Patent Grant
8757118
The present invention relates to a valve drive mechanism for an internal combustion engine including a shim interposed between a rocker arm and a valve to adjust a valve clearance, and to a shim for a valve drive mechanism.
In some valve drive mechanisms in which a valve 52 is opened and closed by a rocker arm 50 as shown in
The shim top surface 58 is prepared by a variety of methods. In the case where the shim top surface 58 is prepared by cutting, the shim 55 is set onto a lathe, and rotated about a center X of the shim top surface 58. A blade is applied to the shim top surface 58 to perform cutting. At the center X of the shim top surface 58, the peripheral speed is 0 even during rotation, and thus cutting cannot be performed. Therefore, a center hole 59 has been formed at the center X before the cutting. The center hole 59 does not disappear but remains even after the cutting, and an intersection line a between an inner peripheral surface 60 of the center hole 59 and the shim top surface 58 defines a corner portion of an opening edge of the center hole 59.
The shim top surface 58 has been crowned with its center bulged upward by a difference in height of about 1 to 20 μm as shown in
Similarly, the pad surface 51 facing downward has also been crowned with its center bulged downward by a difference in height of about 1 to 30 μm in the width direction, and with its center bulged downward by a radius of curvature of about 10 to 20 mm in the longitudinal direction.
In
When the rocker arm 50 is swung, the rocker arm 50 moves the valve 52 upward and downward with the pad surface 51 contacting the shim top surface 58 at a moving contact point. In this event, the pad surface 51 also contacts the intersection line a between the inner peripheral surface 60 of the center hole 59 and the shim top surface 58 (corner portion of the opening edge of the center hole 59) as shown in
In view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide a shim including a shim top surface prepared by cutting and having a center hole formed at the center of the shim top surface, in which a raise in contact pressure at an intersection line between the inner peripheral surface of the center hole and the shim top surface (corner portion of an opening edge of the center hole) that may be caused when a rocker arm is swung with its pad surface contacting the shim top surface at a moving contact point is prevented to prevent occurrence of abnormal wear.
In order to achieve the foregoing object, a first aspect of the present invention provides a shim for a valve drive mechanism that is interposed between a pad surface of a rocker arm and a stem end surface of a valve and that includes a shim top surface that is contacted by the pad surface. In the shim, the shim top surface is rotated about a center thereof to be cut, is provided with a center hole at the center thereof because the cutting cannot be performed at the center, and is shaped such that the pad surface does not contact an intersection line between an inner peripheral surface of the center hole and the shim top surface when the rocker arm is swung.
The shim top surface may be shaped such that an intermediate diameter portion thereof having a predetermined intermediate diameter is the highest, and such that a center-side portion extending from the intermediate diameter portion to the intersection line has a height that decreases from the intermediate diameter portion toward the intersection line. The predetermined intermediate diameter is smaller than a maximum contact diameter of the shim top surface contacted by the pad surface when the rocker arm is swung.
In the configuration described above, the predetermined intermediate diameter is preferably equal to or more than 20% of the maximum contact diameter, and is more preferably equal to or more than 30 to 50% of the maximum contact diameter. If the predetermined intermediate diameter is less than 20% of the maximum contact diameter, the center-side portion may be so narrow as to cause abrupt variations in height, which may cause a raise in contact pressure.
In the configuration described above, the intersection line is preferably lower than the intermediate diameter portion by 1 to 30 μm, and is more preferably lower than the intermediate diameter portion by 1.5 to 20 μm. If the intersection line is lower than the intermediate diameter portion by less than 1 μm, the pad surface which has been crowned may contact the intersection line. If the intersection line is lower than the intermediate diameter portion by more than 30 μm, the intersection line may be unnecessarily low only to reduce the strength of the plate-like portion.
In the configuration described above, the center-side portion of the shim top surface is preferably a curved surface having a sectional shape with a radius of curvature that is 2 to 200 times the intermediate diameter. Further, the radius of curvature is more preferably 3 to 150 times the intermediate diameter. This allows a suitable range of the intermediate diameter and a suitable height of the intersection line to be achieved appropriately. In addition, variations in height of the center-side portion are gentle so that a raise in contact pressure does not occur. The center-side portion of the shim top surface may be any of a variety of curved surfaces, having a sectional shape defined by an elliptic curve, an exponential curve, a sinusoidal curve, or the like.
