The present invention relates to an assembly for coupling a valve stem to an actuating member of an actuator in a desmodromic valve actuation mechanism, to a desmodromic valve actuation mechanism having such an assembly and to an internal combustion engine having such a desmodromic valve actuation mechanism. The present invention also lies in a vehicle, such as an automobile, fitted with such an internal combustion engine.
Desmodromic valve systems for engine inlet and exhaust valves are well known and a sub-set of these mechanisms using a combined pull-push rod to actuate a valve is also long-established. Traditionally, these mechanisms have left a certain amount of lash between the opening and closing parts of the mechanism in order to avoid potential “fight” between the two actions arising either from tolerance errors or by changes in component dimensions with temperature. Such an eventuality could lead to rapid wear of the mechanism or a catastrophic failure due to the mechanism locking up. An exhaust valve can “grow” by 0.15 mm quite easily at full load.
Common past practice was to positively close the valve to within a few thousandths of an inch of the seat and then allow cylinder pressure to do the rest.
More recently, emissions regulations have made this approach impractical and the valve now has to be closed using spring force. Ducati engine designs (using desmodromic valve systems) use a spring not dissimilar in terms of spring force from a conventional spring for this purpose. The issue here is that these springs act in parallel with the cam forces so the opening cam has to provide enough force to compress the spring as well as to accelerate the valve mass (see
This approach is also unsuitable for independent valve actuation mechanisms in which, instead of a mechanical linkage between the engine output, an electromagnetic actuator is used.
For example in the case of the present applicant's electromagnetic valve actuation systems (as described in WO 2004/097184 and WO2011/061528), the additional torque required of the actuator in order to compress a spring in parallel with the valve mass is doubly undesirable. Not only would it require a significantly larger electrical actuator but the electrical energy demand would also be significantly increased, at the expense of the overall efficiency of an engine fitted with such a mechanism.
EP 2198129 (Pattakos) shows a desmodromic valve actuation mechanism in which a valve actuator exerts a closing force on a valve stem through an elastic washer which helps to ensure that the valve, when closed, is sealed against its seat. The washer is carried on the actuator so that the latter does work on the washer only when the valve is closed. However the mechanism uses a complex linkage for connecting the actuator to the engine output and various tolerances in that mechanism, and the fact that the valve, in effect, floats on the washer means that the actuator movement must be tightly constrained.
To that end the cylinder head of the engine is formed with an integral guide for the actuator, thus further increasing weight and complexity of the system.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an assembly for coupling a valve stem to an actuating member of an actuator in a desmodromic valve actuation mechanism, the assembly comprising:
a spherical bearing having two portions each of which defines a respective bearing surface which is complementary to the bearing surface defined by the other portion, at least one of the surfaces being part spherical, one of the portions being arranged to be coupled to the actuating member and the other portion being arranged to be coupled to the valve stem; and
a resilient arrangement which exerts a biasing force on one of the bearing portions and provides resilience in the coupling provided by the assembly between the valve stem and actuating member.
The spherical bearing provides a lightweight, compact means of accommodating tolerances and packaging constraints which can lead to misalignments between, for example, the valve stem axis and cam axes, as well as translational offsets and angular errors.
Since the resilience that urges the valve into its closed position is provided in the coupling between the valve stem and the actuating member, it is not necessary for the assembly to do significant work on the resilient arrangement when the valve is in an unseated position.
Preferably, therefore, the assembly is so configured that, in use, the valve is opened by movement of the assembly in an opening direction and closed by movement of the assembly in a closing direction, the coupling allowing further movement in the closing direction, against the action of the resilient arrangement, when the valve is seated.
Thus, the assembly also provides a resilient lost motion coupling, between the valve and the actuator, that accommodates valve lash.
Preferably, the resilient arrangement comprises a resilient member which is, in use, compressed by said closing movement, when the valve is seated.
Preferably, the resilient member comprises a compression spring.
The spherical bearing may be so configured that, in use, the actuating member acts through the bearing in order to cause both opening and closing movement.
