Air Intake Device for an Internal Combustion Engine

The present application is based on and claims priority from Japanese Patent Applications Hei 7-15242, filed on Feb. 1, 1995 and Hei 7-140644, filed on Jun. 7, 1995, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an air intake device for an internal combustion engine and, particularly, relates to an air intake device having an air cleaner and other parts related to the air intake devices combined in a unit.

2. Description of Related Art

Air intake devices for internal combustion engines are disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publications Hei 6-81735 and Hei 7-83132. Each of the above publications discloses an air intake device in which an intake manifold and an air cleaner are combined into a unit, and fuel injectors, an engine control circuit and a throttle are installed in the unit before the unit is mounted on an internal combustion engine.

European Patent Unexamined Publication 0523027A2 proposes also a unit in which an air cleaner, a throttle and an intake manifold are combined, and the injectors are disposed in the dusty side of the air cleaner.

However, each of the air cleaners disclosed in the above publications is disposed on the top of the unit, and an intake air passage which connects the air cleaner to the throttle is disposed under the air cleaner. As a result, if water gets into the filter element of the cleaner, it passes the filter element and reaches the throttle. In addition, when the element is removed for some reason such as service or inspection, dust may fall to a clean-side portion of the air cleaner and reach the throttle.

Injectors and/or an engine control circuit disposed in the intake air passage are subject to dust or other foreign particles produced from mixture of fuel, water and dust, thereby resulting in shortening life of the engine.

Further, conventional air-intake devices including the above-mentioned devices have spiral intake passages in order to tune the intake air characteristics to respective engines. It is, however, difficult to provide such complicated spiral air intake passages by molding from resinous material.

The present invention is made in view of the above problems, and a primary object of the present invention is to provide a compact air intake device which solves the above mentioned problems.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an air intake device which includes a case of an air filter element having an upper clean-side space and a lower dusty-side space with a mount member disposed adjacent to air-intake pipes of an engine, an engine control unit disposed in the dusty side space and fuel injectors fixed to the mount member.

Since the dusty side of the air cleaner is located under the filter element, water is collected in the dusty-side space and is not introduced into the throttle or the engine if water gets into the dusty-side space through an air inlet or some other gaps. If the filter element is removed from the device to be replaced or to have injectors checked or serviced, dust or some foreign particles fall only to the dusty side space and may not go to the throttle after the filter element is fixed to the device.

Since the fuel injectors and the engine control unit (hereinafter referred to as the ECU) are disposed in the dusty side space, the size of the air intake device can be reduced, thereby shortening wire connections between the ECU and fuel injectors, and easy installation into the engine compartment.

In addition, since the ECU and the fuel injectors are cooled by the air passing through the dusty-side space, the ECU is prevented from overheating and the fuel injectors do not cause engine vapor lock.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an air intake device in which the filter element is detachably fixed to an opening of the case which provides access to the fuel injectors when the filter element is detached from the case.

Accordingly, inspection and service of the fuel injectors can be carried out only by removing the filter element and an air cleaner cap.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an air intake device in which the case accommodates an air duct for connecting the clean-side space with the throttle.

Since the duct, which is a portion of the air intake passage between the air cleaner 10 and the surge tank 80, is accommodated in the air cleaner, the air intake device can be made compact while maintaining sufficient low speed engine torque. The length of the duct can be changed without changing the position of the air cleaner even when the low speed torque of the engine is changed. As a result, the air intake device according to the present invention can be installed various kinds of engines only by changing parts and portions related to the duct and a spiral intake passage, which is difficult to mold from resinous material, is not necessary.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an air intake device in which an engine head cover, a dusty-side case of the air cleaner, a throttle case and a surge tank case are integrally molded from resinous material, and the head cover, the air cleaner, the throttle, the surge tank and the air-intake manifold are combined in a unit before mounted to the engine.

As a result, the air intake device can be made compact and easy to be mounted on an engine. Since such unit operates as a unit, it is especially beneficial to a manufacturer to check the operation of the device before mounted on an engine.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an air intake device in which the air duct is composed of a cover member integrally formed on the case.

