Title of Invention	SUPPORT STRUCTURE FOR VEHICULAR AIR CLEANER
Abstract	There is disclosed a support structure for a vehicular air cleaner characterized in that an air cleaner supporting bracket is mounted on a body-side mount bracket of an engine mount device for supporting an engine on a frame of a vehicle, and a vehicular air cleaner is supported on the air cleaner supporting bracket.

Full Text

This invention relates to a support structure for a vehicular air cleaner, and particularly to a support structure for a vehicular air cleaner, in which the effects of a mass damper and a dynamic damper are obtained by the vehicular air cleaner, and a dedicated mass damper and dynamic damper are eliminated to reduce the number of parts, to reduce the weight, to reduce the number of assembling steps and to reduce the cost. It is known in the prior art that an engine mounted on a vehicle is supported in a floating state on a frame of the vehicle by means of an engine mount device. This engine is provided with a vehicular air cleaner for removing dust in the atmosphere. The vehicular air cleaner is supported on the frame of the vehicle or the like. Such a support structure for a vehicular air cleaner is disposed in Japanese utility Model Publication No.52743/1995. In the support structure for a vehicular air cleaner disclosed in the aforementioned publication, an engine mount member having an engine mounted thereon is supported on the frame of a body by means of a floating mount structure, a cleaner bracket is projected upward from the engine mount member, and a lower part of an air cleaner case is supported by the cleaner bracket. The vehicle has a problem in that during operation, vibrations resulting from variation in rotational frequency - 2 - of the engine are propagated to the frame to generate a resonance. To avoid this, the vehicle is additionally provided with a mass damper, a dynamic damper or the like in order to secure low vibrations and stillness. However, the provisions of parts such as a mass damper, a dynamic damper or the like or the vehicle brings forth an increase in number of parts, an increase in weight and an increase in number of assembling steps, resulting in an inconvenience of an increase in cost. In the light of the foregoing, in an attempt of removing the aforesaid inconveniences, according to the invention, there is provided an arrangement wherein an air cleaner supporting bracket is mounted on a body-side mount bracket of an engine mount device for supporting an engine on a frame of a vehicle, and a vehicular air cleaner is supported on said air cleaner supporting bracket, and wherein said vehicular air cleaner is supported on said air cleaner supporting bracket through an elastic member having a predetermined spring constant. The elastic member is generally made of vibration resistant rubber or vibration prevention rubber, such as, styrene butadiene rubber (SBR). Such material generally possesses heat resistance and oil resistance characteristics. Typical hardness of such material can be 70 HS and typical intensity 10 Mpa. According to the present invention, there is provided a support structure for a vehicular air cleaner characterized in that an air cleaner supporting bracket is mounted on a body-side mount bracket of an engine mount device for supporting an engine on a frame of a vehicle, and a vehicular air cleaner is supported on said air cleaner supporting bracket. With this, the load of the vehicular air cleaner is exerted on the engine mount device, -3- and the effect of a mass damper can be obtained by the load of the vehicular air cleaner. Further, in this support structure for a vehicular air cleaner, the vehicular air cleaner is supported on said air cleaner supporting bracket through an elastic member having a predetermined spring constant. With this, the effect of the dynamic damper can be obtained by the elastic member. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS : Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a support structure for a vehicular air cleaner. Fig. 2 is a front view showing the mounting state of an air cleaner support bracket. Fig. 3 is an assembly diagram showing the support state of the vehicular air cleaner. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT : An embodiment of this invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 to 3 show the embodiment of this invention. In Fig. 1, reference numeral 2 designates a frame of the vehicle not shown; 4, an engine mounting device for an engine not shown; and 6, a vehicular air cleaner. On the frame 2 of the vehicle is supported the engine in a floating state by means of the engine mounting device 4. The engine mounting device 4 has a body-side mount bracket 8, an engine mount member 10 formed from an elastic member, and an engine-side mount bracket 12. - 4 - The body-side mount bracket 8 is mounted on the frame 2. The body-side mount bracket 8 is provided with a body-side support hole 14. The engine mount member 10 is provided with a mount support hole 16. The engine mount member 10 is supported on the body-side mount bracket 8 by inserting a mount support bolt 18 into the body-side