Patents by Inventor Peter Solfrank
Peter Solfrank 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).
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Patent number: 10920627Abstract: An adjusting unit of an internal combustion engine is provided, comprising an electric motor and a transmission interacting therewith, an adjusting shaft of the transmission being coupled to the rotor of the electric motor. A drive shafts of the transmission is coupled to the shaft which is to be adjusted. For controlling the electric motor, a sensorless control unit is provided outside of a housing of the electric motor which encloses the stator of the electric motor.Type: GrantFiled: September 15, 2017Date of Patent: February 16, 2021Assignee: Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KGInventors: Christian Karbacher, Peter Solfrank
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Publication number: 20200200054Abstract: An adjusting unit of an internal combustion engine is provided, comprising an electric motor and a transmission interacting therewith, an adjusting shaft of the transmission being coupled to the rotor of the electric motor. A drive shafts of the transmission coupled to the shaft which is to be adjusted. For controlling the electric motor, a sensorless control unit is provided outside of a housing of the electric motor which encloses the stator of the electric motor.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 15, 2017Publication date: June 25, 2020Applicant: Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KGInventors: Christian Karbacher, Peter Solfrank
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Patent number: 9080638Abstract: An unbalanced shaft for compensating for inertial forces and/or mass moments of inertia of an internal combustion engine (1), having an unbalanced portion (8), the center of mass of which extends eccentric to the axis of rotation (11) of the unbalanced shaft (6) for generating the shaft imbalance (7), a bearing portion (9) adjacent to the unbalanced portion, and a bearing race (10) joined thereto, the outer surface (13) of which serves as a race for the rolling elements of a roller bearing rotationally supporting the unbalanced shaft, and the inner surface (12) of which retracts radially relative to the outer circumscribed circle (14) of the unbalanced portion in a bearing circumference region running in the direction of the imbalance.Type: GrantFiled: July 7, 2011Date of Patent: July 14, 2015Assignee: Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KGInventors: Peter Solfrank, Tobias Mederer
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Patent number: 8997709Abstract: A mass equalization gear mechanism of an internal combustion engine is provided, having a gear mechanism housing (8) with bearing points (16, 17, 18), at least one equalization shaft (6) with a drive section (9) and an imbalance section (12) and rolling bearings (10, 11, 15) by which the equalization shaft is mounted in the bearing points. In this context, the gear mechanism housing is hydraulically sealed, with the result that the imbalance section and at least one of the rolling bearings is hydraulically separated from the drive section and is provided with autonomous lubrication.Type: GrantFiled: April 18, 2012Date of Patent: April 7, 2015Assignee: Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KGInventors: Robin Raab, Siegfried Tisch, Peter Solfrank
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Patent number: 8985857Abstract: A bearing unit for a turbocharger, including a bearing housing extending in an axial direction and also including a bearing cartridge arranged within the bearing housing, wherein between the outer circumference of the bearing cartridge and the bearing housing there is formed an intermediate space with an oil film, and wherein the bearing housing has a supply bore formed for the supply of oil to the oil film. The bearing cartridge includes a rolling bearing, the outer cartridge ring of which is mounted in a freely rotatable manner in the oil film. A bearing unit for a turbocharger, the bearing cartridge of which includes a rolling bearing, the bearing outer ring of which is mounted in a freely rotatable manner in the oil film. By means of bearing units of such design, it is possible to ensure the secure mounting of a shaft even without a separate twist prevention device.Type: GrantFiled: March 12, 2012Date of Patent: March 24, 2015Assignee: Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KGInventors: Heiko Schmidt, Kurt Kirsten, Peter Solfrank, Christopher Mitchell