Other objects, features and characteristics of the present invention as well as the functions of related parts of the present invention will become clear from a study of the following detailed description, the appended claims and the drawings. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating an air intake device according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional side view illustrating main portion of the air intake device illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view illustrating a duct of the air intake device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional side view cut along a line IV---IV of the duct illustrated in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional side view cut along a line V--V of FIG. 6;

FIG. 6 is a plan view illustrating a mold member of the air intake device according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional side view illustrating an air cleaner cap and a throttle of the air intake device according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view illustrating an air cleaner cap to be fixed to a dusty side of the air cleaner;

FIG. 9 is a cross sectional plan view illustrating a terminal portion of an ECU of the air intake device according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional side view illustrating a fuel passage of the air intake device according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a plan view illustrating an air intake device according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional schematic side view illustrating an upper main portion of an air intake device cut along a line XIIB--XIIB and a lower main portion cut along a line XIIA--XIIA shown in FIG. 13;

FIG. 13 is a plan view illustrating an air intake device according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is an exploded-cross-sectional side view illustrating a mold member of the upper and lower main portions illustrated in FIG. 12;

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional side view illustrating a fuel passage of the air intake device according to the third embodiment;

FIG. 16 is a perspective schematic view illustrating air flow in the air intake device according to the third embodiment;

FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional side view illustrating a mold member of a throttle and a surge tank cap of an air intake device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 18 is a cross-sectional side view illustrating a fuel passage of an air intake device according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

Preferred embodiments will be described with reference to appended drawings hereafter.

A first embodiment is described with reference to FIG. 1 through FIG. 10.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, an air cleaner 10 of an internal combustion engine 90 is disposed adjacent to an engine head cover 92 which has openings for receiving ignition coils 91. A throttle 50 having a throttle valve 52 and a throttle bore 51 is disposed at a side of the air cleaner 10 opposite the engine 90. The air cleaner 10 is connected with a surge tank 80 through the throttle bore 51, and the surge tank 80 is connected through a plurality of air-intake pipes 85 of an intake manifold made of resinous material or metal, which extends from the surge tank 80 under the air cleaner, to respective intake ports 86 of the engine 90.

A case 30 of the air cleaner 10 is composed of a dusty-side case 11 (upstream side of the air cleaner 10) made of resinous material and an air cleaner cap 21 made of resinous material and extends along a line of engine cylinders to cover the entire row of the intake pipes 85. A filter element 16 is disposed in the case 30 between the dusty-side case 11 and the air cleaner cap 21 to partition the inside space of the case 30 into a dusty-side space and a clean-side space. The dusty-side space is disposed under the element 16 as shown in FIG. 2. An air inlet 12 is formed on a wall (hereinafter referred to as the first wall) 11a of the dusty-side case 11 perpendicular to the line of the engine cylinders as shown in FIG. 1.

The case 30 is located adjacent to the throttle 50 as shown in FIG. 2. A delivery pipe 13 which is connected to a fuel pump (not shown) and a plurality of fuel injectors 14 (corresponding to the engine cylinders) are disposed in the case 30. Each of the injectors 14 is inserted into a corresponding one of the intake pipes 85 through the bottom wall 11c of the case 11 and fastened by a bolt thereto from the inside thereof along with portions of the intake pipe 85, dusty-side case 11 and the delivery pipe 13.

An ECU 40 is secured to a second wall 11b of the dusty-side 11 which is located on the opposite side of the first wall 11a. The ECU 40 is composed of a case 41, connectors 44 fixed to the case 41, a printed circuit board 42 disposed in the case 41, circuits elements 43 formed on the circuit board 42b and a base plate 46 which is fastened to the second wall 11b by bolts 47 as shown in FIG. 9. The connectors 44 have, respectively, a plurality of connector pins 45 connected to the circuit elements 43, and are disposed on the second wall 11b to open to the outside of the dusty-side case 11. A hose 17 is connected between a fuel pump (not shown) and an opening 18 of the dusty-side case 11, and an end of the delivery pipe 13 is inserted into the hose 17 as shown in FIG. 10. Thus, fuel is supplied to the fuel injectors 14 from the fuel pump through the hose 17 and delivery pipe 13. The injectors 14 are controlled by the ECU 40 to supply the fuel to the engine 90.

