JP4367124B2 - Wheel in radiator - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a structure of a radiator mounted on a vehicle, and more particularly to a structure of a wheel in radiator provided on the inner diameter side of a wheel.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, high-temperature heat sources such as an engine, a driving motor, an inverter, and a converter are mounted in an engine room in an automobile, in particular, a hybrid vehicle (HV), an electric vehicle (EV), and a fuel cell vehicle (FCV). The high temperature heat source is cooled by a radiator mounted in the engine room and filled with a cooling medium.

  Such a radiator is not provided only in the engine room. For example, a technique for providing a radiator in an automobile tire is disclosed in the following publication.

  Patent Document 1 (Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 5-24403) discloses a cooling device for an automobile tire that prevents heat generation at a bead portion of the automobile tire. In this automobile tire cooling device, the flow path is provided in the circumferential direction along the rim flange of the automobile tire. And the radiator which cools the cooling medium sent to a flow path is provided. The automobile tire cooling device is provided with a pump for circulating a cooling medium between the flow path and the radiator.

According to the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, the automobile tire cooling device can effectively cool the rim flange with the cooling medium and efficiently prevent heat generation at the tire bead portion.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-24403

  However, especially in HV, EV, and FCV, the number of high-temperature heat sources mounted in the engine room has increased, so that the number of units that require cooling tends to increase. Further, in order to sufficiently secure the occupant's living space inside the vehicle, it is necessary to reduce the volume of the engine room. Therefore, there is a problem that a sufficient space for mounting the radiator in the engine room is not secured. Further, a plurality of high-temperature heat sources such as an engine and an HV unit exist in the engine room, and each unit generates heat. For this reason, the atmosphere in the engine room is high, and there is a problem that cooling efficiency is poor when a radiator is provided in the engine room.

  According to the automobile tire cooling device disclosed in Patent Document 1, this cooling device is directly attached to the wheel. For this reason, there is a problem that the weight of the wheel is increased. An increase in the weight of the wheel causes a decrease in the vehicle performance.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a wheel-in radiator that avoids a decrease in motion performance and secures a mounting space for the radiator.

  A wheel radiator according to a first aspect of the present invention is a radiator that cools a medium filled therein by exchanging heat with air, a wheel shaft that is rotatably supported by a vehicle body, and that rotates as the wheel shaft rotates. Including a wheel. The radiator is provided on the inner diameter side of the wheel and is supported by the vehicle body.

  According to the first invention, the wheel radiator includes a radiator that cools a medium (for example, cooling water) filled therein by exchanging heat with air, a wheel shaft that is rotatably supported by the vehicle body, and a wheel. And a wheel that rotates as the shaft rotates. The radiator is provided on the inner diameter side of the wheel and supported by the vehicle body. As a result, the load of the radiator and the medium filled in the radiator is supported by the vehicle body, so that the weight of the wheel is not increased. Therefore, it is possible to avoid a decrease in the movement performance of the vehicle body. Further, in the vehicle, a space in which the radiator can be mounted can be secured by effectively using the inner diameter side of the wheel. Therefore, it is possible to provide a wheel in radiator that avoids a decrease in motion performance and secures a mounting space for the radiator. Further, since the radiator can be provided outside the engine room, the mounting space in the engine room can be used effectively. Further, when the number of places where the radiator is mounted is increased, for example, when the radiator is connected to the radiator in the engine room, the cooling performance of the entire vehicle can be improved. Moreover, since there is no heat source which becomes high temperature in the inner diameter side of the wheel unlike in the engine room, the radiator is not affected by heat. Therefore, the cooling efficiency in the radiator is improved. Furthermore, the radiator, like the radiator provided in the engine room, in addition to constantly circulating the cooling water to be filled by a pump or the like, for example, to enable cooling in a short time for a high-temperature heat source. You may use as a storage radiator which reserves the cooling water with low temperature beforehand.

  The wheel in radiator according to the second invention further includes a cooling mechanism for supplying cooling air to the radiator in addition to the configuration of the first invention. The cooling mechanism is provided between the wheel and the radiator and supplies cooling air by rotation of the wheel shaft.

