozzle is attached to a pouch-type or back-in-box-type aqueous urea container that can be carried by a person to fill the aqueous urea. In many cases, the diameter of this resin nozzle is different from that of the gun nozzle, and the filling port of the tank does not correspond to both nozzles. For example, even if the filling port of the tank corresponds to the gun nozzle but does not correspond to the resin nozzle, in a situation where an operator has to use the resin nozzle, the operator has to perform the filling operation while fixing the resin nozzle by hand, which places a burden on the operator.

[0005] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a tank that can be filled with a liquid without imposing a burden on an operator.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The present invention has been made to solve at least some of the aforementioned problems and can be realized in the following embodiments or application examples.

[0007] The tank according to this application example is a tank for storing liquid, comprising: a base that forms a storage space for storing the liquid; a cylindrical portion that forms a flow path communicating with the storage space; a guide portion that is rotatably positioned in the flow path around a rotation axis perpendicular to the central axis of the cylindrical portion; and an operating portion for rotating the guide portion around the rotation axis, wherein the guide portion has a first hole that passes through the center of the guide portion in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis, and a second hole that passes through the center of the guide portion in a direction different from that of the first hole in perpendicular to the rotation axis, and the opening of the second hole is larger than the opening of the first hole.

[0008] According to this application example, the operator can rotate the guide section by operating the control unit, thereby switching between the first and second holes located along the central axis of the cylindrical section. This allows two types of nozzles (e.g., a resin nozzle and a gun nozzle) to be inserted into either the first or second hole from the cylindrical section. As a result, the operator can fill the tank with liquid without having to manually hold the nozzle being used, regardless of which of the two types of nozzles is being used.

[0009] Therefore, according to this application example, it is possible to provide a tank that can be filled with liquid without burdening the worker. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0010] [Figure 1] This is an overall diagram of a truck equipped with a tank. [Figure 2] This is a magnified view of a characteristic part of the tank shown in Figure 1 (area A shown in Figure 1). [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0011] Next, an embodiment of the tank according to the present invention will be described with appropriate reference to Figures 1 and 2.

[0012] As shown in Figure 1, Tank 1, which is one embodiment of the tank according to the present invention, is attached to the chassis frame F of a truck 1000, for example. In this embodiment, Tank 1 is attached to the left side frame that constitutes the chassis frame F via a bracket (not shown) or the like. Since the mounting structure of Tank 1 is the same as that of conventional tanks, a description of the mounting structure of Tank 1 will be omitted.

[0013] Tank 1 is for storing urea solution (liquid). This urea solution is used as a reducing agent to decompose (purify) NOx and other substances contained in the exhaust of the engine (not shown) of the truck 1000 during operation. As shown in Figure 2, Tank 1 comprises a base 10, a cylindrical part 20, a holding part 30, fasteners 40 (40A, 40B), a guide part 50, and an operating part 60.

[0014] The base portion 10 is a roughly rectangular parallelepiped with the upper part on the outer side in the vehicle width direction cut out, forming a storage space S, which is an internal space for storing urea water. Specifically, the base portion 10 is composed of a bottom plate, four side plates, and a top plate t that is inclined on the outer side in the vehicle width direction. An opening is formed in the inclined portion of the top plate t of the base portion 10. This opening is formed between the storage space S, which is the internal space of the base portion 10, and the flow path C in the cylindrical portion 20, and communicates with both the storage space S and the flow path C.

[0015] The cylindrical portion 20 is formed in a cylindrical shape that forms a flow path C that communicates with the storage space S. The flow path C is formed along the central axis A1 of the cylindrical portion 20 shown in Figure 2.

[0016] The holding portion 30 is formed in the shape of a flat plate with a roughly diamond shape when viewed from the front, and is attached to the base portion 10 to hold the cylindrical portion 20. Specifically, in the holding portion 30, the cylindrical portion 20 is connected to the central part of the roughly diamond shape when viewed from the front by welding or the like, and through holes are formed on both ends of the roughly diamond shape when viewed from the front, to which the fasteners 40 are attached.

[0017] The fasteners 40 (40A, 40B) are hexagonal bolts used to fix the retaining part 30 to the base part 10, and are for fixing the retaining part 30 to the base part 10.

[0018] The guide portion 50 is a sphere with two through holes (a first hole h1 and a second hole h2) passing through its center, and is positioned to rotate around a rotation axis A2 perpendicular to the central axis A1 of the cylindrical portion 20 in the flow path C of the cylindrical portion 20. Specifically, the guide portion 50 has a first hole h1 that passes through the center O of the guide portion 50 in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis A2, and a second hole h2 that passes through the center O of the guide portion 50 in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis A2, different from that of the first hole h1.

