Patent Application
20130014712
The present invention relates to a valve cooling device that circulates engine oil in valves of an internal combustion engine.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-154808, filed Jul. 13, 2011, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
In the related art, a valve cooling device is known which circulates engine oil in the inner portion of a valve through a flow channel in a valve stem.
For example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2006-266130, an oil supply and discharge port is provided on a side surface of a valve lifter with respect to the inner portion of a valve, and the oil supply and discharge port is opened to either an oil jacket in a head or a space in the head according to an operation of the valve lifter.
Moreover, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H5-202747, engine oil is supplied from a plunger portion that configures a pivot of a locker arm to an oil jacket in a valve umbrella portion via (a) an oil collector in a base end portion of the locker arm, (b) an oil passage in an arm main body of the locker arm, (c) an oil discharge channel in a tip portion (spherical-convex portion) of the locker arm, and (d) an introduction channel in the valve stem. Moreover, the supplied engine oil is returned to a space in the head via a lead-out channel in the valve stem.
However, in the technology described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2006-266130, since an engine oil discharge pathway is intermittently opened and the engine oil in the valve is discharged due to inertia of the reciprocation of the valve, circulation of the engine oil is incomplete, and there is a problem in that it is difficult to perform valve cooling.
In addition, in the technology described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H5-202747, heat exchange between the engine oil having relatively high temperature after cooling the valve umbrella portion and the engine oil having relatively low temperature just after being introduced to the valve is generated through a partition between the introduction channel and the lead-out channel in the valve stem, there is also a problem in that it is difficult to perform valve cooling.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide improved circulation of engine oil in a valve, to suppress heat exchange of the engine oil before and after cooling the valve, and to provide a valve cooling having improved efficiency in a device of an internal combustion engine.
(1) According to an aspect of the present invention, a valve cooling device of an internal combustion engine is provided in which engine oil is circulated in a valve that faces a combustion chamber, wherein the valve includes: a valve umbrella portion that intakes air from the combustion chamber side or opens and closes an exhaust passage end; and a valve stem that extends from the valve umbrella portion to a valve operating chamber side, wherein the valve stem includes: an oil introduction channel which extends so as to be parallel to the valve stem and in which one end is opened in an extended direction of the stem and the other end reaches an inner portion of the valve umbrella portion; and an oil lead-out channel which similarly extends so as to be parallel to the valve stem and in which one end communicates with the other end of the oil introduction channel in the valve umbrella portion and the other end is opened to an inner portion of the valve operating chamber, a jet portion that includes a jet oil passage coaxially disposed with the oil introduction channel is provided in the extended direction of the valve stem, and the engine oil is injected from an orifice provided on a tip portion of the jet oil passage to an inner portion of the oil introduction channel.
(2) In the valve cooling device of an internal combustion engine described in (1), the valve stem may include a hollow stem main body that forms the outer circumferential shape and an inner pipe that is coaxially inserted into the hollow stem main body, and the oil introduction channel may be formed on an inner circumference of the inner pipe, and the cylindrical oil lead-out channel may be formed on an outer circumference of the inner pipe and an outer circumference of the hollow stem main body.
(3) In the valve cooling device of an internal combustion engine described in (2), a sum of concentricity between the inner pipe and the orifice and a diameter of the orifice may be smaller than a diameter of an oil introduction port of the oil introduction channel.
(4) In the valve cooling device of an internal combustion engine described in (3), a diffusion angle θj of an oil jet stream that is injected from the orifice may be expressed by Equation A below when an inner diameter of the inner pipe is dpi, the diameter of the orifice is dj, a distance from the orifice to an inner bottom surface of the valve umbrella portion is H, and a valve maximum lift amount is L.
θj=tan−1{(dpi−dj)/2(H+L)} [Equation A]
(5) In the valve cooling device of an internal combustion engine described in (2), the diffusion angle θj of an oil jet stream that is injected from the orifice may be expressed by Equation A below when the inner diameter of the inner pipe is dpi, the diameter of the orifice is dj, the distance from the orifice to the inner bottom surface of the valve umbrella portion is H, and the valve maximum lift amount is L.
