Fuel tank with supporting element

Abstract

The invention relates to a fuel tank (1) made from thermoplastic material, having a top (2) and a bottom (3), which are supported upon one another via at least one column-shaped supporting element (4), wherein the supporting element (4) is connected positively and/or materially to a wall (6) of the top (2), on the one hand, and to a wall (6) of the bottom (3), on the other hand, in such a way that it can absorb tensile forces caused by a pressure within the tank, wherein the supporting element (4) is designed as a one-piece solid profile which has a ribbed profile, at least in cross section.

Claims

1. A fuel tank comprising: the fuel tank made of thermoplastic material and having a tank top including a tank top wall and a tank bottom including a tank bottom wall, wherein the tank top and the tank bottom are supported between one another via at least one column-shaped supporting element, wherein the at least one column-shaped supporting element is connected to the tank top wall and the tank bottom wall and configured to absorb tensile forces from pressure within the tank, wherein the at least one column-shaped supporting element is formed as a one-piece structure having a longitudinal length extending from the tank top wall to the tank bottom wall, wherein the longitudinal length extends along a longitudinal axis of the at least one column-shaped supporting element, wherein the at least one column-shaped supporting element comprises a plurality of ribs, which extend substantially parallel to each other along the longitudinal axis of the at least one column-shaped supporting element, and are connected to each other along the longitudinal length of the at least one column-shaped supporting element, wherein the at least one column-shaped supporting element has a cross-sectional profile transverse to the longitudinal axis of the at least one column-shaped supporting element, and wherein the cross-sectional profile of the at least one column-shaped supporting element transverse to the longitudinal axis of the at least one column-shaped supporting element is a solid profile.

2. The fuel tank according to claim 1, wherein: the at least one column-shaped supporting element has a top end and a bottom end and at least one of the top end and the bottom end includes a welding surface.

3. The fuel tank according to claim 2, wherein: the at least one of the top end and the bottom end having the welding surface includes at least one displacement channel configured to receive material during welding.

4. The fuel tank according to claim 2, wherein: the welding surface includes a plurality of welding pads.

5. The fuel tank according to claim 4 wherein the plurality of welding pads are provided by end faces of a plurality of ring segments.

6. The fuel tank according to claim 4 wherein the plurality of welding pads are provided by end faces of a plurality of welding ribs.

7. The fuel tank according to claim 2, wherein: the at least one of the top end and the bottom end having the welding surface further includes at least one vent opening passing through an end face thereof.

8. The fuel tank according to claim 2, wherein: the welding surface has a welding surface area, the at least one column-shaped supporting element has a maximum cross-sectional area transverse to the longitudinal axis of the at least one column-shaped, and a ratio of the welding surface area to the maximum cross-sectional area of the at least one column-shaped supporting element is ≦1.5.

9. The fuel tank according to claim 2, wherein: the at least one column-shaped supporting element is made from at least two different plastics, wherein the welding surface of the at least one of the top end and the bottom end is made from a thermoplastic material compatible for weldability with the at least one of the tank top wall and the tank bottom wall, respectively, whereas a main body of the at least one column-shaped supporting element is made from a relatively harder plastic.

10. The fuel tank according to claim 1, wherein: the at least one column-shaped supporting element has at least one integrally formed baffle element.

11. The fuel tank according to claim 1, wherein: the at least one column-shaped supporting element has at least one longitudinally extending groove profile or at least one fastening aperture, in which at least one baffle element is latched.

12. The fuel tank according to claim 11, wherein: at least one baffle element is configured to fasten at least one of at least one internal fitting and at least one line of the fuel tank.

13. The fuel tank according to claim 1, wherein: at least one of the tank top wall and the tank bottom wall includes a dome-shaped recess, and the at least one column-shaped supporting element extends from the dome-shaped recess.

Description

(1) The invention is explained below by means of an illustrative embodiment shown in the drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1: shows a partial section through a fuel tank according to the invention in the region of the arrangement of a supporting element,

(3) FIG. 2: shows a cross section through the supporting element according to the invention in accordance with lines II-II in FIG. 3,

(4) FIG. 3: shows a perspective view of the supporting element according to the invention,

(5) FIG. 4: shows a perspective view of a supporting element according to the invention with integrally formed baffle elements,

(6) FIG. 5: shows a sectioned view through a fuel tank according to the invention having one version of the supporting element, and

(7) FIG. 6: shows another version of the supporting element with a clipped-on baffle element.

