Abstract:
The present invention provides a vehicle air compressor device which includes a motor device serving as a driving power source, a drier device conducted compressed air; the drier device arranged opposing to the motor device; and a supporting member for supporting the air compressor device to a vehicle at a portion where the motor device and the drier device is adjacent each other.

Description:
[0001]    This application is based on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 with respect to Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-023575 filed on Jan. 31, 2003 and Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-015328 filed on Jan. 23, 2004, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.  
         FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    The present invention relates to an air compressor device. More particularly, the present invention pertains to an air compressor device used for a vehicle air suspension device.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    Known air compressor devices for supplying the compressed air to a vehicle air suspension device are described in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,074,177 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H11(1999)-264375. The air compressor devices include a motor portion serving as a driving power source, a piston crank portion connected with an output shaft of the motor portion and generates compressed air by the piston, and a drier portion for removing water and/or moisture dropping from the compressed air supplied from the piston crank portion.  
           [0004]    With the air compressor devices, the motor portion and the drier portion are arranged in parallel each other on boarding the vehicle. The known air compressors further includes the piston crank portion connected to an end of the motor portion and to an end of the drier portion so that the motor portion, the piston crank portion, and the drier portion are installed approximately U shape as one unit to be the vehicle air compressor device.  
           [0005]    It has been required to improve the throughput efficiency of design by standardizing the designs as much as possible so that the air compressor device is applicable to the various vehicle characteristics. In order to meet this request, a design flexibility is required. Although the motor portion and the drier portion are arranged in parallel each other to be mounted with the drier portion of the air compressor device, the design considering the size reduction and the simplification of the components are required due to the limitation of the space and/or dimension on the vehicle.  
           [0006]    Further, in order to modify a design with different requests of the specification on the vehicle air compressor devices, for example, a stroke of the piston has to be changed for modifying the volume of the compression air to be supplied. With the counter measures in order to meet the foregoing a specification request with the device, the center of mass of the motor device and the center of mass of the drier portion are away from each other in case the length of the piston crank provided between the motor device and the drier portion gets longer. This deteriorates an anti-vibration characteristics on boarding environment, for example, the motor device and the drier portion are affected vibration from the vehicle body. Further, because the motor device and the drier portion composing the main portion of the air compressor device is likely influenced by vibration, the structure with high vibration resistance has been required.  
           [0007]    A need thus exists for a vehicle air compressor device which meets the design standardization including high performance on vibration resistance and downsizing.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0008]    In light of the foregoing, the present invention provides a vehicle air compressor device which includes a motor device serving as a driving power source, a drier device conducted compressed air; the drier device arranged opposing to the motor device; and a supporting member for supporting the air compressor device to a vehicle at a portion where the motor device and the drier device is adjacent each other. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES  
       [0009]    The foregoing and additional features and characteristics of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description considered with reference to the accompanying drawings and figures in which like reference numerals designate like elements.  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a vehicle air compressor device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a second embodiment of the vehicle air compressor device including another arrangement of the bracket serving as a supporting member.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a third embodiment of the vehicle air compressor device including another arrangement of the bracket serving as a supporting member.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4 is a top view showing an arrangement of a bracket of FIG. 1.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 5 a  is a top view showing a water collecting portion of the drier cover.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 5 b  is a vertical cross-sectional view of the water collecting portion taken on the direction of the arrow V-V in FIG. 5 a.    
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the drier cover and the motor housing taken on the direction of the arrow VI-VI in FIG. 4. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0017]    Embodiments of the present invention will be explained with reference to the accompanied drawings and figures.  
         [0018]    As shown in FIG. 1, an air compressor device  1  for vehicle includes a drier device  20  positioned opposing to an output shaft  3  of a motor device  2  in the axial direction. A piston crank device  10  includes a crank  4  tightly linked to the output shaft  3  of the motor device  2 , a piston  8  connected to a connecting rod  7  supporting a bearing  9  at the crank  4  side end portion via a pin  5  and a pin bush  6 , and a bolt  12 .  
         [0019]    Piston seals  15   a,    15   b  are engaged and being inserted into grooves  8   a,    8   b  respectively formed in the piston crank device  10  so that the piston  8  can smoothly slide in a cylinder  14 . A suction valve  16  for sucking air is provided at a head side of the piston  8 . A discharge valve  17  operates as a directional valve for supplying the compressed air via through a conduit  18  to the drier device  20  is also arranged at the head side of the piston  8 . The conduit  18  for supplying the compressed air to the drier device  20  is formed to fold back approximately in parallel with the moving direction of the piston  8 .  
