EP2342448B1

EP2342448B1 - Filter bearing member of an internal combustion engine

Info

Publication number: EP2342448B1
Application number: EP09768256A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Tomaz Opara
Original assignee: Cimos dd
Current assignee: Cimos dd
Priority date: 2008-10-24
Filing date: 2009-10-21
Publication date: 2012-08-08
Anticipated expiration: 2029-10-21
Also published as: EP2342448A1; SI22893A; WO2010047664A1

Abstract

A filter bearing member of an internal combustion engine is, when compared with known bearing members, essentially improved in the technical sense, and may moreover be economically manufactured by means of compression die-casting of aluminium or adequate alloys on the basis of aluminium and by means of relatively simple die-casting equipment i.e. molds, and simultaneously also by essentially reducing subsequently required machining operations. For such purposes, an air- filter positioning pin (31), which protrudes outwardly from the wall (3) apart from the bottom area (2), is formed integrally with the casting (1) as such, and comprises a subsequently machined seat (311), and analogously, also a fuel-filter positioning pin (21), which is located centrally on said bottom area (2), is formed integrally with the casting (1) as such and comprises a subsequently machined seat (211), by which a central passage (212) is surrounded, which is also obtained by subsequently machining of the casting (1). Besides, the passage (32) intended for introduction of the air-supplying tube throughout the wall (3) is of essential parabolic shape, so that its bottom edge (320) between the bottom area (2) and the wall (3) is essentially linear and is defined by means of two end points (321, 322), while the parabolic peripheral section of said passage is continuous and smoothly deflected away from the bottom area (2) and is completely positioned within an area, which is available between two lines, which extend throughout said end points (321, 322) of said linear edge (320) of said passage (32) in a direction (E) of closing or opening of the mold prior to or posterior to each casting operation.

