JP7826926B2 - Mounting bracket structure - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a mounting bracket structure.

Technology is known that attaches the pulley bracket mounting portion to the internal combustion engine (hereinafter referred to as the engine) at an appropriate mounting angle to prevent abnormal noise and uneven belt wear (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-266381

In addition to the pulley bracket, the engine may also be fitted with a mount bracket that connects the engine to the engine mount. For this reason, it is desirable for the engine to have an area large enough to accommodate both the pulley bracket and the mount bracket.

However, if the engine has a small number of cylinders (for example, two or three cylinders), the area of the side wall corresponding to the engine's cylinder arrangement becomes narrow, and it may not be possible to attach both the pulley bracket and the mounting bracket.

The present invention therefore aims to provide a mounting bracket structure that can be installed in a small installation space.

The mount bracket structure of the present invention includes a pulley around which an endless belt is wound, a support portion that supports the pulley so that it can rotate circumferentially, a plurality of first insertion holes through which first bolts for fastening to an engine are inserted, second insertion holes through which second bolts for fastening an engine mount are inserted, and a mount bracket that is located away from a triangular pyramid that virtually connects the first insertion holes and the second insertion holes and has a third insertion hole through which a rotation shaft of the support portion is inserted, wherein the mount bracket has a box-like shape that suppresses the effects of external forces generated depending on the driving state of a vehicle in which the engine is mounted.

In the above configuration, the mount bracket may include a reinforcing portion that suppresses deformation of the mount bracket due to the tension of the endless belt acting on the pulley.

In the above configuration, the number of cylinders arranged in a row in the engine may be three or less.

The mounting bracket structure of the present invention makes it possible to install it in a small mounting area.

FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing a vehicle to which a mount bracket structure is attached. Fig. 2(a) is a partial perspective view of an engine to which a mount bracket structure according to the embodiment is attached, and Fig. 2(b) is a perspective view of the mount bracket according to the embodiment. Fig. 3(a) is a partial perspective view of an engine to which a pulley bracket according to a comparative example is attached, Fig. 3(b) is a perspective view of the pulley bracket according to the comparative example, and Fig. 3(c) is a perspective view of the mount bracket according to the comparative example.

The following describes an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the mount bracket structures 1 and 2 are attached to both the left and right sides of a power unit 50 mounted on a vehicle 5. In FIG. 1, arrow Fr indicates the front side in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and arrow Lf indicates the left side in the width direction of the vehicle. The power unit 50 includes an engine 51 and a transmission 52.

Engine 51 is, for example, a three-cylinder engine with three cylinders arranged in a line in series. Engine 51 may also be, for example, a V6 engine in which three cylinders are arranged alternately on the left and right in a V-shape around a single crankshaft, or a single-cylinder engine. In the case of a V6 engine, three cylinders are arranged in a line on one side of the V6 engine, and engine 51 and transmission 52 are integrated to form power unit 50. Power unit 50 is suspended from body 7.

To suppress displacement around the roll axis, the center of the power unit 50 is also connected to the body 7 via the mount bracket structure 3. In other words, the power unit 50 is supported at three points on the body 7. The following describes the left-side mount bracket structure 1 that supports and suspends the engine 51.

As shown in Figure 2(a), the mount bracket structure 1 is attached to a side wall of the engine 51 that corresponds to the cylinder arrangement direction of the cylinders. The mount bracket structure 1 has a pulley 10 and a mount bracket 20. An endless transmission belt 30 is wound around the pulley 10. The pulley 10 guides the transmission belt 30 to ensure a sufficient winding angle of the transmission belt 30 around the pulley 55 and ensure reliable transmission of driving force. In other words, the pulley 10 is a dummy pulley, such as a pulley for an air-conditioner-less vehicle.

Pulley 55 is a crankshaft pulley attached to the crankshaft of engine 51. Pulley 55 may also be an accessory pulley attached to the rotating shaft of various accessories such as an air conditioner compressor, a power steering pump, an engine cooling water pump, or an alternator. When engine 51 is running, the operation of engine 51 causes tension in transmission belt 30 to act on pulley 10 in the direction of pulley 55. As a result, pulley 10 is pressed toward pulley 55 while engine 51 is running.

As shown in Figures 2(a) and (b), the mount bracket 20 includes a support portion 21 that supports the pulley 10 so that it can rotate in the circumferential direction, multiple engine fastening portions 22, a pulley fastening portion 23, and a mount fastening portion 24. The support portion 21 includes, for example, a rotating shaft and a fastener.

Each of the multiple engine fastening portions 22 has insertion holes 22A, 22B, 22C, and 22D through which a bolt BT passes. The insertion holes 22A, 22B, 22C, and 22D are examples of first insertion holes. The mount bracket structure 1 is fastened to the engine 51 with the bolts BT. The pulley fastening portion 23 has an insertion hole 23A through which the rotation shaft of the support portion 21 passes. The insertion hole 23A is an example of a third insertion hole. The pulley 10 is fastened to the mount bracket 20 by the fastener of the support portion 21.

The mount fastening portion 24 has an insertion hole 24A through which a bolt (not shown) is inserted. The insertion hole 24A is an example of a second insertion hole. The engine mount (not shown) is fastened to the mount bracket structure 1 by a bolt inserted through the insertion hole 24A. In this way, the mount bracket structure 1 is fastened to the engine 51. The engine mount is also fastened to the mount bracket structure 1. In other words, the mount bracket structure 1 connects the engine 51 and the engine mount.