For example, if the actuating member comprises a rocker arm, the bearing may comprise a part spherical socket in the arm and a ball portion on a connecting rod connected, in use, to the valve stem.
Alternatively, the assembly may include a further spherical bearing via which, in use, the actuating member acts on the valve stem in order to open the valve.
In this case, the further spherical bearing preferably comprises a first bearing portion having a concaved, part spherical, preferably substantially hemispherical surface, and a second bearing portion, having a complementary surface at the end of the valve stem opposite the valve head.
This enables the second portion to be formed integrally with the valve stem, thus facilitating a light weight, low inertia construction of assembly.
Preferably, the assembly further comprises a connecting rod for attachment to the actuating member, and a cradle which is mounted on the rod and which carries one of the portions of the first said spherical bearing, said cradle being arranged to rock, relative to the valve stem, as said rod is moved by the actuating member.
The resilient arrangement may conveniently comprise a disc spring which is positioned so as to surround the valve stem in use. For example, the disc spring may be a Bellville washer.
The cradle allows the rod to be pivotally connected to an actuating member in the form of a rocker, since the pivotal movement of the rocker and rod can then transmit linear movement to the valve stem.
Preferably, the assembly includes adjustment means for adjusting the position of the cradle on the rod, and hence the preload in the resilient arrangement when the valve is unseated.
This can be achieved by means of, for example, a screw threaded connection between the rod and the cradle, and provides an arrangement in which preload can be relatively easily adjusted in view of the relative accessibility of the cradle.
Alternatively, where the assembly has a rod for connection at one end to the valve stem, the resilient arrangement may, in use, be interposed between the rod at its opposite end region and the actuating member, so that the actuating member acts on the rod through the resilient arrangement to cause the closing movement of the assembly.
Preferably, in this case, the resilient arrangement comprises a compression spring.
This location of the resilient arrangement allows a preload adjuster to be situated at an easily accessible position (i.e., at the region of the rod opposite the valve stem).
According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided an assembly as aforesaid and an actuating member in the form of a rocker, wherein the assembly includes a connecting rod for connecting a valve stem to the actuating member, and wherein the connecting rod is coupled to the actuating member through said assembly.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a desmodromic valve actuation mechanism for an internal combustion engine, the mechanism comprising an inlet or exhaust valve; an actuator for opening and closing the valve, the actuator having an actuating member coupled to the valve through an assembly in accordance with the first aspect of the present invention.
The present invention also lies in an internal combustion engine having such a desmodromic valve actuation mechanism and in an automobile fitted with such an engine.
The present invention also provides an assembly for coupling a valve stem to an actuating member of an actuator in a desmodromic valve actuation mechanism, the assembly comprising:
a spherical bearing having two portions defining respective complementary bearing surfaces, one of the portions being coupled to the actuating member and the other being coupled to the valve stem, wherein the bearing allows relative rotational motion between the valve stem and the actuating member; and
a resilient arrangement which exerts a biasing force on one of the bearing portions and provides resilience in the coupling provided by the assembly between the valve stem and the actuating member.
An assembly is provided which gives the required valve seating force when the valve is in the closed position but does not impose a force related to that valve seating force upon the entire valve mechanism when the valve is not on the seat. It includes a means of compensating for dimensional tolerances in components and changes in dimensions due to thermal expansion and contraction.
Lash is provided together with spring loading within the mechanism, as opposed to the known arrangements in which a spring load which is “grounded” to the engine structure.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
In the mechanism shown in
A collar 18 is fixed to the upper region of the stem 6 (at a position spaced from the upper end of the stem) and cooperates with a closing arm 20 which also has a sleeve 22 for a corresponding spindle. The end of the arm 20 opposite the collar 18 is acted on by a closing cam 24. The cams 16 and 24 alternately pivot the arm 10 in an anti-clockwise direction and the arm 20 in a clockwise direction to open and close the valve 2. When the valve 2 is seated, it cannot be closed any further and the mechanism would therefore jam if the arm 20 had not by that point completed its clockwise stroke. To ensure this does not happen (when the system is cold) some clearance would be left between the valve 2 and its seat (i.e., valve lash), with the valve then being closed by the pressure of combustion gases, with the associated problems previously explained. The mechanism does include a helper spring 26, but this functions merely to suppress rattle in the system, and does not provide any resilience or play in the coupling between the lever 20 and the valve 2.
