JP7079720B2 - Internal combustion engine - Google Patents

Description

The invention of the present application relates to an internal combustion engine.

In an internal combustion engine, an oil filter for purifying oil is an indispensable accessory member, and this oil filter is attached to the engine body such as an oil pan, a cylinder block, and a front cover.

As an example, Patent Document 1 discloses that an oil filter is attached to the side surface of the cylinder block on the intake side, and Patent Document 1 discloses an oil cooler mounting seat and a thermostat near the oil filter. It is disclosed that a mounting seat for an oil cooler is provided and the mounting seat for an oil cooler and the mounting seat for a thermostat are connected by a reinforcing rib.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-168124

Now, the oil filter is attached to the oil filter mounting seat, but the oil feed port and the oil return port are open in the oil filter mounting seat, and inside the thick part of the engine body forming the oil filter mounting seat. In addition, an oil feed passage having an oil feed port at the downstream end and an oil return passage having an oil return passage at the upstream end are formed.

In this case, it can be said that the oil passage is usually formed only for the purpose of flowing oil, and the oil passage is not provided with other functions.

On the other hand, auxiliary equipment driven by a crank shaft via an auxiliary equipment drive belt is attached to the front part of the engine body, and these auxiliary equipment are driven by driving like an alternator or a compressor for an air conditioner. In some cases, a large load is applied to the mounting part (since the auxiliary machine itself is also quite heavy, the load due to the weight of the auxiliary machine also acts on the auxiliary machine mounting part of the engine body).

Therefore, although the front part of the engine body requires considerable strength, there is a problem that the weight of the engine body increases and the fuel consumption deteriorates if the wall thickness is simply increased to secure the strength.

The present invention has been made in the wake of such a situation, and aims to increase the strength of the engine body while preventing or suppressing the increase in weight.

The invention of the present application is
"An oil filter is placed at the front of the engine body where auxiliary equipment is placed, and the engine body has an oil filter mounting seat with an oil feed port and an oil return port that open outward, and the oil feed. An oil feed passage having a mouth and an oil return passage having the oil return port are formed. "
It has a basic structure.

The invention of claim 1 is based on the above basic configuration.
"At least one of the oil feed passage and the oil return passage is provided at a position of an elongated boss formed by bulging on the surface of the engine body, and intersects the boss portion on the surface of the engine body. Reinforcing ribs for the posture that was used are provided. "
It is configured as.

The invention of the present application can be developed in various ways. As an example, in claim 2,
"The engine body includes a cylinder block in which the cylinder axis is inclined with respect to a vertical line, an oil pan arranged below the cylinder block, and an auxiliary crankcase interposed between the cylinder block and the oil pan. Have and
The auxiliary crankcase has a front wall portion and a rear wall portion separated in the direction of the crankshaft, and a front notch in which a crank cap for rotatably holding the front portion of the crankshaft is fitted in the front wall portion. The portion is formed so as to open in a direction parallel to the cylinder axis.
Further, in the front wall portion of the auxiliary crankcase, the upstream end of the oil feed passage and the downstream end of the oil return passage are located on the upper portion of the front wall portion sandwiching the front notch so as to face the bottom surface of the cylinder block. While is open
The oil filter mounting seat is formed on the bottom of the auxiliary crankcase.
The oil feed passage and the oil return passage are formed in a bent posture so as to surround the front notch when viewed from the crank axis direction. "
It is configured as.

In the present invention, the oil passage communicating with the oil filter is formed by the boss portion, but since the boss portion bulges from the surface of the engine body, the effect of the reinforcing rib is exhibited. Further, since the boss portion and the reinforcing rib intersect with each other, the engine body exhibits extremely large resistance to external forces such as bending and twisting. Since the inside of the boss portion is hollow due to the oil passage, the weight is hardly increased due to the formation of the boss portion.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the strength of the front part of the engine body can be remarkably improved while suppressing the increase in weight. As a result, the supporting strength of the auxiliary machine can be improved without causing deterioration of fuel efficiency.

In the case of a slant type internal combustion engine in which the cylinder axis is tilted to near horizontal, it is difficult to fix the oil pan directly to the bottom of the cylinder block, so the oil pan is fixed via the auxiliary crankcase. In this case, since the upper surface portion of the auxiliary crankcase has a large area, it is rational to fix the auxiliary machine to the upper surface portion of the auxiliary crankcase.

However, since the front and rear wall portions of the auxiliary crankcase are formed with notches for allowing the crank cap to escape, the front portion of the auxiliary crankcase tends to be weak in strength. Therefore, when attaching an auxiliary machine to the front part of the auxiliary crankcase, it is necessary to take measures to obtain the required support strength.

