JPH0239609B2 - - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable to constantly maintain the interior pressure of a lubricating oil tank at the atmospheric pressure in whatever tilted position an outboard engine may be by forming a check valve installing chamber inside the lubricating oil tank and installing a check valve which introduces the atmospheric into the air contained in the upper part inside the lubricating oil tank. CONSTITUTION:A lubricating oil tank (subtank) 25 to be mounted on the body of an outboard engine operative in tilted position is connected to a suction inlet of a lubricating oil pump installed at its lower part via. a suction pipe connected to the connecting port 33. Besides, it is also connected to a suction pump installed on the hull with a suction pipe connected to the connecting port 32 and an oil level detector 35 is fitted as hanging from the ceiling of the subtank 25. Further, a check valve installing chamber 45 which serves to maintain an air space free of intrusion of lubricating oil in whatever cases where the outboard engine is tilted up at any angle, is formed as extruded out of a portion of the ceiling of the subtank 25. Then, the check valve installing chamber 45 is fitted with a check valve 46 which opens when pumping up lubricating oil and a check valve 47 which opens when the lubricating oil pump is in operation.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a separate lubrication device for an outboard motor.

[Prior Art] As one type of lubrication system for outboard motors, there is a separate lubrication system that stores fuel and lubricating oil in separate tanks and supplies the lubricating oil to the engine using a lubrication pump.

Here, the conventional separate lubrication device described above includes a lubricant tank attached to the outboard motor body, a lubricant pump that can supply lubricant oil in the lubricant tank to the engine side, and a lubricant pump that is attached to the lubricant tank to provide lubrication. Some devices include a check valve that opens when the pump takes in lubricating oil and allows atmospheric air to be introduced into the upper space of the lubricating oil tank. This separate lubricating system maintains the pressure inside the lubricating oil tank at atmospheric pressure by opening the check valve when the lubricating oil in the lubricating oil tank gradually decreases as the lubricating oil is sucked in by the lubricating oil pump. Therefore, the back pressure on the suction side of the lubricant pump is always kept substantially constant, thereby stabilizing the lubricant supply by the lubricant pump.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the outboard motor body to which the lubricating oil tank is attached can be supported so as to be steerable relative to the hull and tiltable around a substantially horizontal axis. Therefore, when the outboard motor body tilts, the check valve installed in the lubricating oil tank is immersed in lubricating oil whose oil level changes abnormally, causing accumulation of lubricating oil around the check valve. Or, normal operation may be impaired due to the lubricating oil turning into grease.
It may become difficult or impossible to maintain the pressure inside the lubricating oil tank at atmospheric pressure at all times.

In addition, if the volume of the upper air storage space of the lubricating oil tank can be freely increased, the check valve may be installed at a position where the lubricant filling level in the upper air storage space is far away. Therefore, it is possible to easily prevent the check valve from being immersed in the lubricating oil. However, the lubricating oil tank attached to the outboard motor body needs to be as small as possible in order to improve handling.

The present invention is to prevent a check valve from being immersed in lubricating oil no matter what position the outboard motor body is in, without unnecessarily increasing the volume of the upper air storage space of a lubricating oil tank. With the goal.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides a lubricating oil tank attached to an outboard motor body that can be steered with respect to the hull and tiltable and supported around a substantially horizontal axis, and a lubricating oil tank. A lubricating pump that can supply lubricating oil inside to the engine side, and a reverse valve that is attached to the lubricating oil tank and opens when the lubricating pump takes in lubricating oil, allowing atmospheric air to be introduced into the upper space of the lubricating oil tank. A separate lubrication system for an outboard motor having a stop valve detects a full state in which the oil level in a lubricating oil tank reaches a full oil level, and stops the operation of replenishing lubricating oil into the tank. The lubricating oil tank is equipped with a full oil level detection means for detecting the full oil level, and communicates with a local part of the upper air storage space in the tank above the full oil level of the lubricating oil tank via a communication passage, and the entire range of the maximum steering angle in the left and right direction. A check valve arranging chamber is provided at a position where lubricating oil does not enter when the vehicle is tilted up to the maximum, and the check valve is arranged in the check valve arranging chamber.

