DESC:FORM – 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
The Patents Rules, 2003

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(SECTION 10 AND RULE 13)

TITLE

“GASEOUS FUEL CYLINDER MOUNTING ARRANGEMENT FOR AN AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLE”

A P P L I C A N T

We, BAJAJ AUTO LIMITED, an Indian Company, having its registered office at Akurdi, Pune – 411035, State of Maharashtra, India.

The following specification describes and ascertains the nature of this invention and the manner in which it is to be performed:
GASEOUS FUEL CYLINDER MOUNTING ARRANGEMENT FOR AN AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLE

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to fuel cylinder mounting arrangement in an automotive vehicle and more particularly relates to gaseous fuel cylinder mounting arrangement for a three / four wheeled vehicle.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
These vehicles are commonly used for carrying goods and passengers. These vehicles are preferred due to their lower cost of ownership and maintenance, and ease of use and operation.
Most commonly used vehicles include an enclosed/ semi enclosed driver cabin located at the front side of the vehicle, which houses the steering arrangement, instrument console and the driver seat and an open pickup tray or an enclosed storage compartment or passenger compartment is provided over the rear portion of the vehicle. Further, the vehicle is powered using a two stroke or a four stroke engine working on a liquid fuel (such as petrol or diesel). The engine is mounted at the rear or front side of the vehicle.
Over the years, environmental concerns have increased due to which it is necessary to reduce the emissions from the vehicles. To achieve this, in many parts of the world stringent emission norms have been adopted.
By switching to gaseous fuel such as LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) or CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) from the conventional liquid fuels such as petrol and diesel, emissions can be lowered. Further, as the gaseous fuels are currently available at lower cost than liquid fuels such as petrol, they are economically beneficial.
The vehicles driven by gaseous fuel includes a refillable gas cylinder that stores the gaseous fuel, mounted on a suitable structure on the chassis of the vehicle. The re-filling of the cylinder takes place at refilling stations. A suitable filling nozzle provided on the gas cylinder through which the gaseous fuel is filled into the cylinder at the filling stations.
In comparison with liquid fuel powered vehicles, time taken for refilling the gaseous fuel takes much higher time. Further, the number of gaseous fuel filling stations are lesser compared liquid fuel refilling stations. As gaseous fuel operated vehicles mostly used for commercial purposes, precious time is lost during fuel refilling. Further, due to less number of filing stations, vehicle drivers often have to drive long distances to get the fuel. The situation is undesirable especially while operating commercial vehicles where the loads or passengers must be transported to far off areas and in a timely manner.
The above cited issues primarily occur due to low fuel filling capacity of existing vehicles. Due to low fuel filling capacity, range of distance travelled by the vehicle is low and fuel filing frequency is high. Thus, three/ four wheel vehicles with higher fuel carrying capacity are desired.
In some conventional gaseous fuel operated vehicles, the gaseous fuel cylinder is mounted below the driver seat inside the driver cabin. However, if the fuel filing capacity of the gaseous fuel cylinder is to be increased, diameter or length of the fuel cylinder needs to be increased. Increase in diameter of the gaseous cylinder will disturb the driver seat position and hamper driver ergonomics undesirably.
If the length of the gaseous fuel cylinder is increased beyond the existing cylinder length, the cylinder mounted across the vehicle under the driver seat may go beyond width of the vehicle. This will expose the filing nozzle out of the vehicle width and may create unsafe condition. Further, to accommodate increased length of the fuel cylinder, significant changes in the chassis frame structure design and driver cabin floorboard need to be done. Otherwise it may create problem in entry and exit of driver as well. Positioning of the fuel cylinder under the driver seat also create problem in packaging other vehicle components such as spare wheel, battery, parking brake lever, reverse lever, etc.
In other conventional vehicles, the cylinder for gaseous fuel is mounted on the rear side of the vehicle on the chassis frame. To overcome the issues discussed earlier by increasing the fuel filing capacity, diameter or length of the fuel cylinder need to be increased.
When an increased diameter fuel cylinder is used in existing configuration of the vehicle, it will reduce the ground clearance of the vehicle. If the diameter of the fuel cylinder is increased without affecting the ground clearance of the vehicle, height of the pickup tray or the storage/passenger compartment needs to be increased to accommodate increase in diameter of the fuel cylinder. However, this may lead to increase in loading height which increases loading effort and causes inconvenience during loading/boarding on the vehicles. An accommodating raised profile may be crated on the base of the pickup tray or the storage/passenger compartment, to accommodate the increased diameter of the fuel cylinder without increasing the loading height but this will reduce the loading capacity or passenger leg space of the vehicle.