θj=tan−1{(dpi−dj)/2(H+L)} [Equation A]
(6) In the valve cooling device of an internal combustion engine described in any one of (1) to (5), a flow channel area of the oil lead-out channel may be larger than the flow channel area of the oil introduction channel.
(7) In the valve cooling device of an internal combustion engine described in any one of (1) to (6), an oil jacket that has an outer diameter larger than the outer diameter of the stem when viewed from an axial direction of the valve stem may be formed in the valve umbrella portion.
(8) In the valve cooling device of an internal combustion engine described in any one of (1) to (7), a gallery for jet may be provided between an exhaust cam shaft and an intake cam shaft, and the jet portion may be connected to the gallery for jet.
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
A valve gear mechanism of the engine 1 can perform not only a valve variable control that drives the intake valve 4 and the exhaust valve 8 but also a cam phase variable control that continuously changes the cam phase of each of the valves 4 and 8 by any one of a plurality of kinds of cams (for example, a low speed cam, a high speed cam, and the like) that are provided for each valve.
For example, in the valve variable control, each of the locker arms 3 and 7 is divided into a plurality of pieces so as to be individually engaged with a plurality of kinds of cams, the pieces are connected to or released from each other according to appearance and disappearance of a connection pin that is disposed between each of the pieces, and the cam for driving the valve can be switched.
The operation of each connection pin is performed by switching a supply passage of the engine oil (oil pressure) to a hydraulic fluid chamber through a spool valve 9a.
In cam phase variable control, valve timing is advanced or delayed by changing a relative angle of a transmission member with respect to each of cam shafts 2 and 6 through an operation of a vane actuator 9b that is provided on end portions of each of the cam shafts 2 and 6. The operation of each vane actuator 9b is performed by switching the supply passage of the engine oil (oil pressure) to the hydraulic fluid chamber through a spool valve 9c.
Reference numeral 11 indicates an oil pump in an engine case in the drawings.
Reference numeral 12 indicates an oil filter that is disposed at the downstream side of the oil pump 11.
Reference numeral 13 indicates a main gallery that is disposed at the downstream side of the oil filter 12 and extends in a crank axial direction.
Reference numeral 14 indicates crankshaft bearing oil passages that extend from the main gallery 13.
Reference numeral 15 indicates crank pin oil passages that communicate with the crankshaft bearing oil passages 14.
Reference numeral 16 indicates jet oil passages for a piston that extend from the main gallery 13.
Reference numeral 17 indicates a control oil passage that extends from one end portion of the main gallery 13 and reaches each of spool valves 9a and 9c.
Reference numeral 18 indicates a cylinder side oil passage that extends from a middle portion of the main gallery 13 and reaches a cylinder head 19.
Hereinafter, a cooling structure of the exhaust valve 8 will be described with reference to
The exhaust valve 8 integrally includes a valve umbrella portion 21 that opens and closes an opening of a combustion chamber R1 side end of an exhaust port 19a, and a bar-shaped valve stem 22 that linearly extends so as to penetrate a wall portion of the exhaust port 19a from the valve umbrella portion 21 toward a valve operating chamber R2 that is formed at a side (head tip side) opposite to the combustion chamber R1 in the cylinder head 19. Moreover, reference numeral 19b indicates a valve guide that is fixed to the cylinder head 19 and holds the valve stem 22 so as to be inserted in such a manner as to allow the strokes of the valve stem.
A disciform spring retainer 24 that sandwiches a valve spring 23 between a tip portion of the valve stem 22 and a seating surface formed on the cylinder head 19 is integrally mounted on the tip portion of the valve stem 22.
A cylindrical valve lifter 25 having relatively small diameter coaxially protrudes from an end surface of the tip side of the stem in the spring retainer 24, and a valve pressing surface 32a of the tip portion 32 of the exhaust locker arm 7 abuts the tip surface of the valve lifter 25.