[Function] According to the present invention, there are the following effects.

The check valve installation chamber was set at a specific position where lubricating oil would not infiltrate when the vehicle was tilted up at its maximum over the entire range of maximum left and right steering angles. Therefore, the check valve can be prevented from being immersed in the lubricating oil no matter what position the outboard motor body is in.

The lubricating oil tank is equipped with a full oil level detection means to determine the full oil level, and has a relatively small space that communicates with a local part of the upper air storage space in the tank above the full oil level through a communication path. It is equipped as a check valve installation room. Therefore, the volume of the upper air accommodating space of the lubricating oil tank does not needlessly increase in size.

According to the above, the check valve is prevented from being immersed in the lubricating oil no matter what position the outboard motor body is in, without unnecessarily increasing the volume of the upper air storage space of the lubricating oil tank. Can be done.

[Example] Figure 1 is an overall view showing an example of the present invention, and Figure 2 is a general view showing an example of the present invention.
The figure shows a partially cutaway side view of the sub-tank.
FIG. 3 is a plan view of FIG. 2.

The outboard motor 10 can be fixed to the stern plate 11A of the hull 11 via a clamp bracket 12. A swivel bracket 14 is supported on the clamp bracket 12 via a tilt shaft 13 so as to be tiltable around a substantially horizontal axis. A propulsion unit 15 is supported so as to be steerable. That is, the propulsion unit 15 can be supported so as to be steerable relative to the hull 11 and tiltable about a substantially horizontal axis.

The propulsion unit 15 is equipped with a V-type four-cylinder engine 16 on its upper part. A carburetor 18 and an intake box 19 are connected to the crank chamber of each cylinder in the engine 16 via an intake manifold 17. Further, fuel in a fuel tank 20 installed in the hull 11 can be supplied to the carburetor 18 by a fuel pump (not shown).

On the other hand, lubricating oil that can lubricate the engine 16 is stored in a relatively large-capacity main tank 21 installed within the hull 11. The lubricating oil in the main tank 21 is supplied to the engine 16 via a suction pipe 23 and a pumping pipe 24 by a pump 22 fixed to the main tank 21 and driven by a motor.
It is fixed to the upper left side surface of the lubricating oil tank, and can be pumped up into a sub-tank 25, which serves as a lubricating oil tank in the present invention. The lubricating oil in the sub-tank 25 is allowed to flow into a lubrication pump 27 fixed to a lower portion of the sub-tank 25 on the side of the engine 16 through a suction pipe 26 .

The lubrication pump 27 is driven by the rotation of the crankshaft of the engine 16, and pumps the lubricating oil introduced from the sub-tank 25 through the suction pipe 26 to the intake manifold 17 of each cylinder through each discharge pipe 28, and mixes the lubricating oil. It can be discharged into the air.

Here, the sub-tank 25 is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.
It is configured as shown in the figure. That is, the side surface of the sub-tank 25 has attachment parts 29, 30, which allow the sub-tank 25 to be attached to the engine 16.
31 is formed, a connection port 32 to which the pumping pipe 24 is connected is formed at the side surface on the ceiling side, and a connection port 33 to which the suction pipe 26 is connected is formed at the bottom thereof.

In addition, the sub-tank 25 has a full oil level 34A,
Each oil level of the replenishment oil level 34B is set, and an oil level detector 35 is built-in. The oil level detector 35 includes a stopper 37 fitted into an opening 36 provided in the ceiling of the sub-tank 25, a cylindrical part 38 that hangs down from the bottom surface of the stopper 37 to near the bottom of the sub-tank 25, and a lubricating oil level detector 35. A housing 40 is fixed to the hull 37 and the cylindrical portion 38 so as to cover the entire length of the cylindrical portion 38, and a ring-shaped housing 40 is provided with a plurality of flow holes 39 to allow the flow of water. A float 41 that moves up and down in the space according to changes in the oil level, reed switches 42A and 42B installed at each level corresponding to the oil level in the cylinder 38, and reed switches 42A and 42B that are fixed to the float 41 and move the actual oil A magnetic ring 43 located at the same level as the surface and turns on each reed switch 42A, 42B.
It is composed of. In other words, the oil level detector 3
5 turns on each reed switch 42A, 42B according to the change in the oil level in the sub-tank 25,
The pumping operation of the pumping pump 22 can be controlled via an electric circuit within the control box 44, as will be described later.

