EP0054381B1 - Rotor vane assembly - Google Patents

Rotor vane assembly Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0054381B1
EP0054381B1 EP19810305700 EP81305700A EP0054381B1 EP 0054381 B1 EP0054381 B1 EP 0054381B1 EP 19810305700 EP19810305700 EP 19810305700 EP 81305700 A EP81305700 A EP 81305700A EP 0054381 B1 EP0054381 B1 EP 0054381B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
vane
assembly
region
shaft
clip
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
EP19810305700
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0054381A1 (en
Inventor
Richard David Edmonds
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
ZF International UK Ltd
Original Assignee
Lucas Industries Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Lucas Industries Ltd filed Critical Lucas Industries Ltd
Publication of EP0054381A1 publication Critical patent/EP0054381A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0054381B1 publication Critical patent/EP0054381B1/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F02—COMBUSTION ENGINES; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS
    • F02P—IGNITION, OTHER THAN COMPRESSION IGNITION, FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES; TESTING OF IGNITION TIMING IN COMPRESSION-IGNITION ENGINES
    • F02P7/00—Arrangements of distributors, circuit-makers or -breakers, e.g. of distributor and circuit-breaker combinations or pick-up devices
    • F02P7/06—Arrangements of distributors, circuit-makers or -breakers, e.g. of distributor and circuit-breaker combinations or pick-up devices of circuit-makers or -breakers, or pick-up devices adapted to sense particular points of the timing cycle
    • F02P7/061—Arrangements of distributors, circuit-makers or -breakers, e.g. of distributor and circuit-breaker combinations or pick-up devices of circuit-makers or -breakers, or pick-up devices adapted to sense particular points of the timing cycle pick-up devices without mechanical contacts