The exhaust locker arm 7 includes a base end portion 31 that forms a concave spherical surface 31a which is matched to a spherical pivot 26 supported to the cylinder head 19, a tip portion 32 that forms a convex curved valve pressing surface 32a on the valve lifter 25 side, and a cam roller 33 that is supported to a middle portion between each of the end portions 31 and 32.
The base end portion 31 of the exhaust locker arm 7 is fitted to the pivot 26 from the head tip side and is supported so as to be swung.
The outer circumference of the head tip side of the cam roller 33 is brought into contact with a cam lobe 6a of the exhaust cam shaft 6 in a rolling manner, and as shown in
In addition, if the exhaust cam shaft 6 is further rotated and the pressing of the cam roller 33 is released, the exhaust valve 8 is operated so as to be closed by the biasing force of the valve spring 23, and according to this, the exhaust locker arm 7 is returned to the state before the swing (refer to
The pivot 26 is supported by a plunger 27 that is inserted into a holding hole 27a of the cylinder head 19 in such a manner as to allow the strokes of the plunger 27. The plunger 27 receives a part of the oil pressure that is supplied to the cylinder head 19 when the engine 1 is operated and pushes up the base end portion 31 of the exhaust locker arm 7 toward the head tip side (exhaust cam shaft 6 side) via the pivot 26. Thereby, a clearance between the valve pressing surface 32a and the valve lifter 25 is not present.
As shown in
Also with reference to
For example, the inner pipe 36 is made of a titanium alloy, the end portion of the valve operating chamber R2 side of the inner pipe is held so as to be inserted into the inner circumference of the end portion (thick portion) 35a of the valve operating chamber R2 side of the hollow stem main body 35, and the end portion of the combustion chamber R1 side of the inner pipe is held so as to be inserted into the inner circumference of a pipe holder 21b in the valve umbrella portion 21 (oil jacket 21a).
Also with reference to
As shown in
The oil introduction channel 37 extends so as to be parallel to the valve stem 22, one end of the channel 37 is opened toward the extended direction (in valve operating chamber R2) at the tip (valve operating chamber R2 side end) of the inner pipe 36, and the other end of the channel is opened to the oil jacket 21a in the valve umbrella portion 21. Hereinafter, the opening at the tip of the inner pipe 36 of the oil introduction channel 37 is referred to as an oil introduction port 37a.
The oil jacket 21a is formed in a disk shape so as to be wider than the outer diameter of the valve stem 22 when viewed from the axial direction of the valve stem, and the oil jacket can cool the valve umbrella portion 21 over a wide area.
The oil lead-out channel 38 extends so as to be parallel to the valve stem 22, one end of the oil-lead out channel 38 is opened at the oil jacket 21a in the valve umbrella portion 21, and the other end of the oil lead-out channel 38 is opened further outward (in valve operating chamber R2) than the spring retainer 24 at the stem outer circumference of the combustion chamber R1 side. Hereinafter, the opening at the stem outer circumference of the oil lead-out channel 38 is referred to as an oil lead-out port 38a.
In addition, a jet portion 41, which can inject a part of the engine oil (hydraulic pressure) supplied to the cylinder head 19 through the cylinder side oil passage 18 toward the inner portion of the inner pipe 36 (inner portion of the oil introduction channel 37) of the valve stem 22, is provided at a portion that is positioned further toward the head tip side than the tip portion 32 of the exhaust locker arm 7 in the cylinder head 19.
As shown in
The gallery 39 for jet is provided so as to parallel to the exhaust cam shaft 6 and the intake cam shaft 2 between these (refer to
At the opening of the tip of the jet oil passage 43, an orifice (oil jet) 44 is provided in which the flow channel of the opening is narrowed and the engine oil can be injected toward the oil introduction channel 37 (oil lead-out port 38a). The orifice 44 approaches the stem tip (oil introduction port 37a) of the exhaust valve 8 which is a full-closed state and injects the engine oil toward the oil introduction port 37a in a straight jet shape which has the same axis as the oil introduction port and is parallel to the port. The jet portion 41 can inject the engine oil to the oil introduction channel 37 of the exhaust valve 8 at an arbitrary stroke position between the full-closed state and a full-opened state of the exhaust valve 8.