Description

The present invention belongs to the field of machinery, namely to internal combustion engines, in particular to construction details, parts and accessories thereof.
The purpose of the invention is to create a filter bearing member of an internal combustion engine, which should be, when compared with known bearing members of such kind, essentially improved in the technical sense, and could moreover be economically manufactured by die-casting of aluminium or appropriate alloys on the basis of aluminium and by means of relatively simple die-casting equipment i.e. molds, wherein subsequently required machining operations would simultaneously be essentially reduced.
A filter bearing member of an internal combustion engine is used in recently manufactured engines of the French manufacturer PSA (Peugeot Citroen Automobiles SA), and is therefore known to the public due to commercial use, although the part as such seems not be mentioned in patent documents. Of that reason and also for better understanding of the proposed invention, such bearing member is separately shown in the attached drawing (Figs. 1 - 5).
Such known bearing member 1' is generally available as a casting, having a relatively complicated geometric shape, which is slightly similar to a segment of a cylinder, which however consists of just at a part of just one of both circular front surfaces, which forms a bottom area 2' of the bearing member 1', as well as of a corresponding portion of the circumferential surface located adjacent to said front surface, which forms a wall 3' furnished with a radially outwards protruding cantilever 4'.
Various seats and eyes are foreseen in the area of said bottom area 2', said wall 3' or said cantilever 4', which are intended either for attaching the bearing member as such onto each disposable vehicle chassis or vehicle shell, or also for mounting various not-shown parts or assemblies of each internal combustion engine onto said bearing member 1'. When concentrating exclusively to the proposed invention, at least a fuel-filter seat 21 should be mentioned, which is located in the central portion of the bottom area 2', and moreover also an air-filter positioning pin 31', which is located on the wall 3' apart from said bottom area 2' and is protruding inclined at appropriate angle radially outwards. Besides, a passage 32' is available on the wall 3' adjacent to the bottom area 2', which is adapted to receive a not-shown and relatively bulky air-supply tube extending towards said air-filter, wherein in the area of said passage 32' throughout the wall 3 said tube is essentially bent and inclined with respect to said bottom area 2' as well as to the wall 3', so that the silhouette of said passage 32' may be linear only in both sections adjacent to the bottom area 2', while the residual part thereof is essentially parabolic, by which also the danger of weakening rigidity thereof in the area of the wall 3' may then be minimized.
When bearing in mind just technology of manufacturing such bearing member 1', namely a process of die-casting aluminium or adequate aluminium-based alloy into appropriate molds is from the technological point of view such bearing member 1' quite complicated, and also manufacturing is complicated and requires quite complicated equipment adapted to perform complicated operation steps, which consequently results in extremely high costs of manufacturing. Namely, it should be born in mind that due to expected conditions during exploitation and due to expected reliability, such bearing member 1' must fulfill numerous resistance-related and geometrical conditions, wherein these lastly mentioned ones merely depend on reliability of dimensions and position of certain details. Within such context, in particular dimensions and position of elements should be mentioned, which are foreseen for placement and positioning the air-filter, namely of a pin 31'protruding radially outwards from the wall 3', as well as of a seat 21', which is adapted for positioning and resting the fuel-filter and in the area of which there is also located a water-draining opening 212'.
Regarding such known bearing member 1', said air-filter attaching pin 31' is manufactured such that a bore 310' is drilled into a casting, which is subsequently machined such that the separately manufactured pin 311' may then be pressed there-into. Quite analogously, the fuel-filter positioning seat 21' is manufactured in such a manner that a bore 210' is drilled into the casting as such and is then subsequently machined such that thereupon an independently machined bush 211' may be pressed there-into, wherein on the one hand the outer surface of said bush 211' is adapted to be pressed into said bore 210' of the casting and at the same time also for receipt of the fuel-filter, while on the other hand said bush 211' is furnished with a longitudinal throughout opening 212', which is intended for draining the water. It is therefore obvious that manufacturing of such air-filter receiving pin 31' as well as of such fuel-filter positioning seat 21' requires numerous complicated and expensive machining operations, which need to be performed not only on the pin 31' and the bush 32' but also on the casting as such, which is then followed by mounting such machined parts 21', 31' into a previously machined casting 1' by means of pressing.
On the other hand, manufacturing of the casting as such is also complicated, and is feasible only on the basis of complicated and very expensive casting dies, which in addition to two main parts, which are not shown in the drawing and which are furnished with appropriate cavities and are displaceable in one direction, e.g. along the arrow E according to Fig. 2 and along appropriate guides of each casting station, comprises at least one additional part, namely a so-called lateral core, which is displaceable in a transversal direction. The reason for that persists in the shape of the passage 32' for introduction of said air-supply tube, which is visible in Fig. 1 and still better in Fig. 2 and which includes at least one section, which in the area located apart from the bottom area 2', at least when observed in a direction along said arrow E according to Fig. 2, extends beyond the width of the passage 32' in the area adjacent to the bottom area 2' of the casting 1'.
Manufacturing of a casting-die with incorporated lateral core is much more complicated and also much more expensive than manufacturing of a classic two-part casting-die, and in addition to that, exploitation of such casting-die in a manufacturing process normally involves essentially higher maintenance expenses, essentially higher risk of damages and is usually possible only by using correspondingly sophisticated casting machines. Moreover, such casting-die is usually furnished with a single cavity and then enables manufacturing of a single casting in each particular step and not e.g. several castings at once, by which such casting a priori lacks economic efficiency. All these deficiencies normally result in extremely high manufacturing expenses of such casting.
The present invention refers to a filter bearing member of an internal combustion engine, namely to a casting, which is formed by means of die-casting of aluminium or alloys on the basis of aluminium, the geometrical shape thereof is slightly similar to a segment of a cylinder comprising however just a part of just one of both circular front surfaces, which forms a bottom area of the bearing member, as well as a corresponding portion of the circumferential surface adjacent to said front surface, which forms a wall of the bearing member, which is furnished with a radially outward protruding cantilever. In this, each required seats and eyes are foreseen in the area of said bottom area, said wall or said cantilever, which are adapted either for attaching the bearing member as such onto each disposable vehicle chassis or vehicle shell, or also for mounting various non-shown parts or assemblies of each internal combustion engine onto said bearing member. At least a fuel-filter positioning seat is foreseen in the central portion of the bottom area and is furnished with a seat adapted to receive said filter as well as a water draining throughout passage, and moreover, a radially outwards protruding and at certain angle inclined pin is foreseen in the area of the wall, which is furnished with a seat adapted to receive an air-filter, and still further, and appropriate passage is foreseen in the wall adjacent to said bottom area, which is adapted for introduction of air-supplying tube extending towards the air filter.
In accordance with the present invention, said air-filter positioning pin, which protrudes radially outward from the wall apart from the bottom area, is formed integrally with the casting as such and is furnished with a subsequently machined seat, which consists of the material of the casting as such. Furthermore, a fuel-filter positioning pin, which is located centrally on said bottom area, is also formed integrally with the casting as such and comprises a subsequently machined seat, by which a central passage is surrounded, which is also obtained by subsequently machining of the casting. Still further, said passage as foreseen for introduction of the air-supplying tube throughout the wall, has an essentially parabolic shape, so that its bottom edge extending between the bottom area and the wall is essentially linear and is defined by means of two end points, wherein the parabolic peripheral section of said passage is strictly smoothly deflected away from said bottom area and is completely located within the area between two lines, which extend through said end points of said linear edge of said passage in a direction of displacing both parts of the casting-die either towards each other or apart from each other prior to or posterior to each casting operation. In this, said passage may either be conceived symmetrically or asymmetrically with respect to direction of displacing both parts of the casting-die either towards each other or apart from each other prior to or posterior to each casting operation.
The invention will be described in more detail on the basis of the attached drawing, wherein