In the system schematically shown in
The two valve actuation mechanisms shown in
Each mechanism includes a valve having a valve head 48 formed at one end of a valve stem 50. At the other end region of the stem 50 is a cradle in the form of a stirrup 52. As can be seen from
As can be seen from
The valve stem 50 also extends through the upper and lower bearing portions 72 and 66, and includes at its upper region an annular radial recess 74 for receiving valve cotters 76 for locating the upper bearing portion 72 on the stem (both axially and angularly).
The top portion of the stem 50 is situated approximately centrally within a cage defined by the base 54 of the cradle, an annular top 78 of the cradle and axial connecting bars, for example the bar 80 which are formed integrally with the base 54 and top 78 and extend from the top to the base of the cradle.
The top of the valve stem has a convex, generally hemispherical surface 82 which can engage a complementary generally hemispherical concave bearing surface 83 at the base of a connecting rod 84.
The surfaces 82 and 83 provide a further spherical bearing through which, in use, the opening force is exerted on the valve stem 50. The surfaces 70, 71 and 82 have radii of curvature which share the same centre to avoid kinematic errors from causing the rotations permitted by the two bearings to “fight”.
The rod 84 extends into the stirrup 52 through a screw threaded bore 86 in the top of the stirrup. The screw threaded bore 86 cooperates with a correspondingly externally screw threaded portion of the rod 87 so that rotation of the stirrup 52 about the axis of the rod 84 varies the distance by which the rod 84 projects into the stirrup 52.
The externally screw threaded portion 87 of the rod 84 also carries a locking nut 88 which can be tightened against the top 78 of the stirrup 52 to prevent rotation of the stirrup 52 relative to the rod 84, and hence set the distance by which the rod 84 projects into the stirrup 52.
The top of the rod 84 is pivotally attached, at pivot joint 90 to an actuating member which is in the form of a rocker 92. As can be seen from
The rocker 92 is pivotally mounted on a rocker shaft 104 and carries a roller follower 106 for an opening cam 108. The roller 106 is mounted on a plate 110 constituting the main body of the rocker 92. Also attached to this plate is an arm, the end of which carries a roller follower 112 which cooperates with a closing cam 114. In
Opening and closing cams 108 and 114 are mounted on a common shaft which may be connected by a suitable mechanical linkage to the engine crankshaft or, preferably, to an electromagnetic actuator such as is described in WO 2004/097184 and WO 2011/061528.
In use, the actuator rotates the opening and closing cams 108 and 114 in unison, as a result of which the opening cam 108 will periodically (once per revolution) push down on the roller 106, causing the rocker 92 to rotate about the shaft 104 in an anti-clockwise direction (as viewed from
During this movement, the Bellville remains uncompressed since it is, in effect, connected in series between the rod 84 and the valve stem 50.
The large radius portion of the closing cam 114 is angularly spaced by 180° from the corresponding portion of the cam 108 so that the cam 114 operates in antiphase relative to the cam 108. Thus, after the cam 108 has opened the valve, the cam 114 will begin bearing against the follower 112, causing the rocker 92 to rotate in an anti-clockwise direction thereby to raise, and thus close, the valve. During this movement, the rod 94 and stirrup 52 move in a clock-wise direction. The valve will reach its seat before these movements of the rocker, rod and stirrup are completed. Thus, once the valve has been seated, the stirrup 52 will continue to rise, thereby lifting the surface 83 of the rod away from the surface 82 of the valve stem, whilst the base 54 moves up towards the portions 72 and 66 of the bearing 68, and thus causes the Bellville 60 to be compressed. When the stirrup 52 is in its fully raised condition, the Bellville 60 will exert a closing biasing force (typically 100 Newtons) on the valve in order to seal it against its seat. Although the mechanism has to do work on the Bellville to compress it, this only happens over a relatively short distance of movement of the stirrup 52, and thus gives rise to significantly reduced energy demands compared with a system in which the valve is biased closed by a spring connected in parallel.
