Operating Liquid Tank With Pump Assembly Of Multi-Part Construction

Abstract

An operating liquid tank for a motor vehicle, comprising a tank wall enclosing a tank volume that can be filled with an operating liquid, a filling arrangement designed for introducing operating liquid into the tank volume, and a removal arrangement designed for the removal of operating liquid from the tank volume, wherein the removal arrangement comprises a pump assembly with a pump and a pump drive, the pump assembly comprises at least two assembly components that are formed separately from one another and are or can be coupled magnetically to one another, and of which a first assembly component as drive component comprises at least one part of the pump drive and a second assembly component as conveying component comprises a conveying part of the pump that can be driven by the pump drive relative to a conveying component housing for movement, wherein the tank wall extends between the drive component and the conveying component and physically separates the conveying component located on the inner face of the tank wall from the drive component located on the outer face of the tank wall.

Claims

1-12. (canceled)

13. An operating liquid tank for a motor vehicle, comprising a tank wall enclosing a tank volume that can be filled with an associated operating liquid, a filling arrangement designed for introducing the associated operating liquid into the tank volume, and a removal arrangement designed for the removal of the associated operating liquid from the tank volume, wherein the removal arrangement comprises a pump assembly with a pump and a pump drive, the pump assembly comprises at least two assembly components that are formed separately from one another and are or can be coupled magnetically to one another, and of which a first assembly component as drive component comprises at least one part of the pump drive and a second assembly component as conveying component comprises a conveying part of the pump that can be driven by the pump drive relative to a conveying component housing for movement, wherein the tank wall extends between the drive component and the conveying component and physically separates the conveying component located on an inner face of the tank wall from the drive component located on an outer face of the tank wall.

14. The operating liquid tank according to claim 13, wherein the drive component comprises at least one stator of an electric motor.

15. The operating liquid tank according to claim 14, wherein the drive component comprises an armature, in particular a rotor, of the electric motor.

16. The operating liquid tank according to claim 13, wherein the drive component has a stator and an armature, in particular a rotor, of an electric motor.

17. The operating liquid tank according to claim 16, wherein the conveying component comprises a magnetic coupling part that is connected to the conveying part so as to transmit motion and is or can be coupled magnetically to the armature, in particular the rotor, of the electric motor.

18. The operating liquid tank according to claim 13, wherein the conveying component comprises the complete pump.

19. The operating liquid tank according to claim 13, wherein the conveying component housing completely surrounds the conveying component with the exception of through openings for passage of the associated operating liquid to the conveying part and away from it.

20. The operating liquid tank according to claim 13, further comprising a conveying line that is guided away from the conveying component through the tank wall.

21. The operating liquid tank according to claim 20, wherein a section of the conveying line is at least one of formed integrally with the tank wall and is formed between the tank wall and a part of the conveying component housing.

22. The operating liquid tank according to claim 13, wherein the conveying component housing comprises a housing component that is connected in a fluid-tight manner to a section of the tank wall.

23. The operating liquid tank according to claim 13, wherein at least one section of the conveying component is provided in a protuberance projecting outwards with respect to the surrounding tank wall.

24. The operating liquid tank according to claim 23, wherein the protuberance is at least one of a cylindrical protuberance and a conical protuberance.

25. The operating liquid tank according to claim 23, wherein at least one section of the drive component surrounds the protuberance radially externally.

26. The operating liquid tank according to claim 13, wherein at least one part of the conveying component housing is formed by a section of the tank wall.

27. The operating liquid tank according to claim 26, wherein the section of the tank wall includes a protuberance formed in the tank wall.