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Publication number: 20140311280Abstract: An unbalanced shaft for compensating for inertial forces and/or mass moments of inertia of an internal combustion engine (1), having an unbalanced portion (8), the center of mass of which extends eccentric to the axis of rotation (11) of the unbalanced shaft (6) for generating the shaft imbalance (7), a bearing portion (9) adjacent to the unbalanced portion, and a bearing race (10) joined thereto, the outer surface (13) of which serves as a race for the rolling elements of a roller bearing rotationally supporting the unbalanced shaft, and the inner surface (12) of which retracts radially relative to the outer circumscribed circle (14) of the unbalanced portion in a bearing circumference region running in the direction of the imbalance.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 7, 2011Publication date: October 23, 2014Applicant: Schaeffler Technologies AG & CO. KGInventors: Peter Solfrank, Tobias Mederer
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Patent number: 8746983Abstract: A rolling bearing for a turbocharger, which has an outer ring with a first rolling element raceway, an inner ring with a second rolling element raceway, and several rolling elements accommodated in rolling element pockets of a rolling element cage. The rolling element cage has a guide surface, which is guided on an inner surface of the outer ring and arranged on a smaller radius than the radius of the first rolling element raceway. The rolling element cage has an extension, which is arranged over the circumference of the rolling element cage and extended annularly in the radial direction, on the side opposite the guide surface.Type: GrantFiled: May 17, 2010Date of Patent: June 10, 2014Assignee: Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KGInventors: Christopher Mitchell, Christian Schaefer, Heiko Schmidt, Peter Solfrank
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Patent number: 8714043Abstract: An intermediate gear device for a traction drive and/or spur gear drive of an internal combustion engine is provided, having an intermediate gear that has an at least two-track construction with a drive gear and a driven gear, an axle, and a needle bearing by which the intermediate gear is radially mounted on the axle. At least one supporting disk is provided on which the intermediate gear is axially supported, and a duct, that is connectable to the lubricant circuit of the internal combustion engine, to supply lubricant to the needle bearing. The support disk and the axle contact one another at the end faces, the mouth of the lubricant duct that opens toward the needle bearing is formed by one or more recesses on the contact surface of the support disk and/or on the contact surface of the axle.Type: GrantFiled: October 20, 2011Date of Patent: May 6, 2014Assignee: Schaeffler Technologies GmbH & Co. KGInventors: Andreas Tully, Peter Solfrank, Werner Hofmann
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Publication number: 20140109860Abstract: A mass equalization gear mechanism of an internal combustion engine is provided, having a gear mechanism housing (8) with bearing points (16, 17, 18), at least one equalization shaft (6) with a drive section (9) and an imbalance section (12) and rolling bearings (10, 11, 15) by which the equalization shaft is mounted in the bearing points. In this context, the gear mechanism housing is hydraulically sealed, with the result that the imbalance section and at least one of the rolling bearings is hydraulically separated from the drive section and is provided with autonomous lubrication.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 18, 2012Publication date: April 24, 2014Applicant: Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KGInventors: Robin Raab, Siegfried Tisch, Peter Solfrank
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Patent number: 8695555Abstract: A mass balancing mechanism is provided for balancing mass forces and/or mass torques of an internal combustion engine. The mass balancing mechanism includes an unbalanced shaft (4) having shaft sections (6, 7) for generating the imbalance, two outer bearing journals (9, 10), and at least one inner bearing journal (5) that connects two of the shaft sections, at which bearing journals the unbalanced shaft is rotatably supported at associated bearing points (2, 1, 3) of the internal combustion engine. The inner bearing journal deflects radially relative to the two shaft sections adjacent thereto and forms a radial plain bearing with the inner bearing point (2). According to the invention, the outer bearing journals should each form a radial roller bearing with the outer bearing points (1, 3).Type: GrantFiled: April 27, 2010Date of Patent: April 15, 2014Assignee: Schaeffler Technologies GmbH & Co. KGInventor: Peter Solfrank
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Publication number: 20140086731Abstract: A bearing unit for a turbocharger, including a bearing housing extending in an axial direction and also including a bearing cartridge arranged within the bearing housing, wherein between the outer circumference of the bearing cartridge and the bearing housing there is formed an intermediate space with an oil film, and wherein the bearing housing has a supply bore formed for the supply of oil to the oil film. The bearing cartridge includes a rolling bearing, the outer cartridge ring of which is mounted in a freely rotatable manner in the oil film. A bearing unit for a turbocharger, the bearing cartridge of which includes a rolling bearing, the bearing outer ring of which is mounted in a freely rotatable manner in the oil film. By means of bearing units of such design, it is possible to ensure the secure mounting of a shaft even without a separate twist prevention device.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 12, 2012Publication date: March 27, 2014Applicant: Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KGInventors: Heiko Schmidt, Kurt Kirsten, Peter Solfrank, Christopher Mitchell
