ENGINE OIL PUMP PROVIDED AUTOMATIC ADJUSTMENT OF OIL SUPPLY AMOUNT
An engine oil pump includes an oil supply mechanism and an adjustment mechanism. The oil supply mechanism includes an oil inlet, an oil outlet, an oil passage with two ends communicating with the oil inlet and oil outlet, and a driving gear and a driven gear located in the oil passage. The driving gear and driven gear are engaged at a selected depth to determine oil supply amount passing through the oil passage. The adjustment mechanism includes a housing and an actuation piston fastened to the driven gear. The housing has an engine oil duct on the periphery including one end communicating with the oil outlet and introducing engine oil from the oil outlet to one side of the actuation piston for storing. The actuation piston is pushed by pressure of the engine oil to drive the driven gear to move, and the oil supply amount is also changed.
The present invention relates to an engine oil pump that provides automatic adjustment of oil supply amount and particularly to an engine oil pump to supply engine oil to an internal combustion engine.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONWhen an internal combustion engine is in operation to generate driving power, the piston is moved constantly and reciprocally in a cylinder at high speed to compress fuel and air mixture and ignite for combustion. If there is lack of lubricant to provide lubrication, cleaning and cooling, the cylinder is rapidly damaged by the piston and results in incapable of operation of the engine. Hence supplying the lubricant to the cylinder is a necessary function of the internal combustion engine. Although the lubricant can provide smooth movement of the piston, its viscosity and supply amount also affect performance of piston operation. For instance, if supply amount of the lubricant is insufficient, protection effect suffers. On the other hand, if supply amount of the lubricant is too much, more engine output power is consumed and driving power output drops. Moreover, required amount of the lubricant on various engine elements and engine rotational speed are not in a linear relationship. When the engine rotational speed increases, the lubricant needed for the engine elements reduces. Hence when the engine is operated at high speed, lubricant pump tends to bring too much lubricant into the engine elements and result in unnecessary oil supply and engine power consumption. The conventional lubricant pump supplies a fixed amount of lubricant. For instance, R.O.C. patent No. 570096 entitled “Engine and engine oil pump positioning apparatus” with its abstract discloses: “An engine and engine oil pump positioning apparatus mainly provides a centric positioning mechanism interposed between the engine body and engine oil pump. The centric positioning mechanism includes a jutting ring located at one side of the engine body centric with the crankshaft, and a coupling ring located at a corresponding side of the engine oil pump centric with an axle hole of an inner rotor. The coupling ring has an outer diameter the same as an inner diameter of the jutting ring of the engine body. The crankshaft is coupled in the axle hole of the inner rotor of the engine oil pump with the coupling ring is centrically coupled on the jutting ring to position the engine oil pump on the engine body. By means of the centric positioning approach, the axle hole of the inner rotor of the engine oil pump can be coupled accurately on the crankshaft to improve precision and facilitate assembly and installation”. While the aforesaid technique discloses the centric positioning mechanism interposed between the engine oil pump and engine body and centric with the crankshaft and axle hole of the inner rotor to enhance positioning precision and facilitate assembly of the engine oil pump and engine body. The crankshaft is rotated to drive the engine oil pump and merely directs engine oil from an oil inlet to an oil outlet and then introduces into the engine body.
R.O.C. patent No. 1284177 entitled “Motorcycle engine oil pump” with its abstract discloses the motorcycle engine oil pump at least including an engine oil pump, a water pump, a driving shaft, a bracing rack, a driving gear and an oil collection cap. The engine oil pump has one end supported by a crankshaft box and another end coupled with the driving shaft. The driving shaft is coupled with the driving gear close to a distal end thereof. The driving gear is coupled with a crankshaft through a driving chain. The oil collection cap is located at an outer side of the driving gear. The distal end of the driving shaft is coupled with a driven shaft of the water pump. The crankshaft drives the driving gear and driving shaft through the driving chain to operate the engine oil pump and water pump. Its main feature is that the bracing rack is coupled on the driving shaft and interposed between the engine oil pump and a coupling holder. Hence the cantilever arm of the driving shaft can be supported firmer to enhance stability and durability of the engine oil pump. As shown in
However, the conventional techniques set above rely on rotation of the engine to drive the engine oil pump's operation. The supply amount of the lubricant is proportional to the rotational speed of the engine. As a result, supply amount of the lubricant at high or low rotational speed does not meet actual requirements.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAs the conventional engine oil pump supplies oil proportional to rotational speed of the engine, engine operation efficiency is lowered. The primary object of the present invention is to provide an engine oil pump that can adjust suitable oil supply amount corresponding to engine rotational speed.