  According to the second aspect, the wheel radiator includes a cooling mechanism (for example, a cooling fan) that supplies cooling air to the radiator. The cooling fan is provided between the wheel and the radiator, and supplies cooling air by rotation of the wheel shaft. Thereby, the cooling efficiency of a radiator can be improved. Further, the cooling air can be supplied to the radiator without separately providing a cooling fan power mechanism such as a motor. Therefore, an increase in manufacturing cost can be suppressed.

  In the wheel radiator according to the third aspect of the invention, in addition to the configuration of the first or second aspect of the invention, the radiator is fixed to a suspension that suspends the vehicle body.

  According to the third invention, the radiator is fixed to the suspension for suspending the vehicle body. Thus, the radiator can be provided on the inner diameter side of the wheel without increasing the weight of the wheel. Therefore, it is possible to avoid a decrease in the vehicle performance.

  In the wheel radiator according to the fourth invention, in addition to the configuration of any one of the first to third inventions, the radiator is connected to a radiator provided in an engine room of the vehicle body.

  According to the fourth invention, the radiator is connected to the radiator provided in the engine room of the vehicle body. By increasing the number of places where the radiator is mounted, the cooling performance of the entire vehicle can be improved. Moreover, since there is no heat source which becomes high temperature in the inner diameter side of the wheel as in the engine room, the radiator is not affected by heat. Therefore, the cooling efficiency in the radiator is improved.

  In the wheel radiator according to the fifth invention, in addition to the configuration of any one of the first to fourth inventions, the radiator is provided in a vehicle in which a traveling motor is provided on the inner diameter side of the wheel.

  According to the fifth invention, the radiator can be applied to a so-called wheel-in motor vehicle in which a traveling motor is provided on the inner diameter side of the wheel. When the motor and the radiator are provided in contact with each other, the motor can be cooled.

  In the wheel radiator according to the sixth aspect of the invention, in addition to the configuration of the fifth aspect of the invention, the radiator is provided between the motor and the wheel.

  According to the sixth invention, in the wheel-in-motor vehicle, the radiator is provided between the motor and the wheel. Accordingly, when the motor and the radiator are provided in contact with each other and a cooling mechanism (for example, a cooling fan) is provided between the wheel and the radiator, it is possible to supply cooling air to the radiator that cools the motor.

  Hereinafter, a wheel radiator according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals. Their names and functions are also the same. Therefore, detailed description thereof will not be repeated.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a wheel unit 200 provided with a wheel radiator according to the present embodiment includes a radiator 100, a cooling pipe 102, a tire 104, a wheel disk 106, a brake caliper 108, and a brake rotor. 110, cooling fan 112, wheel shaft 114, bearing 116, bearing 118, wheel hub 120, hub bolt 126, wheel nut 128, opening 130, brake pads 132, 134, brake piston 136 It consists of.

  The wheel unit 200 is connected to a suspension composed of an upper arm (not shown) and a lower arm (not shown). The suspension suspends the vehicle body. The wheel unit 200 may be fixed to a knuckle that is movably connected to the upper arm and the lower arm.

  The wheel disc 106 has a substantially cup shape, and includes a cylindrical portion and a side portion. The wheel disc 106 accommodates the wheel hub 120, the brake rotor 110, the radiator 100, the cooling fan 112, the brake caliper 108, the bearing 116, and the bearing 118 on the inner diameter side.

  A side surface portion of the wheel disc 106 is assembled to a hub bolt 126 press-fitted into the wheel hub 120. The wheel disc 106 and the wheel hub 120 are connected by fastening the wheel nut 128 to the hub bolt 126 from the outside of the vehicle body.

  The wheel hub 120 is fitted to the wheel shaft 114. And if the wheel shaft 114 is a driving wheel, it will connect with a differential mechanism (not shown) via a drive shaft (not shown).

  The wheel shaft 114 is rotatably supported via a bearing with respect to the suspension. In the present embodiment, radiator 100 is fixed to the suspension. In addition, you may fix to the above-mentioned knuckle. Further, the radiator 100 according to the present invention is not limited to the suspension and knuckle that suspends the vehicle body, but is fixed to a location where the load of the medium filled in the radiator 100 and the radiator 100 is not applied as the weight of the wheel. That is, the radiator 100 may be designed to be supported by a vehicle body such as a chassis frame or a floor. Thereby, the radiator 100 can be provided on the inner diameter side of the wheel disk 106 without increasing the weight of the wheel.