In the present embodiment, concentricity E of the oil introduction channel 37 (oil introduction port 37a) with respect to the jet oil passage 43 (orifice 44) is determined considering processing errors, assembly errors, heat spread differences, and the like of engine components. However, the sum tolerance of the concentricity E and a diameter dj of the orifice 44 is set so as to be less than or equal to a diameter of the oil introduction port 37a (corresponding to an inner diameter dpi of the inner pipe 36).
That is, since a diffusion angle of the straight jet is minute and broadening of the injection is small even though the orifice 44 and the oil introduction port 37a are separated by a maximum lift amount of the exhaust valve 8, if a relationship of dpi≧dj+E is satisfied, it is considered that the jet injection from the orifice 44 does not collide with the tip of the inner pipe 36 and enters the oil introduction port 37a.
Moreover, a flow channel area (cross-sectional area) Ao of the oil lead-out channel 38 in the valve stem 22 is set so as to satisfy a relationship of Ao>Ai with respect to the flow channel area (cross-sectional area) of the oil introduction channel 37. Thereby, an oil discharging characteristic (easy discharge) from the oil lead-out channel 38 with respect to the jet injection to the oil introduction channel 37 is secured, and circulation of the engine oil in the exhaust valve 8 is improved. Moreover, since the present embodiment is not a structure in which the oil introduction port 37a and the oil lead-out port 38a are occluded, much more engine oil is supplied and cooling capacity can be enhanced.
With reference to
Ao=(dsi2−dpo2)/4×π [Equation 1]
Ai=dpi
2/4×π [Equation 2]
In this way, the relationship of Ao>Ai is satisfied, and thereby, the discharging characteristic of the engine oil which is introduced into the valve stem 22 is secured.
In addition, if the diameter (dj) of the orifice 44 (jet injection port) is φ 1 mm, the shape of the jet is a parallel straight jet having a mainstream diffusion angle of approximately 0 degrees, and the concentricity (E) of the oil introduction port 37a (oil introduction channel 37) with respect to the orifice 44 (jet oil passage 43) is φ 0.8 mm, the mainstream of the oil jet satisfies the relationship of dpi≧dj+E, and thereby, the engine oil does not collide on the tip surface of the inner pipe 36 and enter the oil introduction port 37a.
Moreover, with reference to
θj=tan−1((dpi−dj)/2(H+L)) [Equation 3]
In this case, natural convection between oil spray in which the oil jet stream contacts the inner surface of the inner pipe 36 and the temperature is increased and the oil mainstream is suppressed, higher heat transfer is obtained due to impinging jet approximately perpendicular to the inner surface 21c in the valve umbrella portion through the coaxial injection into the inner pipe 36, heat exchange between the inner engine oil and the outer engine oil of the inner pipe 36 is also suppressed, and the exhaust valve 8 can be effectively cooled.
Moreover, since an arbitrary valve lift amount (l) which is less than the valve maximum lift amount and the concentricity (e) of the oil introduction channel 37 with respect to the jet oil passage 43 in the lift amount become L>l and E≧e respectively, Equations 1 to 3 are satisfied regardless of the valve lift state.
As shown in
As described above, in the valve cooling device of the internal combustion engine (engine 1) in the embodiment, the engine oil is circulated in the exhaust valve 8 which faces the combustion chamber R1.
The exhaust valve 8 includes the valve umbrella portion 21 that opens and closes the exhaust passage end from the combustion chamber R1 side, and the valve stem 22 that extends from the valve umbrella portion 21 to the valve operating chamber R2 side.