As with other valve actuation mechanisms, tolerances and packaging constraints make it practically impossible to ensure that the axis of the cams intersects the valve axis, and the system may also need to be able to accommodate angular errors as well as translation offsets. The use of a spherical bearing as one of the abutments for the Bellville 60 can accommodate these variations, whilst enabling the assembly to be of a light weight, low inertia construction. In
The mechanism shown in
In addition, the rod assembly 184 is connected to the stirrup 152 through a pivot 226. The pivot 226 is, strictly speaking, not necessary for the required movements of the rod assembly, stirrup and valve stem relative to each other to be accommodated, but can in some circumstances facilitate assembly of the mechanism.
The upper end of the sleeve 222 also houses an internally screw threaded portion which receives a correspondingly screw threaded end 228 of a bar 230 of the rod assembly 184.
The screw threaded connection between the bar 230 and sleeve 222 enables the position of the stirrup 152 relative to the stem 150 when the valve is closed to be adjusted, and hence provides a means of setting the valve preload (the force exerted by the Bellville 160 on the bearing 168 when the valve is not seated). The desired preload is then set by tightening a locking nut 232 also carried on the screw threaded portion 228, against the top of the sleeve 222.
The embodiment shown in
Whereas the spherical bearing of the first embodiment was acted on through a single Bellville, the third embodiment uses a double Bellville 260 acting between the washer 258 and the lower portion 266 of the spherical bearing 268.
In
In the embodiment shown in
The coupling assembly is attached to the valve stem by means of a connector comprising an internally screw threaded lower sleeve 418 the top of which is connected to a plate 420 through which a pivot pin 422 extends pivotally to mount a socket portion 424 on the sleeve 418. The socket portion is internally screw threaded and co-operates with a correspondingly screw threaded portion on the outer surface of the lower region of the rod 406 to hold the rod in position relative to the socket 424. It will be appreciated that there are other ways in which the rod 406 may be attached to the socket 424 (for example by means of welding).
The upper region of the rod is also screw threaded and receives a link arm adjuster nut 426 and an associated locking nut 428. The nut 426 can be moved up and down the upper portion of the shaft to determine the minimum distance between the bearing 408 and the top of the valve stem 402 (i.e., the distance when the valve is opened), and the locking nut can be tightened against the adjustment nut to retain the latter in position once the appropriate minimum distance has been set.
The spherical bearing 408 includes a ball portion 430 which is held captive within a correspondingly shaped, i.e., part spherical, socket portion 432 on an arm 434 integrally formed with the rocker 400. The socket portion 432 has the same radius of curvature, and is concentric with, the ball portion 432 so that the ball portion 430 can rotate about its centre of curvature within the socket 432 whilst being held captive within the latter.
The rocker 434 has a similar function to the rockers of the other embodiments, and is hence mounted for angular oscillations about a rocker shaft 450 and carries a roller follower 452 which co-operates with a closing cam 454 and a further roller follower 456 which co-operates with an opening cam 458.