         [0020]    A water collecting portion  22  shown in FIGS. 5 a,    5   b  is provided at a bottom portion of the drier device  20  adjacent to an opening portion of the conduit  18 . The water collecting portion  22  includes an tapered surface for collecting water or moisture drop and having a slope  21  for guiding water to a drain outlet  19 . A filter  23  is provided at a lower portion of the slope  21 . An exhaust air-passage  24  and an exhaust air valve  25  are provided forward direction of the filter  23 . Collected water in the water collecting portion  22  is discharged to the atmosphere with the compressed air passing the drain outlet  19  through the exhaust air valve  25  controlled by a controller. The water collecting portion  22 , the exhaust air passage  24  and the exhaust air valve housing are made of resin or of plating metal, or are made resist coating to avoid corrosion. A chamber  26  of the drier device  20  is provided at the upper portion of the water collecting portion  22 . Desiccant  27  is filled in the chamber  26  and supported by a filter  28  and a plate  29  upwardly urged by a spring  30 . A check valve orifice is provided at an upper side of the chamber  26  or in the middle of a tube or a pipe connected to an air cylinder tightly hold to the vehicle body, or the like. The check valve orifice controls the flow of compressed air to the air suspension so that compressed air flows without resistance when the compressed air is supplied to the air cylinder and the only regulated amount of compressed air flows when the compressed air returns from the air cylinder to the chamber  26  of the drier device  20 .  
         [0021]    A gasket  34  serving as the sealing member and a bracket  35  are sandwiched between the drier cover  37  of the drier device  20  and the motor housing  31 . Also the gasket  34  may be provided between the drier cover  37  and the bracket  35 . The bolt  36  is fastened after equipping a collar  39  so that an axial force is not affected to the chamber  26  and the drier cover  37  of the drier device  20 .  
         [0022]    The motor housing  31 , the drier device  20  including the drier cover  37 , the gasket  34  and the bracket  35  are fastened altogether by the bolt  36 .  
         [0023]    As shown in FIG. 4, the bracket  35  has a plural flange portions  35   f  that is radially extending. The bracket  35  is supported with the vehicle body through a fixing portions  35   a  formed the top end of the flange portions  35   f.  The length of the flange portions  35   f  are flexibly determined according to the clearance for fixing on the vehicle body.  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 6 shows a cross-sectional view of the motor housing  31  and a drier cover  37  taken along the line VI-VI of FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 6, the drier cover  37  is having at least two sets of projected portions  40  and the motor housing  31  is having at least two sets of concave portions  41  for defining the circumferential position between the motor housing  31  and the drier cover  37 . In order to define the assembling position between the motor housing  31  and the drier cover  37 , the projected portion  40  and concave portion  41  is used to adjusting these positions.  
         [0025]    For instance, if the position of the projected portions  40  and the concave positions  41  are asymmetrically designed, an incorrect assembling could be prevented.  
         [0026]    As shown in FIG. 2, a second embodiment of the present invention includes another arrangement of the bracket  35  provided at the air compressor device  1 . As shown in FIG. 2, the bracket  35  and a motor cover  38  are unitarily formed with the single member or plural members.  
         [0027]    As shown in FIG. 3, a third embodiment of the present invention includes another configuration of the bracket  35  provided on the air compressor device  1 . As shown in FIG. 3, the drier device  20  is unitarily formed with the bracket  35  with insert molding. The air compressor  1  is fixed to a vehicle frame member with the bracket  35  using the bolt directly or through another supporting member.  
         [0028]    As foregoing explanation, the bracket  35  may be formed unitarily with or may be unitarily assembled with the motor device  2 , the drier device  20 , or the like. Since the bracket  35  is positioned relatively close to the piston crank device  10 , the entire air compressor device  1  can be supported at the center of the balance of the air compressor device  1 . Further, since the assembled position of the bracket  35  is close to the piston crank device  10  corresponding to the movable portion, vibration from the air compressor device  1  can be restrained against vibration by the piston actuation.  