28. A motor vehicle having an operating liquid tank according to claim 13.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] The invention may take physical form in certain parts and arrangement of parts, a preferred embodiment of which will be described in detail and illustrated in the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof and wherein:

[0035] FIG. 1 shows a broadly schematic longitudinal sectional view of a first embodiment of an operating liquid tank according to the invention; and,

[0036] FIG. 2 shows a broadly schematic longitudinal sectional view of a second embodiment of an operating liquid tank according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0037] Referring now to the drawings wherein the showings are for the purpose of illustrating preferred and alternative embodiments of the invention only and not for the purpose of limiting the same, a motor vehicle reducing liquid tank according to the invention (designated below only as a “liquid tank” or “tank”) is designated generally by 10 in FIG. 1. The liquid tank 10 preferably comprises an upper shell part 12 that has a filling opening 14, with a flange rim 16 surrounding the filling opening 14. A filling line, for instance a filling pipe (not shown in FIG. 1), can be connected to the flange rim 16.

[0038] The liquid tank 10 is an SCR tank, which is designed and intended to receive aqueous urea solution that is used in motor vehicles for selective catalytic reduction of the exhaust gas and thus for exhaust gas purification. An aqueous urea solution available on the market for this purpose is known by the trade name “AdBlue”®.

[0039] Furthermore, the liquid tank 10 comprises a lower shell part 18. The upper shell part 12 and the lower shell part 18 are preferably joined, for example glued or welded, to one another along a respective peripheral joining flange 24 or 26. The joining flanges 24 and 26 touch one another along a joint face 28 that is preferably planar.

[0040] The tank 10 has a tank wall 30 that surrounds a tank volume 32 in the interior of the tank 33 of the tank 10. The tank wall 30 is formed, on the one hand, by the wall 34 of the upper shell part 12 and, on the other hand, is formed by the wall 36 of the lower shell part 18.

[0041] An inner face 30a of the tank wall 30 forms a boundary surface of the tank wall towards the tank volume 32. The inner 30a in turn is formed, on the one hand, by the inner face 34a of the wall 34 of the upper shell part 12 and, on the other hand, is formed by the inner face 36a of the wall 36 of the lower shell part 18.

[0042] In the illustrated example, the tank wall 30, more precisely the wall 36 of the lower shell part 18, has on its side face a protuberance 38 on which a pump assembly 40 is seated. The pump assembly can also be arranged in the region of the bottom of the tank 10 instead of a side wall.

[0043] The pump assembly 40 comprises a first assembly component 42 which serves as a drive component 42. It comprises a component housing 44, in which a stator 46 of an electric motor is accommodated. Electrical power supply lines of the stator and a control device for operation of the stator are not illustrated in FIG. 1, but are generally known. The stator surrounds a cylindrical or conical outer surface 38a of the protuberance 38, so that the tank wall 30, quite generally, and the protuberance 38 with its outer surface 38a, in particular, form a part of the component housing 44.

[0044] A second assembly component 48 of the pump assembly 40 is provided inside the tank volume 32. As a conveying component 48, this second assembly component 48 serves to receive a movable conveying part 50, for instance a pump impeller that is merely indicated.

[0045] The conveying part 50 in the conveying component 48 can be separated by a partition 52 from an armature 54 that, together with the stator 46, forms an electric motor.

[0046] The armature rotating as the rotor 54 about the rotor axis R can comprise, with the conveying part 50, a rotor shaft 56 that is designed to transmit a rotating movement and is surrounded by a plurality of rotor magnets 58, wherein the rotor magnets 58 are preferably permanent magnets, so that the rotor 54 requires no electrical power supply.

[0047] In operation, in the stator 46 a rotating magnetic field, which magnetically couples the armature 54 and sets it in operation about the axis R, comprises electric coils of a predetermined pole pitch. The conveying component 48 is operated by the torque-transmitting connection of the rotor 56 to the conveying part 50, so that by a suction line 60, which preferably ends at the base of the tank 10, operating liquid can be drawn in and conveyed away from the conveying component 48 by a delivery line 62.

[0048] The conveying line 62 preferably passes through the tank wall 30 in a region in which the tank wall 30 is not permanently wetted by operating liquid, not even when the tank 10 is filled with its nominal amount of operating liquid. The conveying line 62 can pass through the tank wall 30 in the region of the tank top, wherein because of the low degree of wetting of the tank top a simple sealing component 64 is sufficient for sealing the point where the conveying line 62 passes through the tank wall 30. In a departure from the illustration in FIG. 1, the conveying line 62 can extend further to a dispensing point outside the tank 10, for instance an injection valve for injection of aqueous urea solution into an exhaust gas system of an internal combustion engine of a vehicle.

