Patents by Inventor Jens Schafer

Jens Schafer has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20050103298
    Abstract: A control structure for the adjusting motor (8) of an electric camshaft adjuster (6) in an internal combustion engine (1) is provided. The control structure includes a controller (19) which processes measuring signals of the internal combustion engine (1) to control data for the adjusting motor (8). A controller (19) which has meaningful values for the adjusted setpoint rotational speed of the adjusting motor (8), even when the input differential signal has a zero value, is obtained by applying the signal of an uncontrolled rotational speed (21) to the output signal (20) of a controlled setpoint rotational speed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2004
    Publication date: May 19, 2005
    Applicant: INA-Schaeffler KG
    Inventors: Jens Schafer, Martin Steigerwald, Martin Overberg
  • Publication number: 20050103299
    Abstract: An electrical adjusting device for changing an angle of rotation of a camshaft (3) relative to a crankshaft of an internal-combustion engine is provided. The device includes an adjusting gear unit (1), which is formed as a triple-shaft gear unit, including an input part (4) that is fixed to the crankshaft, an output part (5) that is fixed to the camshaft, and an adjusting shaft (6), which is connected in a torsion-proof manner to an electric adjusting motor (2) having a permanent magnet rotor and a stator (8) fixed to the housing. A stationary gear ratio (10), the value of which defines the adjusting gear unit (1) as a positive or negative gear unit and deter-mines whether a direction of adjustment of the camshaft (3, 65, 69) is into an advanced or retarded base position, is located between the input part (4) and the output part (5) when the adjusting shaft is at rest.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 20, 2004
    Publication date: May 19, 2005
    Applicant: INA-Schaeffler KG
    Inventors: Jens Schafer, Martin Steigerwald, Jonathan Heywood
  • Publication number: 20050061278
    Abstract: The invention relates to a device for releasably connecting and adjusting the positions between a crankshaft and a cam shaft of an internal combustion engine, which includes a setting gear (1) configured as a three-shaft gear, which has a drive shaft (4) connected to the crankshaft, an output shaft (5) connected to the camshaft, and an adjusting shaft connected to an electric adjusting motor (2). A stationary transmission ratio io, which has a base or emergency running position, is present between the drive and output shafts when the adjusting shaft (6) is idle, the magnitude of the gear transmission ratio determining the gear type (positive or negative) and the direction of adjustment of the camshaft (3).
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2004
    Publication date: March 24, 2005
    Applicant: INA-Schaeffler KG
    Inventors: Jens Schafer, Martin Steigerwald
  • Patent number: 6805080
    Abstract: A device for changing the control times of gas exchange valves of an internal combustion engine, including a drive wheel in driving connection with a crankshaft and a vane wheel connected to rotate with a camshaft. A plurality of hydraulic working spaces are formed within the device and are divided by the vanes of the vane wheel into respectively A and B pressure chambers. The vane wheel can be mechanically coupled to the drive wheel by a locking element, which is displaceable by a spring element into a locking position within a seat in one of the sidewalls of the drive wheel, and is hydraulically moved into an unlocked position in the vane wheel upon application of pressure to the pressure chambers. The locking element is a generally uniform cylindrical locking pin, and is arranged in an axial bore in the hub of the vane wheel. The longitudinal axis of the axial bore has a smallest possible distance from the longitudinal mid-axis of the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2004
    Assignee: INA-Schaeffler KG
    Inventors: Eduard Golovatai-Schmidt, Jens Schafer, Andreas Strauss, Martin Scheidt
  • Patent number: 6799746
    Abstract: An electromagnet having a hollow cylindrical coil former fitted with a coil winding and surrounded by a magnet housing. The coil former is bounded by upper and lower pole shoes. A nonmagnetic metal tube in the hollow cylinder of the magnet defines an armature space for a magnet armature that divides the armature space into first and second chambers, which are connected via a pressure equalizing channel in the magnet armature. A push rod passes through an axial hole in the lower pole shoe, to a control piston of a hydraulic valve, whose interior is connected via a further pressure equalizing channel in the lower pole shoe to the first chamber of the armature space. The push rod is a profiled rod contacting the magnet armature, the rod is of a cross-sectional shape different than that of the axial hole in the lower pole shoe and of a cross-sectional area less than that of the axial hole.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2004
    Assignee: Ina-Schaeffler KG
    Inventor: Jens Schäfer
  • Patent number: 6669567