support hole 14 and the mount support hole 16 and threadedly mounting a mount support nut 20 thereon. The engine-side mount bracket 12 is mounted on the engine mount member 10. The engine-side mount bracket 12 is mounted on the engine not shown. An air cleaner support bracket 22 is mounted on the body-side mount bracket 8 of the engine mounting device 4. As shown in Fig. 3, the air cleaner support bracket 22 is provided with a mounting portion 2 4 for mounting mounted on the body-side mount bracket 8, and a support portion 26 for an air cleaner for supporting the vehicular air cleaner 6. The mounting portion 24 for mounting is provided with a mounting hole 28. The support portion 26 for an air cleaner is provided with a support hole 30. The vehicular air cleaner 6 has an upper case 32 and a lower case 34, in which a filter element (not shown) is encased. The upper case 32 is provided with an upper-side connecting pipe 36. The lower case 34 is provided with a lower-side connecting pipe 38. The lower case 34 is provided on the lower surface thereof with a - 5 - support portion 40 supported on the support portion 26 of the air cleaner supporting bracket 22. The air cleaner support bracket 22 is mounted on the body-side mount bracket 8 by being fastened together by inserting the mount support bolt 18 of the engine mounting device 4 into the mount hole 28 of the mounting portion 24 for mounting and threadedly mounting the mount support nut 20 thereon. An annular elastic member 42 is fitted along a peripheral groove 44 on an outer peripheral surface thereof in the support hole 30 of the support portion for an air cleaner 26 of the air cleaner support bracket 22. This elastic member 42 has a predetermined spring constant, and a support portion 40 provided on the lower surface of the lower case 34 of the vehicular air cleaner 6 is extended through a center through-hole 46. Thereby, the vehicular air cleaner 6 is supported in a floating state through the elastic member 42 on the air cleaner support bracket 22. Reference numeral 48 designates a mounting member. The mounting member 48 is provided at one end side with a mounting portion 50 for a body and at the other end side with a mounting member 52 for an air cleaner in parallel, the mounting portion 50 for a body being provided with a mounting hole 54 for a body, the mounting member 52 for an air cleaner being provided with a mounting hole 56 for an air cleaner. The lower case 34 of the vehicular air cleaner 6 is provided at the side thereof with an air cleaner-side support portion 58 in parallel, and with an air cleaner-side support hole 60. An annular elastic member 62 is fitted along a peripheral groove 64 on an outer peripheral surface of an annular elastic member 62 in the air cleaner-side -6- support hole 60. The elastic member 62 is provided at the center thereof with a through-hole 66. The mounting portion 48 is mounted by threadedly mounting in a mounting hole (not shown) of the frame 2 a mounting hole 68 for a body insulted into the mounting hole 54 for a body of the mounting portion 50 for a body on one end side. The vehicular air cleaner 6 is supported in a floating state through the elastic member 62 on the mounting member 48 so that the dead weight is exerted on the support portion 40 on the lower surface of the lower case 34 by fitting the annular elastic member 62 in the air-cleaner side support hole 60 of the air cleaner—side support portion 58 provided on the side of the lower case 34 and threadedly mounting a mounting bolt 70 for an air cleaner extended through the through-hole 06 of the elastic member 62 in the mounting hole 56 for an air cleaner extended through the through-hole 66 of the elastic member 62. The operation will be described below. The engine (not shown) mounted on the vehicle is supplied with the atmosphere, as intake, from which dust is removed by the vehicular air cleaner 6 when driven. The engine mount device 4 for supporting the engine is provided on the frame 2 of the vehicle. The air cleaner support bracket 22 is mounted on the body-side mount bracket 8 of the engine mounting device 4 by means of the mount support bolt 18 and the mount support nut 20. The vehicular air cleaner 6 is supported through the elastic - 7 - member 42 on the air cleaner support bracket 22. The vehicular air cleaner 6 is caused to support the side of the lower case 34 through the elastic member 62 on the other end side of the mounting member 48 whose one end side is mounted on the frame 2 so that the dead weight thereof is exerted on the support portion 40 on the lower surface of the lower case 34. With this, the vehicular air cleaner 6 is exerted in load on the engine mounting device 4, and the effect of the mass damper can be obtained by the load of the vehicular cleaner 6. The vehicular air cleaner 6 is supported on the air cleaner support bracket 22 through the elastic member 42 having a predetermined spring constant, and is further supported on the mounting member 48 through the elastic member 62, whereby the effect of the dynamic damper can be obtained by the elastic members 42 and 62. The elastic member is generally made of vibration prevention rubber, such as, styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), and possesses heat resistance and oil resistance characteristics. In this case, let f(Hz) be the natural frequency, m (the allotted load/gravity acceleration: kg) be the mass, and K (kgf/m) be the spring constant, and assume for example that m = 0.5 kgf/9.8 = 0.051 kg (the allotted mass). Then, from the formula A, K = 4 m ? 