DESC:FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention generally relates to an automotive fuel container mounting arrangement and more specifically relates to a gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement for a three wheeled vehicle.
BACKGROUND
Three wheel vehicles are preferred due to their lower cost of ownership and maintenance, and ease of use and operation. Three wheel vehicles are used for carrying goods and passengers and have found great acceptance in cost sensitive markets.
Most commonly used three wheeled 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’s seat and an open pickup tray or an enclosed storage compartment or passenger compartment is provided over the rear portion of the vehicle. A two stroke or a four stroke engine working on a liquid fuel (such as petrol or diesel) is mounted at the rear or front end of the vehicle.
Due to increased environmental concerns in recent years, it is necessary to reduce the emissions from the vehicles. In many parts, governments have banned diesel vehicles all together. One way to achieve lower emission is by switching to gaseous fuel such as LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) or CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) from the conventional liquid fuels such a petrol and diesel. Further, use of such gaseous fuels provides economic benefit as these are currently at lower cost than liquid fuels such as petrol.
The vehicle using gaseous fuel includes a refillable gas containers such as gas cylinders 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 filling stations. A suitable filling nozzle provided on the gas cylinder through which the gaseous fuel is filled into the cylinder at the filling stations.
One of the key issues in using the gaseous fuel powered vehicles is high time taken for refilling the fuel and less number of gaseous fuel filling stations. As gaseous fuel operated three wheeled vehicles mostly used for commercial purposes, precious time is lost during fuel refilling. Further, due to less number of filing stations, vehicle operators often have to travel large 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.
These issues primarily occur due to low fuel filling capacity of existing three wheeled vehicles. Due to low fuel filling capacity, range of distance travelled by the vehicle is low and fuel filing frequency is high. To address these issues, it is desired that fuel carrying capacity of existing three wheeled vehicles increased.
In most conventional three wheeled 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 three wheeled vehicles 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 case of a three wheeled vehicles where the engine is front mounted, if the fuel cylinder is mounted along the length of the pickup tray or the storage/passenger compartment, vehicle components such as spare wheel, battery, wiring harness, etc. need to be repositioned. In such arrangement the fuel cylinder filing nozzle will not be accessible easily.
Further, three wheeled vehicles are more compact compared to four wheeled vehicle and limited space is available in the vehicle to accommodate higher capacity fuel cylinders without affecting the layout of other vehicle components.
In view of the above discussion, there is a need to provide a gaseous fuel operated three wheeled vehicle which has increased fuel container capacity to eliminate the aforementioned shortcomings.

OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a gaseous fuel operated three wheeled vehicle having higher fuel storage capacity.
Another object of the present invention to provide a gaseous fuel operated three wheeled vehicle having higher traveling distance range and reduced fuel filing frequency.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a position for higher fuel storage capacity arrangement in three wheeled vehicle.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a higher capacity gaseous fuel storage arrangement for three wheeled vehicle which does not affect the vehicle ground clearance and loading/boarding height of the pickup tray or the storage/ passenger compartment.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a higher capacity gaseous fuel storage arrangement for three wheeled vehicle which does not affect the loading capacity of the pickup tray or boot space of the passenger compartment.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a higher capacity gaseous fuel storage arrangement for three wheeled vehicle which does not affect positioning and layout of the other vehicle components.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a position for higher capacity gaseous fuel storage arrangement which is closer to the centre of mass of the vehicle to achieve uniform weight distribution and lower centre of gravity.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a position for higher capacity gaseous fuel storage arrangement for three wheeled vehicle which does not expose the container to a direct impact upon meeting with an accident.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a position for higher capacity gaseous fuel storage arrangement for three wheeled vehicle whereby the engine heat does not reach the fuel container and create any unsafe condition.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a higher capacity gaseous fuel storage arrangement for three wheeled vehicle which is less prone to theft.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a safe, robust, easily serviceable and cost effective higher capacity gaseous fuel storage arrangement for three wheeled vehicle.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION
With above objects in view, the present invention provides a three wheeled vehicle comprising
a front end comprising a drivers cabin; and
a rear end comprising a passenger or storage compartment;
wherein a plurality of gaseous fuel containers are mounted behind the driver cabin, with the long axis of the plurality of gaseous fuel containers substantially along the width of the vehicle.
According to one of the embodiment of the invention, the three wheeled 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 luggage/passenger compartment is mounted above the chassis frame. The luggage compartment may be in the form of a pickup tray or an enclosed compartment.