The shim top surface is preferably shaped such that a periphery-side portion extending from the intermediate diameter portion to a shim top surface periphery has a height that decreases from the intermediate diameter portion toward the shim top surface periphery. This prevents corner contact due to misalignment with respect to the rocker arm.
In the configuration described above, the shim top surface periphery is preferably lower than the intermediate diameter portion by 1 to 40 μm, and is more preferably lower than the intermediate diameter portion by 5 to 30 μm. If the shim top surface periphery is lower than the intermediate diameter portion by more than 40 μm, the shim top surface periphery may be unnecessarily low only to reduce the strength of the plate-like portion.
In the configuration described above, the periphery-side portion of the shim top surface is preferably a curved surface having a sectional shape with a radius of curvature that is 25 to 300 times the maximum contact diameter. Further, the radius of curvature is more preferably 30 to 100 times the maximum contact diameter. This allows a suitable height of the shim top surface periphery to be achieved appropriately. In addition, variations in height of the periphery-side portion are gentle so that a raise in contact pressure does not occur. The periphery-side portion of the shim top surface may be any of a variety of curved surfaces, having a sectional shape defined by an elliptic curve, an exponential curve, a sinusoidal curve, or the like.
In addition, the diameter of an opening edge (intersection line described above) of the center hole is preferably 0.2 to 2.0 mm, and is more preferably 0.5 to 1.5 mm. If the diameter of the opening edge of the center hole is equal to or less than 0.2 mm, machining may be difficult. If the diameter of the opening edge of the center hole is equal to or more than 2.0 mm, the center hole may make contact of the shim top surface with the pad surface unstable.
In order to achieve the object describe above, a second aspect of the present invention provides a valve drive mechanism including: a rocker arm having a crowned pad surface; and a shim that is interposed between the pad surface of the rocker arm and a stem end surface of a valve and that has a shim top surface that is contacted by the pad surface. In the valve drive mechanism, the shim top surface is rotated about a center thereof to be cut, is provided with a center hole at a center thereof because the cutting cannot be performed at the center, and is shaped such that the pad surface does not contact an intersection line between an inner peripheral surface of the center hole and the shim top surface when the rocker arm is swung.
The descriptions of the shape of the shim top surface provided above are also applied to the shim of the valve drive mechanism.
According to the aspects of the present invention, it is possible to provide a shim including a shim top surface prepared by cutting and having a center hole formed at the center of the shim top surface, in which a raise in contact pressure at an intersection line between the inner peripheral surface of the center hole and the shim top surface (corner portion of an opening edge of the center hole) that may be caused when a rocker arm is swung with its pad surface contacting the shim top surface at a moving contact point is prevented, thereby preventing occurrence of abnormal wear.
A valve 8 is provided below the pad surface 6 so as to be movable upward and downward. A shim 10 is interposed between the pad surface 6 and a stem end surface 9 of the valve 8. The shim 10 includes a circular plate-like portion 11 and a cylindrical tubular portion 12 extending downward from the peripheral portion of the plate-like portion 11. The valve 8 is fitted inside the tubular portion 12 so that the stem end surface 9 contacts the lower surface of the plate-like portion 11, which causes the pad surface 6 to contact a shim top surface 13 which is the upper surface of the plate-like portion 11. Hence, a plurality of ranks of the shims 10 having their respective plate-like portions 11 with thicknesses that differ by several tens of micrometers (μm) have been prepared, and a shim 10 having a predetermined thickness selected from the shims 10 is interposed as described above to adjust a valve clearance.
Exemplary dimensions of the shim 10 are as follows. The plate-like portion 11 has a thickness of about 2 mm (providing a plurality of ranks described above). The outside diameter of the plate-like portion 11 and the tubular portion 12 is 8.5 mm. The inside diameter of the tubular portion 12 is 5.5 mm. The height from the lower end of the tubular portion 12 to the shim top surface 13 is about 5 mm. Hence, although a diameter Dd of the periphery (hereinafter referred to as “shim top surface periphery d”) of the shim top surface 13 is 8.5 mm, the pad surface 6 does not contact the entire shim top surface 13. In the embodiment, a maximum contact diameter Dc corresponding to a diameter of a maximum range c of the shim top surface 13 contacted by the pad surface 6 at a moving contact point when the rocker arm 3 is swung is 6.2 mm.
