JP2004132317A - Oil pan - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To avoid increase of the dimension in a vertical direction of an oil pan when a drain plug is fitted to a wall surface of the oil pan integrally with an oil screen, and to ensure excellent filtering performance of the oil screen. <P>SOLUTION: A rib 4 extending in a horizontal direction is formed on a bottom wall 3 of an oil pan 2, a drain hole 5 is formed in the rib 4, and a drain plug 8 is screwed in an opening of the drain hole 5 in an outer side surface 7 of the oil pan. On the other hand, an oil passage 11 formed in a side wall 10 of the oil pan is branched from a middle of the drain hole 5 and extends upwardly, and a cylindrical oil screen 12 locked to a tip of the drain plug 8 is disposed on a connection portion of the drain hole 5 to the oil passage 11. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an oil pan disposed at a lower portion of an engine, and more particularly to a structure of an oil screen and a drain hole in the oil pan.
[0002]
[Prior art]
The technology described in the following Patent Documents has conventionally been known as an oil pan provided with an oil screen and a drain hole at the bottom thereof.
[0003]
[Patent Document]
JP-A-11-22441 (page 3, FIG. 8)
[0004]
In this case, a drain hole extending in the vertical direction is formed in the bottom wall of the oil pan, and a drain plug is attached to the drain hole from below, and the oil that has passed through the mesh cover at the upper end of the drain plug flows into the drain plug. From the inflow passage through a horizontal oil passage formed in the bottom wall of the oil pan, and further through a vertical suction pipe formed in an upright wall of the oil pan, to be sucked by the hydraulic pump.
[0005]
That is, since the drain plug is attached to the drain hole in the vertical direction from below, the bottom wall of the oil pan becomes thicker in the vertical direction at least at the portion where the drain hole is formed. This may cause problems when the engine is mounted on the vehicle.Because the mesh cover on the top of the drain plug is a flat film, the mesh must be extremely thick unless the drain plug is extremely thick. Since the oil filtration area of the cover must be extremely small, there is a problem that the filtration performance of the oil screen is limited.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The present invention is intended to avoid an increase in the vertical dimension of the oil pan when attaching a drain plug integrally with the oil screen to the wall surface of the oil pan, and at the same time, to secure a good filtration performance of the oil screen. is there.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
For this reason, the oil pan according to the present invention includes a drain hole formed in the bottom wall, extending laterally from the inner bottom surface, and opening laterally on the outer side surface, and branching from the middle of the drain hole formed in the side wall. An oil passage extending upward, a drain plug attached to the opening of the drain hole from the outside, and a peripheral surface located at a connection portion between the drain hole and the oil passage which is located at a tip side of the drain plug and has a peripheral surface. A cylindrical oil screen in contact with the oil passage.
[0008]
That is, the drain hole formed in the bottom wall of the oil pan extends laterally from the inner bottom surface of the oil pan, opens laterally on the outer surface of the oil pan, and the drain plug is attached to the opening. Even if a drain hole is formed in the bottom wall of the oil pan, the vertical dimension of the bottom wall of the oil pan does not need to be particularly large, and it is located at the tip side of the drain plug and extends upward with the drain hole. Since the cylindrical oil screen arranged at the connection portion with the oil passage is configured so that the peripheral surface faces the oil passage, the filtration area of the oil screen can be easily set large.
[0009]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, in each embodiment of the present invention shown in the drawings, the same parts will be denoted by the same reference numerals.
1 to 6, an oil pan 2 made of a metal such as Al or a resin is attached to a lower end of a crankcase 1 of an engine, and a bottom wall 3 of the oil pan 2 projects in a vertical direction and in a lateral direction. An extended rib 4 is formed, and a drain hole 5 is provided in the rib 4 along the longitudinal direction of the rib 4, and the drain hole 5 extends from the inner bottom surface 6 of the oil pan 2 to the outer surface 7 of the oil pan 2. A drain plug 8 is screwed into an opening in the outer surface 7.
[0010]
An oil passage 11 formed in the side wall 10 of the oil pan 2 branches upward from the middle of the drain hole 5 and extends upward, and a cylindrical oil screen 12 is provided at a connection portion between the drain hole 5 and the oil passage 11. The oil screen 12 is disposed so that the tip end portion of the oil screen 12 is pushed into the drain hole 5, and at the same time, the outer peripheral surface of the oil screen 12 is entirely in contact with the oil passage 11.
[0011]
In this case, while a disc-shaped collar 14 is integrally formed on the projection 13 at the tip of the drain plug 8, a plurality of hooks 15 are provided annularly at the end of the oil screen 12. The oil screen 12 is removably attached to the drain plug 8 by the elastic engagement of the oil plug 15 and the oil pan 2 is removed from the oil pan 2 by removing the drain plug 8 from the opening on the outer surface 7 of the drain hole 5. The oil screen 12 can be taken out integrally, and by screwing the drain plug 8 into the opening of the drain hole 5, the oil screen 12 is pressed into the drain hole 5 to connect the drain hole 5 and the oil passage 11. It can be arranged in a part.
