JP2001200713A - Air breather for engine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air breather for engine of enhanced ability for catching the oil component included in a blow-by gas. SOLUTION: This air breather for engine is provided with a main body 11, formed of a cylindrical shape having a gas lead-in port 12 at the lower part thereof and a gas discharge port 13 at the upper part thereof, a baffle plate 14 provided inside the main body and for making deviation in the gas flow led from the gas lead-in port, and an element 15 provided inside of the main body and for catching the oil component included in the gas, while passing the deviating gas flow made by the baffle plate. Plates 16, 17, having gas flow holes 16a, 17a for regulating the flow of the gas, are provided in the upper side and the lower side of the element inside of the body so that the gas flows obliquely, from the lower surface to the upper surface inside the element. The ability for catching the oil component contained in the blow-by gas is thereby enhanced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air breather for collecting oil contained in blow-by gas in an automobile engine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a vehicle engine, blow-by gas, that is, blow-by gas leaking from between an engine piston and a cylinder case, is passed through an air breather before being discharged to the outside of the engine, and lubrication contained in the gas is passed through the air breather. The removal of oil components such as oil has been performed. The air breather is often of a vertical type because it allows the blow-by gas to flow upward to remove oil.

Conventionally, a configuration shown in FIG. 4 has been adopted as this vertical air breather. FIG. 4 schematically shows a configuration of a conventional air breather. That is, FIG.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a cylindrical main body (body) having a gas inlet 2 communicating with a crankcase at a lower end thereof, and a gas outlet 3 at an upper end thereof. A baffle plate 4 for diverting the flow of the gas introduced from the gas inlet 2 is provided in the lower part of the main body 1, and the gas deflected by the baffle plate 4 is passed above the baffle plate 4. An element 5 for collecting the oil contained in the gas is provided. The element 5 is formed by arranging a number of cuts which intersect obliquely in a strip-shaped metal plate as shown in the figure, and this metal plate is used as an axis. A plurality of cuts formed in a mesh shape by extending in the direction are wound in a roll shape, and are arranged so that the roll axis is along the vertical direction. A plate 6 made of a wire mesh is horizontally arranged below the element 5, and has a plurality of gas flow holes 6 a (mesh) on an outer peripheral portion thereof. A wire mesh 7 for holding the element 5 is horizontally arranged above the element 5. Below the plate 6 is a plate-shaped plate 8 which cooperates with the baffle plate 4 to deviate the gas flow.
Is provided. The baffle plate 4 has an oil drop hole 4a formed on the outer periphery.

In this air breather, blow-by gas generated inside the crankcase is introduced into the inside of the main body 1 from the gas inlet 2 and rises, and is deflected to the outer peripheral side of the element 5 by the baffle plate 4 and the plate 8. Then, the blow-by gas rises and passes through the inside of the element 5 through the mesh 6 a on the outer peripheral portion of the lower plate 6, and further flows to the upper portion inside the main body 1 through the upper wire mesh 7.
Here, the mesh as the gas flow hole 6a is formed only at the outer peripheral portion of the lower plate 6, and the upper side of the element is opened by the wire mesh 7, so that blow-by gas entering from the gas flow hole 7a is mainly Flows along the outer peripheral portion of the element 5 in the vertical direction, that is, along the element axis direction. At this time, the oil miss in the blow-by gas passing through the element 5 comes into contact with the element 5 and is combined and liquefied to be separated from the gas component. Thereafter, the blow-by gas from which the oil has been removed is discharged from the gas discharge port 3 to the outside. The removed oil flows down and passes through an oil drop hole 4a on the outer peripheral portion of the baffle plate 4 to remove the gas inlet 2
To the inside of the crankcase.

[0005]

In recent years, in diesel engines, the amount of oil (oil mist) contained in blow-by gas has increased due to the use of overhead camshafts (OHC) and the like. This increase in the oil content of the blow-by gas may exceed the trapping capacity of the conventional air breather described above, and the conventional air breather cannot sufficiently remove the oil content of the blow-by gas, and the The remaining oil may come out of the gas discharge port of the air breather together with the blow-by gas and drip.

