JP2009293380A - Drain structure - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To drain oil in a fixed direction without completely removing a drain plug 5 in spite of a comparatively simple constitution in a drain structure with the drain plug 5 screw-mounted into a horizontal hole 3 provided to extend horizontally in the bottom part of an oil reservoir part 1 and opened to the outside. <P>SOLUTION: The drain structure has an oil discharge opening 4 provided at the horizontal hole 3, and a seal ring 6 provided upstream of the opening 4 in the drain plug 5 in a state of being screw-mounted into the horizontal hole 3 to carry out sealing between the facing surfaces of the drain plug 5 and horizontal holes 3. The length L1 of a threaded part of the horizontal hole 3 is set longer than the length L2 from the seal ring 6 to the opening 4 in the state of the drain plug 5 being mounted into the horizontal hole 3. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a drain structure in which a drain plug is screwed into a lateral hole provided so as to extend laterally at the bottom of an oil reservoir and open to the outside. This drain structure is provided, for example, in an oil pan of an internal combustion engine.

  Conventionally, a drain hole for oil discharge is provided in an oil reservoir provided in an internal combustion engine or various devices, and a drain plug is screwed into the drain hole. When draining the oil, the drain plug is removed and the oil is naturally drained from the drain hole.

  For example, the drain hole is provided in the bottom surface of the oil reservoir so as to be opened downward in the vertical direction, and the drain hole is provided so as to be opened in the horizontal direction below the side surface of the oil reservoir. There is a case where it is provided so as to be opened at an appropriate angle obliquely downward with respect to the direction (see Patent Document 1).

  In either case, if oil is drained by completely removing the drain plug, the oil will leak from the threaded part of the drain plug while the drain plug is being removed. Immediately after the plug is removed, the oil jumps out vigorously, so that it is easy for the operator's hand to get oil.

  In particular, when the drain hole is opened sideways, it is advantageous in reducing the vertical dimension of the oil reservoir, but the oil discharge angle gradually increases as the amount of oil remaining in the oil reservoir decreases. The oil landing point will change from moment to moment as it gets smaller, so if the oil receiving container is placed at a fixed position, the oil will protrude from the oil receiving container and fall to the floor of the work place. .

  By the way, as shown in Patent Document 2, for example, a drain tube is attached to the bottom of the liquid container so as to open downward in the vertical direction, and a short pipe is attached to one side in the circumferential direction of the drain tube. A configuration in which a drain screw is screwed into a cylinder is considered.

  In such a configuration, when the liquid container side opening of the drain cylinder is opened by loosening the drain screw partway, the liquid container and the short pipe communicate with each other through the central hole of the drain cylinder, and the oil is discharged from the short pipe. Will be discharged.

  Therefore, when discharging the liquid, if an appropriate drain hose is attached to the short tube in advance and the drain screw is loosened halfway, the liquid in the liquid container is discharged to the outside through the drain hose. . Therefore, if the drain hose is attached to the oil receiving container or the like, it is possible to prevent the oil from being applied to the worker or falling to the floor of the work place as described above.

  For example, as shown in Patent Document 3, a drain plug that is screwed into a drain discharge port provided on a side surface of an oil pan is a so-called union bolt. The drain plug is provided with an oil passage extending along the axial direction at the center of the screw shaft portion, and an oil passage penetrating in the radial direction is provided at one circumferential position of the oil passage.

In Patent Document 3, the drain plug is loosened halfway to expose the oil passage along the radial direction provided on the screw shaft portion to the outside, and the oil passage opening along the radial direction is vertically opened. When arranged in the downward direction, the oil in the oil pan is discharged downward through the oil passages.
JP 2004-132317 A Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 6-10164 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-173133

  In the prior arts shown in Patent Documents 2 and 3, the liquid in the liquid container can be discharged to the outside without completely removing the drain screw and the drain plug. There are concerns about such problems.

  First, in the prior art disclosed in Patent Document 2, the oil discharge direction cannot be determined according to the reduction in the remaining amount of oil due to the relationship in which the short tube for discharging the liquid in the liquid container to the outside protrudes sideways. Therefore, in order to avoid this, there is a room for improvement, such as the necessity of attaching a drain hose to the short pipe and the need for extra equipment and work.