Mounting of the plurality of gaseous fuel containers is preferably located below the luggage/passenger compartment.

In case of a three wheeled vehicle with rear mounted engine, the plurality of gaseous fuel containers are mounted ahead of the engine preferably between the driver cabin and the engine.

Space for mounting of the gas containers between the driver cabin and the engine is not readily available in three wheeled vehicles as the various control cables such as speedometer cable, choke cable, accelerator cable, forward and reverse gear cables, parking brake cables, etc. and wiring harness such as wiring harness for rear lights, starter motor, etc. pass from the driver cabin to the rear side of the vehicle through space between the driver cabin and the engine. Mounting of the gas containers between the driver cabin and the engine necessitates the reposition of control cables and wiring harnesses. Similar challenge is faced with compact four wheeled vehicles such as quadricycles. Further, in case where the spare wheel is accommodated under the driver seat, a bump need to be provided on the rear wall of the driver cabin to accommodate spare wheel such that it does not project beyond driver seat width. The provision of the bump further reduces the space availability between driver cabin and engine.

In one of the embodiments of the invention, two gaseous fuel containers provided in the vehicle. The gas containers are preferably in cylindrical shape. The two containers 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.

The fuel cylinders are supported on the two cross members of the chassis frame. To facilitate the accommodating of the cylinders without affecting the loading height, ground clearance and loading capacity or boot space, one of the cross member, preferably the cross member under the bigger gas cylinder is cranked diagonally downward and forward. Cranking of the cross member is downward direction helps to create extra space for accommodating the gas cylinder without affecting loading capacity or boot space. However, if the cross member is cranked only in downward direction, it may affect the ground clearance of the vehicle. To avoid such situation, the cross member is cranked in diagonally forward direction along with downward direction.

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 protective cover can be provided to the filing valve/s to protect it from external direct impacts, dust, dirt, etc. The protective cover can be conveniently removed and added as and when fuel filing is to be done. The protective cover may also be hingedly connected to frame 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.

In a one of the embodiment, two different sized gas cylinders are supported over a mounting bracket. The mounting bracket has a two cylinder support members which are connected together by suitable joining arrangement such as bolting or welding. The cylinder support members have support surfaces having profile which correspond to outer periphery of the gas cylinders. The supporting surfaces may be provided with a rubber cushioning on their surface to absorb the shocks due to road induced vibrations.

As three wheeled vehicles are compact, compact space is available for mounting of the gas cylinders. Due to which, very narrow gap has to be maintained between the cylinders. This may lead to collision of the cylinders during braking and acceleration of the vehicle. To avoid such situation, the gas cylinders are secured within the respective supporting surfaces using belt and spacer arrangement. In one such arrangement, a pair of belts and spacers is provided to keep the gas cylinders in position. One end of the belts is fixed to the end of the cylinder support members and other end of the belts connected to other end of the cylinder support members through adjustable screw arrangement. The adjustable screw arrangement facilitates in adjusting the belt tension. A pair of spacers is provided between the two cylinders which keeps the two cylinders apart and avoids collision between the cylinders during braking or acceleration of the vehicle or road induced vibrations to the vehicle. In one of the preferred configurations, the spacer is in the form of a triangular metallic frame with rubber cushioning on its outer surface. The spacers are positioned under the belts such that they remain in contact with both cylinders under belt tension. The belt and spacer arrangement helps to retain cylinders in supporting surfaces provided on the cylinder support members without colliding with each other.

During assembly, the mounting bracket of the fuel cylinders, fuel cylinders and belt and spacer arrangement can be assembled directly on the frame structure for e.g. cross members of the chassis frame. Alternately, arrangement of the mounting bracket, fuel cylinders and belt and spacer arrangement can be formed as separate subassembly and mounted on the frame directly. This reduces the assembly time. In yet another embodiment, the fuel cylinders are manufactured integrally with mounting bracket which can be mounted on the chassis frame directly.

Due to mounting of the two cylinders, space is not available for passing control cables such as engine decompression cable, forward and reverse gear cables, engine stop cables, etc. and wiring harness such as wiring harness for rear lights, starter motor, etc. to the rear side of the vehicle. The cranking provided on the cross member to accommodate fuel cylinders also facilitate to create a gap between the mounting bracket and the cross member. Control cables and wiring harness is passed through this gap to the rear side of the vehicle.