Fig. 1: is a perspective view of a known filter bearing member of an internal combustion engine according to prior art;
Fig. 2: is a front view of a known bearing member according to Fig. 1;
Fig. 3: is a top view of a known bearing member according to Fig. 1;
Fig. 4: is a cross-section along the plane A - A according to Fig. 3;
Fig. 5: is a cross-section along the plane B - B according to Fig. 3;
Fig. 6: is a perspective view of a proposed filter bearing member of an internal combustion engine according to the invention;
Fig. 7: is a front view of a bearing member according to Fig. 6;

Fig. 8: is a top view of a bearing member according to Fig. 6;
Fig. 9: is a cross-section along the plane C - C according to Fig. 8; and
Fig. 10: is a cross-section along the plane D - D according to Fig. 8.

A bearing member 1 as proposed in accordance with the present invention and shown in Figs. 6 - 10, is conceived as a casting, which has essentially the same overall shape as the known bearing member 1' according to Figs. 1 - 5. Consequently, the bearing member 1 is slightly similar to a segment of a cylinder, which however consists of a part of just one of both circular front surfaces, which forms a bottom area 2 of the bearing member 1, as well as of a corresponding portion of the circumferential surface, which is arranged adjacent to said front surface and forms a wall 3, which is furnished with a radially outward protruding cantilever 4.
Various seats and eyes are foreseen in the area of said bottom area 2, said wall 3 or said cantilever 4, which are adapted either for attaching the bearing member 1 as such onto each disposable vehicle chassis or vehicle shell, or also for mounting various non-shown parts or assemblies of each internal combustion engine onto said bearing member 1.
Accordingly, a seat 21 is foreseen in the bottom area 2, which is intended for positioning of a not-shown fuel-filter and which is located in the central portion of said bottom area 2. Moreover, a pin 31 is foreseen on the bearing member 1, which is intended for positioning a not-shown air-filter and which is protruding at certain angle radially outwards in the area of said wall 3 apart of the bottom area 2. Still further it should be annotated that a passage 32 is foreseen in the area of said wall 3 adjacent to the bottom area 2, which is intended to receive a not-shown tube used for supplying the air towards the air-filter, wherein said tube is essentially bent in the area of said passage 32 and inclined with respect to said bottom area 2 and the wall 3, so that the silhouette of said passage 32 is linear in both portions adjacent to the bottom area 2, while the residual portion thereof is parabolic, by which also the weakening effect in the area of the wall 3 at least regarding the rigidity thereof is then minimized. However, in this case said parabolic portion of the passage 32 is conceived in such a manner that slightly curved and along a linear edge 320 along the border between the wall 3 and the bottom area 2 smoothly deflected parabolic portion between two end points 321, 322 is all the time located between two lines, which pass through said end points 321, 322 in a direction E of displacing both parts of the casting-die either towards each other or apart from each other. Thanks to such shape of the circumference of the passage 32, applying the previously mentioned lateral core in the casting-die as used in manufacturing a bearing member 1 casting, is therefore not necessary anymore.
Said fuel-filter positioning seat 21 is manufactured integrally with the bearing member 1 casting, so that in the relevant area said bearing member 1 is machined in order to obtain said pin 211, which is furnished with an analogously machined central throughout bore 212 as required for draining the water. In such a way, a previous machining of a bore followed by pressing a bush into said bore, also becomes unnecessary.
Quite analogously, a pin 31 is also formed integrally with the bearing member 1 casting, namely by means of machining of each disposable bearing member 1 casting, on which appropriate seat 311 is machined in order to assure each desired diameter and each appropriate length.
Also the bearing member 1 according to the invention is preferably obtained by die-casting of aluminium or adequate aluminium-based alloy into appropriate mold. However, the bearing member 1 according to the invention is from the constructional and technologic point of view essentially less complicated than the previously known one, and as result of such simplifying, the costs of manufacturing are then essentially reduced. Although such bearing member 1 is functional and reliable and fulfills all requirements regarding geometry and rigidity, manufacturing thereof requires less operations and essentially less time.
Manufacturing of the bearing member 1 casting is also essentially simplified thanks to elimination of the lateral core from the casting-die, as well as to improved shape of the silhouette of the passage 32. From a quite practical point of view, that means the possibility of using both essentially simplified casting-dies and simplified and correspondingly cheaper casting stations, and in addition to that, also the possibility of applying casting-dies with multiple cavities, by which several castings may be manufactured simultaneously.

