JP2006125201A - Double tank oil pan - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a double tank type oil pan capable of raising temperature of engine oil as efficiently and quickly as possible even under a condition where heat capacity of a balancer or the like is large and a structure taking heat away from engine oil is provided. <P>SOLUTION: In the double tank type oil pan 1, an inside of an oil pan 2 is divided into a first chamber 5 having a suction opening 6a arranged therein and a second chamber 4 by an oil pan separator 3 including a recess 3a1. The balancer 10 of large heat capacity, a planetary gear 12 constructing a drive force transmitting device in an economy running device, a starter gear 13, an idler gear 14, a driven gear 15, an intermediate gear 16 are arranged in the second chamber 4. Consequently, since heat is not taken away from engine oil in the first chamber 5 circulated at the time of engine start, temperature of engine oil can be raised quickly. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an oil pan that is provided below an engine block and stores engine oil.

Conventionally, engine oil has been used for engine lubrication and cooling. This engine oil is stored in an oil pan provided in the lower part of the engine, and is circulated to each part of the engine by an oil pump. The engine oil that has circulated through each part of the engine is dripped into the lower oil pan. And the engine oil dripped in the oil pan is circulated to each part of the engine again by the oil pump. During this time, the engine oil receives heat from each part of the engine and cools each part. The engine oil also has a role of forming an oil film in each part of the engine to promote lubrication between the parts and preventing oxidation of the parts.

Here, immediately after the cold start of the engine, the engine oil stored in the oil pan is cold, the viscosity is high, and it is not in a state suitable for circulating each part of the engine and lubricating each part. Therefore, immediately after the cold start, it is desired to raise the temperature of the engine oil as soon as possible so that it has an appropriate viscosity. For this purpose, the oil pan is divided into a plurality of compartments, and immediately after a cold start, the engine oil in one compartment is easily circulated, and the engine oil in this compartment is heated earlier, After warming-up is complete, it has already been studied to avoid overheating of the engine oil and make the engine oil in a preferable state (Patent Document 1). Such an early temperature rise of engine oil contributes to an improvement in fuel efficiency due to an early reduction of friction, and improvement is also desired from the recent strong demand for improvement in fuel efficiency.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the structure of an oil pan 50 described in Patent Document 1. In order to effectively raise the temperature of engine oil, an oil pan separator 51 having a recess 51 a is placed in the oil pan 52. The oil strainer 53 is arranged so that the engine oil suction port 53a is positioned in the recess 51a, and communication holes 54 and 55 are provided in the upper and lower portions of the side wall 51a1 of the recess 51a to communicate the inside and outside of the recess 51a. Adopted. Of these communication holes 54 and 55, the communication hole 55 provided in the lower part of the side wall 51a1 of the recess 5a controls the circulation of the engine oil inside and outside the recess 51a by utilizing the change in the viscosity of the engine oil. Yes. That is, the diameter of the communication hole 55 is set to a small diameter, and the engine oil having a high viscosity during warm-up prevents the mixing of the engine oil inside and outside the recess 51a by utilizing the large oil resistance when passing through the communication hole 55. On the other hand, low-viscosity engine oil after completion of warm-up can pass through the communication hole 55, and the engine oil inside and outside the recess 51a is mixed. If the engine oil is mixed inside and outside the recess 51a, the temperature of the engine oil inside the recess 51a that has become hot can be lowered by the oil outside the recess 51a at a low temperature.

On the other hand, the communication hole 54 provided in the upper part of the side wall 51a1 of the recess 51a can circulate the engine oil inside and outside the recess 51a regardless of the viscosity of the engine oil. The engine oil dropped into the pan separator 51 (inside the recess 51a) is caused to flow from the inside to the outside of the recess 51a of the oil pan separator 51. Therefore, as shown by an arrow 57, an engine oil circulation path is formed in which the engine oil flowing out from the upper portion of the recess 51a flows again into the recess 51a from the lower portion of the recess 51a according to the viscosity of the engine oil. It is designed to promote engine oil mixing and cool engine oil. The mixed engine oil is sucked up from the suction port 53a and supplied into the engine block 56 from above.