Mounting of the two cylinders in a limited space leaves very narrow space for carrying hand brake/ parking brake cables that comes out from the rear wall of the driver cabin extending up to rear wheels. If a very sharp bends are given to these cables, it may affect their braking efficiency. To avoid such situation, routing of hand/ parking brake cables is designed to extend in vertical plane towards rear side instead of extending in horizontal plane. This helps to prevent sharp bend to parking brake cable and any effect on braking efficiency.

The gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement for three wheeled goods carrier vehicle described above allows increased fuel filing capacity which in turn helps to increase vehicle driving range and reduces fuel filing frequency. The gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement according to invention may also be adopted for compact four wheeled vehicles such as quadricycles.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

In the drawings:

Figure 1A and 1B are orthogonal views of a three wheeled vehicle with fuel cylinder mounting arrangement according to one of the embodiments of the invention.

Figure 1C is an orthogonal view of a three wheeled passenger vehicle with fuel cylinder mounting arrangement according to one of the embodiments of the invention.

Figure 2A and 2B are side views of a three wheeled vehicle of figure 1A and 1B with fuel cylinder mounting arrangement according one of the embodiments of the invention.

Figure 3A is a top view of the fuel cylinder arrangement under the pickup tray of the three wheeled vehicle of figure 1A and 1B.

Figure 3B is a side view of a three wheeled vehicle of figure 1A and 1B without a fuel cylinders and their mounting arrangement.
Figure 4 is an orthogonal view of a three wheeled vehicle without a fuel cylinder mounting arrangement according to present invention.

Figure 5A and 5B are orthogonal views of the fuel cylinders along with the mounting arrangement of the fuel cylinders according to one of the embodiments of the invention.

Figure 6 is an orthogonal view of the mounting arrangement shown in figure 5A and 5B for the fuel cylinders.

Figure 7 is an orthogonal view of the modified chassis frame of the vehicle shown in Figure 1A and 1B for mounting of the fuel cylinders.

Figure 8 is an orthogonal view of the modified cross member for mounting of the fuel cylinders.

Figure 9 is an orthogonal view of the frame shown in figure 7 mounted with fuel cylinder mounting bracket.

Figure 10 is an orthogonal view of the fuel cylinder arrangement under the pickup tray of the three wheeled vehicle of figure 1A and 1B.

Figure 11 is a bottom view of the fuel cylinders mounted on the chassis frame of the three wheeled vehicle of figure 1A and 1B.

Figure 12A is an orthogonal view of hand/ parking brake cable arrangement in earlier three wheel vehicles that fouls with the fuel cylinders arrangement according to present invention.

Figure 12B is an orthogonal view of modified hand/ parking brake cable arrangement according to present 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

With reference to the above drawings, description of preferred but non-limiting embodiments of the present invention will now follow. Though the figures and following detailed description explains the fuel cylinder arrangement in reference to a cargo/goods carrier vehicle however one skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following description that the arrangement can be adopted for three wheel passenger vehicles and compact four wheeled vehicles such as quadricycles as well.

Referring to figure 1A to 1B and 3A to 3B, a three wheeled vehicle 100 is shown. The three wheeled vehicle comprises a chassis frame 50 having long members 55L and 55R connected together by multiple cross members like 58, 65. A driver cabin 5 is provided at one end of the chassis frame 50. Driver cabin 5 is an enclosed space formed by a floor board 35, a front panel 6, a rear wall 7 and a top cover 8. The driver cabin is also provided with doors 15 on its both sides. The rear wall 7 of a driver cabin 5 and floorboard 35 are connected to frame at front cross member 58 through a suitable fastening arrangement.

The driver cabin accommodates steering handle 20, dashboard 21 and driver seat 25. A spare wheel 30 and a battery 27 are positioned under the driver seat 25. As the diameter of the spare wheel 30 is more than the width of the driver seat 25, a hump 40 is provided on the rear wall 7 of the driver cabin 5 to accommodate spare wheel 30 under the driver seat 25. A hand/parking brake 32 is provided on the left side of the driver seat 25. The driver cabin 5 is provided with a front wheel 1 which connected to steering handle 20 in conventional manner. The front wheel 1 is provided with a suspension arrangement 3 and covered with mudguard 4.