The engine head cover 92, dusty-side case 11, the throttle bore 51 and the surge tank 80 are combined into a unit and molded integrally out of resinous material as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6. An engine side wall 31 is owned jointly by the dusty-side case 11 and the head cover 92. An upper open end 32 of the dusty-side case 11 has ear members 61 with fixing holes 61a, which are engaged with hook members 62 formed on a periphery of the air cleaner cap 21 as shown in FIG. 8. The throttle bore 51, which is disposed at the side of the dusty-side case 11 opposite the engine 90, has an open end 51a opens to a portion above the open end 32 of the dusty-side case 11 and the other end 5l b opens to the inside of the surge tank 80 formed adjacent to an outer periphery of the throttle 50.

A duct 20 made of resinous material extends in the air cleaner cap 21. The duct 20 is composed of a half member 20a having a semicircular cross-section shown in FIG. 4 and a cylindrical member 20b (shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3) connected between the half member 20a and the throttle bore 51. The duct 20 has an air intake portion 20c, which has a bell-mouth for reducing air resistance. The duct 20 is formed when the half member 20a is placed on the air cleaner cap 21 as shown in FIG. 4 (the upper wall of the cleaner cap 21 is shown on the down side). The cylindrical portion 20b is connected to the open end 51a of the throttle bore 51 air tightly by a sealing gasket 63 disposed therebetween and bonding agent 64 filled between an outer periphery of the cylindrical portion 20b and the air cleaner cap 21 as shown in FIG. 7 and, therefore, no bolt or other fastening member is necessary.

The half member 20a of the duct 20 has elongated flange portions 20d and fixing portions 20e formed on the flange portions 20d at an equal interval, which are fitted to fixing members 21a formed at corresponding portions on the inner surface of the air cleaner cap 21 as shown in FIG. 3. Then, the flanges 20d are welded to the inner surface of the air cleaner cap 20. Thus, the duct 20 is formed in the clean side of the air cleaner 10 and the air cleaner cap 21 is reinforced by the duct 20 thereby to reduce noise emitted from the upper portion of the air cleaner 10. That is, a part having length L1 of the air intake passage between the air cleaner 10 and the surge tank 80 is accommodated in the air cleaner 10 as shown in FIG. 1.

When the air intake device is assembled, the ECU 40 is fixed to the dusty-side case 11 as shown in FIG. 9 and fuel supplying parts are installed in the dusty-side case 11 and, therefore, electric wiring between them is simple. The intake manifold 85 is fixed to the bottom of the surge tank 80 by welding or bolts. After the filter element 16 is installed in the dusty side case 11, the air cleaner cap 21 is placed thereon and fixed in a detachable manner by the hook members 62 and the fixing holes 61a, as described before and shown in FIG. 8, and also by a clip (not shown) which extends from the dusty-side case 11 to hold the air cleaner cap 21.

Since the cylindrical portion 20b and the throttle bore 51 open in the same direction as the direction in which the air cleaner cap 21 is placed on the dusty-side cap 11, the cylindrical portion 20b is automatically connected to the throttle bore 51 when the air cleaner cap 21 is placed on the dusty-side case 11, as shown in FIG. 7.

Thus, the head cover 92, the air cleaner 10, the throttle 50, the surge tank and the air intake manifold 85 are assembled in a unit and fixed to the engine 90 and, therefore, installation of the air intake device becomes easy.

Operation of the air intake device is described next.

Air introduced from the air inlet 12 into the dusty side case 11 is filtered by the filter element 16 to remove dust, and is introduced into the clean side of the air cleaner 10. The clean air goes through the intake portion 20c of the duct 20 and the throttle 50 to the surge tank 80. Then, the air is distributed to each of the intake pipes 85 of the intake manifold to be supplied to each one of the cylinders of the engine 90 from each one of the intake ports 86. The quantity of the air introduced into the inlet 12 is controlled by the throttle valve 52.

Since the ECU 40 and the fuel supplying parts are disposed in the dusty side case 11 of the air cleaner 10 and between the head cover 92 and the surge tank 80, the size of the air intake device can be reduced, resulting in short wiring between the ECU 40 and other electric parts and easy installation into the engine compartment. In addition, since the ECU 40 and the fuel supplying parts are cooled by the air passing through the air cleaner 10, the ECU 40 is prevented from overheating and the fuel supplying parts does not cause the vapor lock of the engine.