    Abstract: The invention concerns a device for the hydraulic adjustment of the angular position of a shaft (1) relative to a drive pinion (14), said device comprising a plate (2) fixed to the shaft to cooperate with the drive pinion (14) or with a component fixed to the drive pinion. The device comprises at least one ring-segment shaped section (2a) in the plate (2) and a means (4a) arranged on the drive pinion (14) or on said component to cooperate with the shaped section (2a) so as to divide the shaped section into two separate chambers (10, 11). The device further comprises a means for a selective hydraulic pressurization of the chambers (10, 11) for adjusting the relative angular position of the drive pinion (14) and the shaft (1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2003
    Assignee: Ina-Schaeffler KG
    Inventors: Martin Scheidt, Jens Schafer, Dieter Neller
  • Patent number: 6651600
    Abstract: The invention concerns a rotary piston adjuster for adjusting the angular position of the camshaft of an internal combustion engine, said adjuster comprising an outer rotor having at least one hydraulic chamber and an inner rotor having at least one pivoting vane that can pivot hydraulically between a retard stop position and an advance stop position, said adjuster further comprising a locking device suitable for detachably connecting the outer and inner rotors. Operational reliability and wear resistance as well as less constructional work are achieved according to the invention by the fact that the locking device (8) and the stops (27, 28) are arranged in an attachment (4) that is connected to the rotary piston adjuster and whose components are wear-resistant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 25, 2003
    Assignee: Ina-Schaeffler KG
    Inventors: Jens Schafer, Martin Steigerwald
  • Patent number: 6637389
    Abstract: The invention relates to an electrically driven device (1) for the angular adjustment of a shaft relative to its drive (2), said device comprising an eccentric gearing that comprises at least one internally geared wheel and one spur gear that meshes with the internally geared wheel and can be driven by an electrically rotatable eccentric shaft. The considerable structural complexity and space requirement as also the noise level of prior art devices is reduced by the fact that the internally geared wheel is configured as a first and a second internally geared wheel (6, 9), and the spur gear is configured as a first and a second spur gear (16, 17) that have the same number of teeth and are rotatable in opposite directions, the internally geared wheels (6, 9) are connected to the drive (2) and the spur gears (16, 17) are connected to the camshaft and can be driven through a double eccentric shaft (20) comprising identical eccentrics (18, 19) arranged offset at 180° to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 28, 2003
    Assignee: INA Walzlager Schaeffler oHG
    Inventors: Jens Schafer, Hans Fleischer
  • Patent number: 6601554
    Abstract: A hydraulic camshaft adjusting device, which comprises a drive wheel (2) and a pivotal impeller wheel (10) connected in a rotationally fixed manner to a camshaft (9), the drive wheel (2) comprises a. cavity formed by a peripheral wall (3) and two lateral walls, in which cavity at least one hydraulic working space (8) is formed by at least two delimitation walls (7) and the pivotal impeller wheel (10) has at least one radial blade (12), and with each blade (12) divides a hydraulic working space (8) into two hydraulic pressure chambers (13, 14), which are sealed off from one another by sealing elements (17) disposed between the drive wheel (2) and the pivotal impeller wheel (10), the pivotal impeller wheel (10) can be mechanically coupled to the drive wheel (2) in a preferred basic position, a locking element (18) disposed on the drive wheel (2) being movable by a spring clement (19) into a complementary seating (20) in the drive wheel (2).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2003
    Assignee: Ina Walzlager Schaeffler oHG
    Inventors: Jens Schäfer, Michael Haag
  • Publication number: 20030084863
    Abstract: A device for changing the control times of gas exchange valves of an internal combustion engine, including a drive wheel in driving connection with a crankshaft and a vane wheel connected to rotate with a camshaft. A plurality of hydraulic working spaces are formed within the device and are divided by the vanes of the vane wheel into respectively A and B pressure chambers. The vane wheel can be mechanically coupled to the drive wheel by a locking element, which is displaceable by a spring element into a locking position within a seat in one of the sidewalls of the drive wheel, and is hydraulically moved into an unlocked position in the vane wheel upon application of pressure to the pressure chambers. The locking element is a generally uniform cylindrical locking pin, and is arranged in an axial bore in the hub of the vane wheel. The longitudinal axis of the axial bore has a smallest possible distance from the longitudinal mid-axis of the device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2002
    Publication date: May 8, 2003
    Applicant: INA-Schaeffler KG
