ILLUMINABLE FUEL TANK OF A MOTORCYCLE TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the field of automotive electronics. More particularly, this invention relates to the motorcycles, and discloses an assembly of selectively illuminating the interior chamber of the fuel tank of a motorcycle or similar two wheeler vehicle.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Whenever the engine of a motorcycle stops unexpectedly or the motorcycle doesn't start, the first diagnosis the rider does is, the checking of the fuel by peeping into the fuel tank from the fuel inlet. Because viewing directly inside the fuel tank provides the information about the presence and amount of the fuel inside the fuel tank for taking further actions. And similarly, whenever fuel is being filled to the full capacity, the fuel inside the fuel tank is regularly viewed while doing so. Moreover, the easiest solution to know the adulteration level of the fuel is to view directly inside the fuel tank and check for the color of the fuel, the viscosity of the fuel, the dirt particles in the fuel, etc. Apart from this, even to know the physical condition of the fuel tank itself for its durability, the internals of the fuel tank has to be viewed into.

A simple fuel tank of a vehicle is a container with a small inlet and an outlet. The inlet of the fuel tank is provided for filling the fuel into it. Once the fuel is filled from this inlet, this inlet is closed by using a cap. And on the other hand, the outlet of the fuel tank is used for providing this fuel from the tank to the engine of the vehicle. The conventional fuel tank of a vehicle is made up of a hard and an opaque material. And when the fuel tank is completely closed, there is hardly any light entering into the fuel tank. Due to this type of structure of the fuel tank, very minimum amount of ambient light passes into the fuel tank even when its inlet is opened and the contents inside the fuel tank are just partially visible. Therefore, to view the contents inside the fuel tank within the area of interest, sufficient amount of light is necessary.

In an attempt to view the internal contents of a fuel tank, a viewer would use an externally available light source. Especially during the night, when the contents of the fuel tank are completely invisible, the rider may use the light source from a mobile phone, or may even try to use a lighted match-stick or a cigarette lighter unknowingly. The use of any light source against the inflammable fuels like petrol (gasoline) or diesel, may result in fatalities, as the fuel may catch fire due to these light sources. Even a mobile phone may trigger some electrical sparks while operation, and when thus used beside the fuel inlet of a motorcycle, this may result in a dangerous combustion of the fuel.

The contents of the fuel tank are not visible easily because of the opaque nature of the fuel tank that doesn't allow the light to enter into it. A solution to opacity is transparency. Thus, for making the contents of the fuel tank visible, the fuel tank can be made with a transparent material like glass, plastic, etc, instead of an opaque material like steel or other metal. Thus, this will allow the ambient light to enter into the fuel tank. And because of the light entering into the fuel tank, the contents inside the fuel tank can be viewed clearly.

A transparent fuel tank can allow the ambient light to enter into the fuel tank, and thus this light will make the contents inside the fuel tank visible. But this design has a limitation because of the fact that this design is dependent upon the ambience for the light source. And therefore, during the night time when there is no ambient light, the transparent fuel tank is not illuminated and therefore, the contents of the fuel tank are not visible. Thus, although transparent, this type of fuel tank is of no use without a light source, and therefore cannot serve the purpose in the night. If a transparent fuel tank is provided with a light source, this can serve the purpose of easily viewing the contents of a fuel tank even in the dark. For reference, US patents 'US5634706A' and 'US3987294A' are based on this concept of having some part of the fuel tank transparent or translucent along with an integrated external light source. These patents make the fuel tank contents brighter, so that the at least the actual level of the fuel can be visualized easily.

Although the cited patents 'US5634706A' and 'US3987294A' may solve the visibility problem and light source problem in the fuel tank to check the fuel level, this setup may make the fuel tank more brittle and fragile with respect to a full metal fuel tank. Compared to the hard and opaque material, the transparent material would either cost more, or decrease the durability, or both. Since metals are tensile and ductile, a metal fuel tank may get compressed or may get deformed due to a hard impact on its body. But a glass or plastic material may break into crystals and dispose the fuel, which may be dangerous enough to result in combustion of the fuel. Moreover, this art lacks the privacy, as anyone can view the amount of fuel inside the fuel tank through its full or partial transparent or translucent body. Because of this transparent body of the fuel tank, the amount of fuel may be peeped into by anyone. Besides, these cited patents may need more constructive changes to the conventional fuel tanks and may result in more production cost.

Apart from several mentioned reasons for viewing into the fuel tank, one of the primary reasons is to check the level of the fuel. And an alternative to looking into the fuel tank is the usage of a fuel gauge or a fuel level indicator. The fuel gauges which are available in most of the motorcycles with either mechanical or digital indicators, display the information about the volume of the fuel in the fuel tank, without the need of opening and checking the fuel tank.