Definitions

  • the rotated shaft (the cam shaft in a conventional ignition distributor utilising a mechanical contact breaker assembly) carries a rotor arm which distributes high voltage pulses to a plurality of output terminals in turn, and a vane which forms part of the contactless signal generator. It has previously been proposed to mount the vane on the rotor arm to produce an assembly and the present invention relates to such a rotor vane assembly.
  • a rotor vane assembly where the vane is electrically conductive it is desirable for the vane to be electrically earthed.
  • earthing of the vane usually means that the vane should be electrically connected to the engine and body of the vehicle.
  • the distributor shaft which carries the rotor vane assembly is electrically earthed through the engine in use, and it has been proposed previously to provide an electrical connection between the vane of the assembly and the distributor shaft by means of a layer of electrically conductive paint applied to the surface of the electrically insulating rotor arm moulding.
  • Such an arrangement proves to be disadvantageous in that its production is labour intensive, and in that it is not as reliable as might be desired.
  • U. S. Patent Specification 4185600 shows a rotor vane assembly including a rotor arm 19,21 formed from electrically insulating material and having therein a recess 23 within which in use one end of a shaft 24 is received to mount the assembly on said shaft, retaining means 28 within said recess 23 for retaining in use the assembly of said shaft, and a vane 18 formed from conductive material, electrically connected to said shaft 24, and secured to said rotor arm 19, 21 to rotate therewith, and further comprising a separate S-shaped grounding strap 30 having a first portion 31 within said recess 23 and arranged to engage said shaft end, and a second portion 32, integral with said first portion, which engages said vane 18 so as to be electrically connected thereto, whereby, in use the strap 30 provides the electrical connection between the vane 18 and the shaft 24.
  • the use of such a grounding strap is disadvantageous in that it increases the
  • a rotor vane assembly includes, a rotor arm formed from electrically insulating material and having therein a recess within which in use one end of a shaft is received to mount the assembly on said shaft, a member for retaining the assembly on said shaft, a vane formed from conductive material, and secured to said rotor arm to rotate therewith, and means electrically interconnecting the shaft and the vane, said member being positioned within said recess and being arranged to engage the wall of said recess and said shaft end in use to retain said assembly on said shaft, said member being a first portion of an electrically conductive clip including a second portion, integral with said first portion, said second portion of said clip having three integral regions, a first region extending at right angles to the first portion, a second region extending parallel to the first portion and defining with the first portion and the first region a U-shape within which a wall section of the rotor arm is received, and a third region in contact with said .vane so as to be electrical
  • said second region extends through said vane and said third region engages the face of the vane remote from the shaft in use.
  • said third region has a projection thereon which contacts the vane.
  • a disc-like flash shield overlying the vane and the flash shield has an aperture therein to accommodate the third region of the clip.
  • said third region is resiliently urged into engagement with said vane.
  • said third region has a natural rest position, relative to the remainder of the clip, from which it is flexed by engagement with the vane during construction of the assembly.
  • a disc-like flash shield overlying the vane and the flash shield has a circumferential groove in its face presented to the vane and within which said third region is accepted.
  • the ignition distributor housing a contactless. signal generator, includes a hollow cup-shaped casing 11 supporting a rotor shaft 12 for rotation therein. An open end of the casing 11 is closed by an electrically insultating cap 13 having a high voltage input terminal 14 disposed thereon.
  • the terminal 14 is aligned with the axis of rotation of the shaft 12 and positioned around the terminal 14 are a plurality of high tension output terminals 15 equal in number to the number of spark plugs of an internal combustion engine of which the ignition distributor forms part of the spark ignition system.
  • a fixed base plate 16 Housed within the casing 11 of the distributor is a fixed base plate 16 through which the shaft 12 extends and upon which is mounted the fixed sensor 17 of the contactless signal generator.
  • a rotor vane assembly 18 At the end of the shaft 12 within the casing 11 is a rotor vane assembly 18 comprising a moulded synthetic resin body 19 carrying a conductive element 21.
  • the body 19 together with the element 21 comprise what would, in a conventional ignition distributor having a mechanical contact breaker assembly, be called a rotor arm.
  • the element 21 cooperates permanently with the input terminal 14, and during its rotation with the shaft 12 relative-to-the casing 11 and cap 13 the element 21 cooperates in turn with the output terminals 15 so as to distribute high voltage sparking pulses supplied by way of the terminal 14 to the appropriate sparking plug of the engine in turn by way of the output terminals 15.
  • the rotor vane assembly 18 includes, in addition to the rotor arm, a moulded synthetic resin flash shield 22 in the form of a disc, the flash shield 22 minimizing the risk of "flash-over" from the element 21 to the conductive shaft 12 which of course is electrically earthed through the engine of the vehicle in use.
  • the assembly further includes a vane 23 of the contactless signal generator.
  • the vane is in the form of a disc 24 having a peripheral flange 25, the flange 25 extending at right-angles to the plane of the disc 24 and being formed with a plurality of equi-angularly spaced slots 26 equal in number to the number of cylinders of the engine to be served by the ignition distributor.
  • the distributor is to serve a four cylinder engine and thus the flange 25 of the vane 23 has four equi-angularly spaced slots 26.
  • the body 19 of the rotor arm of the assembly 18 is conveniently moulded in 40% talc filled polypropylene and has an axially extending region 27 of D-shaped cross-section.
  • the region 27 extends from one axial end of the body 19 and terminates at a shoulder 28 extending at right-angles to the axis of the region 27.
  • the flash shield 22 abuts the shoulder 28, having therein an aperture through which the region 27 extends.
  • the disc 24 of the vane 23 has a centrally disposed circular aperture through which the region 27 extends, the disc 24 of the vane 23 lying in facial contact with the flash shield 22.
  • the material of the region 27 is deformed, by the application of heat around the region 27 to provide a rib 29 which overlies the disc 24 and thus trap the vane 23 and shield 22 against the shoulder 28.
  • the periphery of the circular aperture in the disc 24 of the vane 23 is castellated, the castellations providing. a key within the material forming the rib 29.