On the rear side of the chassis frame 50, other vehicle components such as engine 120, air cleaner 125, etc. are mounted on the chassis frame 50 by taking support of the cross member of the chassis frame 50. An air intake pipe 127 is connected to the rear wall 7 of the driver cabin 5 and routed along the right long member 55R and connected to the air cleaner 125. A storage compartment in the form of a pickup tray 10 is mounted over the chassis frame 50 and supported by long members 55L and 55R of the chassis frame 50. Placements of the vehicle components such as engine 120 under the pickup tray 10 is such that the suitable ground clearance and loading height of pickup tray 10 is maintained. Rear wheels 2L and 2R are provided and connected to frame with the help of trailing arm assembly 52. Trailing arm assembly 52 provide suspension to the rear wheels of the vehicle. An auxiliary liquid fuel tank 130 is provided between the rear wall 7 and pickup tray 10. The auxiliary liquid fuel tank 130 is mounted on the rear wall and provides fuel to engine in case of emergency when gaseous fuel is over or not available.

In one aspect of the invention, two fuel cylinders 200a and 200b are mounted behind the driver cabin 5, with the long axis of the fuel cylinders 200a and 200b situated substantially along the width of the vehicle. In the present embodiment of the invention, the mounting of the fuel cylinders 200a and 200b is preferably below the pickup tray 10, ahead of position of the engine 120 in vehicle longitudinal direction, at least partially ahead of the air cleaner 125 in vehicle longitudinal direction, at least partially ahead of rear wheels 2L, 2R in vehicle longitudinal direction and at least partially behind the driver seat in vehicle longitudinal direction. The two cylinders 200a and 200b may be provided with a common gas filling arrangement 206 and a common fuel filing valve 205. The common fuel filing valve 205 is easily accessible from vehicle right side for fuel filing. The common fuel filing valve 205 is protected from dust, dirt or external direct impacts by providing a protective cover 202. The protective cover can be in the form of a detachable cover or may be provided with hinge arrangement so as to open and close as and when required. Similar gaseous fuel cylinder arrangement can be provided in the passenger vehicle 110 having a passage cabin 115 instead of pickup tray 10 as shown in figure 1C.

Referring to figure 4, space available between the driver cabin 5 and components mounted on the rear side of the chassis frame 50 such as engine 120, air cleaner 125 is limited. Various control cables 80 such as speedometer cable, choke cable, accelerator cable, forward and reverse gear cables, parking brake cables, etc., wiring harness 85 such as wiring harness for rear lights, starter motor, etc. and brake cables pass from the driver cabin 5 to the rear side of the vehicle through space between the driver cabin 5 and the engine. Multiple cross members 59, 65 also lies in this space. Provision of the bump 40 for accommodating spare wheel 30, on the rear wall 7 of the driver cabin 5 further limits the space availability for mounting of the fuel cylinders 200a and 200b. Further, mounting of the fuel cylinders 200a and 200b shall be such that it does not disturb the layout of the air intake pipe 127.

Mounting of the fuel cylinders 200a and 200b is done considering above limitations of space availability. Referring to figures 5A to 6, according to one of the embodiments of the invention, two different sized gas cylinders 200a and 200b are supported over a mounting bracket 300. The cylinder 200a has higher capacity whereas cylinder 200b has lower capacity for e.g. cylinder 200a has a filing capacity of 40 liters whereas cylinder 200b has filing capacity of 20 liters. Various cylinder sizes may be chosen based on the standard fuel cylinder sizes available and space available.

The mounting bracket 300 has a two cylinder support members 300a and 300b which are connected together by suitable joining arrangement such as bolting or welding. The cylinder support members 300a and 300b have support surfaces having U shaped groves profile which correspond to outer periphery of the gas cylinders 200a and 200b. The groves supporting surfaces may be provided with a rubber cushioning 304 on their surface to absorb the shocks due to road induced vibrations.