Although the fuel gauge of the motorcycle provides the information about the level of the fuel inside the fuel tank, it doesn't provide information like fuel color, dirt in the fuel, etc. Moreover, when the fuel level is on the extremities like very low or full, human visualization is necessary to know the accurate level. And also, the fuel indicator would have a latency time of few seconds while responding to the changing fuel level, especially when the fuel is being refilled. In fact, the fuel indicator doesn't provide the hard real time information about the level of the fuel in the fuel tank.

Another problem with the fuel gauges is that, a common fuel gauge of a motorcycle might have lesser accuracy and resolution, because of which the displayed information might not be very correct. Moreover, a fuel gauge may develop an offset value during of its usage because of the different weather conditions. Therefore, it may need a regular calibration to rectify its offset value. And if this calibration is not performed regularly, the fuel gauge may give an incorrect reading. Apart from this, the fuel gauge may not display proper values if road is elevated. Therefore, these incorrect values may cause inconvenience to the rider.

With reference to the mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, there is therefore a need of a product that can provide real time visualization of the fuel level, fuel color, fuel tank interior, etc, in the fuel tank, irrespective of the bright or dark ambience, and at the same time keep intact the privacy, safety and the strength of the conventional fuel tanks. Besides, this product should be designed with lesser additional production cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a fuel tank of a motorcycle or a similar two-wheeled vehicle, which is designed to provide an illuminated view of its interior chamber. This invention is feasible only for the vehicles that have a fuel tank type in which the bottom of the fuel tank is visible from its inlet. An object of this invention is to illuminate the chamber of the fuel tank whenever the fuel inlet is opened, so that the viewer can look inside the brightened chamber of the fuel tank through the inlet. Thus, the viewer can physically visualize the level of the fuel, color of the fuel, dirt in the fuel, physical condition of the walls of the fuel tank, etc, by peeping into the illuminated fuel tank of the motorcycle. Even though the whole chamber of the fuel tank is not visible from the small inlet of the fuel tank, it will be helpful to glance even in the range of visibility. Besides, some part of the fuel tank chamber may be even obstructed from the view due of the frame structure of the vehicle. Because of the frame of the vehicle, the internal chamber of the fuel tank might not provide the complete view of the fuel tank chamber. But even the available area of visibility is adequate enough to get the information about fuel level.

Moreover, as mentioned in the background about the brittleness and fragility of the transparent material, an object of this invention is to maintain the tough, tensile and ductile properties of the fuel tank by using the conventional metal body for the fuel tank so as to avoid the damage caused to the transparent or translucent material during an accident or impact.

Another object of this invention is to maintain privacy about the internal contents of the fuel tank by using the conventional opaque metal body for the fuel tank rather than a transparent or translucent tank. Therefore, the conventional metal fuel tank will not showcase the internal chamber of the fuel tank from outside to anybody, unless viewed from its inlet. From the point of construction, another object of this invention is to minimize the constructive changes onto the conventional fuel tanks of the motorcycles. The primary modification involved in this invention is the making of a transparent window into the body of the fuel tank.

Since this invention allows the viewer to view the fuel level inside the fuel tank, another object of this invention is to provide the real time data instead of delayed information, as compared to a fuel gauge that may have some latency time of few seconds to provide the proper information about the fuel level in the fuel tank.

Moreover, another object of invention is to overcome the accuracy and resolution problem of the fuel gauge. Although a person cannot tell the exact amount of fuel present in the fuel tank after looking into it, a person can visualize the required amount of fuel inside the fuel tank. On the other hand, when the fuel is at a very low level, due to some offset value in the fuel gauge, the fuel indicator may show more fuel than actually exists in the fuel tank. But a person can realize even this small amount of fuel in the fuel tank. Similarly, depending upon the elevation angle of the road, the fuel gauge may indicate improper value of the fuel. But this is not a concern if a person can directly view the fuel inside the fuel tank. Therefore, this problem of incorrect information is resolved by this present invention.

With respect to the various aforementioned mentioned objects, this invention primarily comprises of a metal fuel tank with a transparent window, a light emitted diode bulb also called as an LED, a normally-closed push switch, and a tank cap. The LED and the normally-connected push switch are connected serially to the vehicle's battery along with the required resistors. Thus, the LED is powered-on whenever the push switch is switched-on, and the LED is powered- off whenever the push switch is switched-off. The light from this LED illuminates the interior of the fuel tank so as to provide the brightness for the viewer to see the interior contents of fuel tank chamber.

The tank cap of the fuel inlet needs to have an extended rim of about one inch extra in radius. The normally-connected push switch needs to be placed beside the fuel inlet, so that the extended rim of the tank cap presses the plunger of the push switch down whenever the tank inlet is closed, thus switching-off this push switch. Similarly, when the tank cap is removed from over the fuel inlet, the plunger of the push switch is released, thus switching-on this push switch. The push switch should be of spark-less type that should not produce any electrical sparks during its operation, as the sparks may result in combustion of the inflammable fuel. The light inside the fuel chamber becomes necessary only during the situation when the fuel inlet is opened. Thus the LED is powered-on only during this time.