Furthermore, in a part of the ceiling of the sub tank 25,
The lubricating oil infiltrates when the upper air storage space in the tank above the full oil level 34A of the sub-tank 25 is communicated via a communication passage and is tilted up to the maximum in the entire range of the maximum steering angle in the left-right direction. A check valve installation chamber 45 is formed protrudingly at a position where there is no check valve. That is, in FIG. 3, the R-R line is
Indicates the area where no lubricating oil will enter when the maximum tilt up is performed with the maximum steering angle set to the right.
The line L-L indicates an area where lubricating oil does not enter when tilting up to the maximum with the maximum steering angle set in the left direction, and the check valve installation chamber 45 is located at the line R-R.
It is set in a region included in the area defined by the line and the line L-L. The check valve installation chamber 45 includes a check valve 46 that opens when lubricating oil is pumped up and allows the air in the upper space in the sub-tank 25 to be discharged, and a check valve 46 that opens when lubricating oil is pumped up and allows the air in the upper space in the sub-tank 25 to be discharged, and when lubricating oil is supplied to the lubricating pump 27. A check valve 47 is provided that opens to allow atmospheric air to be introduced into the space inside the sub-tank 25, making it possible to maintain the space inside the sub-tank 25 at atmospheric pressure at all times.

In this embodiment, the left and right maximum steering angles are equal. When the steering angle is 0 (the state in which the steering wheel is not turned in either the left or right direction), the range in which lubricating oil does not enter is located between the RR line and the LL line in FIG. 3. This intermediate line is parallel to the axis of the tilt shaft 13 of the outboard motor 10. However, in this embodiment, the sub tank 25 is
Since the mounting surfaces of the mounting parts 29 and 30 to be mounted on the tilt shaft 13 are not parallel to the axis of the tilt shaft 13 but are arranged at an angle, the intermediate line between the R-R line and the L-L line in FIG. This results in deviation from the vertical line.

Next, the operation of the separation lubrication device according to the above embodiment will be explained.

When the engine 16 is operating, the lubricating oil in the sub-tank 25 flows into the lubricating pump 27 by its own weight, and is pumped into the intake manifold of each cylinder by the pressure-feeding action of the lubricating pump 27, which is driven with the rotation of the crankshaft of the engine 16. 17, and after lubricating various parts of the engine together with the air-fuel mixture, it is burned and consumed.

As the lubricating oil is consumed, the oil level in the sub-tank 25 falls from the full oil level 34A, and the replenishing oil level 34A decreases.
When reaching B, the float 41 also descends, the magnetic ring 43 turns on the reed switch 42B, and the pump 2 is turned on via the electric circuit in the control box 44.
2 is driven, and the lubricating oil in the main tank 21 is pumped up into the sub tank 25. The flow rate of the lubricating oil pumped up by the pump 22 is the same as that of the engine 1.
6 is set to be larger than the maximum consumption amount of lubricating oil, and therefore the oil level in the sub-tank 25 rises to reach the full oil level 34A. At this time, the float 41 also rises in response to the rise in the oil level,
The reed switch 42A is activated by the magnetic ring 43.
ON, the motor of the pump 22 is stopped, and pumping of lubricating oil is stopped. Normally, by repeating the pumping operation described above, the lubricating oil in the sub-tank 25 can be maintained between the full oil level 34A and the supply oil level 34B.

