Cooling system for an internal combustion engine

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to "Cooling arrangement for a vehicle" and more
particularly to a radiator cooling arrangement for a scooter type motorcycle.

Description of the prior art

The use of a radiator and the water-cooling system for internal combustion engine is already known in the prior art. Also the use of air deflector is known in the prior art, for many purposes like coolers, snowplough machines, trucks and buses, for deflecting air towards the radiator. However, in two wheeled vehicles this combination is not feasible as the sufficient space is not available for mounting said assembly near engine because of position of horizontal engine and air filter. To overcome this deficiency integral air deflectors are mounted over the radiator. However, there are design compromises owing to positioning of these kinds of air deflectors over the radiator, since the total assembly has to be accommodated into the front cover of the vehicle. Moreover, due to design constraints, the air coming through the air inlet for cooling the radiator escape through its bottom portion and as a result efficient cooling of radiator is not observed.

Moreover, separate coolant storage has to be accommodated in the front cover of the vehicle. Lengthy hoses to radiator connect this separate coolant storage. This increases material cost and improper space utilisation under the front cover of the motorcycles. Moreover, due to its length, dangling of hoses may happen, thus causing reduction in compactness of the total system. Hence the main objective of the present invention is to provide optimum positioning of coolant storage structure that also acts as an air deflector device.

Brief description of the invention

The present invention provides a heat discharging assembly along with the coolant storage structure positioned over the front fork, more specifically located above the front fender and below the headlamp. In this arrangement, the heat-discharging member, notably the radiator and the coolant storage structure is arranged such that the coolant storage structure is attached to the bottom of the radiator.

Brief description of the drawings

Figure 1 illustrates a scooter type motorcycle according to the present
invention.

Figure 2 illustrates the radiator mounting structure according to the present
invention.

Figure 3 illustrates the coolant storage assembly on the radiator according to the present invention.

Detailed description of the invention

A selected illustrative embodiment of the present invention will be now described with respect to the accompanying figures 1, 2 and 3.

Any known step through motorcycle 100 can be divided into three major portions, the front portion, the middle portion and the rear/tail portion.

The front portion comprises of the head tube 101, the handle bar 102, the front suspension 103, the front wheel 104 with necessary brakes and the body panels 105: the middle portion comprises of the step throuah portion 106 the riders seat 107, the engine108, the brake pedals 109, the pillion and the rider foot rest 110, the utility box etc.; and the rear/tail portion comprises of the rear fender 111, the pillion handle 112, shock absorbers 113 and the rear wheel 114 with suspensions.

Typically, a frame structure for a step through motorcycle comprises a sub-frame and a main frame. The sub-frame is attached to the mainframe using appropriate fastening members. All the other components such as the body panels 105, the engine 108, and the electrical units are mounted on the main frame and the sub frame either directly or by means of brackets.

Furthermore, the main frame comprises a head tube 101, a main tube having one end attached to the head tube 101 and an engine 108 mounting arrangement attached to the other end of the main tube. One or more swing arms 115 are attached to the engine mounting arrangement with the help of a swing arm pivot tube. The frame structure further comprises one or more upper tubes attached to the main tube. One or more rear shock absorber mounting brackets are attached to the upper tubes. Rear shock absorbers 113 are attached to the rear shock absorber mounting brackets at one end and to the swing arms 115 at the other end. The rear shock absorber mounting brackets are added to provide additional support to the said rear shock absorbers 113.

In assembling such a vehicle, especially the body cover 105, there are many sub-assemblies and these are independently mounted onto the frame at different locations. The body covers 105 are mounted to the frame using brackets.

The principle objective of the present invention is to address the problem of positioning the coolant storage assembly in a step through motorcycle. This invention provides a heat discharging assembly 301 along with the coolant storage structure 300 positioned over the front fork 103, more specifically located above the front fender and below the headlamp 116. In this arrangement, the heat-discharging member, notably the radiator 301 and the coolant storage structure 300 is arranged such that the coolant storage structure 300 is attached to the bottom of the radiator 301 either integrally or as a detachable unit. This arrangement utilises the space available below the radiator 301 more optimally. Moreover, one of the surfaces of the coolant storage structure 300 is aligned such that it act as an air deflector 302 that deflects air to the radiator 301, thus eliminating the need of separate air deflectors mounted on the radiator 301. The coolant storage structure 300 can be either metal or resin. Hence it improves the space utilisation as well as cost reduction owing to reduction in length of hoses between the coolant storage and radiator.

Although the subject matter has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. As such, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred embodiment contained therein.

Claims:

We claim:

1. A cooling system for a step through motorcycle formed in the front body portion wherein a radiator and a coolant reservoir are accommodated within a front cover disposed above a front wheel of the motorcycle and the radiator is cooled with air introduced from an air inlet formed in the front cover, characterized in that the said coolant reservoir forms the base of the said radiator.

2. A cooling system for a step through motorcycle wherein the top surface of the said coolant reservoir forms an air deflector to the said radiator.

3. A cooling system for a step through motorcycle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said coolant reservoir forms a detachably integral part along with the radiator unit.

4. A cooling system for a step through motorcycle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the coolant reservoir is made of metal.

5. A cooling system for a step through motorcycle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the coolant reservoir is made of resin.

6. A step through motorcycle having an air guide structure formed in the front body portion wherein a radiator and a coolant reservoir are accommodated within a front cover disposed above a front wheel of the motorcycle and the radiator is cooled with air introduced from an air inlet formed in the front cover, characterized in that the said coolant reservoir forms the base of the said radiator.