    Inventors: Eduard Golovatai-Schmidt, Jens Schafer, Andreas Strauss, Martin Scheidt
  • Publication number: 20030080305
    Abstract: An electromagnet having a hollow cylindrical coil former fitted with a coil winding and surrounded by a magnet housing. The coil former is bounded by upper and lower pole shoes. A nonmagnetic metal tube in the hollow cylinder of the magnet defines an armature space for a magnet armature that divides the armature space into first and second chambers, which are connected via a pressure equalizing channel in the magnet armature. A push rod passes through an axial hole in the lower pole shoe, to a control piston of a hydraulic valve, whose interior is connected via a further pressure equalizing channel in the lower pole shoe to the first chamber of the armature space. The push rod is a profiled rod contacting the magnet armature, the rod is of a cross-sectional shape different than that of the axial hole in the lower pole shoe and of a cross-sectional area less than that of the axial hole.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 28, 2002
    Publication date: May 1, 2003
    Applicant: INA-Schaeffler KG
    Inventor: Jens Schafer
  • Patent number: 6481401
    Abstract: A device for independent hydraulic actuation of phase and axial positions of a camshaft of an internal combustion engine with a phase adjuster and an actuating piston arranged on a common axis for axial displacement of the camshaft. In order to reduce the space needed and construction expenditure of the device, the phase adjuster also acts as the actuating piston for the camshaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2002
    Assignee: Ina Walzlager Schaeffler Ohg
    Inventor: Jens Schäfer
  • Patent number: 6427654
    Abstract: A hydraulic camshaft-adjusting device of the rotary piston type that includes of a drive gear (2) directly connected to a crankshaft and an impeller that is directly connected to a camshaft (3). The drive gear (2) has a cavity formed from a perimeter wall (5) and two side walls (5, 6) inside of which at least one hydraulic working chamber is formed from at least two boundary walls. The impeller has at least one radial vane (12) and each vane (12) divides one hydraulic work chamber into two hydraulic pressure chambers. The outer end (18) of each vane (12) of the impeller is pressed radially against the perimeter wall (5) of the drive gear (2) as a result of the force of a spring element (17) located at the inner end (15) of the vane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2002
    Assignee: Ina Walzlager Schaeffler oHG
    Inventors: Hermann Golbach, Martin Steigerwald, Jens Schäfer, Matthias Kapp, Joachim Dietz
  • Publication number: 20020053327
    Abstract: The invention relates to an electrically driven device (1) for the angular adjustment of a shaft relative to its drive (2), said device comprising an eccentric gearing that comprises at least one internally geared wheel and one spur gear that meshes with the internally geared wheel and can be driven by an electrically rotatable eccentric shaft. The considerable structural complexity and space requirement as also the noise level of prior art devices is reduced by the fact that the internally geared wheel is configured as a first and a second internally geared wheel (6, 9), and the spur gear is configured as a first and a second spur gear (16, 17) that have the same number of teeth and are rotatable in opposite directions, the internally geared wheels (6, 9) are connected to the drive (2) and the spur gears (16, 17) are connected to the camshaft and can be driven through a double eccentric shaft (20) comprising identical eccentrics (18, 19) arranged offset at 180° to each other.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 26, 2001
    Publication date: May 9, 2002
    Inventors: Jens Schafer, Hans Fleischer
  • Patent number: 6374785
    Abstract: This invention pertains to a vane-cell positioning device with an external rotor (1) driven by the crankshaft of an internal combustion engine and an internal rotor (2) fixed to and turning with a camshaft which has pivoting vanes (15) that fit inside vane mounting notches (16), said vanes being loaded with pressurized oil in hydraulic work spaces (31) of the external rotor (1). The danger of the pivoting vanes (15) lifting off of the radial sealing surfaces is eliminated by loading the bottoms of the pivoting vanes (15) with pressurized oil as the internal combustion engine is running.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2002
    Assignee: Ina Walzlager Schaeffler OHG
    Inventors: Jens Schäfer, Martin Steigerwald, Matthias Kapp
  • Patent number: 6367434
    Abstract: The Invention concerns g solenoid valve, more particularly a proportional hydraulic valve which is arranged within a hydraulic system of a device for varying the valve timing of gas exchange valves in an internal combustion engine. The solenoid valve (1) generally comprises an electromagnet (2) having a hollow cylindrical magnet housing (3), at least one coil winding (4) and an armature (5) as Well as a first pole shoe (6) and a second pole shoe (7) and further comprises a valve member (8) having a hollow cylindrical valve housing (9) for receiving a spool valve which is displaceable relative to the valve housing (9) by the armature (5) of the electromagnet (2). According to the invention, the electromagnet (2) and the valve member (8) are connected and fixed radially and axially to each other by force locking and/or positive engagement by the second pole shoe (7) of the electromagnet (2) which is arranged adjacent the valve member (8) and configured as a plug-in lock for the valve housing (9).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2002
