Kabushiki Kaisha Komatsu Seisakusho

Kenji Taira

Yutaka Sugimoto

Akira Fukushima

Takehiko Matsuda

A power plant enclosure for off-highway work vehicles comprises a radiator guard, a ceiling or hood, a pair of sidewalls, and a floor or bottom guard which are bolted to each other and to vehicle frames to define a power plant compartment. The ceiling has a power plant servicing opening and an air intake opening, and each sidewall has another power plant servicing opening. Closing each opening in the enclosure is a lid of dual panel construction consisting of an inner, meshed panel and an outer, solid panel bolted to each other. Thus each opening can be closed either by both the meshed panel and the solid panel, to shut off ambient air as in subfreezing weather, or by only the meshed panel to admit ambient cooling air into the power plant compartment and to prevent the entrance of flammable matter in nonfreezing weather.

Power plant enclosure adaptable to environmental conditions

A closed enclosure for a vehicle engine has an air inlet and an air outlet formed at its front and rear ends. Both air inlet and air outlet have sets of sound absorber blades for noiselessly admitting ambient cooling air into the enclosure and for noiselessly exhausting the air therefrom. Disposed horizontally within the enclosure, a first heat insulating partition divides its interior into an engine compartment accommodating the engine and, thereover, a muffler and air cleaner compartment. A second heat insulating partition is mounted vertically on the first partition to subdivide the muffler and air cleaner compartment into a muffler compartment receiving an exhaust muffler assembly and an air cleaner compartment receiving an air cleaner assembly. The engine compartment is open both forwardly and rearwardly for the passage of the cooling air therethrough. While the air cleaner compartment is closed, the muffler compartment is open forwardly to take in part of the ambient cooling air from the air inlet via another set of sound absorber blades. An additional pair of air outlets are defined in both sidewalls of the enclosure for the escape of the cooling air from the muffler compartment.

Growing community of inventors

Komatsu, Japan

Kenji Taira