Other possibility to increase capacity of the fuel cylinder is to increase the length of the fuel cylinder. However, if the length of the cylinder is increased beyond the existing cylinder length, the cylinder mounted across the vehicle may go beyond width of the vehicle. This will expose the filing nozzle out of the vehicle width and may create unsafe condition. To accommodate increased length of the fuel cylinder may lead to significant changes in the chassis frame structure. Further, increased length may not meet regulatory requirements as well.
In case of a vehicle where the engine is rear mounted, the fuel cylinder cannot be mounted along the length of the pickup tray or the storage/passenger compartment to accommodate increased length. Further, mounting of the fuel cylinder on the rear side in proximity of the engine, exposes the fuel cylinder to engine heat which causes an undesirable increase in cylinder pressure due to expansion of the fuel gas. The rear positioning of the fuel cylinder is also vulnerable to being hit by other vehicles in case of an accident and the combination of these factors increases the safety risk further. When the fuel cylinder is mounted on the rear side of the engine, the vehicles weight distribution is skewed towards the rear of the vehicle. This uneven load distribution of the load on the vehicle reduces the vehicle stability and also causes uneven wearing of tyres.
In light of points discussed above, there is a need to provide a gaseous fuel operated vehicle which has increased fuel tank capacity to eliminate the aforementioned shortcomings.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a gaseous fuel operated vehicle having higher fuel storage capacity.
Another object of the present invention to provide a gaseous fuel operated vehicle having higher traveling distance range and reduced fuel filing frequency.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an optimum position for higher fuel storage capacity arrangement in vehicle.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a higher capacity gaseous fuel storage arrangement for vehicle which does not affect the vehicle ground clearance and driver/ passenger seat position or cause any inconvenience to the driver/ passenger.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a safe, robust and cost effective higher capacity fuel storage arrangement for vehicle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
With above objectives in view, the present invention provides an automotive vehicle comprising;
a front side comprising driver cabin having provision for driver seat and a rear comprising a passenger or a storage compartment and; plurality of gaseous fuel cylinders accommodated in the vehicle;
wherein at least one gaseous fuel cylinder is accommodated at the front side of vehicle and at least one gaseous fuel cylinder is accommodated at the rear side of vehicle.
The long axis of the plurality of gaseous fuel cylinders substantially along the width of the vehicle.
The driver seat may be a single seat which will accommodate only one person or it may be wide enough to accommodate more than one person.
According to one of the embodiment of the invention, the automotive vehicle includes a chassis frame comprising a plurality of long members which are connected by at least one cross member. A floorboard of the driver cabin is attached to the chassis frame at a first end of the chassis frame. A passenger/ luggage compartment is mounted above the chassis frame. In case of a passenger vehicles, the passenger compartment includes seating arrangement, foot board for passengers and luggage space on rear side of passenger seat. In the cargo configuration of vehicle, the storage/ luggage compartment may be in the form of a pickup tray or an enclosed compartment. The engine is mounted on the rear side of the vehicle under the passenger seat or luggage compartment.
In conventional vehicles, a spare wheel and a battery are usually accommodated under the driver seat on floor board of a vehicle. The fuel cylinder accommodated at front side of the vehicle may be located below the driver seat of the vehicle. In order to accommodate a fuel cylinder under the driver seat, the position of spare wheel under the driver seat is shifted upwards and a space is created to accommodate a fuel cylinder below driver seat on the floor board of a vehicle with suitable mounting arrangements. A spare wheel is positioned above the fuel cylinder and below the driver seat with suitable mounting arrangement. A hump is provided on the partition wall between the driver cabin and the passenger compartment to accommodate part of spare wheel in that position.
The battery is also repackaged to the rear side of the vehicle. A battery support structure attached to external side of the long member of the chassis frame through suitable attaching means such as welding is provided. The battery is fixed mounted on this structure. Wiring harnesses are suitably rerouted as per new position of the battery.
The fuel cylinders positioned under the driver seat are supported over “Y” member provided on the floor board of chassis.
The fuel cylinder accommodated at the rear side of the vehicle is preferably located below the passenger seat for passenger vehicle and below the storage/ luggage compartment for cargo configuration of vehicle.
In case of passenger vehicle, an engine is located at rear side of the vehicle and a fuel cylinder is mounted ahead of the engine and below the passenger seat. A suitable mounting arrangement is provided on long members and cross member of vehicle to mount the fuel cylinder