    Assignee: Ina Walzlager Schaeffler oHG
    Inventors: Martin Steigerwald, Jens Schäfer, Matthias Dohr
  • Patent number: 6363897
    Abstract: A hydraulic camshaft-adjusting device of the rotary piston type having a drive gear (2) and an impeller. The drive gear (2) has a cavity formed from a perimeter wall and two side walls (5, 6) inside of which at least one hydraulic working chamber is formed from at least two boundary walls (8). The impeller has a wheel hub (10) with at least one vane that extends into a working chamber, dividing the chamber into two associated hydraulic pressure chambers. The pressure medium feed to and from the pressure chambers is done using a pressure medium tap (16) on the side facing a camshaft as well as using pressure medium channels (17) incorporated into the axial sides (14, 15) of the wheel hub (10) of the impeller, which are connected to the pressure medium tap through a pressure medium distributor (20). The pressure medium tap (16) and the pressure medium distributor (20) are encircled at the head (19) and the outer surface (21) by a respective penetration (22, 23) in the side walls (5, 6) of the drive gear (2).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2002
    Assignee: INA Walzlager Schaeffler oHG
    Inventors: Martin Scheidt, Jens Schafer, Matthias Kapp, Martin Steigerwald
  • Patent number: 6313726
    Abstract: An electromagnet (1), particularly a proportional magnet for operating a hydraulic valve, said electromagnet (1) comprising at least one coil winding (3) carried by a hollow cylindrical coil spool (2) which is circumferentially surrounded by a hollow cylindrical magnet housing (4) and limited at each end by a pole shoe (5, 6), said electromagnet (1) further comprising an axially moveable cylindrical armature (8) which is arranged in a hollow cylinder of the coil spool (2) that is configured as an armature space (7), the armature (8) being mounted for low friction in rotary, longitudinally moveable axial guides, and electromagnetically produced axial movements of the armature (8) can be transmitted to a hydraulic valve piston via a push rod (10) which is connected to the armature (8) to form an axial extension thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2001
    Assignee: Ina Walzlager Schaeffler oHG
    Inventors: Eduard Golovatai-Schmidt, Martin Steigerwald, Jens Schäfer
  • Publication number: 20010029914
    Abstract: A hydraulic camshaft-adjusting device of the rotary piston type having a drive gear (2) and an impeller. The drive gear (2) has a cavity formed from a perimeter wall and two side walls (5, 6) inside of which at least one hydraulic working chamber is formed from at least two boundary walls (8). The impeller has a wheel hub (10) with at least one vane that extends into a working chamber, dividing the chamber into two associated hydraulic pressure chambers. The pressure medium feed to and from the pressure chambers is done using a pressure medium tap (16) on the side facing a camshaft as well as using pressure medium channels (17) incorporated into the axial sides (14, 15) of the wheel hub (10) of the impeller, which are connected to the pressure medium tap through a pressure medium distributor (20). The pressure medium tap (16) and the pressure medium distributor (20) are encircled at the head (19) and the outer surface (21) by a respective penetration (22, 23) in the side walls (5, 6) of the drive gear (2).
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2000
    Publication date: October 18, 2001
    Inventors: Martin Scheidt, Jens Schafer, Matthias Kapp, Martin Steigerwald
  • Patent number: 6289862
    Abstract: A locking mechanism for a device (1) to modify the control timing of cylinder valves of an internal combustion engine, in particular for a vane-cell positioning device. The device (1) consists of a drive wheel (2) driven by a crankshaft of the internal combustion engine, said drive wheel having a cavity (6), and an impeller (8) permanently connected to the camshaft (7) that has at least one vane (12). In the cavity (6) of the drive wheel (2), at least one working chamber (15) is formed by intermediate walls (14) and each of these chambers is divided by an associated vane (12) into two hydraulic pressure spaces (16, 17). When pressure is applied by means of a hydraulic pressure medium, the pressure spaces (16, 17) effect a pivoting motion of the impeller (8) with respect to the drive wheel (2), whereas when the pressure is not applied to one of the pressure spaces (16, 17) the impeller (8) and the drive wheel (2) are mechanically coupled together.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2001
    Assignee: INA Walzlager Schaeffler oHG
    Inventors: Jens Schäfer, Martin Steigerwald, Matthias Kapp