U.S. patent application number 12/628909 was filed with the patent office on 2010-06-03 for exhaust cooling apparatus for construction equipment.
This patent application is currently assigned to VOLVO CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT HOLDING SWEDEN AB. Invention is credited to Toshimichi IKEDA, Hoy Jong Jun, Chan Ju Na.
Application Number | 20100132347 12/628909 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 41728468 |
Filed Date | 2010-06-03 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100132347 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
IKEDA; Toshimichi ; et
al. |
June 3, 2010 |
EXHAUST COOLING APPARATUS FOR CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT
Abstract
An exhaust cooling apparatus for construction equipment, having
a cooling fan taking external air into an engine room for heat
exchange with a oil cooler and a radiator, and a blower flowing air
out of the engine room to the atmosphere. In the apparatus, an
outlet of an exhaust pipe for emitting exhaust gas from an engine
is fixedly disposed toward a discharge direction of the blower. The
discharge direction of the blower is upwardly vertical to the
ground. The exhaust cooling apparatus is effective in preventing
combustible matters from burning, or preventing plant lives from
withering, due to hot exhaust gas around construction equipment
such as excavator, by discharging the hot exhaust gas to the
atmosphere after cooling it down through air flowing out of the
engine room.
Inventors: |
IKEDA; Toshimichi;
(Changwon, KR) ; Jun; Hoy Jong; (Masan, KR)
; Na; Chan Ju; (Changwon, KR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
HUNTON & WILLIAMS LLP;INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DEPARTMENT
1900 K STREET, N.W., SUITE 1200
WASHINGTON
DC
20006-1109
US
|
Assignee: |
VOLVO CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT
HOLDING SWEDEN AB
|
Family ID: |
41728468 |
Appl. No.: |
12/628909 |
Filed: |
December 1, 2009 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
60/320 |
Current CPC
Class: |
Y02T 10/12 20130101;
E02F 9/00 20130101; Y02T 10/20 20130101; E02F 9/0866 20130101; F01N
13/082 20130101; F01N 2590/08 20130101; F01N 3/055 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
60/320 |
International
Class: |
F01N 3/02 20060101
F01N003/02 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Dec 1, 2008 |
KR |
10-2008-0120229 |
Claims
1. An exhaust cooling apparatus for construction equipment having:
a cooling fan taking external air into an engine room for heat
exchange with an oil cooler and a radiator; and a blower flowing
air out of the engine room to the atmosphere, wherein an outlet of
an exhaust pipe is fixedly disposed toward a discharge direction of
the blower so as to emit exhaust gas from an engine.
2. The exhaust cooling apparatus of claim 1, wherein the discharge
direction of the blower is upwardly vertical to the ground.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is based on and claims priority to Korean
Patent Application No. 10-2008-0120229, filed on Dec. 1, 2008, in
the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is
incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0002] Exemplary embodiments relate to an exhaust cooling apparatus
capable of discharging exhaust gas from an engine of construction
equipment to the atmosphere after cooling it down. More
particularly, exemplary embodiments relate to an exhaust cooling
apparatus for construction equipment, which sends exhaust gas to
the atmosphere after cooling it down. In this disclosure, hot
exhaust gas (about 1000.degree. C.) emitted through an exhaust pipe
from an engine of construction equipment such as excavator is mixed
with air flowing out of an engine room and then cooled down in
temperature.
BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0003] Exhaust gas discharged from an engine of heavy construction
equipment such as excavator contains various kinds of harmful
ingredients that may incur atmospheric pollution. For that reason,
temperature of exhaust gas emitted from an engine is regularized on
the level about 1000.degree. C. on the legal standards (Tier 4,
Step 4, etc.).
[0004] Hot exhaust gas discharged to the atmosphere from an engine
of construction equipment such as excavator, without removing or
diminishing its toxicity, is easy to badly affect buildings or
plant lives around the equipment, e.g., causing combustible matters
to burn or plant lives to wither.