[0006] It is an object of the present invention to provide an air breather used in an engine having an enhanced ability to collect oil contained in blow-by gas.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an air breather for an engine, in which plates having gas flow holes are provided above and below an element provided inside the main body, respectively. The flow holes allow the blow-by gas to flow obliquely from the lower surface to the upper surface of the element to remove oil contained in the blow-by gas. As a result, the contact area between the blow-by gas and the element increases, so that the amount of collecting the oil contained in the blow-by gas by the element greatly increases, and the degree to which the oil returns by its own weight also increases. The ability to collect oil can be increased.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the air breather for an engine according to the first aspect, a plate having a gas flow hole in a central portion is above the element, and a plate having a gas flow hole in the outer peripheral portion is below the element. In each of the
Blow-by gas is passed obliquely from the outer periphery of the element toward the center of the upper surface from the lower surface to the center of the element, and the oil is removed from the blow-by gas at the center of the element. Can be effectively removed by forming a tapered surface on the upper surface of the upper plate that surrounds the gas flow hole and is inclined so as to become lower toward the gas flow hole, and the gas flow hole of the upper plate is removed from the element. If the oil remaining in the blow-by gas that has passed accumulates on the upper surface of the upper plate, this oil is guided to the gas flow hole in the center by a tapered surface, and is dropped on the element to further collect the oil. Is increasing.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the air breather for the engine according to the first aspect, the opening area of the gas circulation hole of the plate located above the element and the opening area of the gas discharge port of the main body are made the same. By making the amount of the blow-by gas passing through the element equal to the amount of the blow-by gas discharged from the gas discharge port, the oil component can be effectively removed from the blow-by gas.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a vertical air blazer according to this embodiment. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes a cylindrical main body extending vertically, and a gas inlet 12 is integrally formed at a lower portion of the main body, for example, toward the side, and a gas outlet 13 is provided at an upper portion. It is. The gas discharge port 13 is formed by mounting a cylindrical tube on the main body 11 in a direction opposite to the gas inlet port 12 and horizontally.

The main body 11 is disposed, for example, on the outer side of a rocker case 21 provided on an upper part of a crankcase (not shown). The gas inlet 12 faces the opening 22 formed in the side wall of the rocker case 21 so as to face the side wall. It is mounted using appropriate means. Thereby, the gas inlet 12
Communicates with the inside of the crankcase through the rocker case 21.

A baffle plate 14 for biasing blow-by gas is provided below the portion between the gas inlet 12 and the gas outlet 13 inside the main body 11.
The baffle plate 14 is made of a disk having the same diameter as the inner peripheral surface of the main body 11, and has a circular opening at the center. The baffle plate 14 is disposed at right angles (horizontally) with respect to the axis of the main body 11, and its outer peripheral edge is in airtight contact with the inner peripheral surface of the main body 11, and is attached to the main body 11 by appropriate means.

An element 15 for removing oil contained in the blow-by gas is provided above the baffle plate 14 inside the main body 11. As shown in FIG. 3, the element 15 is formed by arranging a number of cuts crossing obliquely on a strip-shaped metal sheet, extending this metal plate in the axial direction and forming the cuts in a mesh form, and winding the cut sheet into a roll. And has the same diameter as the inner peripheral surface of the main body 11. The element 15 is arranged so that the roll axis is along the vertical direction, and the outermost layer is in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the main body 11.

A wire mesh plate 16 is provided below the lower surface of the element 15 (between the element 15 and the baffle plate 14). The lower plate 16 is made of a disk having the same diameter as the inner peripheral surface of the main body 11, and has a gas flow hole 1 penetrating both side surfaces at the outer peripheral portion.
6a are formed side by side over the entire circumferential direction. The number of the gas flow holes 16a and the radial area of the plate 17 forming the gas flow holes 16a are combined with the gas flow holes 17a of the upper plate 17 so that the blow-by gas inclines the inside of the element 15 with respect to the axial direction as described later. It is set in consideration of forming a flowing flow. The lower plate 16 is placed in a horizontal state so as to close the cross section of the main body 11 below the lower surface of the element 15, for example, the element 1
The outer peripheral edge is airtightly contacted with the inner peripheral surface of the main body 11 and is attached to the main body 11 by an appropriate means. A plate-like plate 19 is integrally attached to the lower central portion of the plate 16.

A plate 17 is provided above the upper surface of the element 15. The upper plate 17 has the same diameter as the inner peripheral surface of the main body 11, and is formed of a circular plate having two flat surfaces on both sides. One gas flow hole 1
7a are formed. The gas flow holes 17a occupy the central portion of the plate 17 singly. The diameter of the gas flow holes 17a is combined with the gas flow holes 16a of the lower plate 16 so that the blow-by gas flows inside the element 15 as described later. It is set in consideration of forming a flow inclined with respect to the axial direction. The diameter of the gas flow hole 17a is set smaller than, for example, the diameter of the bulging portion at the center of the baffle plate 14. This is because the blow-by gas deflected to the outer peripheral side by the baffle plate 14 and the plate 19 is effectively converged at the central portion of the plate 17. The upper plate 17 is arranged in a horizontal state so as to close the cross section of the main body 11 above the upper surface of the element 15 and in contact with, for example, the upper surface of the element 15. It comes into contact with and is attached to the main body 11 by appropriate means.

The gas flow holes 1 in the upper plate 17
The diameter of 7a is set to the same size as the diameter of the gas discharge port 13, and the gas flow holes 17a of the upper plate 17 and the opening area of the gas discharge port 13 are set to the same size.

