OIL PAN ASSEMBLY

Abstract

An oil pan assembly for an engine may include: an oil pan mounted at a lower portion of a cylinder block of the engine and formed with a space therein, in which oil can be stored; and a support bracket mounted at one side of the oil pan for coupling with an air conditioner compressor or a transmission. In particular, a protrusion portion is formed at an upper surface of the support bracket and upwardly protruded.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean Patent Application. 10-2018-0169244, filed on Dec. 26, 2018, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an oil pan assembly mounted at a cylinder block of a vehicle.

BACKGROUND

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.

Since an engine includes numerous parts rubbing against each other during driven, and those rubbing parts are worn down and cause power loss. Thus, engine oil should be supplied to lubricate each moving part in order to prevent this.

Referring to FIG. 1, the oil for lubricating the engine is gathered in an oil pan 10 mounted a lower portion of a cylinder block 20 at which engine parts are mounted and supplied to main parts of the engine by a pump.

Further, the oil pan 10 needs to be fastened to a heavy-weight object such as a transmission or an air conditioner compressor.

However, when the oil pan 10 is made of steel material of 7.8 g/cm³ density, NVH (Noise, Vibration, Harshness) performance can be good, but it cannot be used for direct fastening to the weight object such as a transmission or an air conditioner compressor.

Further, in the case of aluminum (density 2.7 g/cm³) oil pan which is mainly used now, it is possible to fasten with the weight object directly, but it requires thickness of 2.5 t or more, which limits the light weight and requires reinforcement of NVH performance. Thus, it is desired to attach an oil pan cover 14 to the lower portion of oil pan 10, which deteriorates the cost competitiveness.

Further, in the case of magnesium of 1.74 g/cm³ density, in comparison with aluminum, NVH performance is disadvantageous, and the increase (2.5 t->3.5 t or more) in general thickness makes the effect of the weight reduction inadequate, resulting in increase of material cost.

Next, structurally, it is directly fasten to the weight object such as the air conditioner compressor and exposed to repeated loads by driving of a belt of accessory drive system for driving an air conditioner compressor and an alternator.

In addition, in order for coupling with the air conditioner compressor, two fastening points 11 are formed at the oil pan 10 and one fastening point 21 is formed at the cylinder block 20 so that three fastening points are dispersedly formed, and also, a belt idler fastening point 12 of the accessory drive system and a transmission housing assemble flange 13 are formed.

Therefore, we have discovered that considering all the dispersed fastening points, tolerance management of the assembly position of the fastening part is required, and thus, two or more dowel pins 30 should be applied.

So, even after the increase in vehicle mileage, durability (e.g., belt durability of the air conditioner) and noise reduction can be secured.

The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and is not intended to mean that the present disclosure falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides an oil pan assembly capable of improving its durability and reliability by absorbing the assembly tolerance of a weight object to which the oil pan is attached.

An oil pan assembly for an engine according to one aspect of the present disclosure may include: an oil pan mounted at a lower portion of a cylinder block of the engine and configured to form a space to store oil; and a support bracket mounted at one side of the oil pan and configured to couple with an air conditioner compressor or a transmission. In particular, a protrusion portion is formed at an upper surface of the support bracket to be upwardly protruded.

The oil pan may be made of plastic material.

A first flange hole may be formed at a lower surface of the oil pan, and the protrusion portion of the support bracket may penetrate the first flange hole to be mounted at the oil pan.

The support bracket may be made of aluminum, magnesium or cast iron material.

The protrusion portion of the support bracket may be formed as a pin type and pressed in the support bracket after processed separately.

The protrusion portion may be integrally formed with the support bracket.

A bush type protrusion portion may be formed at an upper surface of the support bracket to be upwardly protruded; a second flange hole may be formed at a lower surface of the oil pan; and the bush type protrusion portion may penetrate the second flange hole so that the air conditioner compressor support bracket is mounted at the oil pan.

The protrusion portion of the support bracket may penetrate the oil pan to be inserted into and fixed at a lower portion of the cylinder block.