         [0029]    An operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be explained as follows. The air compressor device  1  of this invention is widely applied to an air compressor system, and the usage of the air compressor device  1  of the present invention is not limited to this embodiment.  
         [0030]    In order to lift-up the vehicle height, the suction valve  16  is opened for introducing the air to a compression space in the cylinder  14 . Then the air is compressed in the piston crank device  10  that is driven by the motor device  2  to generate the compressed air. Next, the compressed air is introduced to the drier device  20 . The absorbed water in the compressed air is sent to the drier  20  via the conduit  18 . Thereafter, the desiccant  27  in the drier device  20  gets rid of absorbed water in the compressed air.  
         [0031]    The compressed air dried by the desiccant  27  in the chamber  26  of the drier device  20  is sent to the air cylinder via the check valve orifice of the chamber  26  in order to lift-up the vehicle height.  
         [0032]    In order to lift-down the vehicle height, the discharging air valve  25 , shown in the FIG. 5 a,  is opened so that the compressed air in the air suspension system is discharged and the compressed air is released to the atmosphere via the outlet  19  and the discharging air passage  24 . Accordingly, the discharging air valve  25  enables to lift-down the vehicle height.  
         [0033]    Since the compressed air is taken some heat away, compressed air containing water is high in the temperature. Some water vapor is condensed and becomes to be water and move to the water collecting portion  22 . The conduit  18  may be arranged to elongate a predetermined length for gaining the cooling effect. The conduit  18  is made of materials having sufficient cooling efficiency.  
         [0034]    By forming the conduit  18  with the metal member, for example, the cooling efficiency can be further increased. In that case, the corrosion resistance has to be considered without destroying a metal property.  
         [0035]    Since the relative movement between the motor device and the drier device are restricted by fixing single bracket, it is not required to support the motor device and the drier device with the plural supporting member. Also, since the supporting member is positioned at an intermediate position between the motor device and the drier device, the supporting member can be placed close to the center of the balance of the air compressor device. Thus, the vibration reflected from the vehicle body is decreased to the air compressor device comparing with the conventional configuration of the air compressor device. Further, the supporting member enable to be provided close to the piston crank device corresponding to the moving portion of the vehicle air compressor device.  
         [0036]    According to the embodiments, by designing the supporting member to be supported with the drier device or the motor device, the supporting member enhances an anti-vibration efficiency.  
         [0037]    According to the embodiments, the supporting member is unitarily assembled with the drier device or the motor device. By unitarily assembled the supporting member with the drier device and the motor device or by simultaneously the motor device with the same fastening member or the connection member or the like. Easy assembling is achieved because of the reduction of component parts.  
         [0038]    According to the embodiments, since the conduit for supplying the compressed air to the drier device is formed to be longer stroke than the piston stroke, the compressed air is cooled down for the compressed air during passing through in the conduit. Thus, some compressed air contained water vapor inside condensed.  
         [0039]    Because water or vapor drops are purged from humid compressed air and so that water adsorbed desiccant in the drier device can be relatively reduced. According to the embodiments, since the conduit may be made of metal having sufficient cooling efficiency, the drier device can downsize for designing because desiccant may cut down the volume in the chamber.  
         [0040]    According to the embodiments, by arranging a part of the conduit in parallel with the moving direction of the piston, for example, by providing the conduit along the piston crank device, the dead space between the motor device and the drier device is reduced to the vehicle air compressor device.  
         [0041]    According to the embodiments, since the water collecting portion including the inclination and the space for collecting the water remained in the conduit is provided at the open end portion of the conduit for discharging the water to the atmosphere in the predetermined condition, this structure reduces the size of the drier device and thus the total size of the air compressor device.  
         [0042]    Accordingly, with the structure of the embodiments, save dead space between the motor device and the drier device of the vehicle air compressor device, and the reduction of the assembling time is saved, Further, the design complying with the standardization without significant design change can be achieved corresponding to the various different specifications on the air compressor devices.  
         [0043]    The principles, preferred embodiment and mode of operation of the present invention have been described in the foregoing specification. However, the invention which is intended to be protected is not to be construed as limited to the particular embodiments disclosed. Further, the embodiment described herein is to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. Variations and changes may be made by others, and equivalents employed, without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Accordingly, it is expressly intended that all such variations, changes and equivalents which fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined in the claims, be embraced thereby.