Patent Application
20110180494
This application claims priority from European Patent Application EP 10425015.1 filed Jan. 26, 2010.
The present invention relates to a device for a more accurate filtration of motor oil which can be applied to common internal combustion engines. In particular, such device allows the lubricant to be refined from the undesired solid fraction in parallel to blow-by vapours treatment.
In the current state of art, a series of applications is known regarding the filtration of motor oil which is particularly applied to internal combustion engines for auto-traction or generally little engines.
For example, the international patent application WO0234422 relates to an “outer” cleaning system for the inner portions of an internal combustion engine, which is made up of an outer unit provided with a filtering means, the unit being conceived to let a cleaning solution in the engine, which is suitable for the engine to be treated. Such solution is pumped inside the engine by means of the oil pump in a continuous way and while the engine is working during the entire “cleaning” process.
The US patent US20040154970 describes instead an almost cylindrically-shaped filter for motor oil, to be used in internal combustion engines, which comprises a filtering element which is active both mechanically and chemically, preferably made up of a plurality of pellets arranged inside the filtering element.
Finally, the US patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,596 to Premo Lubrication Technologies is surely the most interesting case as the present invention is provided as an improvement of the same. In particular, the patent relates to a device for filtering motor oil from solid particulate and volatile compounds. The device is made up of a “traditional” oil filter, at the top of which an evaporation chamber is provided, which is connected with said filter. The motor oil to be filtered firstly goes through the “traditional” filter in order to remove the solid impurities and then goes through the evaporation chamber, which is heated outside, in order to separate the residual volatile compounds.
Surely, on the one hand such application is advantageous as it provides a more accurate filtration of the motor oil by means of the additional filtration of the same oil in the evaporation chamber on top of the same motor oil filter; while being however disadvantageous to the engine owing to drawbacks related to the blow-by vapours flow. The blow-by flow is the flow of oil vapours, coming from the engine sump, which are recirculated inside the suction duct and therefore burned in the combustion chamber. In particular, this recirculation occurs naturally owing to the depression generated in the suction duct. When the engine revolutions increase, the suction depression is greater; thus there is also a greater risk that some oil in liquid phase is recirculated during suction, and therefore in the chamber, together with the vapour phase. Such phenomenon is undesired as it leads to a to sensible worsening of the efficiency and environmental impact of the combustion provided in the engine. In order to obviate this drawback, producers generally provide an on-off type valve between the engine sump and the suction duct, which as it closes when reaching a determined number of revolutions, prevents the blow-by vapours to be recirculated. As a consequence, there is no vent volume for said vapours. The present invention solves the above described drawbacks as it improves the device according to the previous state of art in that it allows the oil vapours, and possibly the liquid oil as well, coming from the sump to be vented inside the evaporation chamber, which is heated outside. Moreover, inside said chamber, the liquid oil can be separated from the vapour phase, and both the phases are filtered in the filter itself. Therefore there is no recirculation of the liquid phase in the suction manifold.
As already previously stated, the present invention solves this strongly undesired technical drawback since it is a traditional filter for motor oil combined with venting and filtering the blow-by flow coming from the sump inside a condensation/expansion chamber provided with electrode, arranged at the top of said “traditional” filter.
These and other advantages will be described in the following description of the invention, specifically referring to the drawings 1/1 and 2/2, which represent different, not limiting and preferred embodiment examples of the present invention, in which:
Referring to
Referring to
Ultimately, the filtration device which is object of the present invention, even if it is an improvement of the patent to Premo Lubrication Technologies already known in the state of art, provides a fundamental new concept: the treatment of the blow-by flow. In fact, the expansion, the separation of the liquid phase and the filtration of the oil vapours in an expansion/condensation chamber prior to their re-inletting in the suction manifold leads to a series of advantages. First of all, motor oil in liquid phase is prevented from reaching the suction manifold without however obstructing the pneumatic connection between the engine sump and the suction manifold; moreover it improves the efficiency of the combustion which will occur inside the engine since the oil vapours are “cleaned” from the liquid phase which is strongly undesired during suction. The almost immediate consequence of the improvement in the functioning conditions of the engine is linked to longer ordinary maintenance times of the engines analysed by using the inventive device. Moreover, environmental damage in terms of harmful emissions of pollutants is advantageously avoided by using said device; this aspect is decidedly relevant above all in view of the continuous updating of the anti-pollutions rules.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10425015.1 | Jan 2010 | EP | regional |
