Utility vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11214138-B2
Application number	US-201916669807-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 31, 2019
Priority date	Oct 31, 2019
Publication date	Jan 4, 2022
Grant date	Jan 4, 2022

Abstract

Provided is a utility vehicle that can efficiently take the traveling wind into a vehicle and discharge muddy water and earth and sand that enter a passage for taking in the traveling wind to the outside of the vehicle. The utility vehicle includes an opening formed on the vehicle body, the opening through which a traveling wind can be taken into the vehicle body when the vehicle body travels, a radiator capable of cooling a coolant for cooling a driving source by exchanging heat with the traveling wind taken in from the opening, a passage that is provided between the opening and the radiator and guides the traveling wind taken in from the opening to the radiator, and a discharge mechanism that performs discharge operation to discharge foreign matter to outside when the foreign matter enters inside of the passage together with the traveling wind.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A utility vehicle, comprising:
a driving source;
a vehicle body equipped with the driving source;
an opening formed on the vehicle body, the opening through which traveling wind can be taken into the vehicle body when the vehicle body travels by driving of the driving source;
a radiator capable of cooling a coolant for cooling the driving source by exchanging heat with traveling wind taken in from the opening;
a passage that is provided between the opening and the radiator and guides the traveling wind taken in from the opening to the radiator; and
a discharge mechanism that performs discharge operation to discharge foreign matter to outside when the foreign matter enters inside of the passage together with the traveling wind.

2. The utility vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the discharge mechanism performs the discharge operation when a predetermined amount or more of foreign matter enters the passage.

3. The utility vehicle according to claim 2 , wherein
the discharge mechanism includes a tray whose position can be changed between an open state in which the tray is opened when the foreign matter is discharged and a closed state when the foreign matter is not discharged, and a biasing member that biases the tray to a position of a closed state, and
when gravity greater than or equal to a biasing force by the biasing member acts on the tray due to foreign matter having a predetermined weight or more placed on the tray, the tray moves to a position of an open state, and the discharge mechanism performs the discharge operation.

4. The utility vehicle according to claim 2 , wherein
the discharge mechanism includes a tray that supports the foreign matter in the inside of the passage when the foreign matter enters inside of the passage, and a motor that can move the tray,
the tray is configured to be movable by driving of the motor between a support position at which the foreign matter is supported and a storage position at which the tray is stored in a storage portion, and
the foreign matter supported by the tray at the support position is discharged to the outside by gravity when the tray moves from the support position to the storage position and the tray is stored in the storage portion.

5. The utility vehicle according to claim 2 , wherein
the discharge mechanism has a sensor that detects whether or not an amount of the foreign matter that enters inside of the passage is a predetermined amount or more, and
the discharge mechanism performs the discharge operation when the sensor detects that the amount of the foreign matter is the predetermined amount or more.

6. The utility vehicle according to claim 5 , wherein
the sensor is a pressure sensor, and
the discharge mechanism performs the discharge operation when a pressure detected by the pressure sensor is a predetermined pressure or more.

7. The utility vehicle according to claim 5 , wherein
the sensor is an optical sensor,
the optical sensor has a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit, and
the discharge mechanism performs the discharge operation when light emitted from the light emitting unit is blocked by the foreign matter accumulated in the inside of the passage and an amount of light received by the light receiving unit is reduced.

8. The utility vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the discharge mechanism performs the discharge operation at regular intervals.

9. The utility vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the discharge mechanism has a camera capable of recognizing whether or not the foreign matter enters inside of the passage based on an image, and
the discharge mechanism performs the discharge operation when the foreign matter is recognized to enter inside of the passage based on an image captured by the camera.

10. The utility vehicle according to claim 1 , further comprising an air conditioning mechanism for air-conditioning an inside of a vehicle interior in the vehicle body, wherein
the air conditioning mechanism has a condenser capable of condensing a refrigerant by exchanging heat between a refrigerant and the traveling wind taken in from the opening, and
the passage includes a condenser passage that is provided between the opening and the condenser and guides the traveling wind taken in from the opening to the condenser.

11. The utility vehicle according to claim 10 , further comprising a fan that can take in a larger amount of traveling wind from the opening by rotating, wherein
the passage includes a fan passage for taking in traveling wind from the opening when the fan rotates.

12. The utility vehicle according to claim 11 , wherein the condenser, the radiator, and the fan are arranged in this order from front to rear of the vehicle body.

Assignees

• Kawasaki Heavy Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Uozumi Yoshinobu

Classifications

• B62D25/08 Primary

  Front or rear portions {(sub-frames for mounting engine or suspensions B62D21/11)} · CPC title

• B60Y2200/124

  Buggies, Quads · CPC title

• B60K11/085 Primary

  with adjustable shutters or blinds · CPC title

• B60S1/68

  for freeing wheels or tyres from foreign matter, e.g. wheel scrapers · CPC title

• B62D35/005

  Front spoilers (B62D35/001 takes precedence) · CPC title