  • the deformation of the material of the region 27 to form the rib 29 can be achieved by "hot staking” or by "ultrasonic riveting” or by any allied technique.
  • the material of the body 19 is of course thermoplastic and so permits such deformation methods.
  • the rib 29 can be continuous or can be defined by a number of spaced deformations of the region 27.
  • the rotor arm is formed with an axially extending bore 31 of circular cross-section having a driving key 32 extending therein.
  • the end of the shaft 12 which is received in the bore 31 has a slot therein for receiving the key 32 thereby establishing a driving connection between the shaft 12 and the rotor vane assembly 18.
  • a spring steel clip 33 In order to retain the rotor vane assembly on the end of the shaft 12 there is provided a spring steel clip 33.
  • the clip 33 includes a first, rectangular region 34 which lies within the bore 32, its edges being received in respective grooves in the wall of the bore 31.
  • the region 34 of the clip 33 thus obstructs part of the bore 31 and is flexed by the shaft 12 entering the bore 31 and thus provides a strong frictional grip between the shaft 12 and the wall of the bore 31.
  • a clip which consists of a single part similar to the region 34 of the clip described above is conventionally used to secure a rotor arm to the rotor shaft of a conventional ignition distributor.
  • the clip 33 includes an integral strip-like second portion 35.
  • the portion 35 of the clip 33 although a single strip integral with the portion 34, can be considered as three separate sections.
  • the portion 35 includes a first section 35a which exends from an edge of the portion 34 at right angles to the plane of the portion 34.
  • a second section 35b integral with the section 35a extends at right-angles thereto and thus lies parallel to the plane of the portion 34.
  • the third section 35c extends at right-angles to the section 35b and thus lies parallel to the section 35a.
  • the portion 34 together with the sections 35a and 35b define a U-shape within which a portion of the wall of the bore 31 of the body 19 extends.
  • the section 35c extends radially outwardly from the region 27 of the body 19.
  • the length of the section 35b of the clip 33 is such that the section 35c lies in contact with the shoulder 28 of the body 19.
  • the flash shield 22 is provided with a small slot within which the section 35c of the clip 33 is accommodated, and the section 35c is formed with a raised projection the height of which is fractionally greater than the thickness of the flash shield 22 so that when the metallic disc 24 of the vane 23 traps the flash shield 22 against the shoulder 28 then the projection on the section 35c of the clip 33 is pressed firmly against the metallic disc 24 of the vane 23 and so makes electrical connection thereto.
  • the shaft 12 of the ignition distributor is electrically connected to the engine of the vehicle, and so is electrically 1 earthed in use.
  • the portion 34 of the clip 33 engages the shaft 12, and thus the vane 23 is electrically earthed in use by way of clip 33 and the shaft 12. It will be seen from Figure 8 that the region 35b of the clip 33 engages the flat surface of the D-section region 27 and thus passes through the clearance between the flat of the D-section and the wall of the generally circular aperture of the disc 24.
  • Figures 9, 10 and 11 illustrate a modification of the arrangement described above with reference to Figures 1 to 8.
  • the basic construction of the rotor vane assembly of Figure 9 is very similar to that of Figure 2, but the clip and flash shield are modified.
  • the reference numerals ascribed to the components in Figure 2 are applied to the same components in Figure 9.
  • the flash shield 122 differs from the flash shield 22 of Figure 2 in that the small slot for receiving the section 35c of the clip 33 is omitted.
  • the flash shield 122 is formed, on one face thereof, with a circumferential groove 122a which, when the shield 122 is assembled to the body 19, faces towards the end of the body 19 remote from the conductive element 21.
  • the clip 33 of Figure 2 is replaced by the clip 133 illustrated in Figure 10, the clip 133 having a region 134 equivalent to the region 34 of the clip 33. Furthermore, the clip 133 has a portion 135 generally equivalent to the portion 35 of the clip 33. The portion 135 of the clip 133 has a first section 135a corresponding to the section 35a of the clip 33 and a second section 135b corresponding to the section 35b of the clip 33.
  • the third section 135c of the clip 133 differs from the section 35c of the dip 33 in that firstly the section 135c does not have a projection equivalent to the projection of the section 35c of the clip 33, and secondly in that in the rest condition of the clip, that is to say before the section 135c is trapped between the body 19 and the disc 24 of the vane 25, the section 135c is so positioned relative to the section 135b that they subtend between them an angle of approximately 55°.
  • the angle of 55° is not critical, and it is believed that the angle can lie anywhere in the range 50-to 70°.
  • the junction of the section 135c with the section 135b lies within the groove 122a, and the section 135c is inclined with respect to the plane of the flash shield 122 so as to project outwardly from the groove.
  • the annular disc 24 of the vane 23 is engaged over the body 19 and pressed towards the flash shield 122 to trap the flash shield 122 against the shoulder 28 the section 135 is flexed to lie within the depth of the groove 122a of the flash shield, but at the same time to press firmly against the annular disc 24 of the vane 23 and so make a good electrical contact thereto.
  • the vane 23 and flash shield 122 are secured in position by hot deforming the material of the region 27 of the body 19 to define a rib 29 which overlies the disc 24.
  • Dispensing with the slot in the flash shield 122 extends the distance over which electrical tracking must occur before the conductive element 21 is electrically earthed through the clip 133.
  • the construction illustrated in Figure 9 will have a greater resistance to tracking between the element 21 and the clip 133 than has the construction illustrated in Figure 2.
  • the nature of the contactless signal generator of the ignition distributor is not of particular importance to the present invention, and may for example be the electromagnetic type known as a "Hall Effect" transducer.
  • the vane is formed from mild steel and the passage of alternate slots and solid parts of the flange 25 adjacent electromagnetic poles of the sensor 17 causes generation of appropriate output signals.
  • the distributor may include both or either of centrifugal, and vacuum advance systems for varying the timing of the production of the signals by the signal generator, in relation to the speed of rotation of the rotor shaft 12.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Ignition Installations For Internal Combustion Engines (AREA)
  • Rotary Pumps (AREA)
EP19810305700 1980-12-11 1981-12-03 Rotor vane assembly Expired EP0054381B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB8039729 1980-12-11
GB8039729 1980-12-11