  Moreover, in the prior art shown in the above-mentioned Patent Document 3, in the process of loosening the drain plug, that is, until the radial oil path provided at one place on the circumference of the screw shaft portion of the drain plug is disposed downward. The oil discharged from the tank is discharged in all directions in the radial direction.

  For this reason, in the conventional technique shown in Patent Document 3, a cover called a frame surrounds the drain plug so as to avoid the oil discharged from being scattered in all directions. The oil is discharged downward from the oil outlet provided in.

  Thus, there is room for improvement, such as the need for extra equipment to stabilize the direction of oil discharge.

  In addition to this, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 62-111523 is known as a configuration that can drain the oil in the crankcase to the outside without removing anything such as a drain plug.

  However, this document has a configuration in which an oil level adjustment valve is provided at the bottom of the crankcase in order to adjust the oil level in the crankcase of the engine.

  This oil level control valve includes a cylindrical valve box that is attached to the opening side of a lateral oil discharge port provided at the bottom of the crankcase, a valve body that is slidably fitted into the valve box, and a valve body. A valve element rod for pushing and pulling and a coil spring for urging the valve element rod in the pulling direction are provided.

  An oil passage along the sliding direction is provided inside the valve body, and an oil passage penetrating in the radial direction is provided at one circumference of the oil passage. An oil drain hole penetrating in the radial direction is provided at a position directly below the vertical direction of the cylindrical valve box.

  In this case, by pushing the valve disc rod, the oil passage along the radial direction of the valve disc and the oil drain hole of the valve box are made to communicate with each other so that the oil in the crankcase is discharged downwards to the outside. Become.

  Thus, the above document is similar to the present invention in that oil can be discharged to the outside without removing anything, but it is only for adjusting the oil level of the oil. Since the premise is different from that of the present invention, it should not be regarded as a prior art of the present invention but merely a reference technique.

  In particular, in the case of the above-mentioned reference, not only the oil level control valve having a complicated configuration is provided, but also when the oil is discharged, the valve rod is pushed and the oil passage along the radial direction of the valve body and the valve box are It is pointed out that the function of guiding the arrangement of the oil passage and the oil drain hole is necessary from the relationship that the oil drain hole needs to be matched and communicated, and the configuration becomes relatively complicated. In addition, it is pointed out that the valve rod must be kept pressed while the oil is discharged, and it is troublesome and time-consuming to extract all the oil.

  The present invention has a relatively simple configuration in a drain structure in which a drain plug is screwed into a lateral hole provided so as to extend laterally at the bottom of an oil reservoir and open to the outside. An object of the present invention is to make it possible to discharge oil in a certain direction without completely removing the drain plug.

  The present invention relates to a drain structure in which a drain plug is screwed into a lateral hole provided in the bottom of an oil reservoir so as to extend laterally and open to the outside, and the oil provided in the lateral hole A drain opening and a seal ring that is provided on the upstream side of the opening in the drain plug that is screwed into the lateral hole and seals the gap between the drain plug and the lateral hole. The length of the thread portion of the lateral hole is set to be longer than the length from the seal ring to the opening in a state where a drain plug is attached to the lateral hole.

  The horizontal direction includes not only the horizontal direction but also a case where an appropriate angle is given obliquely downward with respect to the horizontal direction.

  In this configuration, since the lateral hole is provided at the bottom of the oil reservoir so as to extend in the lateral direction, it is advantageous in reducing the vertical dimension of the oil reservoir as much as possible. Further, in the drain structure of the present invention, the components separate from the oil pan are only the drain plug and the seal ring, and the configuration is simpler than that of the conventional example, and the cost can be reduced.

  Then, when draining the oil in the oil reservoir, the drain plug is loosened and the seal ring mounted on the drain plug is positioned downstream of the opening of the lateral hole so that the lateral hole is exposed to the outside through the opening. It will be in the state of communication. In this state, the drain plug is caught without being completely removed from the lateral hole, that is, in a half-drawn state, but the oil in the oil reservoir is naturally discharged from the opening to the outside.

  In this way, the drain hole can be communicated with the outside through the opening without completely removing the drain plug from the lateral hole, so that the oil draining operation can be easily performed.