The shim 10 has been prepared by integrally shaping the plate-like portion 11 and the tubular portion 12 by forging, subjecting them to a heat treatment, and thereafter forming the shim top surface 13 by cutting. Specifically, as in the example according to the related art described above, the shim 10 formed by forging is set onto a lathe, and rotated about a center X of the shim top surface 13. A blade is applied to the shim top surface 13 to perform cutting. At the center X of the shim top surface 13, the peripheral speed is 0 even during rotation, and thus cutting cannot be performed. Therefore, a center hole 14 is formed at the center X before the cutting (at the same time as the forging described above, for example). Exemplary geometry of the center hole 14 before the cutting is as follows. The center hole 14 has an inverted cone shape with an opening edge diameter of about 1 mm and a depth of about 0.5 mm. Because the amount of the cutting is small, variation in dimension after the cutting is equal to or less than 0.2 mm. Thus, the center hole 14 does not disappear but remains even after the cutting, and an intersection line a between an inner peripheral surface 15 of the center hole 14 and the shim top surface 13 is defined in a circular shape. The intersection line a defines a corner portion of the opening edge of the center hole 14.
In the embodiment, the shape of the shim top surface 13 is set such that the pad surface 6 of the rocker arm 3 does not contact the intersection line a described above when the rocker arm 3 is swung. The thus shaped shim top surface 13 has been prepared by the cutting described above.
Specifically, the shim top surface 13 is shaped such that an intermediate diameter portion b having a predetermined intermediate diameter Db is the highest, and such that a center-side portion 16 extending from the intermediate diameter portion b to the intersection line a has a height that decreases from the intermediate diameter portion b toward the intersection line a. The predetermined intermediate diameter Db is smaller than the maximum contact diameter Dc described above. An exemplary value of the predetermined intermediate diameter Db is 2.5 to 3 mm, which is 40 to 48% of the maximum contact diameter Dc. Thus, the center-side portion 16 has an appropriate area. Therefore, the contact pressure is not raised, or the contact area of the shim top surface 13 with the pad surface 6 is not decreased excessively.
The intersection line a is lower than the intermediate diameter portion b by about 15 μm. Thus, the pad surface 6 which has been crowned does not contact the intersection line a when the rocker arm 3 is swung with its pad surface 6 contacting the shim top surface 13 at a moving contact point. Therefore, a raise in contact pressure at the intersection line a (corner portion of the opening edge of the center hole 14) can be prevented to prevent occurrence of abnormal wear.
The center-side portion 16 is a curved surface having a sectional shape with a radius of curvature of 10 mm, which is included in the range of 3.3 to 4 times the intermediate diameter Db. Thus, a preferable range of the intermediate diameter Db and a suitable height of the intersection line a can be achieved appropriately. In addition, variations in height of the center-side portion 16 are gentle so that a raise in contact pressure does not occur.
In addition, the shim top surface 13 is shaped such that a periphery-side portion 17 extending from the intermediate diameter portion b to a shim top surface periphery d has a height that decreases from the intermediate diameter portion b toward the shim top surface periphery d. This prevents corner contact due to misalignment with respect to the rocker arm 3.
The shim top surface periphery d is lower than the intermediate diameter portion b by about 20 μm. This does not reduce the strength of the plate-like portion.
The periphery-side portion 17 is a curved surface having a sectional shape with a radius of curvature of 240 mm, which is 38 times the maximum contact diameter Dc. Thus, a suitable height of the shim top surface periphery d can be achieved appropriately. In addition, variations in height of the periphery-side portion 17 are gentle so that a raise in contact pressure does not occur.
The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, and may be modified appropriately without departing from the scope of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-049518 | Mar 2012 | JP | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7424876 | Diggs | Sep 2008 | B2 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 08-193507 | Jul 1996 | JP |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20130233266 A1 | Sep 2013 | US |