The ball portion 430 can slide relative to the rod 406, and can accommodate the relative rotational movements of the rod 406 and rocker 434. However, since the ball portion 430 is held captive within the socket 432, the rocker 434 is able to continue its angular travel in the closing direction (i.e., anti-clockwise as viewed in
The spring 442 can have a much lower spring rate than the Bellville washers of the other embodiments, and can thus provide improved consistency of seat load. In addition, the pre-load exerted by the spring 442 can be easily adjusted, in view of the lower spring rate, and the fact that the spring and adjustment nut are now located at the top of the rod 406. The spherical bearing and spring arrangement shown in
The embodiment of mechanisms shown in
In the embodiments shown in
The ball portion 530 is integrally formed with a cylindrical neck portion 537 which extends, coaxially with the rod 506, upwardly from the body of the ball 530 to define an extension to the wider portion of the passage 536. The neck portion acts as a guide for the compression spring 542, and the top of the compression spring 542 bears against a retaining collet 539 which is clamped into a circumferential recess 541 at the region at the top of the stem 506. The neck 537 is externally screw threaded, and retains a cap nut 543 which has a thread that very closely fits the thread on the neck 537 to provide a relatively stiff screw threaded connection between the cap 543 and the neck 537. The top of the cap 543 includes a screw threaded bore which receives a correspondingly screw threaded shaft 545. When the valve is opened, the bottom of the shaft 545 bears against the top of the rod 506, so that the distance by which the shaft 545 extends into the cap nut 543, and the spring rate of the spring 542, will determine the amount of spring pre-load on the mechanism. This can be adjusted by rotating the shaft 545 using a screwdriver (not shown) which may engage in a slot 547 at the top of the shaft 545. Once the desired pre-load has been selected, the shaft 545 can be locked in position by means of a locking nut 549.
When the valve is in its open position, for example as shown in
The valves shown in
When the closing cam exerts a force on the pull-push rod this is transmitted to the cradle by the cradle pivot pin and the cradle pulls the valve back towards its seat through a compact spring loaded mechanism and a spherical bearing which allows the cradle to rock relative to the valve stem.
The mechanism may need to be adjusted in order to function correctly. Initially the valve lash adjuster (
Thus, a correctly set up mechanism will have lash selected so that, as the engine warms up and different components expand by different amounts, the situation where the valve is jacked up off the seat because the push rod is “too long” does not arise. The seating load will vary as the engine warms up but, correctly designed, will always stay within acceptable limits.
The mechanism achieves the seating load by the application of, in effect, a “negative lash” adjustment in the closing cam mechanism—but this negative lash does not give rise to excessive loads because the disc spring can accommodate variation in the negative lash without imposing excessive loads onto the system or allowing it to lock up by going “solid”.
If required, the maximum compression of the disc spring can be limited by ensuring the Spring Retainer spigot which locates the ID of the disc spring is long enough to contact the spring seating surface in the cradle at the appropriate compression.
Although the spring element is a disc spring in the embodiments described above, it will be appreciated that the required resilience may be achieved using other resilient assemblies or components.
The spherical bearing at the valve retainer should have the same centre as the spherical radius on the end of the valve—otherwise there will be a kinematic error and the two rotations will conflict with each other.
From the present disclosure, many other modifications and variations will be apparent to persons skilled in the art. Such modifications and variations may involve other features which are already known in the art and which may be used instead of or in addition to features already disclosed herein. It should be understood that the scope of the disclosure of the present application includes any and every novel feature or combination of features disclosed herein either explicitly or implicitly and together with any such modification and variation, whether or not relating to the main inventive concepts disclosed herein and whether or not it mitigates any or all of the same technical problems as the main inventive concepts. The applicants hereby give notice that patent claims may be formulated to such features and/or combinations of such features during prosecution of the present application or of any further application derived or claiming priority therefrom.
While the present invention has been illustrated by description of various embodiments and while those embodiments have been described in considerable detail, it is not the intention of Applicants to restrict or in any way limit the scope of the appended claims to such details. Additional advantages and modifications will readily appear to those skilled in the art. The present invention in its broader aspects is therefore not limited to the specific details and illustrative examples shown and described. Accordingly, departures may be made from such details without departing from the spirit or scope of Applicants' invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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1307317.6 | Apr 2013 | GB | national |
This application is a submission under 35 U.S.C. §371 of International Application No. PCT/GB2014/051239, filed Apr. 22, 2014, which claims priority to Great Britain Application No. 1307317.6, filed Apr. 23, 2013, the disclosures of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/GB2014/051239 | 4/22/2014 | WO | 00 |