Fuel Tank with Roller Escape Recesses for Welding Interference
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fuel tank designs for saddle riding vehicles require large amounts of metal plate material, increasing material costs and complexity, while seam welding techniques face challenges in formability and interference issues with roller electrodes.
Innovation Solution
The fuel tank design incorporates a lower tank half body with expansion tank portions shallower than the main body, allowing for increased capacity without size increase, and features roller escape recesses and angled joint connections to prevent electrode interference, enabling improved formability and reduced material usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of stationary object
If a large-sized fuel tank is designed to straddle left and right main frames, then the fuel tank capacity is increased, but the material cost increases due to large amount of plate material used
Solution Approach 1:
The fuel tank is divided into an upper tank half body and a lower tank half body that are separately formed and then joined together through seam welding. This segmentation allows for more efficient material utilization while achieving the required capacity, reducing the total amount of plate material needed compared to a single-piece large tank design.
Solution Approach 2:
The lower tank half body includes expansion tank portions that extend in the width direction between the main frames, utilizing three-dimensional space more effectively. This dimensional approach increases capacity without requiring proportionally more material, as the expansion portions efficiently use the available lateral space.
2Volume of stationary object
If the fuel tank is made into a complicated shape to increase capacity without increasing size, then the capacity is increased, but the formability decreases due to roller electrode interference
Solution Approach 1:
Roller escape recesses are formed in the upper and lower tank half bodies at positions where the roller electrodes would otherwise interfere with the welding process. By extracting material to create these recesses, the complicated tank shape can be manufactured without electrode interference, maintaining both formability and the desired complex geometry for optimized capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The roller escape recesses are located only at specific critical positions where electrode interference occurs, rather than uniformly throughout the tank structure. This localized modification maintains the overall complicated shape needed for capacity optimization while preserving formability in non-critical areas.
3Ease of manufacture
If roller electrodes are used for seam welding the joint flanges, then the manufacturing process is simplified, but the roller electrodes interfere with the tank half bodies at connection portions
Solution Approach 1:
Roller escape recesses are created in the tank half bodies at the connection portions where roller electrode interference occurs. By removing material to form these recesses, the simple seam welding process can proceed without modification or interruption, maintaining manufacturing simplicity while eliminating the interference problem through geometric accommodation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design enhances fuel tank capacity and formability while minimizing material costs and electrode interference, allowing for a more compact and cost-effective fuel tank configuration that maintains structural integrity and riding posture advantages.
Implementation Method 1
the upper joint flange and the lower joint flange being sandwiched between and seam welded by a pair of roller electrodes
Data Source
AI summary
In a fuel tank in which an upper joint flange of an upper tank half body and a lower joint flange of a lower tank half body are sandwiched between and seam welded by a pair of roller electrodes, the lower tank half body includes a lower tank main body portion and expansion tank portions shallower than the lower tank main body portion and disposed on opposite sides of the lower tank main body portion. A side wall of at least one of the upper and lower tank half bodies is provided with roller escape recesses recessed inwardly, the roller escape recesses being formed at a position corresponding to a connection portion of a main body corresponding joint portion and expansion tank corresponding joint portions in a joint portion formed by seam welding, and avoiding a contact with at least one of the pair of roller electrodes.