(8) The fuel tank 1 illustrated in the figures is composed substantially of thermoplastic material and comprises a top 2 and a bottom 3, between which at least one supporting element 4 extends. The supporting element 4 is of one-piece design and is welded at the ends to a wall of the top 2 and of the bottom 3, respectively.

(9) In the version of the fuel tank 1 illustrated in FIG. 1, the supporting element is welded to the wall 6 of the top 2 in the region of a recess 5 in said wall and, in the region of the welding to the wall 6 of the bottom 3, said wall is of substantially smooth design.

(10) The supporting element 4 is designed as a one-piece solid profile with ribs 7 extending in the longitudinal direction of the supporting element 4. This profile comprises a main body 8, which is composed of a relatively hard, brittle and torsionally rigid plastic.

(11) At each end, the supporting element has welding surfaces 9, which are integrally formed and, for example, can be provided in the form of welding pads 10 at one end and in the form of a welding flange 11 at the other end. In the illustrative embodiment of the supporting element 4 which is shown in FIG. 3, welding pads 10 are provided on a supporting element at the end facing the top 2, and a welding flange 11 is provided on the end facing the bottom 3. The invention should be interpreted such that the supporting element 4 can have welding pads at both ends or welding flanges at both ends or can have a welding flange on the end facing the top 2 and welding pads on the end facing the bottom 3.

(12) As an alternative, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the supporting element can be provided with welding ribs 12 at one or both ends.

(13) As shown indicatively in FIG. 3, the supporting element 4 can have fastening tongues 13 for mounting baffle elements.

(14) In the version of the supporting element illustrated in FIG. 4, this comprises two integrally formed baffle elements 14.

(15) By way of example, the supporting element 4 can be composed of a polyamide or an ABS, while the welding pads 10 or the welding flange 11 or the welding ribs 12 can be composed of an HDPE or an LDPE, for example, which can be welded to the wall 6 of the fuel tank 1 based on HDPE.

(16) In this case, the supporting element 4 can be designed as a two-component injection moulding, for example.

(17) In the version of the fuel tank 1 according to the invention which is shown in FIG. 5, the supporting element 4 is arranged between two oppositely arranged dome-shaped recesses 5 in the top 2 and in the bottom 3 of the wall 6 of the fuel tank 1. This embodiment has the advantage, in particular, that the fuel tank 1 can be fitted with a plurality of supporting elements in such a way that the selected spacing between the supporting elements 4 is relatively large because the top 2 and the bottom 3 form an arched structure which allows an optimum flow of force between the supporting element 4 and the wall 6 or the top 2 and bottom 3. This arrangement has an increased load-bearing capacity for the same number of supporting elements.

(18) In the illustrative embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the supporting element 4 comprises a main body 8 and welding flanges 15 formed in one-piece with the main body 8. The ribbed structure of the main body 8 is not shown in these illustrations.

(19) The main body 8 of the supporting element 4 is furthermore provided with at least one undercut fastening groove 16, into which one or more baffle elements 14 can be clipped or latched. The baffle elements have a mating profile of complementary design to the groove 16.

(20) Reference is made once again to FIG. 3, which shows a perspective view of the supporting element 4 from above, wherein the supporting element 4 is provided with welding pads 10 which are arranged as partial ring segments on the end face of the main body 8. The welding pads 10 each form radially extending displacement channels 17, from which material at the melting temperature can be displaced during the welding of the welding pads 10 to the wall 6 of the top 2 or of the bottom 3.

(21) A similar effect is achieved with the channels according to the illustrative embodiment in FIG. 4, which extend between the welding ribs 12.

(22) Referring once again to FIG. 3, vent openings 18 are provided in the ends of the main body 8, said openings communicating with the interspaces between the ribs 7 of the main body 8, thus ensuring that any trapped gas escapes during the joining process or during welding and improving the reliability of the joining process.

(23) 19 denotes a groove in a baffle element 14 (see FIG. 4), into which, for example, a fuel line or vent line or the like laid in the fuel tank 1 can be clipped.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

(24) 1 fuel tank 2 top 3 bottom 4 supporting element 5 recesses 6 wall 7 ribs 8 main body 9 welding surfaces 10 welding pads 11 welding flanges 12 welding ribs 13 fastening tongues 14 baffle element 15 welding flanges 16 groove 17 displacement channels 18 vent openings 19 groove