As described above, when the engine 51 is running, the pulley 10 is pressed toward the pulley 55. Because the rotation shaft of the support part 21 to which the pulley 10 is attached is inserted into the insertion hole 23A of the pulley fastening part 23, the tension of the transmission belt 30 also acts on the pulley fastening part 23 via this rotation shaft. To prevent deformation of the mount bracket 20 due to such tension, a rib 25 is provided as a reinforcing part between the pulley fastening part 23 and the mount fastening part 24. The rib 25 reinforces the mount bracket 20, preventing deformation of the mount bracket 20.

In addition to the tension described above, the mount bracket structure 1 is subject to instantaneous or sudden external forces in various directions, such as the longitudinal, vertical, and lateral directions, depending on the vehicle 5's driving conditions (e.g., curb-riding, sudden braking, sharp turns, etc.). These external forces act on the mount bracket 20 along with tension. The mount bracket 20 is affected by both external forces and tension, but to mitigate these effects, the mount bracket 20 has a box-like shape. This ensures a balance between the effects of external forces and tension on the mount bracket 20's rigidity. In particular, the mount bracket 20 has a pulley fastening portion 23 located away from a virtual triangular pyramid formed by connecting the insertion holes 22A, 22B, and 22C of the engine fastening portion 22 and the insertion hole 24A of the mount fastening portion 24 at its apex. The box-like shape of the mount bracket 20 ensures a balance between the effects of the tension of the power transmission belt 30 on the mount bracket's rigidity and the effects of external forces generated depending on the vehicle's driving conditions.

Note that if the mount bracket structure 1 is provided with insertion holes 22A, 22B, and 22C, the mount bracket structure 1 can be attached to the engine 51. However, by providing the insertion hole 22D in the mount bracket 20, not only can the mount bracket structure 1 be more firmly fastened to the engine 51 than if the insertion hole 22D is not provided, but rigidity balance can also be better ensured.

A comparative example of the mount bracket structure 1 will be described with reference to Figures 3(a) to (c). Note that components similar to those shown in Figures 2(a) and (b) are basically designated by the same or corresponding reference numerals, and detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

First, as shown in Figure 3(a), the pulley 10 is fastened to a pulley bracket 60 attached to the side wall of the engine 51 by a bolt BT1 so as to be rotatable in the circumferential direction. As shown in Figure 3(b), the pulley bracket 60 includes a plurality of engine fastening portions 62 and pulley fastening portions 63.

Each of the multiple engine fastening portions 62 has insertion holes 62A, 62B, and 62C through which bolt BT2 passes. The pulley bracket 60 is fastened to the engine 51 by bolt BT2. The pulley fastening portion 63 has an insertion hole 63A through which the bolt shaft of bolt BT1 passes. The pulley 10 is fastened to the pulley bracket 60 by bolt BT1.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3(c), the mount bracket 70 to which the engine mount is fastened is separate from the pulley bracket 60. Similar to the mount bracket 20 of the embodiment, the mount bracket 70 includes multiple engine fastening portions 72 and a mount fastening portion 74. Each of the multiple engine fastening portions 72 has an insertion hole 72A, 72B, 72C, 72D through which a bolt BT is inserted. The mount fastening portion 74 has an insertion hole 74A through which a bolt (not shown) is inserted. However, unlike the mount bracket 20 of the embodiment, the mount bracket 70 does not include a pulley fastening portion 23.

When attempting to attach the mount bracket 70 together with the pulley bracket 60 to the side wall of the engine 51, there may not be enough mounting space on the side wall of the engine 51. For example, if the engine 51 has three cylinders, even if you attempt to attach both the pulley bracket 60 and the mount bracket 70 to the side wall of the engine 51, the mounting space may not be sufficient and may be too narrow. As a result, even if the pulley bracket 60 can be attached to the side wall of the engine 51, it may not be possible to attach the mount bracket 70.

As such, in contrast to the comparative example in which the pulley bracket 60 and the mount bracket 70 are separate, the embodiment realizes a mount bracket 20 that includes a pulley fastening portion 23 and a mount fastening portion 24. This realizes a mount bracket structure 1 in which the pulley 10 and the mount bracket 20 are integrated. With the mount bracket structure 1 of the embodiment, the mount bracket structure 1 can be attached even if the side wall of the engine 51 has a narrow attachment area.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to such specific embodiment, and various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the gist of the present invention as set forth in the claims.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Mount bracket structure 5 Vehicle 10 Pulley 20 Mount bracket 21 Support portion 22 Engine fastening portion 23 Pulley fastening portion 24 Mount fastening portion 22A, 22B, 22C, 22D, 23A, 24A Insertion hole 30 Transmission belt 51 Engine

Claims (3)

A pulley around which the endless belt is wound;
a mount bracket having a support portion that supports the pulley rotatably in a circumferential direction, a plurality of first insertion holes through which first bolts for fastening to an engine are inserted, a second insertion hole through which a second bolt for fastening an engine mount is inserted, and a third insertion hole that is located at a position away from a triangular pyramid that virtually connects the first insertion holes and the second insertion holes and through which a rotation shaft of the support portion is inserted,
the mount bracket includes a box-like shape that suppresses the influence of external forces generated depending on the running state of the vehicle on which the engine is mounted,
Mounting bracket structure. the mount bracket includes a reinforcing portion that suppresses deformation of the mount bracket due to tension of the endless belt acting on the pulley.
2. The mounting bracket structure according to claim 1. The number of cylinders arranged in a row in the engine is three or less.
3. The mounting bracket structure according to claim 1 or 2.