FINGER LEVER
The invention proposes a finger lever (1) for actuating a gas exchange valve (4) of an internal combustion engine, said finger lever (1) being composed of side walls (11), a valve contacting element (12), a roller axle (8)/roller (9) and a joint socket element (13). According to the invention, the side walls comprise through-openings (15, 16) that are aligned to each other in pairs and in which each of the valve contacting element and the joint socket element are retained after the manner of a pin and bore connection by respective axle ends or axle stubs (18, 19) pointing in a transverse direction of the side walls.
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The invention concerns a finger lever for actuating a gas exchange valve of an internal combustion engine, said finger lever comprising a first lever end on which a valve contacting surface for the gas exchange valve extends, and further comprising a lever center in which a roller axle and a roller mounted on said roller axle for contact of a cam extends, and comprising still further a second lever end on which a joint socket for a pivotal mounting of said finger lever on a stationary joint head arranged in the internal combustion engine extends. The finger lever comprises two side walls which extend spaced from each other in a longitudinal direction of the finger lever and are made as separate parts while being connected to each other, on the first lever end, through a valve contacting element retained on the side walls, at the lever center, through the roller axle retained in aligned through-openings of the side walls and, on the second lever end, through a joint socket element retained on the side walls.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONA finger lever of the pre-cited type comprising a lever body composed of a plurality of separate parts is disclosed already in the document DE 10 2005 057 298 A1 considered to be generic. In contrast to finger levers with lever bodies that are shaped out of a single sheet metal blank into a finished component by a multi-step punching and bending method and that, by reason of their dimensioning can be used only in a specific valve train kinematics, the modular construction of the multi-part lever body permits a maximized flexibility with regard to matching the finger lever to different valve train kinematics while simultaneously assuring minimized manufacturing costs for sample and large series tools. It is thus possible to equip finger levers of different sizes made after the modular principle with identical valve contacting elements, rollers and joint socket elements and modify only the side walls to suit the specific case of use.
A drawback of the pre-cited prior art is the proposed joining method for connecting the side walls to the valve contacting element and the joint socket element which are fixed by a sort of key and slot joint on the side walls. With a view to obtaining the precision required for the dynamic fatigue strength of valve train components, a connection of this type can only be realized with correspondingly high complexity and costs involved in the manufacturing.
A constructed finger lever is likewise disclosed in EP 1 500 794 A1 and comprises a valve contacting element made as a separate part. This valve contacting element is mounted floatingly and with limited rotational ability in aligned through-openings of the side wall after the manner of a pin and bore connection. The side walls, however, are shaped in one piece together with the joint socket element which connects the side walls to each other, so that the above-mentioned flexibility of the finger lever with regard to its matching to different valve train kinematics is not provided, or provided only to an inadequate extent.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTIONThe object of the invention is therefore to improve the constructional design of a finger lever of the aforesaid type so that the cited drawbacks are eliminated.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe invention achieves the above object by the fact that the side walls on the first lever end and on the second lever end comprise through-openings aligned to each other in pairs, in which through-openings each of the valve contacting element and the joint socket element is retained after the manner of a pin and bore connection by respective axle ends or axle stubs pointing in a transverse direction of the side walls.
The measures disclosed in the dependent claims constitute appropriate, partially alternative developments of the invention which are described and explained more clearly in the following in connection with further features and advantages of the invention with reference to the appended drawings. In so far as possible and appropriate, these features can also be combined as desired with each other to obtain embodiments other than those represented herein.
Further, not represented embodiments concern rocker arms assembled together after the modular principle of the invention. In contrast to finger levers, rocker arms are not mounted for pivoting on one end of the lever but at its center.
The figures show three-dimensional perspective views of a finger lever in an assembled state as well as the separate parts of the finger lever.