  Further, in the oil discharging process, the seal ring attached to the distal end side of the drain plug suppresses or prevents oil from leaking from the threaded portion between the threaded portion of the drain plug and the lateral hole.

  Preferably, the opening may be provided in a lower half region of the lateral hole so as to penetrate in a radial direction.

  In this case, since the opening is formed so as to open downward, the oil discharging direction from the opening is straight downward, and the oil landing point is set regardless of the remaining amount of oil in the oil pan. Always constant. In this way, since the oil landing point can be determined in a direction that does not change with respect to the oil discharge direction, it is possible to prevent the discharged oil from splashing around the worker or being scattered around.

  Preferably, the drain plug is provided with a cylindrical portion without a threaded portion on a distal end side thereof, and the seal ring is attached to the cylindrical portion of the drain plug, and the threaded portion is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the lateral hole. It can be pressed against a non-existing region.

  In this case, since the seal ring is pressed against a region having no thread portion on the inner peripheral surface of the lateral hole, the sealing performance by the seal ring is improved.

  Preferably, the lateral hole is provided so as to extend horizontally or obliquely downward, and the opening is opened substantially downward in the vertical direction.

  In this configuration, since the opening is opened downward, oil is discharged downward from the opening.

  As a result, the oil discharge direction is stabilized in a straight line from immediately after the oil discharge to the end, so that it becomes possible to receive the discharged oil without spilling it in a container or the like, and there is no fear of polluting the workplace.

  Moreover, the said oil storage part can be used as the oil pan with which an internal combustion engine is equipped. In this case, the structure in which the lateral holes are provided so as to extend in the lateral direction at the bottom of the oil pan is advantageous in reducing the vertical dimension of the oil pan as much as possible. It will be advantageous to plan.

  The present invention has a relatively simple configuration in a drain structure in which a drain plug is screwed into a lateral hole provided so as to extend laterally at the bottom of an oil reservoir and open to the outside. The oil can be discharged without completely removing the drain plug. Further, the oil can be discharged with the oil discharging direction set to a fixed direction.

  DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the best embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  1 to 5 show an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a drain structure provided in an oil pan of an internal combustion engine mounted on a vehicle is taken as an example.

  In these drawings, reference numeral 1 denotes an oil pan as an oil reservoir. A cylindrical portion 2 that protrudes outward in the horizontal direction is provided at the bottom of the oil pan 1.

  An upward passage 1 a is provided on the side wall of the oil pan 1. The passage 1a is a take-out passage for sucking out oil in the oil pan 1 with an oil pump and sending it to an oil jet nozzle of an internal combustion engine, a valve mechanism on the cylinder head side, or the like.

  In the lateral hole 3 in the cylindrical portion 2, an internal thread (reference numeral omitted) is provided in an area from the outer end edge position to the midway in the longitudinal direction, and an internal thread is provided in an area other than this area. Is not provided. In addition, the code | symbol 3a is attached | subjected to the area | region without an internal thread.

  An opening 4 penetrating along the radial direction is provided in the lower half of the inner end side of the region where the female screw is provided in the cylindrical portion 2, specifically in the position just below. In this embodiment, the opening 4 is a round hole having a circular cross section as shown in FIG.

  A drain plug 5 is removably screwed into the lateral hole 3 in the cylindrical portion 2.

  The drain plug 5 has a screw shaft portion 5b formed integrally with a head portion 5a, and a cylindrical portion 5c having no external thread is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the screw shaft portion 5b. The cylindrical portion 5c without the male screw is provided with a circumferential groove 5d, and an O-ring 6 as a seal ring is fitted into the circumferential groove 5d.

  The O-ring 6 is made of an appropriate elastic material such as rubber, and when the drain plug 5 is not screwed into the lateral hole 3, the O-ring 6 protrudes from the circumferential groove 5d as shown in FIG. However, when the drain plug 5 is screwed into the lateral hole 3, as shown in FIG. 1, it is elastically deformed to the groove bottom of the circumferential groove 5d and the inner peripheral surface of the region 3a without the female thread in the lateral hole 3. It comes to be pressed, and the sealing performance is improved.