In this regard, when the configuration of claim 2 is adopted, a boss portion is formed on the front portion of the auxiliary crankcase so as to surround the front notch portion, and a reinforcing rib is formed intersecting the boss portion. Therefore, the front part of the auxiliary crankcase can secure the strength necessary to support the auxiliary machine without making the wall thickness excessively thick. Therefore, it can be said that the present invention exerts a particularly high effect when applied to a slant type internal combustion engine as in claim 2.

It is a rear view which looked at the internal combustion engine of an embodiment from the rear. It is a perspective view of an auxiliary crankcase. It is the figure which looked at the auxiliary crankcase from the cylinder axis direction. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG. It is a front view of VV of FIG. It is a perspective view seen from the VI-VI viewing direction of FIG. It is a figure seen from the VII-VII viewing direction (cylinder axis direction) of FIG. FIG. 5 is a view seen from the VIII-VIII viewing direction of FIG. 5 (direction orthogonal to both the crank axis and the cylinder axis). It is a bottom view. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line XX of FIG. FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line XI-XI of FIG.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following, the words front-back, left-right, and up-down are used to specify the direction, but the front-back direction is the crank axis direction, the left-right direction is the horizontal direction orthogonal to the crank axis direction, and the up-down direction is the vertical direction. .. Regarding the front and back, according to the general name used for internal combustion engines, the side where timing chains and accessories are placed is the front, and the side where the mission is placed is the back. As a precaution, the directions are clearly shown in FIGS. 1 to 4.

To distinguish the direction of the cylinder axis in the cylinder block, the surface located in the direction in which the piston faces during the compression stroke is called the top surface, and the surface in which the piston faces during the expansion stroke is called the bottom surface, and is vertical. It is distinguished from the vertical direction, which is the direction.

(1). Outline of internal combustion engine This embodiment is applied to a 4-cylinder internal combustion engine for automobiles. As shown in FIG. 1, the internal combustion engine includes a cylinder block 1, a cylinder head 2 fixed to the top surface thereof, and a head cover 3 fixed to the top surface of the cylinder head 2, and has a large cylinder axis O1. It is a slant type internal combustion engine that has been laid down. The cylinder axis O1 is tilted at an angle of a little over 60 ° with respect to the vertical line O2 (a little less than 30 ° with respect to the horizontal plane O3).

As described above, the oil pan 4 is attached to the bottom surface of the cylinder block 1 via the auxiliary crankcase 5 by largely slanting the cylinder axis O1 to a posture close to horizontal. That is, the auxiliary crankcase 5 is fixed to the bottom surface of the cylinder block 1, and the oil pan 4 is fixed to the lower surface of the auxiliary crankcase 5. In the present embodiment, the cylinder block 1, the cylinder head 2, the auxiliary crankcase 5, and the oil pan 4 constitute an engine body.

The auxiliary crankcase 5 of the present embodiment is an aluminum die-cast product, but a cast product such as aluminum can also be used. Since oil may collect in the lower part of the auxiliary crankcase 5, the auxiliary crankcase 5 can be regarded as a part of the oil pan 4.

As shown in FIG. 4, the journal portion of the crank shaft 6 is rotatably held by the group of crank caps 6a at the bottom opening of the cylinder block 1. Therefore, as clearly shown in FIG. 2, notches 7a and 7b for allowing the crank cap 6a to escape are formed on the front and rear wall portions 5a and 5b of the auxiliary crankcase 5.

In FIG. 1, the flange 8 of the mission case is displayed (note that the parallel diagonal lines attached to the flange 8 of the mission case indicate the end face, not the cross section).

In this embodiment, the intake side surface is upward and the exhaust side surface is downward. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, the catalyst case 9 is arranged below the cylinder head 2, and the intake manifold 11 provided with the surge tank 10 is arranged above the cylinder block 1 and the like. The surge tank 10 is formed with a boss portion 12 for fixing the throttle body.

A front cover covering the timing chain is arranged on the opposite side of FIG. 1, and the front cover is fixed to the front surface of the cylinder head 2, the cylinder block 1, and the auxiliary crankcase 5. There is.

(2). Basic structure of the auxiliary crankcase As shown in FIG. 4, the cylinder 13 is open in the cylinder block 1. On the other hand, as can be easily understood from FIG. 4, the auxiliary crankcase 5 is open toward the cylinder block 1, and the oil pan 4 is fixed to the lower surface.

Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the auxiliary crankcase 5 has an upper longitudinal side portion (upper surface portion) 14 and a lower longitudinal side portion 15 extending long in the crank axis direction, and a bottom portion 16 connecting them. As shown in FIG. 9, the bottom portion 16 has a plurality of oil pits 16a.

As shown in FIG. 2, inward boss portions 19 for fixing the auxiliary crankcase 5 to the cylinder block 1 are front and rear on the upper longitudinal side portion 14 and the lower longitudinal side portion 15 of the auxiliary crankcase 5. It is formed intermittently in the direction. Since the upper surface of the oil pan 4 is horizontal, the left-right width of the upper longitudinal side portion 14 is large, and the left-right width of the lower longitudinal side portion 15 is large.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, a downward step portion 20 is formed on the upper longitudinal side portion 14 of the auxiliary crankcase 5 in a long posture in the front-rear direction (crank axis direction), and the step portion 20 is formed. The bottom 16 is connected to the bottom end.

The oil pump is arranged on a front cover (not shown), and oil is sucked into the oil pump from the oil strainer 22 shown in FIG. The oil strainer 22 has a structure bent by a lateral pipe 22a and a downward pipe (not shown) connected to the lateral pipe 22a, and in the figure, only the lateral pipe 22a is displayed. At the tip of the lateral pipe 22a, a hole 23 communicating with the downward pipe is opened downward.

The oil sucked by the oil pump is filtered by the oil filter 24 shown in FIG. The oil filter 24 is attached from below to the front portion of the bottom portion 16 of the auxiliary crankcase 5.

Since the oil filter 24 is attached to the auxiliary crankcase 5, as shown in FIG. 2, an oil inlet for supplying oil to the oil filter 24 is provided at the front portion of the upper longitudinal side portion 14 of the auxiliary crankcase 5. The 25 and the oil outlet 26 through which the oil filtered by the oil filter 24 is discharged are open toward the top surface of the auxiliary crankcase 5. Therefore, the oil inlet 25 and the oil outlet 26 are formed on the upper side (intake side) of the front notch 7a. Details of the oil passages related to the oil inlet 25 and the oil outlet 26 will be described later.

The oil inlet 25 communicates with a relay passage (not shown) formed in the cylinder block 1. A part of the housing of the oil pump is formed on the front cover, and the discharge passage formed on the front cover communicates with the relay passage of the cylinder block 1. The oil outlet 26 communicates with a main gallery (not shown) formed in the cylinder block 1.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a PCV passage 27 for discharging blow-by gas is directed toward the auxiliary crankcase 5 at a front portion of the upper longitudinal side portion 1a (bottom side opening) of the cylinder block 1. (In FIG. 3, the PCV passage 27 is indicated by a dotted line).

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the oil mist flow generated by the rotation of the crankshaft 6 is directed toward the PCV passage 27 at the lower end of the step portion 20 formed on the upper longitudinal side portion 14 of the auxiliary crankcase 5. A plate-shaped (hedge-shaped) baffle rib 28 is integrally formed toward the cylinder block 1. The baffle rib 28 has a long posture in the crank axis direction. Further, an oil mist intrusion control protrusion 29 is formed in a portion of the step portion 20 facing the PCV passage 27.

(3). Oil passage related to the oil filter Next, the oil passage related to the oil filter 24 will be described. As described above, the oil inlet 25 and the oil outlet 26 are formed in the upper portion of the front wall portion 5a of the auxiliary crank case 5 with the front notch portion 7a sandwiched between them, and the oil inlet 25 is filled with oil. The oil feed passage 32 that sends oil to the filter 24 communicates with the oil outlet 26, and the oil return passage 33 through which the oil purified by the oil filter 24 flows communicates with the oil outlet 26.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 9, an oil filter mounting seat 34 having a substantially circular bottom view is provided on the lower surface of a portion of the bottom 16 of the auxiliary crankcase 5 that protrudes in front of the oil pan 4. An oil return port 35 having a male screw formed on the outer periphery thereof opens in the central portion of 34, and an oil feed port 36 opens in a portion of the outside of the oil return port 35 that is closer to the oil pan 4.