Further, since the open end of the dusty-side cover 11 provides a wide space, inspection and service of the fuel injectors 14 can be carried after only the air cleaner cap 21 and the filter element 16 are removed from the air cleaner 10.

Furthermore, if water is introduced into the dusty-side case 11 through the intake passage or some other gaps or spaces, it is collected in the dusty-side case 11 and is not introduced into the engine 90 since the dusty side of the air cleaner is located under the filter element 16.

Furthermore, since the duct, which is the portion having length L1 of the air intake passage between the air cleaner 10 and the surge tank 80, is accommodated in the air cleaner as shown in FIG. 1, the air intake device can be made compact while maintaining sufficient low speed torque. The length of the duct can be changed without changing the position of the air cleaner 10 in order to change the low speed torque of the engine. As a result, the air intake device according to the first embodiment can be installed various kinds of engines by changing only parts and portions related to the duct.

An air intake device according to a second embodiment of the present invention is described with reference to FIG. 11.

Incidentally, the same reference numerals used in the following drawings for this and other embodiments indicate the same or the substantially the same parts or portions and, therefore, the detailed descriptions thereon are omitted.

A duct 20, which is disposed in the air cleaner cap 21, has a resonator 239 for changing the resonating frequency of noise generated by an engine.

Since the resonator 239 is disposed in the clean side of the air cleaner, only simple sealing is required, and the air intake device can be made compact.

An air intake device according to a third embodiment of the present invention is described with reference to FIGS. 12 through 16.

The air intake device is used for a four-cylinder engine, and composed of an air cleaner 10 which has an air cleaner cap 21 made of resinous material and a dusty-side case 11, a surge tank 80 which has a surge tank cap 82 and a lower case 81 bonded together by ultrasonic bonding or the like, a throttle 50 which has a throttle bore 51 and a throttle valve 52 and an intake manifold which has a plurality of suction pipes 85, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13. The suction pipes 85 are formed between an upper wall portion 85a and lower wall portion 85b.

The dusty-side case 11 of the air cleaner 10, the upper wall portion 85a of the intake manifold, the lower case 81 of the surge tank 80 are molded into a unit 1 of resinous material as shown in FIG. 14. The upper wall portion 85a is formed as a common bottom member of the dusty-side case 11 and the lower case 81. A delivery pipe 13 is also formed integrally on the dusty-side case 11 as shown in FIG. 12.

The air cleaner 10 is composed of the dusty-side case 11 and the air cleaner cap 21. The dusty-side case 11 has a plurality of fixing members 61 each having a fixing hole on a periphery of the upper open end, and the air cleaner cap 21 has the same number of fixing hooks 62 at portions corresponding to the fixing holes (as shown in FIG. 8 for the first embodiment). An air inlet 12 is formed on the dusty-side case 11 as shown in FIG. 13, a filter element 16 is disposed between the dusty-side case 11 and the air cleaner cap 21 to partition the inner space of the air cleaner to form a dusty-side space under the filter element 16 and a clean-side space thereabove as shown in FIG. 12.

Four fuel injectors 14 corresponding to engine cylinders are housed in the dusty-side case 11 and secured thereto by bolts (not shown) so as to inject fuel into the respective suction pipes 85 through the corresponding upper wall portion 85a. The injectors 14 are connected to the delivery pipe 13, which has one end disposed outside the dusty-side case 11 and connected to a fuel supply hose 17, which is connected to a fuel pump (not shown), by a nipple, a bolt 18b and a nut 18a as shown in FIG. 15. An ECU 40 is disposed inside the dusty-side case 11 and fixed to a wall opposite a wall having the air inlet 12. The air cleaner cap 21 is placed on an open end of the dusty-side case 11. A cylindrical duct 20, which is made of resinous material, extends in the air cleaner cap 21. The duct 20 is bonded to the inner surface of the air cleaner cap 21 by ultrasonic bonding or the like. The duct 20 has a bell-mouth 20c for reducing air resistance as shown in FIG. 13.