However, the sub tank 25 according to the above embodiment
The check valves 46 and 47 are installed in the check valve installation chamber 45.
It is equipped with Therefore, even when the propulsion unit 15 is tilted up at any steering angle and takes any tilted position, the check valves 46, 47 are closed.
check valves 46, 4 without being immersed in lubricating oil.
These check valves 46 and 47 can be removed without causing lubricating oil to accumulate around the check valves 7 and turning the lubricating oil into grease.
Normal operation is ensured. That is, when the pump 22 pumps lubricating oil into the sub-tank 25, the pressure inside the sub-tank 25 is always maintained at atmospheric pressure, and the back pressure acting on the discharge port of the pump 22 is approximately constant, so that the pump 22 makes it possible to stabilize the pumping operation. Furthermore, even when the lubricating oil is supplied to the engine 16 by the lubricating pump 27, the pressure inside the sub-tank 25 is maintained at atmospheric pressure, so the back pressure acting on the suction port of the lubricating pump 27 becomes approximately constant, and the lubricating pump 27 This makes it possible to stabilize the operation of supplying lubricating oil to the engine 16.

The sub-tank 25 is provided with a scattering prevention plate 48 as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. , a narrow communication path 49 may be formed to communicate the two chambers.
According to this scattering prevention plate 48, when the oil level in the sub-tank 25 fluctuates and scatters greatly due to the cruising conditions, it reliably prevents the lubricating oil from entering the check valve installation chamber 45. It becomes possible to do so. Fourth
The figure shows a ceiling portion 50 forming a check valve installation chamber 45.
A scattering prevention plate 51 similar to the above is suspended.

In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to a separate lubricating device having a main tank on the hull side and a sub-tank on the outboard motor main body side. However, the present invention is also applicable to a separate lubrication system that does not include a tank on the hull side, as long as it has a lubricating oil tank that is substantially attached to the outboard motor body.

According to the above embodiment, there are the following effects.

The check valve installation chamber 45 is set at a specific position where lubricating oil does not enter when the vehicle is tilted up to the maximum over the entire range of the maximum steering angle in the left-right direction. Therefore, the check valve 47 can be prevented from being immersed in the lubricating oil no matter what position the propulsion unit 15 is in.

The sub-tank 25 is equipped with an oil level detector 35 to determine a full oil level 34A, and is a relatively small space that communicates with a local part of the upper air storage space in the tank above the full oil level 34A via a communication path. is installed as a check valve installation chamber 45. Therefore, the volume of the upper air accommodating space of the sub-tank 25 does not needlessly increase in size.

With the above, it is possible to prevent the check valve 47 from being immersed in the lubricating oil no matter what posture the propulsion unit 15 is in, without unnecessarily increasing the volume of the upper air storage space of the sub-tank 25. Can be done.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the volume of the upper air storage space of the lubricating oil tank is not unnecessarily expanded and enlarged, and the lubricating oil can be maintained in any position of the outboard motor body. This prevents the check valve from being immersed in water.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure shows a partially cutaway side view of the sub-tank.
3 is a plan view of FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a partially modified example of FIG. 2. 10...Outboard motor, 11...Hull, 15...Propulsion unit, 16...Engine, 25...Subtank, 27...Lubrication pump, 34A...Full oil level, 35...Oil level detector, 45...Check valve arrangement chamber, 47...Check valve.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A lubricating oil tank attached to the outboard motor body that can be steered with respect to the hull and tiltable and supported around a substantially horizontal axis, and lubricating oil in the lubricating oil tank can be supplied to the engine side. An outboard motor comprising a lubricant pump and a check valve that is attached to the lubricant tank and opens when the lubricant pump sucks lubricant oil, allowing atmospheric air to be introduced into the upper space of the lubricant tank. The separated lubricating device includes a full oil level detection means for detecting a full state in which the oil level in the lubricating oil tank reaches the full oil level and stopping the operation of replenishing lubricating oil into the tank, and If the upper air storage space in the tank is connected to a local part of the upper air storage space above the filled oil level in the oil tank via a communication passage, and the maximum tilt-up is performed over the entire range of the maximum steering angle in the left and right direction, lubricating oil will not infiltrate. 1. A separate lubricating device for an outboard motor, characterized in that a check valve arranging chamber is provided in a position where the check valve is not provided, and the check valve is arranged in the check valve arranging chamber.