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Patent number: 8677969Abstract: A mass balancing device for balancing free inertial forces and/or free moments of inertia of a reciprocating internal combustion engine (1). The mass balancing device includes two balancer shafts (3, 4) rotating at the same rotational speed in opposite directions of rotation, and a transmission (5) arranged between the crankshaft (2) of the internal combustion engine and the balancer shafts. The transmission drives the balancer shafts at a transmission ratio of crankshaft rotational speed to the balancer shaft rotational speed that is non-uniform over the crankshaft angle such that the angular speed of the balancer shafts is at the maximum at the piston dead centers. The mass balancing device is intended to be configured for an internal combustion engine of multi-cylinder design and the mean value of the transmission ratio is intended to be 1:2.Type: GrantFiled: February 1, 2011Date of Patent: March 25, 2014Assignee: Schaeffler Technologies GmbH & Co. KGInventors: Peter Solfrank, Michael Bogner
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Patent number: 8622622Abstract: An antifriction bearing for a turbocharger, which has an outer ring with an annular inner face and an inner ring with an outer face which is parallel to the inner face, and a rolling body cage with a single annular part arranged radially between the outer and inner ring with one cage guiding face which is parallel to the inner face of the outer ring and an inner surface which is parallel to the outer face of the inner ring, and with closed rolling body pockets which are distributed over the circumference and rolling bodies received in the pockets. To provide hydraulic damping and reduced friction, the annular part is provided in the region of the cage guiding face with at least one radial recess outside the rolling body pockets, which can be formed by apertures, cutouts or grooves in the cage guiding face.Type: GrantFiled: May 14, 2010Date of Patent: January 7, 2014Assignee: Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KGInventors: Peter Solfrank, Christian Schaefer, Christopher Mitchell, Heiko Schmidt
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Patent number: 8585299Abstract: A bearing arrangement is provided having a shaft (1) with a bearing journal (2, 3), and a needle bearing (9) which is arranged thereon and has a cage (16) and needle rollers (11) accommodated in the latter. The bearing journal is provided with a hardened and precision-machined inner raceway (10) for the needle rollers and steps back radially in relation to axial shoulders (12, 13) of adjacent shaft sections (4, 5, 6, 7), and the axial shoulders serve as run-on surfaces for the axial end sides (14, 15) of the cage fitted between the axial shoulders. In this case, relief grooves (17, 18) are provided, with the relief grooves extending on both sides of the inner raceway and each being dimensioned in such a manner that, over the entire circumferential region of the axial shoulders, the axial distance (D) thereof from each other is significantly larger than the inner raceway width (B1) existing therebetween.Type: GrantFiled: May 28, 2010Date of Patent: November 19, 2013Assignee: Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KGInventors: Stefan Hess, Peter Solfrank, Patrick Ullmann, Alexander Kern
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Publication number: 20130272854Abstract: A bearing arrangement for a turbocharger, including a bearing housing-which extends in an axial direction, an anti-friction bearing, situated within the bearing housing, having an outer bearing ring and a number of rolling bodies and an axially extending shaft which is rotatably mounted within the bearing housing. It is provided that the shaft includes a rolling body raceway for guiding the rolling bodies. Moreover, the invention relates to a turbocharger having such a bearing arrangement. A bearing arrangement of this type allows the secure mounting of a shaft in a turbocharger with simple assembly and low costs.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 14, 2011Publication date: October 17, 2013Applicant: Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KGInventors: Heiko Schmidt, Peter Solfrank, Christopher Mitchell, Andre Kuckuk, Thomas Motz