With the configuration as described above, the engine oil can be quickly heated immediately after the engine is started.

Some engines are equipped with a balancer that suppresses vibration caused by inertial force generated by the reciprocating motion of a piston. Such a balancer invention is disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 2. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the engine balancer 50 disclosed in Patent Document 2. As shown in FIG. According to FIG. 2, an oil pan 53 for storing oil is fixed to a lower portion of a cylinder block 52 on which the crankshaft 51 is rotatably supported, and the engine balancer 50 is positioned in the oil pan 53. It is fixed to. The cylinder block 52 is provided with an oil pump 55 that is driven by the engine and pumps the oil in the oil pan 53 sucked through the strainer 54 to each lubricating portion of the engine. The part is also supplied to the lubrication part of the engine balancer 50. The engine balancer 50 installed in this manner is coupled to the crankshaft 51 via a chain sprocket 58, a chain 57, and a crank sprocket 56.
Thus, the balancer is fixed so as to be located in the oil pan.

JP 2003-222012 A JP 2001-280110 A

However, it is conceivable that such a balancer is disposed in the oil pan and comes into contact with the engine oil, thereby hindering early temperature rise of the engine oil. Many metal parts are used in the balancer. Generally, metal has a large heat capacity, so that the entire structure has a considerable heat capacity. Such a structure having a large heat capacity takes a large amount of heat from the engine oil by coming into contact with the engine oil. For this reason, when the engine oil which circulates in the engine block and returns to the oil pan in a state where the temperature has been raised comes into contact with the balancer, the heat stored in the engine oil is taken away, leading to a decrease in temperature. Such a problem naturally occurs also in the two-tank oil pan disclosed in Patent Document 1, and can be said to have the same problem.
If a structure with such a large heat capacity exists in the oil pan and hinders the temperature rise of the engine oil, it becomes difficult to realize an improvement in fuel consumption by early reduction of friction.

  Accordingly, the present invention is a two-tank oil that can raise the temperature of engine oil as efficiently and as early as possible even when it has a large heat capacity such as a balancer and a structure that takes heat away from engine oil. The purpose is to provide bread.

In order to achieve such an object, the two-tank oil pan of the present invention includes an oil pan separator that partitions into a first chamber in which a suction port is disposed and a second chamber in which the suction port is not disposed, inside the oil pan, The oil pan separator has a recess that forms the first chamber, the first chamber communicates with the interior of the engine block, and the recess has a communication hole that communicates the first chamber with the second chamber. In the two-tank oil pan, a structure that is housed in the two-tank oil pan and takes heat away from the engine oil stored in the two-tank oil pan is disposed in the second chamber. .
Here, the structure includes, for example, a driving force transmission structure that transmits a driving force of a balancer or a starter to the crankshaft. Conventionally, there is an engine mounted on a vehicle that employs an idle stop mechanism that automatically stops the engine when the vehicle stops to improve fuel efficiency. This idle stop mechanism automatically stops the engine when the vehicle stops running at an intersection or the like to improve fuel efficiency, and starts the vehicle by automatically starting the engine by rotating the starter during start operation. This is an automatic engine stop / start device (hereinafter referred to as “eco-run device”) that is made possible.
Some of such eco-run devices have a driving force transmission structure that transmits the driving force of the starter to the crankshaft via a gear or the like, and the driving force transmission structure including the gear or the like uses engine oil as a lubricating oil. Because it is available, it is housed in an oil pan. However, when such a driving force transmission device is also made of metal, etc., the heat capacity is large, and when trying to raise the temperature of the engine oil early, attention should be paid to its arrangement as with the balancer.
Therefore, in the present invention, the driving force transmission device for a vehicle equipped with an eco-run device is also configured in the second chamber as a structure that takes heat away from engine oil, similarly to the balancer.