[0019] In the state shown in Figure 2, the guide portion 50 has a first hole h1 that penetrates along the central axis A1 of the cylindrical portion 20. That is, the first hole h1 is a circular hole, forming two circular openings on the surface of the guide portion 50. In the state shown in Figure 2, the second hole h2 is located along a direction d perpendicular to both the central axis A1 of the cylindrical portion 20 and the rotation axis A2 of the guide portion 50. That is, the second hole h2 is also a circular hole, forming two circular openings on the surface of the guide portion 50. The second hole h2 overlaps the first hole h1 at or near the center O of the guide portion 50.

[0020] The opening of the second hole h2 has a larger diameter than the opening of the first hole h1. The diameter of the opening of the first hole h1 is, for example, 20 mm, which corresponds to the diameter of a resin nozzle attached to a pouch-type or bag-in-box type urea solution container. The diameter of the opening of the second hole h2 is, for example, 30 mm, which corresponds to the diameter of a gun nozzle at a gas station.

[0021] The operation unit 60 is for rotating the guide unit 50 around the rotation axis A2. It is integrally formed with the guide unit 50 and is joined to the cylindrical part 20 by a latch or the like. Specifically, the operation unit 60 has a shaft part extending from a substantially rectangular flat plate part that can be gripped by an operator's finger and is connected to the guide unit 50.

[0022] Next, a method of filling the urea aqueous solution into the tank 1 shown in FIG. 2 will be described. When the operator uses a resin nozzle to fill the urea aqueous solution, the operator rotates the operation unit 60 around the rotation axis A2 to rotate the guide unit 50 so that the first hole h1 is positioned along the central axis A1 of the cylindrical part 20, and inserts the tip of the resin nozzle from the flow path C of the cylindrical part 20 into the first hole h1. Then, with the resin nozzle penetrating the first hole h1, the operator fills the urea aqueous solution from the resin nozzle into the storage space S of the base 10.

[0023] Also, when the operator uses a gun nozzle to fill the urea aqueous solution, the operator rotates the operation unit 60 around the rotation axis A2 to rotate the guide unit 50 so that the second hole h2 is positioned along the central axis A1 of the cylindrical part 20, and inserts the tip of the gun nozzle from the flow path C of the cylindrical part 20 into the second hole h2. Then, with the gun nozzle penetrating the second hole h2, the operator fills the urea aqueous solution from the gun nozzle into the storage space S of the base 10.

[0024] According to the tank 1 of this embodiment, by the operator operating the operation unit 60 to rotate the guide unit 50, the holes positioned along the central axis A1 of the cylindrical part 20 can be switched between the first hole h1 and the second hole h2. Therefore, the resin nozzle and the gun nozzle can be inserted into the cylindrical part 20 from the first hole h1 and the second hole h2 respectively. As a result, the operator can fill the urea aqueous solution into the tank 1 without manually fixing the nozzle used, regardless of whether the resin nozzle or the gun nozzle is used. In this way, the urea aqueous solution can be filled without imposing a burden on the operator.

[0025] This concludes the description of this embodiment, but the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to this embodiment. For example, in this embodiment, the tank 1 is for storing urea solution, but it may be for storing liquids other than urea solution (for example, diesel fuel, gasoline, or other fuels).

[0026] Furthermore, although the cylindrical portion 20 is formed in a cylindrical shape in this embodiment, the cylindrical portion in the present invention is not limited to a cylindrical shape and may be formed in a rectangular cylindrical shape. Also, the shape of the guide portion in the present invention is not limited to a sphere, but may be any shape that can rotate within the cylindrical portion in the present invention, for example, it may be a cylindrical body with the rotation axis A2 as its central axis. Moreover, in the present invention, a locking mechanism may be provided to lock the guide portion 50 in a predetermined state so that the guide portion 50 does not rotate. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0027] 1 tank 10 base 20 Cylinder part 30 Holding part 40(40A, 40B) Fastener 50 Guide section 60 Control section A1 center axis A2 rotation axis C channel d direction F Chassis Frame h1 First hole h2 Second hole O center S Storage space t Top plate

Claims

[Claim 1] A tank for storing liquid, A base that forms a storage space for storing the aforementioned liquid, A cylindrical portion that forms a flow path communicating with the aforementioned storage space, In the aforementioned flow path, a guide portion is positioned to be rotatable around a rotation axis perpendicular to the central axis of the cylindrical portion, It comprises an operating unit for rotating the guide unit around the rotation axis, The guide portion has a first hole that passes through the center of the guide portion in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis, and a second hole that passes through the center of the guide portion in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis, different from the first hole. The opening of the second hole is larger than the opening of the first hole. tank.

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