The throttle 50 has a throttle bore 51 and a throttle valve 52 as shown in FIG. 12. An end 51a of the throttle bore 51 is connected to an end 20b of the duct via a sealing gasket 63 made of rubber. The other end 51b of the throttle bore 51 is connected to the surge tank cap 82 through a gasket 53 and fastened by bolts 54 as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13.

When the air intake device is assembled, the upper wall portion 85a and the lower wall portion 85b are bonded together by ultrasonic bonding or the like to form four air-intake pipes 85. Then, the ECU 40 is fixed to the dusty-side case 11, and the injectors 14 and other related parts are fixed in the dusty-side case 11 as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13. Thereafter, the throttle bore end 51b is connected to the surge tank cap 82, and they are welded together by supersonic bonding or the like as shown in FIG. 12.

After the air filter element 16 is placed on the upper open end of the dusty-side case 11, the air cleaner cap 21 is fixed to the dusty-side case 11 with the fixing members 62 being inserted into the fixing holes of the dusty-side case 11 in a detachable manner as shown in FIG. 13. The air cleaner cap 21 is held by metal clamps 65 thereafter. When the cleaner is fixed to the dusty-side case 11, the duct end 20b is automatically connected to the throttle bore end 51a as shown in FIG. 12. Thus, the air intake device is assembled and mounted on the engine as a unit.

Operation of the air intake device according to the second embodiment is described next.

Air is introduced into the dusty-side case 11 from an air intake duct through the air inlet 12. The air is filtered by the filter element 16 and is introduced into the clean-side space of the air cleaner 10 and sent to the surge tank 80 through the duct end 20b and the throttle 50. The air introduced into the surge tank 80 is distributed to the respective air intake pipes 85, and supplied to the respective cylinders of the engine 90 through the intake ports thereof.

Fuel supplied by the fuel pump is introduced into the delivery pipe 13 through the fuel supply hose 17 and distributed to each of the injectors, which inject fuel into the respective engine cylinders according to signals from the ECU 40.

Since the air intake manifold is formed by the upper wall portion which is formed on the unit 1 and the lower wall portion 85b which is separate from the unit 1, no particular molding machine is required for providing the unit 1 and the member forming the lower wall portion 85b.

A fourth embodiment is described with reference to FIG. 17 next.

A throttle bore portion 251 and a surge tank cap portion 282 are formed into a unit in this embodiment. An end 251a of the throttle bore 251 is provided with a sealing gasket (not shown) to connect a duct of an air cleaner (reference numeral 10 in the preceding embodiment). Other portions are substantially the same as the third embodiment.

When the air intake device is assembled, the lower portion of the surge tank cap 282 is placed on the upper open end of a housing lower case (reference numeral 81 in FIG. 12), and they are welded together. Then, the air cleaner cap (reference numeral 21 in FIG. 12) is placed on a dusty-side case (reference numeral 11 in FIG. 12), and the throttle end 251a is inserted into a duct end (reference numeral 20b in FIG. 12), thereby connecting the air cleaner and the throttle 251.

This embodiment reduces the number of parts and eliminates air leaking between the throttle and the surge tank.

An air intake device according to a fifth embodiment is described with reference to FIG. 18 next.

The connection of a delivery pipe 313 and a fuel hose 317 is only different from that of the third embodiment. An end 313a of the delivery pipe 313 extends outward from the dusty-side case 11 and inserted into the fuel supply hose 317. As a result, the connection can be carried out with ease.

The inner surface of the air cleaner cap 21 is a part of the duct described in the previous embodiment. However, the above duct 20 can be replaced with a cylindrical duct composed of the separate members. The duct 20, also, can be disposed on the air cleaner cap 21.

The air intake devices according to the present invention are described only with in-line type engines. However, they are available to other types of engines such as a V-engine.

The head cover 92, the dusty-side case 11, the throttle bore 51 and the surge tank 80 can be made of aluminum die-casting or metal plate instead of molding of resinous material. They can be combined into a unit by bolts or welding before mounted on the engine.

The duct 20 and the throttle 50 can be disposed in a vertical line so that the air cleaner cap 21 with the duct 20 is placed on the dusty-side case 11 from above, and the duct end 20b and the throttle bore end 51a meet each other in the vertical direction instead of the horizontal direction in the previous embodiments.

Although the present invention has been fully described in connection with the preferred embodiment thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as being included within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.