  By mounting the O-ring 6 on the leading end side of the drain plug 5 in this way, the gasket that has been mounted on the head 5a side of the drain plug 5 as in the conventional example is eliminated. Incidentally, in the case of the conventional example in which the gasket was used, it was necessary to replace the gasket every time the oil was removed, but in this embodiment, it is possible to eliminate such waste. Become.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the length L1 of the female screw of the lateral hole 3 is longer than the length L2 from the tip edge position of the O-ring 6 to the opening 4 in a state where the drain plug 5 is attached to the lateral hole 3. It is set long. Further, the length of the screw shaft portion 5b of the drain plug 5 is set to be substantially the same as the length L1 of the female screw of the lateral hole 3.

  As a result, when the drain plug 5 is screwed into the lateral hole 3, the screw shaft portion 5 b closes the opening 4. In this state, the oil blocking action of the O-ring 6 attached to the distal end side of the drain plug 5 prevents oil from leaking to the opening 4 side from the O-ring 6. Thereby, oil bleeding from the opening 4 can be prevented.

  On the other hand, when the drain plug 5 is loosened and the O-ring 6 is placed in a half-blanked state positioned downstream of the opening 4 of the lateral hole 3 as shown in FIG. It is exposed to the inner hole of the hole 3 so that the O-ring 6 does not jump out of the cylindrical portion 2. As a result, the lateral hole 3 communicates with the outside through the opening 4, so that the oil in the lateral hole 3 can be discharged from the opening 4, and the O-ring 6 allows the oil to be connected to the female screw of the lateral hole 3. The drain plug 5 is prevented from leaking out of the cylindrical portion 2 through the threaded portion with the screw shaft portion 5b.

  In order to ensure that the O-ring 6 does not protrude from the cylindrical portion 2, the length from the protruding end position of the cylindrical portion 2 to the position near the protruding end of the opening 4 is set to the screw shaft portion 5 b of the drain plug 5. What is necessary is just to set longer than the length from the front-end | tip to the position opposite to the front end side of the circumferential groove 5d.

  Next, the operation when oil is discharged will be described.

  In short, only the drain plug 5 is loosened. At this time, as shown in FIG. 3, the drain plug 5 is not completely removed, but is loosened by a predetermined amount, thereby opening the opening 4 in the lateral direction. 3 to expose.

  When the opening 4 is exposed in this manner, the lateral hole 3 and the outside are communicated with each other through the opening 4, so that the oil in the oil pan 1 flows from the opening 4 to the outside as indicated by an arrow in FIG. 3. Will be discharged naturally.

  Since the opening 4 is formed so as to open downward in the vertical direction, the discharge direction of the oil discharged from the opening 4 is linearly downward in the vertical direction, regardless of the remaining amount of oil in the oil pan 1. The oil landing point is always constant.

  Therefore, if an oil receiving container or the like (not shown) is arranged directly below the opening 4, oil discharged from the opening 4 can be accurately put into the oil receiving container and will not protrude. , Oil can be prevented from splashing around the operator and splashing around.

  In such an oil discharge process, the O-ring 6 disposed on the tip end side of the screw shaft portion 5b of the drain plug 5 causes the oil to be discharged from the screwed portion between the screw shaft portion 5b of the drain plug 5 and the lateral hole 3. Suppress or prevent leakage.

  By the way, the opening 4 of the oil pan 1 described above can be formed by drilling by cutting or the like. However, in that case, the number of manufacturing steps of the oil pan 1 is increased, which is not preferable in terms of cost. Therefore, when the oil pan 1 is manufactured by a casting technique, the opening 4 is formed at the same time when the oil pan 1 is manufactured. By doing so, it is preferable to reduce the cost.

  Specifically, for example, referring to FIG. 5, an example of a form when the above-described oil pan 1 is manufactured by a casting technique will be described.

  Here, first, the overall shape of the oil pan 1 is not described in detail. For example, the oil pan 1 has a tray shape with an open top, and a drain structure as shown in FIG. 1 is provided at the corner of the bottom. It shall be.