In accordance with the oil pan assembly of the present disclosure, the oil pan is made of plastic material, weight object is fastened to the oil pan through the support bracket, and the support bracket is also provided with the dowel pin function, so that it does not require assemble tolerance management by separate dowel pins.

Therefore, durability reliability is further improved, and the oil pan cover for NVH performance is not required so that cost reduction can be expected.

Further, oil temperature rising time can be shorten compared to an aluminum oil pan, thereby obtaining the effecting of improving fuel efficiency.

Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. It should be understood that the description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

DRAWINGS

In order that the disclosure may be well understood, there will now be described various forms thereof, given by way of example, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows coupling relationship between a cylinder block and an oil pan according to prior art;

FIG. 2 shows an oil pan assembly according to one form of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged drawing of “A” portion of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows a support bracket for an air conditioner compressor according to one form of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged drawing of a portion of the air conditioner compressor support bracket of FIG. 4.

The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses. It should be understood that throughout the drawings, corresponding reference numerals indicate like or corresponding parts and features.

In order to fully understand the present disclosure, and the benefits and objectives achieved by exemplary forms of the present disclosure, it should refer to the accompanying drawings that illustrate exemplary forms of the present disclosure and the description in the accompanying drawings.

In describing the exemplary forms of the present disclosure, known techniques or repetitive description that would unnecessarily obscure the point of the present disclosure would reduce or omit the description.

FIG. 2 shows an oil pan assembly according to the present disclosure; and FIG. 3 is an enlarged drawing of “A” portion of FIG. 2.

Hereinafter, referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, an oil pan assembly for an engine according to an exemplary form of the present disclosure will be described in detail.

The oil pan assembly may be mounted at a lower portion of a cylinder block (not shown) and have a space for storing oil therein so that the oil can be supplied to an engine by an oil pump (not shown).

Further, a weight object such as an air conditioner compressor or a transmission may be fastened to the oil pan assembly.

For this, the oil pan assembly according to one form of the present disclosure may include an oil pan 110 and a support bracket, and the support bracket may be an air conditioner compressor support bracket 120 or a transmission support bracket 130.

The oil pan 110 constituting the oil pan assembly may be made of plastic material unlike the conventional aluminum material.

Therefore, it can be lightweight compared to the conventional aluminum material, and it is possible to apply a separate aluminum bracket to support the weight object, so that NVH performance can be improved.

Thus, it does not require a conventional oil pan cover for NVH performance reinforcement, which can save cost.

In addition, oil temperature rising time can be shorten by the oil pan of plastic material compared to the conventional aluminum material, thereby improving fuel efficiency.

A first flange hole 111 and a second flange hole 112 for fastening with a separate aluminum bracket may be formed at a lower surface of the oil pan 110.

The separate bracket may be made of magnesium or cast iron in addition to aluminum.

An air conditioner compressor support bracket 120 may be mounted at one side of the oil pan 110 and an air conditioner compressor may be coupled thereto. The air conditioner compressor support bracket 120 may have a shape corresponding to one-sided outer circumference shape of the oil pan 120 being coupled thereto, an outer shape for coupling with the air conditioner compressor and a structural shape for coupling reinforcement.

A transmission support bracket 130 may be mounted on another side that is different from the one side on which the air conditioner compressor support bracket 120 is mounted and a transmission may be coupled thereto. The transmission support bracket 130 may have a shape corresponding to one-sided outer circumference shape of the oil pan 120 being coupled thereto as like the air conditioner compressor support bracket 120, an outer shape for coupling with the transmission and a structural shape for coupling reinforcement.

Only the air conditioner compressor support brackets is shown, but the oil pan assembly of the present disclosure is fastened with the weight object through the support bracket, so that it is not necessary to disperse the fastening points for fastening with the weight object in the oil pan. Thus, dowel pins are not required to resolve the assembly tolerance considering all fastening points.