Claims

Filter bearing member of an internal combustion engine, namely a casting , which is formed by means of die-casting of aluminium or alloys on the basis of aluminium, a geometrical shape of which is slightly similar to a segment of a cylinder comprising however just a part of just one of both circular front surfaces, which forms a bottom area (2) of the bearing member (1), as well as a corresponding portion of the circumferential surface adjacent to said front surface, which forms a wall (3) of said bearing member (1) and which is furnished with a radially outward protruding cantilever (4), wherein various seats and eyes are foreseen in the area of said bottom area (2), said wall (3) or said cantilever (4), which are adapted either for attaching the bearing member (1) as such onto each disposable vehicle chassis or vehicle shell, or also for mounting various non-shown parts or assemblies of each internal combustion engine onto said bearing member (1), and wherein a fuel-filter positioning seat (21) is foreseen in the central portion of the bottom area (2) and is furnished with a seat (211) adapted to receive said fuel-filter as well as a water draining throughout passage (212), and wherein moreover at each desired angle inclined and radially outwards protruding pin (31) is foreseen in the area of the wall (3), which is furnished with a seat (311) adapted to receive an air-filter, and wherein a passage (32) is foreseen in the wall (3) adjacent to said bottom area (2), which is adapted for introduction of air-supplying tube extending towards the air filter, characterized in that an air-filter positioning pin (31), which protrudes radially outward from the wall (3) apart from the bottom area (2), is formed integrally with the casting (1) as such and is furnished with a subsequently machined seat (311) consisting of the material of the casting (1), and that also a fuel-filter positioning pin (21), which is located centrally on said bottom area (2), is formed integrally with the casting (1) as such and comprises a subsequently machined seat (211), by which a central passage (212) is surrounded, which is also obtained by subsequently machining of the casting (1), wherein a passage (32), which is adapted for introduction of the air-supplying tube throughout the wall (3), has an essentially parabolic shape, so that the bottom edge (320) extending between the bottom area (2) and the wall (3) is essentially linear and is defined by means of two end points (321, 322), while the parabolic peripheral section of said passage (32) is smoothly deflected away from said bottom area (2) and is completely located within an area between two lines, which extend throughout said end points (321, 322) of said linear edge (320) of said passage (32) in a direction (E) of displacing both parts of the casting-die either towards each other or apart from each other prior to or posterior to each casting operation.
Bearing member according to Claim 1, characterized in that the passage (32) is conceived symmetrically with respect to direction (E) of displacing both parts of the casting-die either towards each other or apart from each other prior to or posterior to each casting operation.
Bearing member according to Claim 1, characterized in that the passage (32) is conceived asymmetrically with respect to direction (E) of displacing both parts of the casting-die either towards each other or apart from each other prior to or posterior to each casting operation.