Pressure vessel liner, molding die thereof, and pressure vessel

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9377162-B2
Application number	US-201414253002-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 15, 2014
Priority date	Apr 17, 2013
Publication date	Jun 28, 2016
Grant date	Jun 28, 2016

Abstract

The present invention provides a technique for suppressing an occurrence of weld in a pressure vessel liner. A film gate for molding a pressure vessel liner is located on a radially outer side of an outer peripheral end portion of an meshing portion in the pressure vessel liner. By disposing the film gate on the radially outer side of the meshing portion with a sufficient space between, it is possible to control the flow rate of the molten resin during molding, thereby suppressing an occurrence of weld.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A pressure vessel liner comprising:
a resin liner main body portion having a bottomed cylindrical shape and including two axial end portions, each axial end portion having a disk-shaped bottom portion and at least one disk-shaped bottom portion has an opening portion configured to receive a mouthpiece;
a meshing portion integrally formed on an axially outer surface of each disk-shaped bottom portion and disposed on an outer peripheral side of the opening portion, the meshing portion extending along the axial outer surface of the disk-shaped bottom portion and including convex and concave portions extending in radial directions between an axially outer side and a radially inner side of the liner main body portion, and the concave portions and the convex portions are connected together; and
a gate portion has a radially inner side disposed on an outer peripheral side of the meshing portion, the gate portion including a trace film formed during molding, wherein:
in the resin liner main body portion,
each disk-shaped bottom portion has a peripheral edge portion connected to a peripheral wall of the liner main body portion, and the peripheral edge portion of the disk-shaped bottom portion and the peripheral wall portion of the liner main body portion are joined together into a dome shape; and
each disk-shaped the bottom portion is depressed axially inward with respect to each peripheral edge portion; and

in the meshing portion,
the convex portions and the concave portions are alternately arranged along a circumferential direction of the liner main body portion,
each convex portion and each concave portion includes an outer end portion, and the radially outer end portions of the convex portions and concave portions are joined together and constitute an outer peripheral end portion continued in the circumferential direction, and
a projection length from the outer peripheral end portion to the radially inner side of the concave portions is shorter than a projection length from the outer peripheral end portion to the radially inner side of the convex portions.

2. The pressure vessel liner according to claim 1 , wherein a radial length from the gate portion to an inner peripheral end portion of the concave portion is equal to or greater than an axial length of the inner peripheral end surface of the concave portion.

3. The pressure vessel liner according to claim 1 , wherein a radial length from the gate portion to an inner peripheral end portion of the concave portion is 5 mm or more.

4. The pressure vessel liner according to claim 1 , wherein at least a part of the gate portion is raised and corresponds to a curved surface that smoothly connects an axially outer end surface of the convex portion and an outer surface of the peripheral wall of the liner main body portion.

5. The pressure vessel liner according to claim 1 , wherein at least a part of the gate portion is flush with a corresponding curved surface that smoothly connects the axially outer end surface of the convex portion and the outer surface of the peripheral wall of the liner main body portion.

6. A molding die for molding the pressure vessel liner according to claim 1 , comprising:
a liner die surface configured to define a cavity for molding the pressure vessel liner, and a gate die surface configured to define a cavity for molding the film gate,
wherein the gate die surface is disposed on the radially outer side of a region for molding an outer peripheral end portion of the meshing portion on the liner die surface.

7. The liner molding die according to claim 6 ,
wherein a radial length from the gate die surface to a region for molding an inner peripheral end portion of the concave portion on the liner die surface is equal to or greater than an axial length of the region for molding the inner peripheral end surface of the concave portion.

8. The liner molding die according to claim 6 ,
wherein the radial length from the gate die surface to the region for molding the inner peripheral end portion of the concave portion on the liner die surface is 5 mm or more.

9. The liner molding die according to claim 6 ,
wherein a distance between a virtual curved surface and a region for molding a proximal end portion of the gate portion in the gate die surface is greater than 0 mm and equal to or less than 1 mm, the virtual curved surface smoothly connecting a region for molding an axial outer end surface of the convex portion in the liner die surface and a region for molding an outer surface of the peripheral wall of the liner main body portion in the liner die surface.

10. A pressure vessel comprising: the pressure vessel liner according to claim 1 , and a mouthpiece of a cylindrical shape that is inserted into the opening portion of the pressure vessel liner and is meshed with the meshing portion.

11. The pressure vessel liner according to claim 1 , wherein the film gate is provided in a thick portion of the resin liner main body portion that is connected to the radially outer side of the bottom portion.

12. The pressure vessel liner according to claim 11 , wherein a shoulder portion connecting the thick portion and a peripheral wall of the liner main body portion becomes gradually thinner toward the peripheral wall from the thick portion.

13. The pressure vessel liner according to claim 1 , wherein the film gate is provided on the axially outer side of the resin liner main body relative to the bottom portion.

Assignees

• Toyoda Gosei Kk
• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Sejima Eizaburo
• Tashiro Yasushi
• Aiyama Takenori

Classifications

• F17C2201/056

  Small (<1 m3) · CPC title

• B29L2031/7156

  Pressure vessels · CPC title

• F17C2209/2109

  Moulding · CPC title

• F17C2201/0109

  with exteriorly curved end-piece · CPC title

• F17C2223/036

  Very high pressure (>80 bar) · CPC title