A protrusion portion formed to be upwardly protruded from an upper surface of the support bracket serves as the tolerance absorbing means instead of the function of the dowel pins to absorb the tolerance due to the fastening with the weight object, thereby improving the durability.

As shown in FIG. 3, a pin type protrusion portion 121 may be formed at the air conditioner compressor support bracket 120 as the tolerance absorbing means for the function of the dowel pins and the pin type protrusion portion 121 may be inserted into the first flange hole 111 formed at a lower surface of the oil pan 110.

The pin type protrusion portion 121 may be pressed in the air conditioner compressor support bracket 120 after processing pins as separate product.

Otherwise, the pin type protrusion portion 121 may be made by processing to be integrally formed at the air conditioner compressor support bracket 120.

Further, as shown in drawings, the pin type protrusion portion 121 may be formed to be protruded in length to penetrate the first flange hole 111 so that the assembly tolerance can be managed by an upper protruded portion of the pin type protrusion portion 121.

In addition, a chamfer shape may be formed at the pin type protrusion portion 121 between the protrusion portion 121 and the upper surface of the air conditioner compressor support bracket 120 so that it is able to resolve the assembly tolerance and improve durability reliability such as an air conditioner belt wear and noise after the mileage increase.

FIG. 4 shows another exemplary form of an air conditioner compressor support bracket according to the present disclosure; and FIG. 5 is an enlarged drawing of a portion of the air conditioner compressor support bracket of FIG. 4.

An air conditioner compressor support bracket according to another exemplary form may include a bush type protrusion portion 122 as the tolerance absorbing means for the function of dowel pins, and the bush type protrusion portion 122 may be inserted into the second flange hole 112.

The bush type protrusion portion 122 may be made by processing to be integrally formed at the upper surface of the air conditioner compressor support bracket 120.

Further, as shown in drawings, the bush type protrusion portion 122 may be formed to be protruded in length to penetrate the second flange hole 112 so that the assembly tolerance can be managed by an upper protruded portion of the bush type protrusion portion 122.

In addition, a chamfer shape may be formed at the bush type protrusion portion 122 between the protrusion portion 122 and the upper surface of the air conditioner compressor support bracket 120 so that the functions of sealing and dowel pins can be simultaneously performed.

As described above, the oil pan assembly of the present disclosure does not require an oil pan cover for NVH reinforcement by the plastic oil pan and can absorb the tolerance without adding dowel pins by mounting a separate support bracket such as aluminum, and so on, thereby improving durability.

Although the present disclosure has been described with reference to the drawings, it is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the disclosed exemplary forms, and it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, such modifications or exemplary variations should fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. An oil pan assembly for an engine, comprising:

an oil pan mounted at a lower portion of a cylinder block of the engine and configured to form a space to store oil; and

a support bracket mounted at one side of the oil pan and configured to couple with an air conditioner compressor or a transmission,

wherein a protrusion portion is formed at an upper surface of the support bracket and upwardly protruded.

2. The oil pan assembly of claim 1, wherein the oil pan is made of plastic material.

3. The oil pan assembly of claim 1, wherein:

a first flange hole is formed at a lower surface of the oil pan; and

the protrusion portion of the support bracket penetrates the first flange hole to be mounted at the oil pan.

4. The oil pan assembly of claim 3, wherein the support bracket is made of aluminum, magnesium or cast iron material.

5. The oil pan assembly of claim 3, wherein the protrusion portion of the support bracket is formed as a pin type and pressed in the support bracket after processed separately.

6. The oil pan assembly of claim 3, wherein the protrusion portion is integrally formed with the support bracket.

7. The oil pan assembly of claim 1, wherein:

a bush type protrusion portion is formed at the upper surface of the support bracket to be upwardly protruded;

a second flange hole is formed at a lower surface of the oil pan; and

the bush type protrusion portion penetrates the second flange hole so that the support bracket is mounted at the oil pan.

8. The oil pan assembly of claim 1, wherein the protrusion portion of the support bracket penetrates the oil pan to be inserted into and fixed at a lower portion of the cylinder block.