  In this case, the upper mold 10 and the lower mold 11 which are divided as shown by the up and down arrows as shown in FIG. 5, the pin mold 12 corresponding to the upward passage 1 a, and the sand corresponding to the lateral hole 3. The lower mold 11 is provided with a protrusion 14 corresponding to the shape of the opening 4, and the outer shape of the protrusion 14 is transferred to simultaneously open the oil pan 1 and the opening 4. It is only necessary to obtain. After the oil pan 1 is formed by such casting, a female screw is formed in the lateral hole 3.

  As described above, in the embodiment to which the feature of the present invention is applied, the vertical dimension of the oil pan 1 is made as small as possible by providing the lateral hole 3 extending in the lateral direction at the bottom of the oil pan 1. In this structure, the oil pan 1 and the separate parts are only the drain plug 5 and the O-ring 6 and can be reduced in cost as compared with the conventional example, and the drain plug 5 is not completely removed. The oil in the oil pan 1 can be discharged in a straight line downward in the vertical direction.

  As described above, since the drain plug 5 is not completely removed, the oil draining operation can be easily performed and the oil discharge direction can be determined in a direction that does not change the oil discharge direction. It is possible to avoid being splashed around and scattered around.

  In addition, this invention is not limited only to the said embodiment, All the deformation | transformation and application included in the range equivalent to the claim and the said range are possible. Examples are given below.

  (1) In the above embodiment, a drain structure provided in an oil pan of an internal combustion engine mounted on a vehicle is taken as an example, but the present invention can be applied to a device having an oil reservoir.

  (2) In the above embodiment, an example in which the cross-sectional shape of the opening 4 is circular is given, but the shape is not particularly limited, for example, a rectangle or an ellipse. Further, in the case of a long hole such as a rectangle or an ellipse, the longitudinal direction can be along the circumferential direction, for example, or along the longitudinal direction of the lateral hole 3.

  However, in the case of the latter form, the screw shaft portion 5b of the drain plug 5 is long enough to cover the opening 4 made of the long hole in a state where the drain plug 5 is completely screwed. Must be set to dimensions.

  (3) In the above embodiment, an example in which the number of the openings 4 is one is given. However, a plurality of the openings 4 can be provided in the lower half region of the lateral hole 3. This makes it possible to increase the amount of oil discharged, which is advantageous in reducing the oil drain time as much as possible.

  However, it is preferable to install the openings 4 close to each other so that the oil discharged from the plurality of openings 4 can be surely dropped into an oil receiving container (not shown).

It is sectional drawing which shows one Embodiment of the drain structure which concerns on this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the state which removed the drain plug in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the oil discharge form in the drain structure of FIG. FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken along line (4)-(4) in FIG. 3. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of the manufacture form of the oil pan shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 Oil pan (oil reservoir)
2 Cylindrical portion 3 Lateral hole 3a No internal thread on the inner peripheral surface of the lateral hole 4 Opening 5 Drain plug 5b Drain plug screw shaft 5c Drain plug cylindrical portion without male screw 5d Drain plug circumferential groove 6 O-ring (seal ring)

Claims (5)

A drain structure in which a drain plug is screwed into a lateral hole provided so as to extend laterally at the bottom of the oil reservoir and open to the outside,
An oil discharge opening provided in the lateral hole and a drain plug screwed into the lateral hole are provided on the upstream side of the opening to seal a gap between the drain plug and the lateral hole. And a seal ring
The drain structure according to claim 1, wherein a length of the thread portion of the lateral hole is set to be longer than a length from the seal ring to the opening in a state where a drain plug is attached to the lateral hole. The drain structure according to claim 1,
The drain structure is characterized in that the opening is provided in a lower half region of the lateral hole so as to penetrate in a radial direction. The drain structure according to claim 1 or 2,
The drain plug is provided with a cylindrical portion without a threaded portion at the tip side thereof, and the seal ring is attached to the cylindrical portion of the drain plug and is provided in an area without a threaded portion on the inner peripheral surface of the lateral hole. A drain structure characterized by being pressed. The drain structure according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The drain structure is characterized in that the lateral hole is provided along the horizontal direction or obliquely downward, and the opening is opened downward in a substantially vertical direction. In the drain structure according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The drain structure, wherein the oil reservoir is an oil pan provided in an internal combustion engine.

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