If not otherwise stated, identical or functionally identical components or features bear the same reference numbers.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSStarting point of the following elucidations is
The valve contacting element 12a and the joint socket element 13a are made as sintered parts and are disclosed in enlarged illustrations in
According to
The finger lever 1c disclosed in
The advantageous feature of the finger levers 1a to 1c is the small number of separate parts.
In the examples of embodiment according to
The finger lever 1d illustrated in
In contrast, in the finger levers 1 represented in
The valve contacting element 12e (see
The finger lever 1f illustrated in
The finger lever 1g illustrated in
The finger lever 1h illustrated in
The finger lever 1i according to
The finger lever 1k disclosed in
The finger lever 1l disclosed in
- 1 Finger lever
- 2 First lever end
- 3 Valve contacting surface
- 4 Gas exchange valve
- 5 Second lever end
- 6 Support element
- 7 Lever center
- 8 Roller axle
- 9 Roller
- 10 Cam
- 11 Side wall
- 12 Valve contacting element
- 13 Joint socket element
- 14 Joint socket
- 15 Through-opening on first lever end
- 16 Through-opening on second lever end
- 17 Through-opening at lever center
- 18 Axle end/axle stud
- 19 Axle end/axle stud
- 20 Projection on valve contacting element
- 21 Projection on joint socket element
- 22 Recess on side wall
- 23 Recess on side wall
- 24 Cross-bore in the valve contacting element
- 25 Cross-bore in the joint socket element
- 26 Axle for valve contacting element
- 27 Axle for joint socket element
- 28 Projection for rotation limitation of the valve contacting element
- 29 Projection for rotation limitation of the joint socket element
- 30 Stop surface of the side wall
- 31 Stop surface of the side wall
- 32 Groove in inner side wall on the first lever end
- 33 Groove in inner side wall on the second lever end
- 34 Abutting surface on the valve contacting element
- 35 Abutting surface on the joint socket element
- 36 Connecting element
- 37 Leg of the connecting element
- 38 Leg of the connecting element
- 39 Longitudinal recess on the joint socket element
- 40 Longitudinal recess on the joint socket element
Claims
1. A finger lever (1) for actuating a gas exchange valve (4) of an internal combustion engine, said finger lever (1) comprising a first lever end (2) on which a valve contacting surface (3) for the gas exchange valve (4) extends, and further comprising a lever center (7) in which a roller axle (8) and a roller (9) mounted on said roller axle (8) for contact of a cam (10) extends, and comprising still further a second lever end (5) on which a joint socket (14) for a pivotal mounting of said finger lever (1) on a stationary joint head arranged in the internal combustion engine extends, said finger lever (1) comprising two side walls (11) which extend spaced from each other in a longitudinal direction of the finger lever (1) and are made as separate parts while being connected to each other, on the first lever end (2), through a valve contacting element (12) retained on the side walls (11), at the lever center (7), through the roller axle (8) retained in aligned through-openings (17) of the side walls (11) and, on the second lever end (5), through a joint socket element (13) retained on the side walls (11), characterized in that the side walls (11) on the first lever end (2) and on the second lever end (5) comprise through-openings (15, 16) aligned to each other in pairs, in which through-openings (15, 16) each of the valve contacting element (12) and the joint socket element (13) is retained after the manner of a pin and bore connection by respective axle ends or axle stubs (18, 19) pointing in a transverse direction of the side walls (11).
2. A finger lever (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the side walls (11) are made as punched parts out of a sheet metal material and the valve contacting element (12) and the joint socket element (13) are made as sintered or metal injection molded parts.
3. A finger lever (1a, 1b) according to claim 1, characterized in that the axle studs (18, 19) are configured in one piece with the valve contacting element (12a) and/or with the joint socket element (13a, 13b).
4. A finger lever (1a, 1b, 1c) according to claim 1, characterized in that the valve contacting element (12a, 12b, 12 c) and/or the joint socket element (13a, 13b, 13c) is retained secure against rotation on the side walls (11a, 11b, 11c) in transverse direction of the finger lever (1a, 1b, 1c).