[0005] As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a general crawler-type excavator
is usually organized of a lower driving structure (or traveler) 1,
an upper swing structure 2, an operation cab 3, an engine room 4, a
working device 11, a counter weight 12 and an exhaust pipe 13. The
upper swing structure 2 is mounted on the lower driving structure
1. The operation cab and the engine room 4 are disposed at the
upper swing structure. The working device 11 is organized of a boom
6, an arm 8 and a bucket 10. The boom 6 is movably coupled to the
upper swing structure 2 and driven by a boom cylinder 5. The arm 8
is coupled to the boom 6 and driven by an arm cylinder 7. The
bucket 10 is coupled to the arm 8 and driven by a bucket cylinder
9. The counter weight 12 is installed at the rear of the upper
swing structure and functions to balance the excavator at work. The
exhaust pipe 13 discharges hot exhaust gas to the atmosphere from
the engine of the excavator.
[0006] In the meantime, referring to FIG. 3, a cooling system,
which is usually employed in construction equipment such as the
crawler-type excavator shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, is generally
organized of the engine room 4, the exhaust pipe 13, a radiator 20,
an oil cooler 16, an oil cooler fan 17, a radiator fan 18 and a
blower 19. The engine room 4 accommodates an engine 14, the
radiator fan 18, the oil cooler fan 17, a blower 19 and a hydraulic
pump P, all of which generate noise at work, in a closed space by a
wall 4a. The exhaust pipe 13 discharges exhaust gas, which is
emitted from the engine 14 through a muffler 15, to the atmosphere.
The radiator 20 cools down a coolant of the engine 14. The oil
cooler 16 cools down hydraulic fluid that returns to a hydraulic
tank from an actuator (e.g., the boom cylinder 5). The oil cooler
fan 17 enables the oil cooler 16 to make a heat exchange by
introducing external air into the engine room 4 through rotation of
a hydraulic motor M. The radiator fan 18 enables the radiator 20 to
make a heat exchange by introducing external air into the engine
room 4 through rotation of the hydraulic motor M. The blower 19
discharges internal air to the outside from the engine room 4 by
means of rotation of the hydraulic motor M.
[0007] In FIG. 3, the reference numeral 21 denotes a noise trap
disposed at the side of the intake of the engine room 4, shielding
and reducing noise that would be exposed to the outside of the
construction equipment from the engine room 4.
[0008] With this organization, during work of the engine 14,
external air is introduced into the engine room 4 through rotation
of the radiator fan 18 that is driven by the hydraulic motor M.
Such external air taken into the engine room 4 is helpful to
cooling down the coolant of the engine 4 by passing trough the
radiator for heat exchange.
[0009] Meantime, the oil cooler fan 17 rotated by the hydraulic
motor M introduces external air into the engine room 4. The
external air, which is taken into the engine room 4, passes through
the oil cooler 16 for heat exchange and then cools down hydraulic
fluid that returns to the hydraulic tank from the actuators.
[0010] The external air introduced into the engine room 4 by
rotations of the oil cooler fan 17 and the radiator fan 18 is
discharged to the outside (i.e., to the atmosphere) by rotation of
the blower 19, which is installed on the upper part of the engine
room 4, after passing through the oil cooler 16 and the radiator
20.
[0011] In the cooling system aforementioned, the exhaust pipe 13,
which emits exhaust gas from the engine 14 by way of the muffler
15, is disposed toward the rear of the excavator 13. Owing to such
disposition of the exhaust pipe 13, exhaust gas of hot temperature
could inadvertently harm or damage buildings or plant lives which
are placed around the rear of the excavator.
SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0012] Accordingly, the exemplary embodiments have been made to
solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art while
advantages achieved by the prior art are maintained intact.
[0013] Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are directed
to an exhaust cooling apparatus, for construction equipment,
capable of preventing combustible matters, which are placed around
the construction equipment such as excavator, from burning by hot
exhaust gas. The final exhaust gas is discharged to the atmosphere
after being cooled down, for which gas emitted from an engine
through an exhaust pipe is mixed with air flowing out of an engine
room through a blower.
[0014] In an embodiment, there is provided an exhaust cooling
apparatus for construction equipment having: a cooling fan taking
external air into an engine room for heat exchange with an oil
cooler and a radiator; and a blower flowing air from the engine
room into the atmosphere. In the exhaust cooling apparatus, an
outlet of an exhaust pipe for emitting exhaust gas from an engine
may be fixedly disposed toward a discharge direction of the
blower.