The LED needs to illuminate the fuel tank chamber for providing the visibility of the interiors of the fuel tank. Therefore, the LED needs to be placed well inside the fuel tank. But to avoid any mishap like combustion of the inflammable fuel due to the electricity, heat or sparks generated from the LED, the LED needs to be placed away from the fuel inside the tank. Therefore, to do this, a small window has to be made onto the fuel tank. This window of about one inch in diameter has to be constructed in the conventional metal fuel tank by making an opening in it and then replacing this area with a transparent or translucent material protruding into the fuel tank. This transparent window should have enough space to accommodate an LED from the exterior side, but the light of this LED has to be transmitted into the fuel tank chamber. Moreover, this concave window needs to insulate the inflammable fuel from evaporation and combustion, should withstand both the external and the internal fuel pressure, should hermitically, thermally and electrically insulate the fuel, and should be hard enough to withstand the impacts on the tank. With this electrical insulation, there should be no sparks coming from this LED that would contact the inflammable fuel either from the window or from the fuel inlet. The concave window on the fuel tank can be designed on the upper side of the fuel tank and beside the fuel inlet. With this placement, even during any accidental impact onto the fuel tank, there will not be any direct thrust onto the transparent window. This may avoid the breakage of the transparent window. And at the same time, even if this transparent window breaks during any accident, the fuel may not spill down if the window is placed on the top rather than on the side or bottom. Moreover, if this window is placed beside the fuel inlet, it will be easier for cleaning the window through the inlet opening by inserting a cloth laden finger from the fuel inlet. Additionally, since the LED is situated on the external side of the fuel tank, a damaged LED can be easily replaced in a service station without the need of any major disassembly of the vehicle.

Overall, this invention maintains the strength of the conventional fuel tank, maintains the safety of not igniting the fuel, maintains the privacy of the interior contents of the fuel tank by having a non-transparent fuel tank body, illuminates the fuel tank chamber even in the night without any dependency of the ambient light, provides the real time and actual physical view of the fuel and the fuel tank interior without any time delay as the fuel gauge, and this invention has a lesser overhead of specific construction, within lesser overall production cost. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The description of the present invention will now be provided with reference to the appended drawings, wherein: FIGURE- 1 shows a high level partial cross-sectional view of a motorcycle, and highlights the fuel tank of the motorcycle. This figure shows a sample motorcycle having a fuel tank as the subject of interest for this invention. The fuel tank, which is the primary subject in this diagram, is shown with a continuous line, whereas the sample motorcycle is drawn using a dashed line.

FIGURE-2 shows a partial cross-sectional view of the fuel tank when the tank inlet is closed with a tank cap.

FIGURE-3 shows an electronic circuit diagram representing an open circuit when the tank is closed with the tank cap. This circuit corresponds to the case of FIGURE-2.

FIGURE-4 shows a partial cross-sectional view of the fuel tank when the tank inlet is opened by removing the tank cap.

FIGURE-5 shows an electronic circuit diagram representing a closed circuit when the tank is opened by removing the tank cap. This circuit corresponds to the case of FIGURE-4.

For proper understanding of the various components depicted in the figures, the following table lists down these components with their respective reference numbers and their respective figure numbers in which they are depicted:

FIGURE-4

FIGURE-3,

22 LED

FIGURE-5

22a LED in Powered-Off State FIGURE-2

22b LED in Powered- On State FIGURE-4

FIGURE-2,

24 Transparent Window

FIGURE-4

FIGURE-2,

26 Tank Cap

FIGURE-4

FIGURE-2,

28 Normally-Closed Push Switch

FIGURE-4

Normally-Closed Push Switch in Off

28a FIGURE-3 state

Normally-Closed Push Switch in On

28b FIGURE-5 state

FIGURE-3,

30 Electronic Circuit

FIGURE-5

FIGURE-3,

32 Plunger

FIGURE-5

32a Plunger in Pushed State FIGURE-2

32b Plunger in Released State FIGURE-4

FIGURE-2,

34 Fuel

FIGURE-4

FIGURE-2,

36 Tank Hollow Chamber

FIGURE-4

38 Light Rays FIGURE-4

FIGURE-3,

42 Resistor

FIGURE-5

FIGURE-3,

44 Wire

FIGURE-5 FIGURE-2,

24 126 Extended Rim

FIGURE-4

TABLE- 1

The reference numbers and the corresponding components in Table- 1 provide tabulated information for quick reference and understanding of the working of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments of the present invention will now be explained in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided for the thoroughness and the completeness, and they fully convey the scope of the invention to the skilled person.