The element 15 is, for example, the lower plate 1
6 and the upper plate 17 are held by the main body 11 while being sandwiched from both sides in the vertical direction.

The operation of the air breather will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 shows the flow of the blow-by gas by a solid line. The blow-by gas generated inside the crankcase passes through the opening 22 of the rocker cover 21 and enters the lower part of the inside of the main body 11 from the gas inlet 12. Next, the blow-by gas rises inside the main body 11 and passes between the baffle plate 14 and the plate 19, and then the main body 1
1 is distributed so as to be distributed over the entire outer circumferential portion in the circumferential direction.

Next, the blow-by gas enters the inside of the element 15 from the lower surface of the element 15 through a plurality of gas flow holes 16a formed in the outer peripheral portion of the lower plate 16 and rises. A single gas flow hole 17 formed in the center of the upper plate 17
a to the upper part inside the main body 11.

Here, the flow of the blow-by gas is regulated by the gas flow holes 16a in the outer peripheral portion of the lower plate 16, enters the entire outer peripheral portion from the lower surface of the element 15, and rises along the element axial direction. Part to element 15
Turn around and rise towards the center of the. For this reason, the blow-by gas flows in a direction inclined with respect to the element 15 so as to converge from the entire outer peripheral part at the lower part of the element 15 toward the central part at the upper part. Thereafter, the flow of the blow-by gas is regulated by the gas flow holes 17a at the center of the upper plate 17, and rises and exits from the center of the upper surface of the element 15 along the element axial direction. In this process, the blow-by gas passes through the mesh formed on each winding layer of the element 15, and the contact between the blow-by gas and the element 15 removes oil contained in the blow-by gas from the blow-by gas.

Here, the blow-by gas is supplied to the element 15.
Of the element 15 in contact with and passes through the mesh by flowing at an angle with respect to the element 15 inside the element. That is, as compared with the conventional case where the blow-by gas flows only inside the element 15 in the axial direction and passes therethrough, the blow-by gas
The distance flowing inside the element 5 increases, and the contact area with the element 15 increases. For this reason, the amount of collecting the oil contained in the blow-by gas can be greatly increased by effectively utilizing the mesh of the element 15.

Also, since the blow-by gas flows so as to be converged from the entire lower peripheral portion to the upper central portion of the element 15, the blow-by gas converged at the upper central portion of the element 15 contains an oil component (oil). (Mist) interfere with each other to increase the particle size of each mist and increase the weight. The oil falls using this weight.
This increases the degree to which the oil removed from the blow-by gas falls due to its own weight and returns to the crankcase side.

As described above, the degree of collecting the oil contained in the blow-by gas by the element 15 is greatly improved as compared with the conventional case, and the degree of the oil returned by its own weight is also greatly improved. The degree of collecting the oil contained in the gas is greatly improved as compared with the conventional case. A comparison test was conducted on the amount of oil carried outside the engine between the air breather using this structure and the conventional structure. As a result, the amount of oil taken off by this structure was reduced by about 35% compared to the conventional structure. Results were obtained.

The oil removed from the blow-by gas drops and reaches the upper surface of the lower plate 16 as shown by the dashed arrow in FIG. And fall through the gas flow holes 16a formed in the lower plate 16.
Further, the blow-by gas reaches the buffer plate 14, passes through the gas flow holes 14a, falls to the lower part of the main body 11, flows from the gas gas inlet 2 into the rocker case 21, and returns to the crankcase.

The blow-by gas from which the oil has been removed is discharged to the outside from a gas discharge port 13 provided in the upper part of the main body 11. Here, the diameter of the gas outlet 13 is the same as the diameter of the hole 17 a of the upper plate 17 (the opening area is the same), and the flow rate of the blow-by gas flowing through the gas outlet 13 and the diameter of the upper plate 17 are different. The flow rate of the blow-by gas flowing through the hole 17a becomes the same. For this reason, the blow-by gas from which the oil component has been removed can be flowed in an appropriate state in order to effectively remove the oil component contained in the blow-by gas by the element 15, that is, for example, the gas discharge port 13. Upper plate 17 for diameter
If the diameter of the hole 17a is small, the upper plate 1
The flow of the blow-by gas is restricted in the hole 17a of the nozzle 7, and the oil cannot be removed from the element 15 satisfactorily. When the diameter of the hole 17 a of the upper plate 17 is larger than the diameter of the gas discharge port 13, the flow rate of the blow-by gas in the hole 17 a of the upper plate 17 is so large that the oil in the element 15 cannot be sufficiently removed. Blow-by gas is element 1
Runs out of 5.