  According to the present invention, a two-tank oil pan having a first chamber and a second chamber is provided, and an engine such as a balancer is stored in the first chamber for storing a small amount of engine oil to be circulated for early temperature rise when the engine is started. Since the structure that removes heat from the oil is not disposed, but the structure is disposed in the second chamber, the engine oil in the first chamber can be quickly heated while the balancer and the like are disposed in the oil pan. Moreover, the cooling effect of the engine oil in the second chamber in which the balancer or the like is arranged can be obtained.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  3 is a plan view of the two-tank oil pan 1 of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. The two-tank oil pan 1 is provided with an oil pan separator 3 having a recess 3 a inside the oil pan 2. The recess 3a of the oil pan separator 3 forms a first chamber 5 communicating with an engine block (not shown). That is, the oil pan 2 is partitioned into a second chamber 4 and a first chamber 5 by the oil pan separator 3. A suction port 6 a of an oil strainer 6 is disposed in the first chamber 5. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 4, the side wall 3a1 of the recessed part 3a is provided with the 1st serial through-hole 8 which connects the 2nd chamber 4 and the 1st chamber 5. As shown in FIG. This first series of through holes 8 is preferably provided as high as possible on the side wall 3a1 of the recess 3a. In the two-tank oil pan 1 of this embodiment, the amount of engine oil stored in the second chamber 4 and the first chamber 5 Near the lower limit level. Further, a second communication hole 9 for controlling the flow of the engine oil between the second chamber 4 and the first chamber 5 using a change in the viscosity of the engine oil is provided at the lower portion of the side wall 3a1 of the recess 3a.

  A balancer 10 attached to the engine block is disposed in the second chamber 4. Although not shown in the drawing, the balancer 10 includes a balancer-side gear, and meshes with the first crankshaft-side gear provided on the crankshaft supported by the engine block so as to oscillate the crankshaft. It comes to suppress. In order to arrange and store the balancer 10 in the second chamber 4 as described above, the sub oil pan 3 has a shallow bottom portion 3b as shown in the drawing.

  Furthermore, a starter 11 constituting a part of the eco-run apparatus is attached to the outside of the oil pan 2. As shown in FIG. 3, a planetary gear 12 and a starter gear 13 are connected to the starter 11 in this order. The starter gear 13 and the idler gear 14 mesh with each other, the idler gear 14 and the driven gear 15 mesh with each other, the driven gear 15 and the intermediate gear 16 mesh with each other, and finally the intermediate gear 16 is provided on a crankshaft (not shown). The drive force of the starter 11 is transmitted to the crankshaft by meshing with the second crankshaft side gear. In this embodiment, among these gears housed in the second chamber 4 of the two-tank oil pan 1, the planetary gear 12, the starter gear 13, the idler gear 14, the driven gear 15, and the intermediate gear 16 are the present invention. This corresponds to “a driving force transmission structure that transmits to the crankshaft”.

  In the two-tank oil pan 1 configured as described above, when the engine in the cold state is started, first, the engine oil in the first chamber 5 is sucked up from the suction port 6a of the oil strainer 6 and is stored in the engine block. It circulates through each part and returns to the inside of the first chamber 5 again. In such a process, the engine oil in the first chamber 5 gradually rises in temperature, but only a small amount of engine oil stored in the first chamber 5 is circulated at the start of the engine with low engine oil viscosity. The engine oil is warmed up quickly. At this time, a structure such as a planetary gear 12, a starter gear 13, an idler gear 14, a driven gear 15 and an intermediate gear 16 constituting a driving force transmission structure for transmitting to a balancer 10 having a large heat capacity and a crankshaft is disposed in the first chamber 5. If this is the case, these structures will take away the heat stored in the engine oil in the process of circulating through the various parts in the engine block, thus hindering the temperature rise of the engine oil. However, in this embodiment, since these structures are arranged in the second chamber 4, the heat of the engine oil that has returned to the first chamber 5 is not taken away, and the engine oil in the first chamber 5 is not removed. Does not prevent early temperature rise.

  When the temperature of the engine oil increases and the viscosity decreases, the engine oil can pass through the second communication hole 9, and the engine oil in the second chamber 4 is also in the first chamber 5. Circulates in each part of the engine block. Thereby, it is possible to prevent an excessive increase in the engine oil temperature.