[0015] In this embodiment, the discharge direction of the blower
may be upwardly vertical to the ground.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0016] The above and other objects, features and advantages of the
present disclosure will be more apparent from the following
detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying
drawings, in which:
[0017] FIG. 1 is a side view of a general crawler-type
excavator;
[0018] FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of the excavator without the
working device shown in FIG. 1;
[0019] FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration view of a general
cooling system for construction equipment;
[0020] FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration view illustrating an
exhaust cooling apparatus for construction equipment according to
an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0021] FIG. 5 is a top view illustrating an excavator equipped with
the exhaust cooling apparatus shown in FIG. 4;
[0022] FIG. 6 is a schematic view illustrating an operative feature
of the exhaust cooling apparatus shown in FIG. 4; and
[0023] FIG. 7 illustrates an operative condition of the exhaust
cooling apparatus, according to exemplary embodiments of the
present disclosure, in construction equipment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS
[0024] Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure
will be described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The matters defined in the description, such as the detailed
construction and elements, are nothing but specific details
provided to assist those of ordinary skill in the art in a
comprehensive understanding of the disclosure, and thus the present
disclosure is not limited thereto. The same reference numerals are
used for the same elements throughout the accompanying
drawings.
[0025] Referring to FIGS. 4 through 7, an exhaust cooling apparatus
according to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be
applicable to construction equipment that has a cooling system
including: cooling fans 17 and 18 taking external air into the
engine room 4 for heat exchange with a oil cooler 16 and a radiator
20; and a blower 19 discharging air from the engine room 4 into the
atmosphere. The exhaust cooling apparatus is configured such that
an outlet 13a of an exhaust pipe 13 for emitting exhaust gas from
an engine 14 is fixed toward the discharge direction of the blower
19.
[0026] The discharge direction of the blower 19 is upwardly
vertical to the ground.
[0027] Except the exhaust pipe 13 installed to cool down exhaust
gas by mixing the exhaust gas, which is emitted from the engine 14
through the exhaust pipe 13, with air flowing out of the engine
room 4 by the blower 19, the exhaust cooling apparatus shown FIGS.
4 through 7 is substantially similar to the cooling system shown in
FIG. 3.
[0028] Hereinafter, an operative condition of the exhaust cooling
apparatus for construction equipment will be described with
reference to FIGS. 5 through 7.
[0029] As illustrated in FIGS. 5 through 7, hot exhaust gas emitted
from the engine 14 is discharged to the atmosphere by way of the
muffler 15 and the exhaust pipe 13. External air taken into the
engine room 4 by rotations of the cooling fans (i.e., an oil cooler
fan 17 and a radiator fan 18) is heat-exchanged through the
radiator 20 and the oil cooler 16. This heat-exchanged air is
discharged to the atmosphere from the engine room 4 by rotation of
the blower 19.
[0030] During this, as shown in FIG. 5, since the outlet 13a of the
exhaust pipe 13 is fixedly disposed toward the discharge direction
of the blower 19, the hot exhaust gas from the exhaust pipe 13 is
mixed with air that flows out of the engine room 4 by the blower
19.
[0031] As a result, it is able to cool down the finally discharged
exhaust gas in temperature by mixing the hot exhaust gas (about
1000.degree. C.) with air (about 70.degree. C. by heat exchange
through the radiator 20 and the oil cooler 16) that flows out of
the engine room 4.
[0032] Summarily, hot exhaust gas emitted through the exhaust pipe
13 is cooled down in temperature after mixing with air flowing out
of the engine room 4 through the blower 19. Then, the cooled-down
exhaust gas can be discharged to the atmosphere away from the
ground as the discharge direction of the blower 19 is looking
upward (see FIGS. 5 and 7).
[0033] Therefore, even when there are buildings or combustible
matters over the excavator, it is possible to prevent a fire
because exhaust gas from the engine 14 is discharged to the
atmosphere in cool temperature. Moreover, even when the excavator
is working under plant lives, it prevents the plant lives from
withering due to hot and harmful exhaust gas.
[0034] As described above, the exhaust cooling apparatus for
construction equipment according to this embodiment of the present
disclosure is effective in preventing combustible matters from
burning, or preventing plants from withering, due to hot exhaust
gas around construction equipment such as excavator, by discharging
the hot exhaust gas to the atmosphere after cooling it down by
means of air flowing out of the engine room.
[0035] Although exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure
have been described for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the
art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and
substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and
spirit of the disclosure as disclosed in the accompanying
claims.
* * * * *