In case of cargo vehicle, an engine is located at rear side of the vehicle and a fuel cylinder is mounted ahead of the engine preferably between the driver cabin and the engine. A suitable mounting arrangement is provided on long members and cross member of vehicle to mount the fuel cylinder.

The two gas cylinders can be of the same filing capacity or of the different capacity. The filing capacity combinations of the two cylinders can vary based on requirement and standard cylinder sizes available in the market For e.g. in one of the embodiments of the invention one cylinder has filing capacity of 40 litters whereas other cylinder has filling capacity of 20 litters.

For filing of fuel, two cylinders may be provided with a common gas filing valve and have a common gas filling arrangement. The gas filing valve position is such that it is conveniently accessible from the vehicle side during fuel filing. A lid can be provided to the filing valve/s to protect it from external direct impacts, dust, dirt, etc. The lid can be conveniently removed and added as and when fuel filing is to be done. The lid may also be hinged connected to body for easy opening and closing. The two cylinders may also be provided with control arrangement using which the cylinders may be refilled or used selectively. The positioning of the common filing valve of the gas cylinders is such that it does not disturb the layout of the air intake system.

Alternatively, the two fuel cylinders may be provided with separate fuel filling valves.
The gaseous fuel cylinder mounting arrangement for vehicle described above facilities increased fuel filing capacity which in turn helps to increase vehicle driving range and reduces fuel filing frequency. Further, proposed gaseous fuel storage arrangement provides optimum position for higher fuel storage capacity. The gaseous fuel storage arrangement according to the invention is safe, robust and cost effective.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
In the drawings:
Figure 1A is a perspective view of a three wheeled passenger vehicle with fuel cylinder mounting arrangement according to one of the embodiments of the invention.
Figure 1B is a side view of a three wheeled passenger vehicle with fuel cylinder mounting arrangement according to one of the embodiments of the invention.
Figure 2A is another perspective view of a three wheeled passenger vehicle with fuel cylinder mounting arrangement according to one of the embodiments of the invention.
Figure 2B is a top view of a three wheeled passenger vehicle with fuel cylinder mounting arrangement according to one of the embodiments of the invention.
Figure 3A, 3B, 3C & 3D are perspective views of the fuel cylinder mounting arrangement below the passenger seat of the three wheeled passenger vehicle of figure 1.
Figure 4A & 4B are perspective views of the fuel cylinder mounting arrangement below the driver seat of the three wheeled passenger vehicle of figure 1.
Figure 5A, 5B & 5C are top view and perspective views of the spare wheel mounting arrangement below the driver seat of the three wheeled passenger vehicle of figure 1.
Figure 6A & 6B are top view and perspective view of the fuel filling arrangement in both the cylinders of the three wheeled passenger vehicle of figure 1.
Figure 7A is a perspective view of a three wheeled cargo vehicle with fuel cylinder mounting arrangement according to one of the embodiments of the invention.
Figure 7B is a top view of a three wheeled cargo vehicle with fuel cylinder mounting arrangement according to one of the embodiments of the invention.
Figure 7C is a perspective view of a three wheeled cargo vehicle with fuel cylinder mounting arrangement according to one of the embodiments of the invention.
Figure 8A & 8B are a side view and a perspective view of a four wheeled vehicle with fuel cylinder mounting arrangement according to one of the embodiments of the invention.
Figure 9A & 9B are a side view and a perspective view of a four wheeled vehicle with fuel cylinder mounting arrangement according to another embodiments of the invention.
The figures depict embodiments of the disclosure for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the disclosure described herein.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Description of preferred but non-limiting embodiments of the present invention will now follow with reference to the above drawings. The fuel cylinders arrangement in reference to a passenger vehicle and cargo vehicle is explained though the figures and following detailed description.