The oil return port 35 communicates with the oil return passage 33, and the oil feed port 36 communicates with the oil feed passage 32. Therefore, the upstream end of the oil feed passage 32 constitutes the oil inlet 25, the downstream end of the oil feed passage 32 constitutes the oil feed port 36, and the downstream end of the oil return passage 33 constitutes the oil outlet 26. The upstream end of the oil return passage 33 forms the oil return port 35. An expansion portion 36a extending in the circumferential direction is formed in the oil feed port 36 of the oil filter mounting seat 34.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the oil outlet 26 is closer to the front notch 7a than the oil inlet 25, and the oil outlet 26 is displaced to the front side of the oil inlet 25. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 9, in the oil filter mounting seat 34, the oil feed port 36 is closer to the back side (the side closer to the oil pan 4) than the oil return port 35. Therefore, as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 3, the oil feed passage 32 is shifted to the rear side of the oil return passage 33.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, when viewed from the crank axis direction, both the oil feed passage 32 and the oil return passage 33 are located above the front notch 7a and have an inclined upper portion 32a having a long posture in the cylinder axis direction. It is composed of 33a and upper and lower longitudinal portions 32b and 33b located on the opposite side of the cylinder block 1 with the front notch portion 7a interposed therebetween. Therefore, the oil passages 32 and 33 are arranged in a bent posture so as to surround the front notch portion 7a from above and from the side.

Then, for example, as shown in FIGS. 6, 7 and 10, the inclined upper portions 32a and 33a of the oil feeding passages 32 and 33 are formed in the first boss portion 37 and the second boss portion 38 that bulge on both the upper and lower sides. There is. In other words, the inclined upper portions 32a and 33a of the oil feeding passages 32 and 33 are formed in a tunnel shape without increasing the wall thickness by forming the tubular first and second boss portions 37 and 38. There is.

Similarly, as shown in FIGS. 11, 8, 6, 6 and the like, the upper and lower longitudinal portions 32b and 33b of the oil passages 32 and 33 also have the third boss portion 39 and the fourth boss portion bulging in the direction of the crank axis O4. By forming 40, it is formed in a tunnel shape without thickening the meat quality.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a pre-polymerized surface 41 on which the front cover overlaps is formed on the front surface of the auxiliary crankcase 5, but as clearly shown in FIG. 5, when viewed from the direction of the crank axis O4, The upper and lower longitudinal portions 32b and 33b of the oil passages 32 and 33 are arranged outside the front notch 7a with the prepolymerized surface 41 interposed therebetween, and the inclined upper portions 32a and 33a are in a state of intersecting the prepolymerized surface 41. Have been placed.

As shown in FIG. 5, the fourth boss portion 40 in which the upper and lower longitudinal portions 33b of the oil return passage 33 are formed is exposed on the front surface of the front wall portion 5a in the auxiliary crankcase 5, but the auxiliary crank The front wall portion 5a of the case 5 is formed with first to third reinforcing ribs 43, 44, 45 that intersect with the fourth boss portion 40. The first reinforcing rib 43 and the second reinforcing rib 44 are connected to the bank portion on which the prepolymerized surface 41 is formed. Therefore, the first to third reinforcing ribs 43 to 45 extend in the direction along the front surface of the front wall portion 5a.

The first reinforcing rib 43 and the second reinforcing rib 44 intersect with the fourth boss portion 40 in an upside-down posture, and the third reinforcing rib 45 and the first reinforcing rib 43 are substantially linear with each other. They are lined up. Further, as can be easily understood from FIG. 6, the first to third reinforcing ribs 43 to 45 converge to the auxiliary boss body 47 for attaching the member.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 8, the upper and lower 2 portions of the upper longitudinal side portion 14 of the auxiliary crankcase 5 intersecting the third boss portion 39 and the fourth boss portion 40 on the surface opposite to the front notch portion 7a. The fourth reinforcing rib 48 of the step is formed. The fourth reinforcing rib 48 extends to the crank axis.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, upper and lower front and rear for fixing an auxiliary machine 50 such as an air conditioner compressor to a portion straddling the front portion and the front wall portion 5a of the upper longitudinal side portion 14 of the auxiliary crankcase 5. The four boss bodies 51 and 52 of the above are projected. In the area surrounded by the four boss bodies 51 and 52, the third boss portion 39 and the fourth boss portion 40 are arranged.

The front-rear boss body 51 located at the upper part is connected to the front-rear longitudinal fifth reinforcing rib 53, and the fifth reinforcing rib 53 is connected to the first and second boss portions 37, 38 and the third and fourth boss bodies 39. , 40 is located at the intersection with 40. Therefore, the fifth reinforcing rib 46 is formed in a posture intersecting with the group of the boss portions 37 to 40.

(4). Summary The auxiliary machine 50 is driven by the crank shaft 6 via the belt, but since tension is applied to the belt, an external force is generated to pull the auxiliary machine 50 away from the boss bodies 51 and 52. Due to the external force, a bending force and a twisting force act on the front wall portion 5a and the upper longitudinal side portion 14 of the auxiliary crankcase 5.