Therefore, this air breather can sufficiently collect and remove the oil contained in the blow-by gas generated in the crankcase. For example, in a diesel engine, an OHC (overhead camshaft) is used.
The oil content (oil mist) contained in the blow-by gas accompanying the gasification can be increased and the oil content can be sufficiently collected.

In this air breather, a plate 17 having a gas flow hole 17a at the center is connected to an element 15
Plates 16 having gas flow holes 16a in the outer peripheral portion are provided on the lower side of the element 15 on the upper side, and the blow-by gas flows obliquely from the lower peripheral portion to the upper central portion through the inside of the element 15. Therefore, the oil component can be effectively removed from the blow-by gas with a reasonable structure, and the air breather conventionally used can be used, which is economical.

FIG. 2 shows an air breather according to the second embodiment, and the same parts as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals. In this embodiment, the upper surface of the plate 17 located above the element 15 is formed with a tapered surface 17b that surrounds the gas flow hole 17a and is inclined so as to become lower toward the gas flow hole 17a. For this reason, when oil remaining in the blow-by gas that has passed from the element 15 to the blow-by gas that has passed through the gas flow holes 17a of the upper plate 17 accumulates on the upper surface of the upper plate 17, this oil is removed by the tapered surface 17b at the center of the gas flow. It can be guided to the hole 17 a and dropped on the element 15. Thereby, the degree of collecting the oil can be further increased.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be implemented with various modifications. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the blow-by gas is caused to flow obliquely from the outer periphery of the lower surface toward the center of the upper surface inside the element. However, the present invention is not limited to this. From the upper surface to the outer peripheral portion. In addition, the gas flow holes 16
a wire mesh plate 16 having a
May be constituted by a plurality of holes.

[0030]

According to the air breather for an engine according to the first aspect of the present invention, the blow-by gas is inclined from the lower surface to the upper surface inside the element by the gas flow holes of each plate provided on the upper and lower sides of the element. To remove the oil contained in the blow-by gas,
The contact area between the blow-by gas and the element is increased, the amount of oil collected in the blow-by gas by the element is greatly increased, and the degree of return of the oil by its own weight is also increased. The oil contained in the blow-by gas can be sufficiently collected and removed, and a high collecting effect can be obtained.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the blow-by gas is obliquely flowed from the outer peripheral portion of the lower surface toward the central portion of the upper surface inside the element and passes therethrough to remove oil from the blow-by gas. When the oil component can be removed from the gas without difficulty and effectively, and the oil component remaining in the blow-by gas that has passed through the gas flow hole of the upper plate from the element accumulates on the upper surface of the upper plate, this oil component is removed. To the gas flow hole on the upper surface of the upper plate with a tapered surface inclined so as to become lower toward the gas flow hole, and dropped onto the element.
The degree of collecting oil can be further increased.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the amount of blow-by gas exiting the element through the gas flow hole of the upper plate and the amount of blow-by gas discharged from the gas discharge port are made equal to each other, so that the blow-by gas Oil can be effectively removed from the oil, and the degree of collecting the oil can be further increased.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an air breather according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an element portion provided in an air breather according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing elements provided on an air breather.

FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of a conventional air breather.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11: Main body, 12: Gas inlet, 13: Gas outlet, 14: Baffle plate, 15: Element, 16: Plate, 16a: Gas flow hole, 17: Plate, 17a: Gas flow hole, 17b: Tapered surface.

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Tatsuya Matsuguchi 5-33-8 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo Mitsubishi Motors Corporation F-term (reference) 3G015 AA05 BD09 BD25 BE02 BF05 BF08 CA05

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A cylindrical main body having a gas inlet at a lower portion communicating with a crankcase of an engine, and a gas outlet at an upper portion for discharging gas to the outside, and the gas inlet provided inside the main body. A baffle plate for deviating the flow of the gas introduced from the mouth, and an oil component contained in the gas that is provided inside the main body and located above the baffle plate and passes the gas deflected by the baffle plate. An air breather having an element for collecting the gas so that the gas flows obliquely from the lower surface to the upper surface of the element and passes through the inside of the element from the lower surface to the upper surface of the element inside the main body. An air breather for an engine, wherein plates each having a gas flow hole for regulating the flow of air are provided. 2. A plate located on the upper side of the element has a gas flow hole in a central portion, and a plate located on the lower side of the element has a gas flow hole on an outer peripheral portion, and has a gas flow hole on the upper side of the element. The engine air breather according to claim 1, wherein a tapered surface that surrounds the gas flow hole and is inclined so as to become lower toward the gas flow hole is formed on an upper surface of the located plate. 3. A plate positioned above the element has a gas flow hole in a central portion, a plate positioned below the element has a gas flow hole in an outer peripheral portion, and a plate positioned above the element has a gas flow hole. The air breather for an engine according to claim 1, wherein the opening area of the gas flow hole of the plate located is the same as the opening area of the gas discharge port.