JP2001115816A - Oil level gauge guide for engine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an oil level gauge guide capable of being applied to an engine of a wide type and having a high degree of design freedom in a simple structure. SOLUTION: In an engine 1 which is provided with a chain chamber 5 and in which a lower part of the chain chamber 5 and an oil reservoir chamber 26a in an oil pan 26 are communicated with each other, a groove part 32 for guiding an oil level gauge 30 from an upper part of the engine 1 downward is integratedly formed with a front cover 4b for composing the chain chamber 5, and thereby, the oil level gauge guide 31 is constituted using the groove part 32.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an oil level gauge guide for an engine having a timing chain.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an engine employing a wet sump lubrication system, an oil level gauge guide for guiding an oil level gauge to an oil pan generally employs a pipe structure independent of the engine body. This type of engine requires a pipe material constituting an oil level gauge guide, a member for assembling the pipe material to the engine body, and the like, so that the number of parts increases and assembly workability becomes complicated. .

To cope with this, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
Japanese Patent No. 22211 discloses an engine in which a chain guide is provided on a side portion of a timing chain for interlocking a crankshaft and a camshaft, in which a back shape of the chain guide is formed in a U-shape. A technique formed as an oil level gauge guide is disclosed. According to this technique, since a pipe-shaped oil level gauge guide is not required, the number of parts can be reduced, and assembling workability is improved.

[0004]

However, according to the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-2211, the oil level gauge guide is configured using the back surface of the chain guide. The installation location is restricted, and the type of engine applied is also restricted.

That is, in the above prior art, since the oil level gauge guide is provided along the back surface of the chain guide, it is difficult to arrange the oil level gauge guide at another position, and the degree of freedom of design of the oil level gauge guide is high. Causes a decrease in Also, the oil level gauge guide requires a chain guide extending from above along the side wall of the chain chamber to the vicinity of the oil pan. Therefore, for example, a timing chain such as a horizontally opposed engine is elongated in the horizontal direction. It is difficult to apply to a built engine.

In view of the above circumstances, the present invention has a simple structure,
An object of the present invention is to provide an engine oil level gauge guide having a high degree of design freedom and applicable to a wide range of engine types.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, an invention according to claim 1 includes a timing chain for interlocking a crankshaft and a camshaft, and a chain cover that covers these to form a chain chamber. An oil level gauge guide for an engine in which a lower portion of the chain chamber communicates with the inside of the oil pan, wherein a groove for guiding the oil level gauge from above to below is integrally formed on the back surface of the chain cover.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the chain cover is provided with a partition member for partitioning the groove from the chain chamber.

That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the groove constituting the oil level gauge guide is formed integrally with the back surface of the chain cover. As a result, the structure of the oil level gauge guide is simplified, the degree of freedom in design is increased, and the oil level gauge guide can be applied to a wide range of engine types.

In this case, by dividing the groove into the chain chamber by the partition member, the oil level gauge can be inserted and removed without being affected by the members disposed in the chain chamber. Can do.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a front view of a horizontally opposed engine, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a view of FIG. 1 along an oil level gauge guide and an oil return passage. FIG. 4 is a rear view of the chain cover, and FIG. 5 is a plan view of the partition member.

In these figures, reference numeral 1 denotes an engine, and in this embodiment, a chain drive type DOHC
It is a horizontally opposed 6-cylinder engine. Since FIG. 1 is a front view, the right bank is the left bank, and the left bank is the right bank. Also,
For clarity of description, the suffix L is attached to the reference numeral of the left bank side component, and the suffix R is attached to the reference numeral of the right bank side component.

Hereinafter, the engine 1 to which the present invention is applied will be described. Reference numerals 2L and 2R denote left and right cylinder blocks of the engine 1, and reference numerals 3L and 3R denote left and right cylinder heads of the engine 1, respectively.

A chain case 4 is provided at the front of the engine 1, and a chain chamber 5 is provided inside the chain case 4.
Are formed. The chain case 4 includes, as a chain cover, a back cover 4a provided on the front surface of the cylinder blocks 2L and 2R, and a front cover 4b attached to the back cover 4a (see FIG. 3).

An end of a crankshaft 6 extends from inside the engine 1 into the chain chamber 5, and a crank sprocket 8 for driving the timing chains 7L and 7R is fixed to the crankshaft 6. .

In the chain chamber 5, the left bank side intake and exhaust camshafts 9L and 10L extend vertically above and below the left cylinder head 3L side. Are fixedly provided with left bank side suction and exhaust cam sprockets 11L and 12L, respectively.

In the chain chamber 5, ends of the right bank side intake and exhaust camshafts 9R and 10R extend up and down on the right cylinder head 3R side. The right bank side suction and exhaust cam sprockets 11R and 12R are fixedly mounted, respectively.

Further, below the crank sprocket 8, a common idler shaft 13 is rotatably disposed.
A pair of idler sprockets 14L, 14R is fixed to the common idler shaft 13. The timing chain 7L on the left bank side is wound around one idler sprocket 14L, and the timing chain 7R on the right bank side is wound around the other idler sprocket 14R.

A rotatable idler shaft 15 is provided between the crank sprocket 8 and the left bank side intake cam sprocket 11L, and an idler sprocket 16 fixed to the idler shaft 15 has a left bank side. The timing chain 7L is wound.

A pump drive shaft 17a of a water pump 17 extends to the left of the common idler shaft 13. A left bank timing chain 7L is attached to a pump shaft sprocket 18 fixed to the pump drive shaft 17a. Is wound.