As the space available for mounting of the fuel cylinders 200a and 200b is limited, very narrow gap has to be maintained between the cylinders 200a and 200b. This may cause collision of the cylinders 200a and 200b during braking and acceleration of the vehicle. To avoid such situation, the gas cylinders are secured within the respective groves of support members 300a and 300b using belt and spacer arrangement 350. In one such arrangement, a pair of belts 310 and spacers 305 is provided to keep the gas cylinders 200a and 200b in position. First end 301a of the belts 310 is fixed to the end of the cylinder support member 300a and second end 301b of the belts 310 is connected to other end of the cylinder support member 300b through adjustable screw arrangement 325. Adjustable screw arrangement 325 comprises a bolt 307, whose one end is fixedly connected to belt 310 and other end is connected to the cylinder support member 300b using adjustable bolt 308. The adjustable screw arrangement facilitates in tightening or loosening belts around the fuel cylinders 200a and 200b. The belts 310 is in the form of the flat strip which are made of the metal strip 310a covered with cushioning material 310b on the surface which is in contact with the fuel cylinders 200a and 200b.

A pair of spacers 305 is provided between the two cylinders 200a and 200b which keeps the two cylinders apart and avoids collision between the cylinders during braking or acceleration of the vehicle or road induced vibrations of to the vehicle. In one such configuration, the spacer 305 is in the form of a triangular metallic frame 305a with rubber cautioning cushioning 305b on its outer surface. The spacers 305 are positioned under the belts such that they remain in contact with both cylinders 200a and 200b under tension exerted by belts 310. The arrangement of the belts 310 and the spacers 305 helps to retain cylinders 200a and 200b in groves provided on the cylinder support members 300a and 300b without colliding with each other. The cylinder support members 300a and 300b are provided with recesses 302a and 302b on their bottom side for facilitating their mounting on the cross members of the chassis frame 50.

During assembly, the mounting bracket 300, fuel cylinders 200a, 200b, belts 310 and spacer 305 can be assembled directly on the cross members of the chassis frame 50. Alternately, arrangement of the mounting bracket 300, fuel cylinders 200a, 200b, belts 310 and spacer 305 can be formed as separate subassembly and mounted on the frame directly. This reduces the assembly time. In yet another embodiment, the fuel cylinders 200a, 200b can be manufactured integrally with mounting bracket 300 which can be mounted on the chassis frame 50 directly.

For fuel filing into the fuel cylinders 200a and 200b, a common fuel filing valve 205 is provided. Fuel filed through valve 205 is carried into both the cylinders 200a and 200b through a tube 215. While using the fuel, the fuel is carried to engine through a common tube 220. The fuel supply to engine 120 can be done selectively by stopping the fuel supply from one of the cylinders using control arrangement 210. In an alternate arrangement both cylinders 200a and 200b may be provided with separate filing arrangement.

Referring to figures 7 to 12, for mounting of assembly of the mounting bracket 300, fuel cylinders 200a, 200b, belts 310 and spacer 305 on the chassis frame 50, modifications are made to chassis frame 50. Redesigned cross member 60 is used under the fuel cylinders 200a, 200b for connecting the long members 55L and 55R. The assembly of the mounting bracket 300, fuel cylinders 200a, 200b, belts 310 and spacer 305 is supported over the two cross members 60 and 65 of the chassis frame 50.

For accommodating the cylinders 200a and 200b without affecting the loading height of the pickup tray 10 and ground clearance of the vehicle, a cranked cross member 60 is provide under the larger fuel cylinder 200a on the chassis frame 50. The cross member 60 is cranked diagonally downward and forward along its length at points 62 as shown in figure 8. Cranking of the cross member 60 is downward direction helps to create extra space for accommodating the gas cylinder 200a without affecting ground clearance or loading height.

During mounting of the fuel cylinders 200a, 200b along with mounting bracket 300, belts 310 and spacer 305 on the chassis frame 50, the mounting bracket 300 is made to rest on the cross members 60 and 65. The recesses 302a and 302b provided on the cylinder support members 300a and 300b have profile similar to the outer periphery of the cross members 60 and 65 respectively. This facilitates in keeping of the mounting bracket stable over the cross members 60 and 65. The placement of the cylinders is such that, larger cylinder 200a lies immediately behind the driver cabin rear wall 7 and over the cracked cross member 60. The mounting bracket 300 can be fixed to cross members 60 and 65 by suitable fixing arrangement such as bolting or welding or combination thereof.

Due to the diagonally downward and forward crank provide to cross member 60, even after mounting of the fuel cylinders 200a and 200b on the cross members 60, clearance 64 remain between the fuel cylinder 200a and the cross members 60. This clearance 64 creates passage for carrying the control cables 80 such as speedometer cable, choke cable, accelerator cable, forward and reverse gear cables, parking brake cables, etc. from driver cabin 5 on the rear side of the vehicle.