Referring to figure 1 to 6, a three wheeled passenger vehicle 10 is shown. The three wheeled vehicle comprises a chassis frame 11 having long members 12 and 13 connected together by multiple cross members like 14, 15. A driver cabin 5 is provided at one side of the chassis frame 11 and a passenger compartment 6 is provided behind the driver cabin 5 supported over long members 12 and 13. Driver cabin 5 is a space formed by a floor board 25, a front panel 26 and windshield 27. Driver cabin 5 and the passenger compartment 6 are covered by a top cover 7 from the top.
The driver cabin 5 accommodates driver seat 35. The driver cabin 5 is provided with a front wheel 1 which connected to steering handle in conventional manner. The front wheel 1 is provided with a suspension arrangement 3 and covered with mudguard 4. The passenger compartment 6 is supported over long members 12 and 13 of chassis frame 11. The passenger compartment 6 includes a body cover 32 inside which passenger seating arrangement 33, passenger leg space 34, foot board for passengers 36 and luggage space on rear side of passenger seat are provided.
On the rear side of the chassis frame 11, other vehicle components such as engine 50 and its components are mounted on the chassis frame 11 by taking support of the cross member of the chassis frame 11. Placements of the vehicle components such as engine 50 under the passenger compartment 6 are such that the suitable ground clearance and passenger boarding height is maintained. Rear wheels 2 and 3 are provided and connected to frame with the help of training arm assembly 4. Trailing arm assembly 4 provide suspension to the rear wheels of the vehicle.
In one aspect of the invention, two gaseous fuel cylinders 100 and 200 are mounted in the vehicle. Front cylinders is mounted under the driver seat 35 and rear cylinder 200 is mounted below passenger seat 33 of the vehicle. The long axis of both the fuel cylinders 100 and 200b situated substantially along the width of the vehicle.
In conventional three wheel vehicles, a spare wheel 300 and a battery 400 are usually accommodated under the driver seat 35. Since as the fuel cylinder 100 is mounted under the driver seat 35, design modification needs to be made for packaging of the spare wheel 300 and the battery 400.
According to present embodiment of the invention, the spare wheel 300 is packaged under the driver seat 35 and above the front cylinder 100. A hump 40 is provided in the partition wall 41 between the driver cabin 5 and passenger cabin 6 to accommodate part of spare wheel 300. This hump 40 is having semi-circular shape corresponding to the shape of spare wheel 300. A spare wheel 300 is supported on a bracket 60 which is attached to the floor 25 or partition wall 41 of the vehicle by suitable means such as nut bolts.
The battery 400 position is moved to rear side of the vehicle. A battery is supported external side of the long member 13 of the chassis frame 11 through suitable attaching means such as welding. The battery 400 is accommodated inside the body 32 of the vehicle. This protects battery from external impacts, dust, dirt, etc. Further, it also eliminates chances of battery theft. A lockable lid (not shown) may be provided in the body 32 of the vehicle to access the battery 400.
According to one of the embodiments of the invention, the front cylinder 100 is supported over a cradle 62. This cradle is attached to the “Y” member 99 of the floor board 25 of the vehicle 10 by suitable means such as welding or bolting. The front cylinder 100 is supported on this cradle 62 and held in its position by a clamping arrangement. The clamping arrangement comprises belts 63 which are hinged at one end of the cradle 62 and its open ends are attached to the other end of the cradle 62 through suitable hardware such as screw and nut.
According to one of the embodiments of the invention, the rear cylinder 200 is supported over two mounting brackets 51. These mounting brackets are attached to the cross members 14 and 15 by suitable means such as welding. The rear cylinder 200 is supported on this brackets 51 and held in its position by a clamping arrangement. The clamping arrangement comprises belts 52 which are hinged at one end of the bracket 51 and its open ends are attached to the other end of the bracket 51 through suitable hardware such as screw and nut. The rear cylinder 200 is tightened firmly on the brackets 51 with the belts 52 and screw and nut.