  The radiator 100 is provided with a bearing 116 and a bearing 118 on the wheel shaft 114 side. The wheel shaft 114 is rotatably supported by the bearing 116 and the bearing 118. The radiator 100 and the wheel shaft 114 may be in a positional relationship such that a predetermined distance is maintained without using the bearing 116 and the bearing 118.

  The brake rotor 110 is fixed to the wheel hub 120 by a bolt at the inner peripheral end. The brake rotor 110 is disposed such that the outer peripheral end passes through the brake caliper 108. The brake caliper 108 includes a brake piston 136 and brake pads 132 and 134. The brake caliper 108 is fastened to a knuckle or suspension. The brake pads 132 and 134 are provided so as to sandwich the outer peripheral end of the brake rotor 110. When the brake oil is supplied from the opening 130, the brake piston 136 moves to the right side of the page and pushes the brake pad 132 to the right side of the page. When the brake pad 132 is moved to the right side of the drawing by the brake piston 136, the brake pad 134 is moved to the left side of the drawing in response. As a result, the brake pads 132 and 134 sandwich the outer peripheral end of the brake rotor 110 and the wheel portion 200 is braked.

  The tire 140 is fixed to the outer edge of the cylindrical portion of the wheel disc 106.

  The radiator 100 is filled with cooling water that is a cooling medium. However, the cooling medium is not particularly limited to cooling water. For example, antifreeze or LLC (Long Life Coolant) may be used. The radiator 100 is covered with a case made of metal or the like, and the cooling water filled in the radiator 100 exchanges heat with air through the case.

  The cooling pipe 102 is connected to the radiator 100 and the radiator in the engine room. And cooling water always circulates with a pump etc.

  Further, the internal structure of the radiator 100 is not particularly limited. For example, a radiator in which cooling fins and cooling pipes are arranged may be used. That is, the cooling water in the cooling pipe may have a radiator structure that cools the cooling water by exchanging heat with air through cooling fins provided in contact with the cooling pipe. Or the structure of the radiator using boiling cooling may be sufficient. In the boiling cooling, cooling water is filled in a portion of the cooling pipe that comes into contact with the heat source. The cooling water boils by heat exchange between the heat source and the cooling water. The boiled cooling water passes through a cooling pipe exposed to air as water vapor. The vaporized water vapor is liquefied by exchanging heat with air through cooling fins provided in contact with the cooling pipe. The liquefied cooling water boils again in the heat source. The structure of the radiator which cools a heat source by repeating such a cycle may be used.

  The radiator 100 of the wheel radiator according to the present embodiment is connected to a radiator provided in the engine room. And although the cooling water in cooling piping is always circulated with a pump etc., it is not specifically limited. For example, the heat source may be used as a storage radiator in which cooling water having a low temperature is secured in advance to enable cooling in a short time. When it is necessary to cool the high-temperature heat source in a short time, the heat source can be cooled in a short time by supplying cooling water from the radiator 100 as a storage radiator by a pump or the like.

  The cooling fan 112 is fixed to the wheel hub 120 fitted to the wheel shaft 114. The cooling fan 112 is provided between the wheel disc 106 and the radiator 100. The cooling fan 112 rotates as the wheel shaft 114 and the wheel hub 120 rotate. Therefore, the cooling air generated by the rotation of the cooling fan 112 is supplied to the radiator 100. Thereby, the cooling efficiency of a radiator can be improved. The cooling fan 112 may be provided with a drive motor for rotating the cooling fan 112 separately, but by fixing the cooling fan 112 to the wheel hub 120, a power supply mechanism for the cooling fan such as a motor is not provided separately. Cooling air can be supplied to the radiator. Therefore, an increase in manufacturing cost can be suppressed.

  The wheel radiator configured as described above can be applied to a so-called wheel-in motor vehicle in which a traveling motor is provided on the inner diameter side of the wheel.

  As shown in FIG. 2, motors 122 are respectively provided at the four wheel portions of the vehicle body 300. At this time, as described with reference to FIG. 1, the cooling fan 112 and the radiator 100 are provided on the inner diameter side of the wheel disk 106. Further, a motor 122 having a rotating shaft connected to the wheel shaft 114 is provided on the inner diameter side of the wheel disc 106. In addition, an inverter 124 is electrically connected to the motor 122.