[0012]
That is, it is possible to automatically install and remove the oil screen 12 automatically by attaching and detaching the drain plug 8, respectively, so that the handling of the oil screen 12 becomes very convenient and the drain plug 8 Since the oil screen 12 and the oil screen 12 are interlocked with each other, it is not necessary to individually manage the oil screen 12 and the oil screen 12 becomes very convenient in terms of parts management, and the oil screen 12 can be elastically removed from the removed drain plug 8 as necessary. This has the advantage that the oil screen 12 can be easily cleaned.
[0013]
A drain hole 5 is provided in a rib 4 formed in the bottom wall 3 of the oil pan 2 and extending in the lateral direction, and a drain plug 8 is screwed into a lateral opening in the outer surface 7 of the oil pan 2. Therefore, even if the drain hole 5 is provided in the bottom wall 3 of the oil pan 2, it is not necessary to particularly increase the wall thickness of the bottom wall 3 of the oil pan 2. By making the vertical dimension relatively small, the vertical height of the entire engine can be easily reduced.
[0014]
Moreover, since the rib 4 extends to the outer surface 7 of the oil pan 2 and the end surface of the rib 4 can be used as it is as the seat surface of the drain plug 8, a boss for screwing the drain plug 8 is formed on the outer surface of the oil pan 2. There is no need for special molding, and the manufacturing cost of the oil pan 2 can be reduced easily.
[0015]
Further, the outer peripheral surface of the oil screen 12 pushed into the drain hole 5 is entirely in contact with the oil passage 11, and the oil flowing into the cylindrical oil screen 12 from the oil pan 2 through the drain hole 5. Will flow out from the outer peripheral surface of the oil screen 12 into the oil passage 11 as a whole, so that the filtration area of the oil screen 12 can be set relatively large. It has the advantage of ensuring performance.
[0016]
In the above embodiment, the ribs 4 protrude vertically from the bottom wall 3 of the oil pan 2. However, if the thickness of the bottom wall 3 is sufficient to provide the lateral drain holes 5, the ribs 4 may be used. It is also possible that the ribs 4 are not particularly provided, or that the ribs 4 protrude only upward from the bottom wall 3 or that the ribs 4 protrude only downward from the bottom wall 3 as necessary. Not even.
[0017]
Further, in each of the above embodiments, the tip portion of the oil screen 12 locked by the drain plug 8 by the attachment of the drain plug 8 is pushed into the drain hole 5, as illustrated in FIG. 7. At the lower end of the drain hole 5, a space 20 extending in the axial direction of the drain hole 5 having an inner diameter larger than the outer diameter of the oil screen 12 is formed. And the front end of the oil screen 12 is pressed against the wall surface in the space 20, and even if there is a gap in the pressed portion, the gap is made smaller than the mesh of the oil screen 12, The end of the oil screen 12 faces the drain hole 5, so that the outer peripheral surface of the oil screen 12 is wider than in the above-described embodiments. In contact with the oil passage 11 in the range, in which may be configured to the effective area of the oil screen 12 can be largely ensured.
[0018]
【The invention's effect】
In the oil pan according to the present invention, a drain hole formed in the bottom wall of the oil pan extends laterally from the inner bottom surface of the oil pan, opens laterally on the outer surface of the oil pan, and has an opening. Since the drain plug is attached to the oil pan, the vertical dimension of the bottom wall of the oil pan can be made relatively small, and it is located at the end of the drain plug at the connection between the drain hole and the oil passage extending upward. It is possible to easily set the filtration area of the formed cylindrical oil screen to be large so as to ensure good filtration performance.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the embodiment.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view taken along the line III-III of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken along line VV of FIG. 4;
FIG. 6 is an exploded enlarged view of a main part of the embodiment.
FIG. 7 is an enlarged partial longitudinal sectional view of another embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
2 Oil pan 3 Bottom wall 4 Rib 5 Drain hole 8 Drain plug 10 Side wall 11 Oil passage 12 Oil screen 20 Empty space

Claims (4)

A drain hole formed in the bottom wall and extending laterally from the inner bottom surface and opening laterally on the outer surface; an oil passage formed in the side wall and branching from the middle of the drain hole and extending upward; A drain plug attached to the opening from the outside, and a tubular oil screen which is located at the distal end side of the drain plug, is located at the connection portion of the drain hole and the oil passage, and has a peripheral surface in contact with the oil passage. Oil pan with a. The oil pan according to claim 1, wherein the oil screen is locked at a tip of the drain plug. 3. The oil pan according to claim 1, wherein the drain hole is formed in a rib provided in the bottom wall. The oil pan according to claim 3, wherein the rib extends to the outer side surface where the drain hole opens.

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