Mounting of the two cylinders 200a, 200b in a limited space leaves very narrow space for carrying hand brake/parking brake cable 90 that comes out from the rear wall 7 of the driver cabin 5. As shown in figure 12A, due to narrow space availability, hand brake/ parking brake cable 90’ fouls with the fuel cylinder 200a and to avoid this needs to be subjected to sharp bends. This may affect their braking efficiency. To prevent such situation, hand brake/ parking brake cable 90’ extending in horizontal plane from rear wall 7 towards rear side of the vehicle as shown in figure 12A are reconfigured to extend in vertical plane towards rear side of the vehicle as shown in figure 12B. This helps to prevent sharp bends to the parking brake cable 90 and any effect on parking efficiency.

The gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement for three wheeled goods carrier vehicle described above allows increased fuel filing capacity which in turn helps to increase vehicle driving range and reduces fuel filing frequency. Further, the arrangement does not affect the vehicle ground clearance and loading/boarding height of the pickup tray or the storage/ passenger compartment. The gaseous fuel cylinder mounting arrangement according to invention may also be adopted for compact four wheeled vehicles such as quadricycles.

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.

Modifications and variations to the secondary air injection system described may be apparent to the skilled reader of this specification. Such modifications and variations are deemed within the scope of the present invention. The applicant intends to rely on the provisional specification and drawings annexed to the provisional specification.
,CLAIMS:1. A gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement for a three wheeled vehicle, the three wheeled vehicle comprising:
a front end comprising a drivers cabin; and
a rear end comprising a passenger or storage compartment;
wherein a plurality of gaseous fuel containers are mounted behind the driver cabin, with the long axis of the plurality of gaseous fuel containers substantially along the width of the vehicle.
2. The gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement for the three wheeled vehicle according to claim 1, wherein mounting of the plurality of gaseous fuel containers are located at least partially below the passenger or storage compartment.

3. The gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement for the three wheeled vehicle according to claim 1, wherein an engine is located at the rear end and the plurality of gaseous fuel containers are mounted at least partially ahead of the engine.

4. The gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement for the three wheeled vehicle according to claim 3, wherein plurality of gaseous fuel containers are mounted at least partially between the driver cabin and the engine.

5. The gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement for the three wheeled vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the gas containers are of a cylindrical shape.

6. The gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement for the three wheeled vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of gaseous fuel containers have same filling capacity.
7. The gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement for the three wheeled vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of gaseous fuel containers have different filling capacity.

8. The gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement for the three wheeled vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the three wheeled vehicle includes a chassis frame comprising a plurality of long members which are connected by at least one cross member and the plurality of gaseous fuel containers are supported by at least two cross members.

9. The gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement for the three wheeled vehicle according to claim 8, wherein at least one cross member is cranked downward.

10. The gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement for the three wheeled vehicle according to claim 8, wherein at least one cross member is cranked diagonally downward and forward.

11. The gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement for the three wheeled vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of gaseous fuel containers have a common gas filing valve and a common gas filling arrangement.

12. The gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement for the three wheeled vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of gaseous fuel containers have separate gas filing valves.

13. The gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement for the three wheeled vehicle according to claim 11 or 12, wherein a protective cover is provided for fuel filling valves.

14. The gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement for the three wheeled vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the gaseous fuel containers are provided with a control arrangement for selective refiling or use of the gas.
15. The gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement for the three wheeled vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the gaseous fuel containers are supported over a mounting bracket comprising a plurality of cylinder support members which are connected together by a suitable joining arrangement such as bolting or welding.

16. The gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement for the three wheeled vehicle according to claim 15, wherein the cylinder support members have support surfaces having a profile which correspond to an outer periphery of the gaseous fuel containers.

17. The gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement for the three wheeled vehicle according to claim 15, wherein the gaseous fuel containers are secured within the respective supporting surfaces using a belt and spacer arrangement.

18. The gaseous fuel container mounting arrangement for the three wheeled vehicle according to claim 17, wherein a first end of the belt is fixed to a first cylinder support member fixedly and a second end of the belt is connected to a second cylinder support member through an adjustable screw arrangement.