  In the wheel-in motor vehicle configured as described above, the motor 122 provided in each of the four wheel portions may function as a radiator for cooling. That is, by providing the radiator 100 and the motor 122 in contact with each other, heat exchange between the cooling water inside the radiator 100 and the motor 122 is possible.

  In the present embodiment, radiator 100 is provided between motor 122 and wheel disk 106. The cooling water heated according to the heat generated by the motor 122 can be cooled by the cooling air supplied from the cooling fan 112 provided between the wheel disk 106 and the radiator 100. At this time, the radiator 100 provided in each of the four wheel portions is connected to the radiator in the engine room via the cooling pipe 102. And the cooling performance of the whole vehicle can be improved by always circulating the cooling water of a radiator. The radiator 100 may function as an independent radiator provided at each of the four wheel portions. Note that the position of the radiator 100 provided in the wheel-in motor vehicle is not particularly limited between the motor 122 and the wheel disc 106.

  As described above, according to the wheel radiator according to the present embodiment, the wheel radiator is rotatably supported by the vehicle body and the radiator that cools the cooling water filled therein by exchanging heat with air. And a wheel that rotates as the wheel shaft rotates. The radiator is provided on the inner diameter side of the wheel and supported by the vehicle body. As a result, the load of the radiator and the medium filled in the radiator is supported by the vehicle body, so that the weight of the wheel is not increased. Therefore, it is possible to avoid a decrease in the movement performance of the vehicle body. Further, in the vehicle, a space in which the radiator can be mounted can be secured by effectively using the inner diameter side of the wheel. Therefore, it is possible to provide a wheel in radiator that avoids a decrease in motion performance and secures a mounting space for the radiator.

  Further, since the radiator can be provided outside the engine room, the mounting space in the engine room can be used effectively. And since the mounting location of a radiator increased, if it connects with the radiator in an engine room, the cooling performance of the whole vehicle can be improved. Moreover, since there is no heat source which becomes high temperature in the inner diameter side of the wheel as in the engine room, the radiator is not affected by heat. Therefore, the cooling efficiency in the radiator is improved.

  The embodiment disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

It is sectional drawing of the wheel radiator which concerns on this Embodiment. 1 is a schematic view of a wheel-in motor vehicle to which a wheel in radiator is applied.

Explanation of symbols

  100 Radiator, 102 Cooling piping, 104 Tire, 106 Wheel disc, 108 Brake caliper, 110 Brake rotor, 112 Cooling fan, 114 Wheel shaft, 116, 118 Bearing, 120, Wheel hub, 122 Motor, 124 Inverter, 126 Hub bolt, 128 Wheel nut, 130 opening, 132, 134 Brake pad, 136 Brake piston, 200 Wheel part, 300 Car body.

Claims (6)

A radiator that cools a medium filled therein by exchanging heat with air; and
A wheel shaft rotatably supported by the vehicle body;
A wheel that rotates as the wheel axle rotates,
An inner peripheral end is fixed to a wheel hub between the radiator and the wheel, and an outer peripheral end is provided at a position on the outer peripheral side of the radiator and closer to the vehicle body side than the inner peripheral end. A brake rotor that rotates as the wheel shaft rotates.
The radiator is provided on the inner diameter side of the wheel, supported by the vehicle body,
The wheel rotor is formed so as to be separated from the radiator by having a curved cross section in a section from the outer peripheral end to the inner peripheral end. The wheel radiator further includes a cooling mechanism that supplies cooling air to the radiator,
The wheel radiator according to claim 1, wherein the cooling mechanism is provided between the wheel and the radiator, and supplies the cooling air by rotation of the wheel shaft.   The wheel radiator according to claim 1, wherein the radiator is fixed to a suspension that suspends the vehicle body.   The wheel radiator according to claim 1, wherein the radiator is connected to a radiator provided in an engine room of the vehicle body.   The wheel radiator according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the radiator is provided in a vehicle in which a traveling motor is provided on an inner diameter side of the wheel.   The wheel radiator according to claim 5, wherein the radiator is provided between the motor and the wheel.

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