In this case, if the front notch 7a is not formed on the front wall portion 5a of the auxiliary crankcase 5, the auxiliary crankcase 5 has a container-like shape and exhibits extremely high rigidity, but the crankshaft 6 is arranged. If the front notch portion 7a is formed for this purpose, the rigidity of the front wall portion 5a has to be lowered. In particular, since two of the boss bodies 51 and 52 on the front side are close to the front polymerization surface 41 of the auxiliary crankcase 5, the front wall portion 5a has a structure that is easily bent.

However, in the present embodiment, first, the boss portions 37 to 40 constituting the oil passages 32 and 33 act as reinforcing ribs, so that the front wall portion 5a has a large rigidity without excessively increasing the wall thickness. Can be improved. Further, since the first and second boss portions 37 and 38 and the third and fourth boss portions 39 and 40 are connected to a bent posture, an external force that widens or narrows the front notch portion 7a in particular. Demonstrate high resistance to.

Further, since the first to third reinforcing ribs 44 to 45 are connected to the fourth boss portion 40, the front wall portion 5a exhibits strong resistance to bending and twisting. Further, the 4th reinforcing rib 48 and the 5th reinforcing rib 53 exhibit strong resistance to the bending force acting from the direction orthogonal to the crank axis. In particular, since the first to third reinforcing ribs 43 to 45 and the fourth and fifth reinforcing ribs 48 and 53 spread on the surfaces intersecting each other, the front portion of the auxiliary crankcase 5 is extremely high as a whole. Demonstrate rigidity.

The oil passages 32 and 33 can be formed by casting, but since both the inclined upper portions 32a and 33a and the upper and lower longitudinal portions 32b and 33b extend in a straight line, they can be easily machined by drilling (dummy). No holes or plugs to close it are needed.)

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, a reinforcing rib 54 continuous with the auxiliary boss body 51 located in the back is formed on the back side of the third boss portion 39. The reinforcing rib 54 also contributes to increasing the rigidity of the auxiliary crankcase 5.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention can be embodied in various ways. For example, the oil filter can also be attached to the front cover or oil pan or cylinder block. In this case, the oil passages and reinforcing ribs will be formed on their front covers or oil pans or cylinder blocks.

The invention of the present application can be embodied in an internal combustion engine. Therefore, it can be used industrially.

O1 Cylinder axis O2 Vertical straight line O4 Crank axis 1 Cylinder block that constitutes the engine body 4 Oil pan that constitutes the engine body 5 Auxiliary crankcase that constitutes the engine body 5a Front wall part 5b Rear wall part 6a Crank cap 7a Front notch Part 24 Oil filter 25 Oil inlet (upstream end of oil feed passage)
26 Oil outlet (downstream end of oil feed passage)
32 Oil feed passage 33 Oil return passage 34 Oil filter mounting seat 35 Oil return port 36 Oil feed port 37-40 Boss part 43-46,48,53 Reinforcing rib 51,52 Boss body for mounting auxiliary equipment

Claims (2)

An oil filter is arranged in the front part of the engine body where the auxiliary equipment is arranged, and the oil filter mounting seat having an oil feed port and an oil return port open outward in the engine body, and the oil feed port. An oil feed passage having an oil return port and an oil return passage having the oil return port are formed.
At least one of the oil feed passage and the oil return passage is provided at a position of an elongated boss formed by bulging on the surface of the engine body, and intersects the boss portion on the surface of the engine body. Posture reinforcement ribs are provided,
Internal combustion engine. The engine body includes a cylinder block in which the cylinder axis is inclined with respect to a vertical line, an oil pan arranged below the cylinder block, and an auxiliary crankcase interposed between the cylinder block and the oil pan. Have and
The auxiliary crankcase has a front wall portion and a rear wall portion separated in the direction of the crankshaft, and a front notch in which a crank cap for rotatably holding the front portion of the crankshaft is fitted in the front wall portion. The portion is formed so as to open in a direction parallel to the cylinder axis.
Further, in the front wall portion of the auxiliary crankcase, the upstream end of the oil feed passage and the downstream end of the oil return passage are located on the upper portion of the front wall portion sandwiching the front notch so as to face the bottom surface of the cylinder block. While is open
The oil filter mounting seat is formed on the bottom of the auxiliary crankcase.
The oil feed passage and the oil return passage are formed in a bent posture so as to surround the front notch when viewed from the crank axis direction.
The internal combustion engine according to claim 1.

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