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0054381A1 EP0054381A1 (en) 1982-06-23
EP0054381B1 true EP0054381B1 (en) 1986-08-06

Family

ID=10517918

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP19810305700 Expired EP0054381B1 (en) 1980-12-11 1981-12-03 Rotor vane assembly

Country Status (3)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0054381B1 (es)
DE (1) DE3175076D1 (es)
ES (1) ES8300945A1 (es)

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE3601381A1 (de) * 1986-01-18 1987-07-23 Bosch Gmbh Robert Unterbrecherloser zuendverteiler fuer elektronische zuendeinrichtungen von brennkraftmaschinen
CN114278435B (zh) * 2020-09-28 2023-05-16 中国航发商用航空发动机有限责任公司 压气机、燃气涡轮发动机、可调静叶组件以及装配方法

Family Cites Families (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE2716510C3 (de) * 1977-04-14 1981-12-10 Robert Bosch Gmbh, 7000 Stuttgart Tauschsatz für Zündverteiler mit kontaktlos arbeitendem Geber für die Zündung von Brennkraftmaschinen
US4153030A (en) * 1977-06-03 1979-05-08 Ford Motor Company Ignition distributor with wide rotor registration angle
US4165726A (en) * 1977-10-05 1979-08-28 Chrysler Corporation Low mass breakerless ignition distributor
DE3071397D1 (en) * 1979-11-21 1986-03-13 Lucas Ind Plc Rotor arm assembly for use in an ignition distributor incorporating a contactless signal generator for an electronic ignition system

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP0054381A1 (en) 1982-06-23
ES507914A0 (es) 1982-11-01
ES8300945A1 (es) 1982-11-01
DE3175076D1 (en) 1986-09-11

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