2f2 - 1259 kgf/m = 1.26 kgf/mm. By setting the spring constant of the elastic member 38 to 1.26 kgf/mm, the operation as a dynamic damper in the vicinity of the idling operation of the engine can be obtained. -8- As described above, in the support structure for the vehicular air cleaner 6, the air cleaner support bracket 22 indispensable to supporting of the vehicular air cleaner 6 is utilized so that the air cleaner support bracket 22 is mounted on the body—side mount bracket 8 of the engine mounting device 4 and the vehicular ait-cleaner 6 is supported through the elastic member 42 on the air cleaner support bracket 22, whereby the damper effect can be produced without the provision of the mass damper or the dynamic damper to obtain the effect of the mass damper or the dynamic damper, thus enabling securement of low vibrations and stillness. From the foregoing, in the support structure for the vehicular air cleaner 6, the effect of the mass damper or the dynamic damper is obtained by the vehicular air cleaner 6 to secure the low vibrations and stillness thereby eliminating the dedicated mass damper and dynamic damper to reduce the number of parts, to reduce the weight, and to reduce the number of assembling steps, thus reducing the cost. While in the present embodiment, the effect of the damper is obtained by making use of the vehicular air cleaner 6, it is to be noted that this can be applied also to other vehicle constituent members having the weight to some extent or more disposed in an engine room of a vehicle in addition to the vehicular air cleaner 6. Further, the tuning of the damper effect can be provided by the adjustment of the weight of the vehicular air cleaner 6 itself, the addition of mass to the vehicular air cleaner 6 or the adjustment of the spring constant of the elastic members 42 and 02. - 9 - As described above, in the support structure for a vehicular air cleaner since a vehicular air cleaner is mounted on an air cleaner support bracket mounted on a body-side mount bracket, the effect of the mass damper can be obtained by the load of the vehicular air cleaner, and further, since a vehicular air cleaner is supported through an elastic member having a predetermined spring constant on an air cleaner support bracket mounted on a body-side mount bracket, the effect of the dynamic damper can be obtained by the elastic member. Therefore, in the support structure for the vehicular air cleaner, the effect of the mass damper or the dynamic damper is obtained by the vehicular air cleaner to secure low vibrations and stillness thereby eliminating the dedicated mass damper and dynamic damper to reduce the number of parts, to reduce the weight, and to reduce the number of assembling steps, thus reducing the cost. - 10 - DESCRIPTION OF THE REFERENCE NUMERALS 1. Frame 4 Engine mounting device 6 Vehicular air cleaner 8. Body-side mount bracket 10. Engine mount member 12. Engine-side mount bracket 18. Mount support bolt 20. Mount support nut 22. Air cleaner support bracket 24. Mounting portion for mounting 26. Supporting portion for an air cleaner 28. Mounting hole 30. Support hole 32. Upper case 34. Lower case 40. Support portion 42. Elastic member 46. Through-hole WE CLAIM : 1. A support structure for a vehicular air cleaner characterized in that an air cleaner supporting bracket is mounted on a body-side mount bracket of an engine mount device for supporting an engine on a frame of a vehicle, and a vehicular air cleaner is supported on said air cleaner supporting bracket. 2. The support structure for a vehicular air cleaner as claimed in claim 1, wherein said vehicular air cleaner is supported on said air cleaner supporting bracket through an elastic member, such as herein described, having a predetermined spring constant. 3. A vehicular air cleaner supported on a support structure as claimed in claim 1 or 2. 4. A support structure for a vehicular air cleaner, substantially as herein described, particularly with reference to, and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. -12- There is disclosed a support structure for a vehicular air cleaner characterized in that an air cleaner supporting bracket is mounted on a body-side mount bracket of an engine mount device for supporting an engine on a frame of a vehicle, and a vehicular air cleaner is supported on the air cleaner supporting bracket.

Documents:

00227-cal-1997 abstract.pdf

00227-cal-1997 claims.pdf

00227-cal-1997 correspondence.pdf

00227-cal-1997 description(complete).pdf

00227-cal-1997 drawings.pdf

00227-cal-1997 form-1.pdf

00227-cal-1997 form-2.pdf

00227-cal-1997 form-3.pdf

00227-cal-1997 form-5.pdf

00227-cal-1997 g.p.a.pdf

00227-cal-1997 letters patent.pdf

00227-cal-1997 priority document others.pdf

00227-cal-1997 priority document.pdf