In the valve stem 22, the oil introduction channel 37 which extends so as to be parallel to the valve stem 22 and in which one end is opened in the extended direction of the valve stem and the other end reaches the inner portion of the valve umbrella portion 21, and the oil lead-out channel 38 which similarly extends so as to be parallel to the valve stem 22 and in which one end communicates with the other end of the oil introduction channel 37 in the valve umbrella portion 21 and the other end is opened to the inner portion of the valve operating chamber R2 are formed.
In the extended direction of the valve stem 22, a jet portion 41 having the jet oil passage 43 that is coaxially disposed with the oil introduction channel 37 is provided, and the engine oil is injected from the orifice 44 provided at the tip portion of the jet oil passage 43 into the oil introduction channel 37.
According to the above-described configuration, since the engine oil is coaxially injected from the orifice 44 of the jet portion 41 to the oil introduction channel 37 of the exhaust valve 8, the circulation of the engine oil in the exhaust valve 8 is favorably performed, the contact or collision of the engine oil with respect to the inner wall surface of the oil introduction channel 37 is suppressed, occurrence of heat exchange with the engine oil having a relatively high temperature in the oil lead-out channel 38 or the oil spray is suppressed, and valve coolability can be improved.
In addition, in the valve cooling device, the valve stem 22 includes the hollow stem main body 35 that forms the outer circumferential shape and an inner pipe 36 that is coaxially inserted into the hollow stem main body 35, the oil introduction channel 37 is formed on the inner circumference of the inner pipe 36, the cylindrical oil lead-out channel 38 is formed on the outer circumference of the inner pipe 36 and the inner circumference of the hollow stem main body 35, and the oil introduction channel 37 and the oil lead-out channel 38 can be effectively formed in the valve stem 22 having a double tube structure.
Moreover, in the valve cooling device, since the sum of the concentricity E between the inner pipe 36 and the orifice 44 and the diameter dj of the orifice 44 is smaller than the diameter dpi of the oil introduction port 37a of the oil introduction channel 37, the oil jet stream which is injected from the orifice 44 is introduced into the oil introduction channel 37 without the collision with the tip of the inner pipe 36, and the oil jet stream can be supplied to the valve cooling without waste.
In addition, in the valve cooling device, since the diffusion angle θj of the oil jet stream is set using the orifice diameter (jet diameter) dj and the stroke amount L of the valve, the contact of the oil jet stream to the inner wall surface of the inner pipe 36 is suppressed, the heat exchange of the engine oil before and after cooling the valve is suppressed, the oil jet stream can directly collide with the inner bottom surface 21c of the valve umbrella portion which is the surface to be cooled, and the valve coolability can be improved.
Moreover, in the valve cooling device, since the flow channel area Ao of the oil lead-out channel 38 is larger than the flow channel area Ai of the oil introduction channel 37, the discharging characteristic of the engine oil that is introduced into the exhaust valve 8 is secured, and the exhaust valve 8 can be effectively cooled.
In addition, in the valve cooling device, since the oil jacket 21a is formed so as to be wider than the outer diameter of the valve stem 22 when viewed from the axial direction of the valve stem 22 in the valve umbrella portion 21, the valve umbrella portion 21 which easily receives the heat of the combustion chamber R1 can be cooled over a wide area.
Moreover, since the valve cooling device includes the gallery 39 for jet that is provided between the exhaust cam shaft 6 and the intake cam shaft 2 and the jet portion 41 is connected to the gallery 39 for jet, the gallery 39 for jet is effectively disposed in the valve operating chamber R2 and the engine oil can be supplied to the jet portion 41.
In addition, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment. For example, the present invention is not limited to the line type engine having a plurality of cylinders, and may be also applied to a V type or a horizontal type engine having a plurality of cylinders or a single cylinder engine.
Moreover, the configuration in the embodiment is an example of the present invention, and various modifications may be performed within a scope without departing from the gist of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-154808 | Jul 2011 | JP | national |
