Modular Fuel Supply Piping for Engine Versatility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional fuel supply piping systems for engines have low versatility and high production costs due to the need for custom molding dies for each engine specification, making mass production economies and cost-effectiveness challenging, especially for small-lot production.
Innovation Solution
A modular fuel supply device with a fuel pump, multiple fuel injectors, and a flexible fuel supply piping system featuring sockets, junction pipes, and a stay that connects and fixes the sockets to the engine main body, allowing for adaptable configurations regardless of engine specifications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional integrally molded fuel supply piping is designed according to each engine specification, then the fuel supply system can be customized for specific engine configurations, but versatility is reduced and production cost increases due to the need for custom molding dies for each engine type
Solution Approach 1:
The fuel supply piping is divided into separate modular components: a common base body and multiple attachment units that can be selectively connected. This segmentation allows the same base body to be used across different engine configurations by simply changing the attachment units, thereby improving versatility while maintaining manufacturing efficiency through standardized mass production of the common base body.
Solution Approach 2:
The base body of the fuel supply piping is designed as a universal component that can serve multiple engine configurations. By creating a common platform with standardized interfaces and selectively attachable units, the system achieves multi-functionality where a single base design supports various engine types, reducing the need for custom molding dies and lowering production costs.
2Manufacturing precision
If custom molding dies are produced for each engine specification, then precise fuel supply configuration is achieved, but economies of mass production cannot be achieved and cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the fuel supply piping into a standardized base body and configurable attachment units, the system enables mass production of the common base body with high precision through a single molding die. The precise fuel supply configuration is then achieved through the selective assembly of attachment units, separating the precision manufacturing requirement from the configuration variation requirement.
Solution Approach 2:
The base body is pre-manufactured with standardized interfaces and fuel passage configurations that are optimized for mass production. The attachment units are designed to be selectively connected to the pre-manufactured base body, allowing precise fuel supply configuration to be achieved through assembly rather than through custom molding for each configuration.
3Strength
If integrally molded fuel supply piping is used, then structural integrity is maintained, but cost-effectiveness is reduced for small-lot production due to the inability to achieve economies of scale
Solution Approach 1:
The attachment units are connected to the base body through joining structures that integrate the components into a unified fuel supply system. This merging maintains the structural integrity of the complete assembly while allowing the base body and attachment units to be manufactured separately through cost-effective processes, particularly benefiting small-lot production scenarios.
Solution Approach 2:
The universal base body design allows the same structurally sound platform to be used across multiple applications. The base body is manufactured once with high structural integrity, and different attachment units are connected to serve various engine configurations, improving cost-effectiveness by eliminating the need to manufacture entirely new integrated structures for each application.
Data Source
AI summary
A fuel supply device of an engine is provided, which has high versatility irrespective of specifications of the engine, and thus easily achieves economies of mass production, and has high cost-effectiveness even in the engine of small-lot production. The fuel supply device of the engine comprises a high pressure fuel pump that raises pressure of fuel and discharges the fuel, a plurality of fuel injectors, and a fuel supply piping that distributes the fuel discharged from the high pressure fuel pump to the fuel injectors. The fuel supply piping includes a plurality of sockets that are connected to the fuel injectors respectively, a junction pipe that connects adjacent sockets among the plurality of sockets, and a stay that integrally connects the plurality of sockets and fixes the plurality of sockets to a main body of the engine.