The present invention provides an engine oil pump that provides automatic adjustment of oil supply amount. It includes an oil supply mechanism and an adjustment mechanism. The oil supply mechanism includes an oil inlet, an oil outlet, an oil passage with two ends communicating with the oil inlet and oil outlet, and a driving gear and a driven gear located in the oil passage that are engaged with each other. The driving gear and driven gear are engaged at a selected depth to determine oil supply amount passing through the oil passage. The adjustment mechanism includes a housing and an actuation piston fastened to the driven gear. The housing has a housing space to hold the actuation piston and an engine oil duct on the periphery thereof communicating with the housing space. The engine oil duct has one end communicating with the oil outlet. The engine oil duct receives engine oil from the oil outlet and stores the engine oil at one side of the actuation piston. The actuation piston is pushed by the pressure of the engine oil to drive the driven gear to move. By changing the relative positions of the driven gear and driving gear, oil supply amount can also be changed.
Thus at high rotational speed of the engine, the pressure of the engine oil at the oil outlet is higher. The pressure exerted to the actuation piston through the engine oil duct also increases to push the actuation piston to move. Since the actuation piston is coupled with the driven gear, the driven gear also is moved. As a result, while the engaged area of the driven gear and driving gear changes, the oil supply amount of the oil supply mechanism also changes.
By means of the foregoing technique, oversupply of the engine oil can be prevented at high engine rotational speed, and engine operation efficiency can be maintained as desired.
The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Please refer to
While the invention has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.
In summation of the above description, the present invention provides a significant improvement over the conventional techniques and complies with the patent application requirements, and is submitted for review and granting of the commensurate patent rights.
Claims
1. An engine oil pump provided automatic adjustment of oil supply amount, comprising an oil supply mechanism and an adjustment mechanism, wherein:
- the oil supply mechanism includes an oil inlet, an oil outlet, an oil passage with two ends communicating with the oil inlet and the oil outlet, and a driving gear and a driven gear located in the oil passage that being engaged with each other; the driving gear and the driven gear being engaged at a selected depth to determine oil supply amount passing through the oil passage; and
- the adjustment mechanism includes:
- a housing which includes a housing space and an engine oil duct located on the periphery of the housing communicating with the housing space and including one end communicating with the oil outlet; and
- an actuation piston held in the housing space and fastened to the driven gear, the engine oil duct introducing engine oil from the oil outlet to one side of the actuation piston for storing, the actuation piston being pushed by pressure of the engine oil to drive the driven gear to move so that relative positions of the driven gear and the driving gear are changed to alter the oil supply amount.
2. The engine oil pump of claim 1, wherein the housing space includes an actuator casing held in the housing space of the housing, the actuator casing including a moving space to constrain movement of the actuation piston and at least one directing vent on the periphery thereof to direct the engine oil flowed into the housing to the side of the actuation piston.
3. The engine oil pump of claim 2, wherein the moving space includes an elastic element butting another side of the actuation piston.
4. The engine oil pump of claim 2, wherein the housing and the actuator casing include respectively an opening to allow the actuation piston to couple with the driven gear.
5. The engine oil pump of claim 2, wherein the actuator casing includes a plurality of directing vents on the periphery and the housing includes at least one directing groove to direct the engine oil from the engine oil duct to the directing vents.
6. The engine oil pump of claim 3, wherein the actuator casing further is coupled with a cap to seal the elastic element and the actuation piston in the actuator casing.
7. The engine oil pump of claim 1, wherein the engine oil duct is connected to one end of the oil passage close to the oil outlet.
8. The engine oil pump of claim 1, wherein the oil outlet is connected to an engine to supply the engine oil to the engine, the driving gear being driven with the engine.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 27, 2010
Publication Date: Mar 1, 2012
Inventor: Chun-Hsien CHANG (Taipei County)
Application Number: 12/870,356
International Classification: F04B 49/00 (20060101);