The present invention relates to the fuel tank of a two-wheeler vehicle, especially a motorcycle, and similar vehicles like scooter, etc, which are operated by fuels like petrol (gasoline), diesel, etc. FIGURE- 1 shows a motorcycle (10) having a fuel tank (20) and also having a battery (12). The battery (12) is used for supporting the electrical and electronic operations required by the vehicle.

As shown in FIGURE-4, the fuel tank (20) is made of a hard body (14) with a hollow chamber (36). The fuel tank (20) primarily has a fuel inlet (16) and a fuel outlet (18). The hollow chamber (36) is utilized for filling the required amount of fuel (34) through the inlet (16), and subsequently this fuel is derived out from the fuel tank (20) through the outlet (18) to its relevant engine (not shown in the figures), for performing the vehicle's locomotion mechanism.

For closing the fuel inlet (16) of the fuel tank, a tank cap (26) is used, which works on the mechanism of screw-threads or push locking. This tank cap (26) has an extended rim (126) which provides a grip to a person's hand for holding it as well as serves as a limiting factor for slippage of this cap into the fuel tank itself (16). This rim (26) has an extension of about one inch in radius compared to the radius of the fuel inlet (16).

A normally-closed (NC) push switch (28) is fitted beside the fuel inlet (16) of the fuel tank (20). This switch (28) has a plunger (32), which will always be either in a pushed state (32a) or a released state (32b), but its default state is released state. During the pushed state (32a), the switch (28) will be in open state (28a), and in the released state (32b), the switch (28) will be in closed state (28b).

The normally-closed push switch (28) has to be fitted beside the fuel inlet (16) in a suitable conventional manner, such that the plunger (32) of this switch (28), stands beneath the extended rim (126) of the tank cap (26). Thus, whenever the tank cap (26) closes the inlet (16) of the fuel tank (20), the plunger (32) of the switch (28) is pushed down. And whenever the tank cap (26) opens the inlet (16) of the fuel tank (20), the plunger (32) of the switch (28) is released. The fuel tank (20) contains a small transparent concave window (24) of about one inch wide on its body (14), that protrudes into the hollow chamber (36) of the tank. The primary functionality of this window (24) is to allow the light into the fuel tank (20). This window (24) needs to insulate the inflammable fuel (34) from evaporation and combustion due to the exterior factors. At the same time, this window (24) should withstand both the external pressure and the internal fuel pressure even during the hot ambience. Therefore, as a whole, this window (24) needs to be transparent, and also needs to hermitically, thermally and electrically insulate the fuel, and should be hard enough to withstand the impacts on the tank (20).

A light source bulb of light emitting diode (22), also called as LED, is used for illuminating the interior part of the fuel tank (20). This LED (22) is fitted into the concave transparent window (24) on the exterior side of the fuel tank (20). This LED (22) will be either in powered-off state (22a) or in powered-on state (22b) depending upon the state of the normally-connected push switch (28).

To power-on the LED (22), the power supply from the battery (12) of the vehicle (10) is utilized. To regulate the power to this LED (22) from the battery (12), a resistor (42) of suitable value is used. And to connect the corresponding components to form the circuit (30), sufficient amount of wires (44) is used across the motorcycle (10). The circuit (30) shown in FIGURE-3 and FIGURE-5 depicts the open circuit and closed circuit respectively. The circuit (30) is a simple serial electronic circuit that connects the battery (12) with the switch (28), resistor (42) and LED (22) with the help of wires (44). The LED (22) is connected in a forward biased order.

As shown in FIGURE-2, the fuel tank (20) is closed by the tank cap (26), and thereby the extended rim (126) presses the plunger (32) of the normally-closed push switch (28) to pushed state (32a). FIGURE-3 shows the equivalent circuit (30) of the scenario shown in FIGURE-2, wherein the switch (28) is in open state (28a). And due to the open circuit, the LED (22) continues to be in powered-off state (22a).

Similarly, as shown in FIGURE-4, the fuel tank (20) is opened by removing the tank cap (26) from the fuel inlet (16). Due to the removal of the tank cap (26), the plunger (32) of the normally-closed push switch (28) changes to released state (32b). FIGURE-5 shows the equivalent circuit (30) of the scenario shown in FIGURE-4, wherein the switch (28) is in closed state (28b). And due to the closed circuit loop, the LED (22) gets into powered-on state (22b). The light rays (38) of the powered-on LED (22b) pass through the transparent window (24) and illuminate the interior space (36) of the fuel tank (20). The illuminated interior of the fuel tank (20) provide the illuminated view of the contents of the fuel tank to the observer when viewed through the fuel inlet (16), within the visible area of interest. Thus, the observer can visualize the contents of the illuminated fuel tank (10), including the fuel (34) inside the fuel tank (20) in a better way, compared to a non-illuminated fuel tank.