Vehicle and manufacturing method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10207664-B2
Application number	US-201715634224-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 27, 2017
Priority date	Jun 29, 2016
Publication date	Feb 19, 2019
Grant date	Feb 19, 2019

Abstract

A vehicle which can neutralize static electricity accumulating on a vehicle body, and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. The vehicle comprises: a vehicle body sustained by tires; a battery; an earth cable electrically connecting a negative terminal of the battery to the vehicle body; a predetermined member connected to the vehicle body while being insulted to the vehicle body; a main self-discharge device that neutralizes the predetermined member; and a conducting member that connects a neutralizing area of the predetermined member that is neutralized by the main self-discharge device to the negative terminal of the battery or the earth cable.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle, comprising:
a vehicle body sustained by a plurality of tires in such a manner that an electrical resistance between each of the tires and a road surface is kept to be greater than a first predetermined value;
a battery that supplies electricity to a predetermined electrical device;
an earth cable that electrically connects a negative terminal of the battery to the vehicle body;
a predetermined member that is connected to the vehicle body while keeping an electrical resistance between the predetermined member and the vehicle body greater than a second predetermined value;
a main self-discharge device that decreases a potential of the predetermined member by causing a self-discharge to produce ions charged to an opposite polarity to a polarity of the predetermined member in an airflow flowing along a surface of the predetermined member according to the potential; and
a conducting member that connects a neutralizing area of the predetermined member that is neutralized by the main self-discharge device to the negative terminal of the battery or the earth cable while keeping an electrical resistance between the neutralizing area and the negative terminal or the earth cable smaller than a third predetermined value.

2. The vehicle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the predetermined member is made of material that is electrically charged with less resistance than metal material.

3. The vehicle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the predetermined member is made of resin material.

4. The vehicle as claimed in claim 3 , further comprising:
a prime mover; and
a cover member that covers the prime mover,
wherein the predetermined member includes the cover member.

5. The vehicle as claimed in claim 3 , further comprising:
an engine serving as a prime mover,
wherein the engine includes a cylinder block having a plurality of cylinder bores, a cylinder head that closes the cylinder bores of the cylinder block, and a head cover that covers the cylinder head, and
wherein the predetermined member includes the head cover.

6. The vehicle as claimed in claim 3 , further comprising:
a prime mover; and
a duct that allows external air to flow toward the prime mover, and wherein the predetermined member includes the duct.

7. The vehicle as claimed in claim 3 , further comprising:
a plate member to which the main self-discharge device is attached,
wherein the plate member is attached to the predetermined member.

8. The vehicle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the main self-discharge device includes a coating material that is applied to an outer surface of the predetermined member.

9. The vehicle as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the coating material contains at least one of metallic material and carbon fiber.

10. The vehicle as claimed in claim 1 ,
wherein the main self-discharge device covers a predetermined area of the outer surface of the predetermined member, and
further comprising a sub self-discharge device that is applied to the predetermined member at a different site from a site to which the main self-discharge device is applied, and
wherein the sub self-discharge device is adapted to decrease the potential of the predetermined member by causing a self-discharge to produce ions charged to the opposite polarity of the polarity of the predetermined member in the airflow flowing along the surface of the predetermined member according to the potential.

11. The vehicle as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
a sub self-discharge device that is applied to a specific point of the vehicle body, and wherein the sub self-discharge device is adapted to decrease the potential of the predetermined member by causing a self-discharge to produce ions charged to the opposite polarity of the polarity of the predetermined member in the airflow flowing along the surface of the predetermined member according to the potential.

12. The vehicle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a surface area of the main self-discharge device is determined in such a manner as to achieve predetermined aerodynamic characteristics.

13. The vehicle as claimed in claim 12 ,
wherein the surface area includes an effective discharging area to cause the self-discharge, and
wherein the effective discharging area is 10625 mm2.

14. The vehicle as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the surface area of the main self-discharge device and a surface area of the sub self-discharge device are determined in such a manner as to achieve predetermined aerodynamic characteristics in total.

15. The vehicle as claimed in claim 14 ,
wherein the surface areas of the main self-discharge device and the sub self-discharge device include an effective discharging area to cause the self-discharge, and
wherein a total surface area of the main self-discharge device and the sub self-discharge device is 10625 mm2.

16. The vehicle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein one of end portions of the conducting member is connected to an area within 100 mm from an outer edge of the self-discharge device.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Tanahashi Toshio
• Yamada Koshi

Classifications

• Y10S903/951

  Assembly or relative location of components · CPC title

• B62D65/02

  Joining sub-units or components to, or positioning sub-units or components with respect to, body shell or other sub-units or components · CPC title

• B60Y2410/115

  Electric wiring; Electric connectors · CPC title

• B60R16/06 Primary

  for removing electrostatic charges (carrying-off electrostatic charges in general H05F3/00) · CPC title

• B60K6/28

  characterised by the electric energy storing means, e.g. batteries or capacitors · CPC title