The two cylinders 100 and 200 may be provided with common fuel filing valve 205. The common fuel filing valve 205 is placed inside the body cover 32 of the vehicle to protect it from dust, dirt or external direct impacts. The common fuel filing valve 205 is easily accessible from vehicle right side. A lockable lid 202 is provided to access the common fuel filing valve 205. The common filling valve 205 is placed on the rear cylinder 200 and front cylinder 100 is connected to common filling valve 205 through a gas pipe 207. A similar arrangement of common filling valve may be designed in which the common filling valve is placed on front cylinder and rear cylinder is connected to common filling valve through a gas pipe. Alternately separate filling valves may be provided for each cylinders.
Referring to the figures 7A and 7B, a three wheeled cargo vehicle 110 is shown. Similar to the passenger vehicle 10, two gaseous fuel cylinders 100 and 200 are mounted in this vehicle 110. Front cylinder 100 is mounted under the driver seat 35 and rear cylinder 200 is mounted behind driver’s cabin 120 and below the floor board 130 of cargo tray 140 of the vehicle 110. The long axis of both the fuel cylinders 100 and 200 situated substantially along the width of the vehicle 110. The mounting and clamping arrangement of these cylinders is similar to that of passenger vehicle explained above.
The gaseous fuel cylinders referred in the above embodiments may have different filling capacities. For example front cylinder 100 has less capacity (for example 10 litters) and rear cylinder 200 has higher capacity (for example 30 litres). If for any reason such as vehicle layout requirement, a higher capacity cylinder (for example having capacity more than 10 litres) is needed to be provided at front side, some design modifications have to be done in the vehicle layout as described in next para.
According to another embodiments of the invention, referring to the figures 8A and 8B, a four wheeled vehicle 210 is shown. Two gaseous fuel cylinders 220 and 230 are mounted in this vehicle 210. Front cylinder 220 is mounted under the driver seat 235 and rear cylinder 230 is mounted below the passenger seat 245 of the vehicle 210. The long axis of both the fuel cylinders 220 and 230 situated substantially along the width of the vehicle 210. The mounting and clamping arrangement of these cylinders is similar to that of three wheeled passenger vehicle explained above or may require some modification to suit application in four wheeled vehicle.
According to yet another embodiments of the invention, referring to the figures 9A and 9B, a four wheeled vehicle 210 is shown. Two gaseous fuel cylinders 220 and 230 are mounted in this vehicle 210. Front cylinder 220 is mounted under the driver seat 235 and rear cylinder 230 is mounted behind the passenger seat 245 of the vehicle 210. The long axis of both the fuel cylinders 220 and 230 situated substantially along the width of the vehicle 210. The mounting and clamping arrangement of these cylinders is similar to that of three wheeled passenger vehicle explained above or may require some modification to suit application in four wheeled vehicle.
To create more space for bigger cylinder under the driver seat, vehicle components such as spare wheel, parking brake lever, reverse lever, etc may to be relocated to other suitable location on the vehicle. For example a spare wheel may be shifted to underside of floor board with suitable mounting arrangements and parking brake lever and reverse lever may be shifted to below dash board of vehicle in front of driver. With these arrangement a higher capacity can be accommodated in the front of vehicle below the driver seat of the vehicle.
Proposed gaseous fuel cylinder mounting arrangement for vehicle described above helps to increase vehicle driving range and reduces fuel filing frequency by increasing fuel filing capacity. The gaseous fuel storage arrangement according to the invention is safe, robust and cost effective. Further, the arrangement does not affect the vehicle ground clearance and boarding/ loading height of the passenger compartment or pickup tray. Proposed gaseous fuel storage arrangement provides optimum position for higher fuel storage capacity. The gaseous fuel cylinder mounting arrangement according to the invention can be adopted for various configurations of three/ four wheeled vehicle such as passenger vehicle, cargo/goods carrier vehicle, etc. Further, more than two gaseous fuel cylinders can also be used using gaseous fuel cylinder mounting arrangement according to the invention.