5. A finger lever (1a) according to claim 4, characterized in that the through-openings (15a, 16a) on one or both of the lever ends (2, 5) are circular in shape, and that the axle ends or axle studs (18a, 19a) are cylindrical in shape, the valve contacting element (12a) and/or the joint socket element (13a) being retained secure against rotation by force locking through riveting of the axle ends or axle studs (18a, 19a) in the through-openings (15a, 16a).
6. A finger lever (1b) according to claim 4, characterized in that the through-openings (15b, 16b) on one or on both lever ends (2, 5) are non-circular in shape and that the axle ends (18b) or axle studs (19b) have a cross-sectional shape complementary to the through-openings (15b, 16b) so that the valve contacting element (12b) and/or the joint socket element (13b) are retained secure against rotation by positive engagement in the through-openings (15b, 16b).
7. A finger lever (1b) according to claim 6, characterized in that the through-openings (15b, 16b) and the axle ends (18b) or axle studs (19b) are oval in shape.
8. A finger lever (1c) according to claim 4, characterized in that the through-openings (15c, 16c) on one or on both lever ends (2, 5) are circular in shape and that the axle ends (18c, 19c) or axle studs are cylindrical in shape, the valve contacting element (12c) and/or the joint socket element (13c) comprise projections (20c, 21c) that extend in transverse direction of the side walls (11c) and engage into complementary recesses (22, 23) of the side walls (11c) so that the valve contacting element (12c) and/or the joint socket element (13c) are retained secure against rotation by positive engagement in the through-openings (15c, 16c).
9. A finger lever (1c to 1l) according to claim 1, characterized in that the valve contacting element (12c to 12l) and/or the joint socket element (13c to 13l) comprises a cross-bore (24, 25) through which an axle (26, 27) is inserted through whose axle ends (18c, 9c) the valve contacting element (12c to 12l) and/or the joint socket element (13c to 13l) is retained in the through-openings (15, 16).
10. A finger lever (1d to 1l) according to claim 9, characterized in that the valve contacting element (12d to 12l) and/or the joint socket element (13d to 13l) is retained on the side walls (11d to 11l) for rotation in transverse direction of the finger lever (1d to 1l).
11. A finger lever (1e to 1l) according to claim 10, characterized in that the valve contacting element (12e to 12l) and/or the joint socket element (13e to 13l) comprises projections (28, 29) that extend in transverse direction of the side walls (11e to 11l) and, to limit a rotation of the valve contacting element (12e to 12l) and/or of the joint socket element (13e to 13l), abut against stop surfaces (30, 31) of the side walls (11e to 11l).
12. A finger lever (1e) according to claim 11, characterized in that the projections (28e, 29e) are cylindrical in shape and extend in circular arc-shaped grooves (32, 33) of inner sides of the side walls (11e) facing each other, said grooves (32, 33) serving as stop surfaces (30e, 31e).
13. A finger lever (1f to 1l) according to claim 11, characterized in that the projections (28, 29) are made substantially in shape of a right parallelepiped and extend with clearance relative to opposing upper edges or lower edges of the side walls (11f to 11l) serving as stop surfaces (30, 31).
14. A finger lever (1f, 1h to 1l)) according to claim 13, characterized in that the abutting surfaces (34, 35) of the projections (28, 29) turned towards the upper edges or lower edges of the side walls (11f, 1h to 1l) have a slightly convex shape.
15. A finger lever (1i to 1l) according to claim 1, characterized in that a connecting element (36) made of flat material is mounted on the joint socket element (13i to 12l) for achieving an anti-loss retention of the joint socket (14) on the joint head.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 5, 2010
Publication Date: Apr 26, 2012
Applicant: SCHAEFFLER TECHNOLOGIES GMBH & CO. KG (Herzogenaurach)
Inventors: Peter Schulze (Shanghai), Xiuli Wang (Shanghai)
Application Number: 13/322,797
International Classification: F01L 1/18 (20060101);