Overlapping Intake Piping Layout for Compact Engine Room
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional engine peripheral structures require complex piping due to engine accessories like superchargers and intercoolers, making it difficult to implement a compact layout in vehicles with small engine rooms.
Innovation Solution
The engine peripheral structure includes an intake system with a low-pressure intake passage and a high-pressure intake passage that extend on one side surface of the engine body, overlapping each other in a top view, allowing for a compact layout by positioning the intercooler in a way that facilitates refrigerant piping and reduces the size of the intercooler.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional piping layout is used with supercharger and intercooler, then engine accessories can be installed, but intake system piping becomes complicated and occupies large space
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the low-pressure intake passage and high-pressure intake passage into a shared routing path along one side surface of the engine body. This consolidation reduces the overall piping complexity while maintaining the functional separation needed for supercharger and intercooler operations, directly addressing the contradiction between accessory installation and piping complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes vertical stacking of passages in the up-down direction to achieve overlapping layouts in top view. By routing passages in different vertical levels rather than spreading them horizontally, the design reduces the footprint area occupied by the intake system while maintaining all necessary connections for engine accessories.
2Adaptability or versatility
If conventional piping layout is used with supercharger and intercooler, then engine accessories can be installed, but engine room space becomes insufficient for small engine rooms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from horizontal spreading of passages to vertical stacking, allowing passages to overlap when viewed from above. This dimensional change enables the intake system to fit within a smaller horizontal footprint, making it suitable for compact engine rooms while still accommodating all necessary accessories.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent nests the high-pressure intake passage within the vertical space occupied by the low-pressure intake passage. By placing passages at different vertical levels, the design creates a nested arrangement that maximizes space utilization in the engine room, allowing accessory installation without increasing the overall engine room area requirement.
3Device complexity
If low-pressure and high-pressure intake passages are overlapped, then piping becomes compact, but passage routing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the intake system into distinct low-pressure and high-pressure passage sections with clearly defined connection points. This segmentation allows each passage to be manufactured and routed independently, then assembled together, reducing the overall routing complexity despite the overlapping configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent designs the passage routing with predetermined connection points and alignment features that simplify assembly. By pre-planning the overlap configuration and incorporating alignment mechanisms, the manufacturing and assembly processes become more straightforward despite the compact overlapping layout.
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 configuration enables a more compact and efficient layout of the intake system piping, allowing for a smaller intercooler size and improved engine response by overlapping the low-pressure and high-pressure intake passages, which reduces the burden on the supercharger and intercooler, and prevents surge noise.
Implementation Method 1
an intercooler (106) in the high-pressure intake passage (15b)
Data Source
AI summary
An engine peripheral structure includes an engine body mounted in an engine room, an intake system connected to the engine body, and a supercharger provided in the middle of the intake system. The intake system includes a low-pressure intake passage connected upstream in an intake direction of the supercharger, and a high-pressure intake passage connected downstream in the intake direction of the supercharger. The intake system has the high-pressure intake passage turned back at the supercharger with respect to the low-pressure intake passage, and has the low-pressure intake passage and the high-pressure intake passage extended on a left side surface of the engine body so as to be at least partly overlapped with each other in the up-down direction V.