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, modifications and variations to the invention described herein may be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such modifications and variations are deemed within the scope of the present invention.

Dated 4th December 2019
For Bajaj Auto Limited

Milind Joshi
Divisional. Manager (R&D)

,CLAIMS:WE CLAIM
1. An automotive vehicle comprising;
a front side comprising driver cabin (5) having provision for at least a driver seat (35) and
a rear side comprising a passenger or a storage compartment (6) and;
plurality of gaseous fuel cylinders accommodated in the vehicle;
wherein at least one gaseous fuel cylinder (100) is accommodated at the front side of vehicle and at least one gaseous fuel cylinder (200) is accommodated at the rear side of vehicle.

2. The automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 1; wherein a gaseous fuel cylinder (100) is accommodated under the driver seat (35) of the vehicle at front side of vehicle.

3. The automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 2; wherein a spare wheel (300) is accommodated under the driver seat (35) of the vehicle.

4. The automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 3; wherein a spare wheel (300) is accommodated above the gaseous fuel cylinder (100) and under the driver seat (35) of the vehicle.

5. The automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 4; wherein a hump (40) is provided on the partition wall (41) between the driver cabin and the passenger compartment to accommodate spare wheel (300) at least partly in that position.

6. The automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 1; wherein a gaseous fuel cylinder (200) is accommodated below the passenger seat (33) or storage compartment of the vehicle at rear side of vehicle.

7. The automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 1; wherein a gaseous fuel cylinder (230) is accommodated behind the passenger seat (245) of the vehicle.

8. The automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 6; wherein a gaseous fuel cylinder (200) is accommodated forwardly of rear wheel axle of the vehicle.

9. The automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 6; wherein a gaseous fuel cylinder (200) is accommodated rearwardly to driver cabin (120) of the vehicle

10. The automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 1; wherein plurality of gaseous fuel cylinders (100, 200) are provided with a common gas filing valves (205) and have a common gas filling arrangement.

11. The automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 1; wherein the plurality of gaseous fuel cylinders (100, 200) are provided with independent gas filling arrangement including gas filling valve (205).

12. The automotive vehicle as claimed in claim1; comprising a battery (400); wherein the battery is positioned away from the area under the driver’s seat (and the battery located at rear side of the vehicle and it is mounted on support structure which is attached to external side of the long member (12, 13) of the chassis frame (11) through suitable attaching means .

13. The automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 1; wherein the automotive vehicle includes a chassis frame (11) comprising a plurality of long members (12, 213) which are connected by at least one cross member (14) and the gaseous fuel cylinders is supported by at least one cross member (14).

14. The automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 1; wherein the automotive vehicle includes a chassis frame comprising a “Y” member (99) provided on the floor board (130) of the chassis and the gaseous fuel cylinder (100) is supported by the “Y” member (99).

15. The automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 1; wherein the plurality of gaseous fuel cylinders have different storage capacity.

16. The automotive vehicle as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein; the automotive vehicle may be a three wheeled vehicle or a four wheeled vehicle.

Dated 4th December 2019
For Bajaj Auto Limited

Milind Joshi
Divisional. Manager (R&D)