[0049] The tank wall 30, in particular in the region of the protuberance 38, or the protuberance 38 as a whole, can form a part of a conveying component housing 66, as is illustrated in FIG. 1 for a design alternative in the upper half of the conveying component 48 (see the section of the conveying component 48 above the rotor axis R). Then, the front face 38b of the protuberance 38 can form a base of the conveying component housing 66 which, together with the partition 52, delimits the accommodating space for the armature 54.

[0050] In the alternative embodiment of the upper half of the conveying component 48 in FIG. 1, a housing cover 66′ is preferably provided that closes off the protuberance 38. A flange 66′a of such a housing cover 66′, preferably running completely around the protuberance 38, can be glued in a liquid-tight manner to the inner face 30a of the tank wall 30.

[0051] Furthermore, in addition or—preferably—as an alternative to the conveying line 62, a section of the conveying line 62″ can be formed integrally with the tank wall 30. Starting from the conveying part 50, a further conveying line section 62′ can lead to the conveying line 62″ that is formed integrally with the tank wall 30, and said further conveying line section is formed between the inner face 30a of the tank wall 30 and the housing cover 66′ (see the configuration of the alternative embodiment of the upper half of the conveying component 48 shown by broken lines in FIG. 1).

[0052] In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the magnetic coupling between the drive component 42 and the conveying component 48 extends through the outer surface 38a of the protuberance 38.

[0053] A second embodiment of an operating liquid tank 110 according to the invention is shown in FIG. 2. The second embodiment according to FIG. 2 is described below only in so far as it differs from the first embodiment according to FIG. 1, and otherwise for explanation of the second embodiment according to FIG. 2 explicit reference may be made to the description of said first embodiment. Components and component sections which are the same or functionally the same as those in FIG. 1 are given the same reference numerals in FIG. 2, but increased by the number 100.

[0054] In the second exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the tank wall 30 has no protuberance, but is substantially planar in the region accommodating the pump assembly 140.

[0055] In the second embodiment the armature 154 with the rotor shaft 156 and the rotor magnet 158 seated thereon also extends beyond the stator 146 in the drive component 142. Thus the drive component 142 of the second embodiment comprises the complete electric motor-powered pump drive.

[0056] Since the rotor 156 in the second embodiment is no longer coupled mechanically to the conveying part 150, in addition to the conveying part 150 a coupling part 168 connected thereto so as to transmit torque is accommodated in the conveying component 148. The coupling part 168 can be connected adhesively to the conveying part 150 for torque transmission.

[0057] The coupling part 168 can have a magnet arrangement that is polarized in such a way that it interacts with the magnetic field emanating from the armature 154, more precisely from the rotor magnet 158. Thus the magnetic coupling between the drive component 142 and the conveying component 148 takes place through the tank wall 130 between the armature 154 of the electric motor and the coupling part 168 of the conveying part 150.

[0058] Then, when the armature 154 is set in rotation by the rotating magnetic field on the stator 146, the coupling part 168 is entrained under the influence of the magnetic field that emanates from the armature 154 and then likewise rotates, so that finally the conveying part 150 is driven for rotation so that in turn operating liquid is drawn in through the suction line 160 towards the conveying part 150 and is conveyed away therefrom by the conveying line 162.

[0059] As well as an outstanding conveying effect, the sealing costs for the embodiments presented here of an operating liquid tank according to the invention are very low.

[0060] While considerable emphasis has been placed on the preferred embodiments of the invention illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated that other embodiments, and equivalences thereof, can be made and that many changes can be made in the preferred embodiments without departing from the principles of the invention. Furthermore, the embodiments described above can be combined to form yet other embodiments of the invention of this application. Accordingly, it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter is to be interpreted merely as illustrative of the invention and not as a limitation.