That is, the crank chain sprocket 8, idler sprocket 16, left bank side intake cam sprocket 11L, left bank side exhaust cam sprocket 12L, pump shaft sprocket 18, and idler sprocket 14L are sequentially meshed with the left bank side timing chain 7L. ing. Here, the left bank side timing chain 7
L is guided by the chain guides 20, 21, 22 and tension is applied from the tensioner 24 via the chain guide 21 to define the chain track.
For example, flapping is prevented.

The right bank side timing chain 7R
The idler sprocket 14R, the right bank side exhaust cam sprocket 12R and the right bank side intake cam sprocket 11R are meshed in this order. The right bank timing chain 7R is guided by the chain guides 20 and 23, and the tension is applied from the tensioner 25 via the chain guide 23, thereby defining the chain trajectory, preventing fluttering, and the like.

On the other hand, an oil pan 2
6 are provided. An oil reservoir 26a (see FIG. 3) inside the oil pan 26 and a lower portion of the chain chamber 5 communicate with each other via an oil return passage 27, and an oil reservoir 26a is formed at the bottom of the chain chamber 5. The same level of oil is stored.

In the engine 1 having such a chain chamber 5, in the present embodiment, an oil level gauge guide 31 for guiding the oil level gauge 30 to be inserted and removed is provided on the front cover 4 b of the chain case 4. Provided.

More specifically, a groove 32 is formed integrally with the rear surface of the front cover 4b at a position closer to the left cylinder block 2L and is inclined from above to below the engine 1.

At the upper end of the groove 32, a pipe member 33 is provided.
And the upper end of the pipe member 33 is connected to the chain chamber 5.
And the oil level gauge 30 can be inserted.

On the other hand, the lower end of the groove 32 faces the oil surface stored in the lower part of the chain chamber 5.

Further, a partition member 35 made of, for example, a sheet metal is provided on the back surface of the front cover 4b along the groove 32, and the groove 32 and the chain chamber 5 are partitioned by the partition member 35. Specifically, a plurality of protrusions 34 are formed on the front cover 4b at predetermined intervals along both sides of the groove 32, and as shown in FIG. A hole 35a is formed. Then, the hole 35a of the partition member 35 is inserted into the projection 34 formed on both sides of the groove 32 of the front cover 4b, and the projection 34 is caulked, so that the partition member 35 is attached to the front cover 4b.

When attaching the oil level gauge 30 to the oil level gauge guide 31, the operator inserts the tip of the oil level gauge 30 from the upper end of the pipe member 33 and pushes it downward. As a result, the oil level gauge 30 is guided to the lower part of the chain chamber 5 while being guided by the groove 32, and its tip is immersed in oil stored in the lower part of the chain chamber 5.

In this embodiment, a groove 32 is provided in the front cover 4b of the chain chamber 5 communicating with the oil reservoir 26a, and the oil level gauge guide 31 is formed using the groove 32. It is possible to expand the degree of freedom of design such as the arrangement position. Thus, the oil level gauge guide 31 can be provided at an arbitrary position on the front cover 4b according to the layout of the engine 1 and the like.

Incidentally, the oil level gauge guide 31 can be provided on the back cover 4a, so that the degree of freedom in design can be further expanded.

The oil level gauge guide 31 is
It can be widely applied to various types of engines having the chain chamber 5 connected to the oil reservoir 26a.

Further, since the groove 32 constituting the oil level gauge guide 31 can be formed integrally with the chain cover such as the front cover 4b, the structure can be simplified and the oil level gauge guide 31 can be formed at low cost.

A partitioning member 35 is provided along the groove 32 to partition the groove 32 and the chain chamber 5 so that the oil level gauge 30 can be moved when the oil level gauge 30 is inserted or removed. 5 is prevented from interfering with each member.

Further, by forming the oil level gauge guide 31 integrally with the chain chamber 5 without providing the oil level gauge guide 31 outside the engine 1, the engine 1 can be reduced in size and the outfitting property of the engine 1 can be improved. It becomes possible.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, in the present embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to a horizontally opposed engine has been described. However, the present invention can be applied to various types of engines as long as the engine is a chain drive system.

In this embodiment, the oil level gauge guide 31 is formed by forming a groove 32 on the back surface of the front cover 4b as a chain cover. However, as described above, the groove is provided on the back cover 4a side. To form an oil level gauge guide. That is, if the oil level gauge guide is configured by providing a groove portion in the chain cover, it belongs to the category of the present invention.

[0038]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, since the groove constituting the oil level gauge guide is formed integrally with the back surface of the chain cover, the structure of the oil level gauge guide is significantly simplified. And the degree of design freedom is increased, so that it can be applied to a wide range of engine types.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the groove is partitioned from the chain chamber by the partition member, in addition to the effect of the first aspect of the present invention, each movable member and the oil level disposed in the chain chamber are provided. Interference with the gauge is prevented, and the oil level gauge can be inserted and removed without being affected by each member.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a horizontally opposed engine.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of FIG. 1 along an oil level gauge guide and an oil return passage.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the chain cover.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a partition member.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Engine 4a ... Back cover (chain cover) 4b ... Front cover (chain cover) 5 ... Chain chamber 6 ... Crankshaft 7L, 7R ... Timing chain 9L, 9R, 10L, 10R ... Camshaft 26 ... Oil pan 26a ... Oil Reservoir (inside oil pan) 30 ... oil level gauge 31 ... oil level gauge guide 32 ... groove 35 ... partition member

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An oil level of an engine, comprising: a timing chain for interlocking a crankshaft and a camshaft; and a chain cover for covering the timing chain and forming a chain chamber. An oil level gauge guide for an engine, wherein a groove for guiding the oil level gauge from above to below is integrally formed on the back surface of the chain cover. 2. An oil level gauge guide for an engine according to claim 1, wherein said chain cover is provided with a partition member for partitioning said groove portion from said chain chamber.