  Further, since the balancer 10 having a large heat capacity, the planetary gear 12 having a driving force transmission structure, and the like are accommodated in the second chamber 4, an effect of cooling the engine oil in the second chamber 4 can be expected.

If the temperature of the engine oil can be raised quickly, fuel consumption can be reduced and fuel consumption can be improved. FIG. 6 is a graph showing the relationship between the oil temperature in the first chamber 5 and the fuel consumption at the time of starting the engine, and comparing the result with the presence or absence of a structure in the oil pan. In FIG. 6, the solid line indicates the balancer 10 and the driving force transmission structure in the first chamber 5, that is, the planetary gear 12, the starter gear 13, the idler gear 14, the driven gear 15, and the intermediate gear 16, and the broken line indicates the first chamber In the case where only the balancer 10 is placed in the line 5, the dotted line indicates that the balancer 10 and the driving force transmission structure, that is, the planetary gear 12, the starter gear 13, the idler gear 14, the driven gear 15, and the intermediate gear 16 are placed in the first chamber 5. Shows about the case.
As is clear from the graph, the fewer the structures arranged in the first chamber 5 and the smaller the heat capacity, the faster the oil temperature in the first chamber 5 rises, and the fuel consumption decreases accordingly. ing.
From the above experimental results, it was confirmed that the present invention can achieve an early increase in engine oil temperature and reduction in fuel consumption.

The above-described embodiments are merely examples for carrying out the present invention, and the present invention is not limited thereto. Various modifications of these embodiments are within the scope of the present invention. It is apparent from the above description that various other embodiments are possible within the scope.
For example, in the above embodiment, the planetary gear 12, the starter gear 13, the idler gear 14, the driven gear 15 and the intermediate gear 16 are used as the “driving force transmitting structure for transmitting to the crankshaft” in the present invention. The structure and elements corresponding to are different depending on the design of the eco-run equipment. Further, in the above embodiment, reference is not made to the engine oil level sensor or level gauge, but these structures also have the second chamber 4 as much as possible from the viewpoint of quickly raising the temperature of the engine oil in the first chamber 5. It is desirable to install inside. In short, except for structures that may be housed in the oil pan and that must be disposed in the first chamber 5 such as the oil strainer 6, they are disposed in the second chamber 4. .

  In the present invention, the two-tank oil pan is improved by disposing a structure that takes heat away from the engine oil in the second chamber, but when this is a multi-tank oil pan such as a three-tank type, for example. Even so, such a structure is arranged in a chamber located in the outermost outline among a plurality of chambers as much as possible.

It is sectional drawing which shows schematic structure of the conventional 2 tank type oil pan. It is a schematic block diagram which shows embodiment of the conventional engine balancer. It is a top view of the Example of the two tank type oil pan of this invention. It is the sectional view on the AA line in FIG. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 3. It is the graph which showed the relationship between the oil temperature in a 1st chamber at the time of engine starting, and fuel consumption.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,50 Two-tank type oil pan 2,52 Oil pan 2a Second chamber oil drain 3,51 Oil pan separator 3a, 51a Recess 3a1 Side wall 3b Bottom shallow part 4 Second chamber 5 First chamber 6 Strainer 6a Suction port 8 First Serial communication hole 9 Second communication hole 10 Balancer 11 Starter 12 Planetary gear 13 Starter gear 14 Idler gear 15 Driven gear 16 Intermediate gear

Claims (2)

An oil pan separator that partitions the first chamber in which the suction port is disposed and the second chamber in which the suction port is not disposed is provided inside the oil pan, and the oil pan separator has a recess that forms the first chamber, In the two-tank oil pan, the first chamber is communicated with the interior of the engine block, and the concave portion has a communication hole for communicating the first chamber and the second chamber.
A two-tank oil pan, characterized in that a structure for removing heat from engine oil stored in the two-tank oil pan and stored in the two-tank oil pan is disposed in the second chamber. The two-tank oil pan according to claim 1, wherein the structure is a driving force transmission structure that transmits a driving force of a balancer and / or a starter to a crankshaft.

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