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Patent number: 8555848Abstract: A mass balancing mechanism and method of assembly of the same is provided. The mass balancing mechanism compensates mass forces and/or mass moments of inertia of an internal combustion engine and includes two compensation shafts and a traction drive which connects a driven pinion of the crankshaft to drive pinions of the compensation shafts through a traction mechanism. Rotation of the compensation shafts is achieved through a spur gearing with two meshing spur gears arranged between one of the drive pinions and the associated compensation shaft, one of the spur gears being connected to the one drive pinion and the other of the spur gears being connected to the associated compensation shaft. For adjusting the tooth flank lash between the spur gears, an eccentric bearing having a rotationally fixable eccentric raceway is provided by the invention.Type: GrantFiled: October 8, 2010Date of Patent: October 15, 2013Assignee: Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KGInventors: Peter Solfrank, Tobias Mederer, Alexander Tasche
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Patent number: 8387584Abstract: An unbalanced shaft (1a, 1b, 1c), particularly for compensating mass forces and/or mass moments of inertia of an internal combustion engine (2) is provided. The shaft includes a shaft section (10, 11, 12) and a bearing journal (13a, 13b, 13c) axially adjacent to the shaft section, the bearing journal includes a fully cylindrical outer peripheral surface (18) serving as an inner raceway for the rolling elements (16) of a rolling bearing (14) and the bearing journal has a multi-piece configuration, so that both the shaft section and the bearing journal possess a mass center of gravity that, for producing the shaft unbalance, extends eccentric to the axis of rotation (19) of the unbalanced shaft. For supplying lubricant to the inner raceway and the rolling elements, an oil channel (20a, 20b, 20c) extends radially outwards through the bearing journal and opens, relative to the mass center of gravity of the bearing journal, on the other side, situated beyond the axis of rotation, on the outer peripheral surface.Type: GrantFiled: July 13, 2010Date of Patent: March 5, 2013Assignee: Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KGInventor: Peter Solfrank
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Publication number: 20120312118Abstract: A mass balancing device for balancing free inertial forces and/or free moments of inertia of a reciprocating internal combustion engine (1). The mass balancing device includes two balancer shafts (3, 4) rotating at the same rotational speed in opposite directions of rotation, and a transmission (5) arranged between the crankshaft (2) of the internal combustion engine and the balancer shafts. The transmission drives the balancer shafts at a transmission ratio of crankshaft rotational speed to the balancer shaft rotational speed that is non-uniform over the crankshaft angle such that the angular speed of the balancer shafts is at the maximum at the piston dead centers. The mass balancing device is intended to be configured for an internal combustion engine of multi-cylinder design and the mean value of the transmission ratio is intended to be 1:2.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 1, 2011Publication date: December 13, 2012Applicant: SCHAEFFLER TECHNOLOGIES AG & CO. KGInventors: Peter Solfrank, Michael Bogner
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Patent number: 8276561Abstract: Axial thrust washers are provided in the axial contact region of the bearing raceway of an unbalance shaft. The axial thrust washers do not extend beyond 360° in the circumferential direction, but extend only over a little more than the unbalance masses which extend in this region. The end sections of the axial thrust washers are bent over so that they are supported on the prominent unbalance masses, and form a funnel-like entry region for the rolling elements or for a cage of the rolling bearing which houses the rolling elements.Type: GrantFiled: May 5, 2009Date of Patent: October 2, 2012Assignee: Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KGInventor: Peter Solfrank
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Patent number: RE46845Abstract: A radial bearing (1a, 1b, 1c, 1d), especially a roller bearing (9) comprising an outer part (3) opposite an inner part (6), which rotate relative to each other about a common longitudinal axis (5) is provided, wherein the radial bearing (1a, 1b, 1c, 1d) includes a bearing seat (8a, 8b, 8c, 8d), which is formed in the outer part (3) or on the inner part (6) and which is generally stationary relative to a radial load (10a, 10b, 10c, 10d) acting on the bearing seat (8a, 8b, 8c, 8d) in a load zone (12a, 12b, 12c, 12d). The bearing seat (8a, 8b, 8c, 8d) features a variable width over its extent in a direction of the longitudinal axis (5), such that, starting from the load zone (12a, 12b, 12c, 12d), the bearing seat (8a, 8b, 8c, 8d) is significantly narrowed outside of the load zone (12a, 12b, 12c, 12d).Type: GrantFiled: November 8, 2016Date of Patent: May 15, 2018Assignee: Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KGInventors: Siegfried Tisch, Peter Solfrank