Venting method for engine crankcases

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a device to be included in a positive crankcase ventilation system for an internal combustion engine, particularly a high performance gasoline engine and/or a turbo-charged or otherwise boosted gasoline engine. In the operation of an internal combustion engine, inevitably some of the intake air and gasoline vapor passes between the piston and cylinder wall into the crankcase, called blowby gas. That vapor needs to be disposed of, and it is then normally with a positive crankcase ventilation system that feeds that vapor back to the fresh air engine intake. However, the crankcase also has oil in it, and bits of the oil can get mixed with the blowby vapors and carried up into the intake. That oil is deleterious when it is burned, causing early failure of other parts of the engine. Accordingly, it is important to remove oil from the blowby vapor that is being recirculated.

Oil in the combustion chamber will negatively affect performance and durability of an engine. It can, and most likely will, cause pre-ignition of the air fuel mixture. The venting promotes the capturing of oil and water vapor, thereby reducing the probability of oil in the combustion chamber.

Furthermore, not enough oil in the crankcase will affect the durability of the engine. Once the oil vapor or liquid has been captured into the venting system/tank, at the proper time, it is desirable for the oil to be returned to the crankcase within the engine. If this is not accomplished, a low oil condition will result in the engine. This will result in higher operating temperatures; lack of sufficient lubrication and, eventually, engine failure.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention fulfills one or more of these needs in the art by providing an apparatus for removing oil from blowby vapors in an engine having a crankcase and an intake manifold. A canister has an inlet to receive blowby vapor from the engine crankcase, a filter and a port to discharge blowby vapor depleted of oil. A groove at the bottom of the canister collects oil draining from the filter and communicates with a compartment below the groove. A first valve is positioned in a wall of the compartment and leads into a chamber that has a movable wall that is resiliently urged to close the first valve when in a first position and allows the first valve to open when in a second position. The movable wall has a side opposite the first valve that communicates with a port to connect to the intake manifold so that side of the wall is exposed to the pressure at the intake manifold. A second, normally-closed valve that is opened when the movable wall is in the second position leads from the chamber to a disposal channel for oil and then to a port for connection to a return line to the crankcase. The filter directs oil from the blowby vapors to the bottom of the housing, and collected oil flows to the compartment above the first valve and passes into the chamber above the movable wall when the engine is at high load and therefore low vacuum which pulls the movable wall to the first position. When the engine load increases, the intake vacuum increases, so the movable wall moves to the second position, closing the first valve and opening the second valve and forcing oil which has accumulated above the movable wall to the disposal channel to be routed back to the crankcase.

In one embodiment the canister has a central opening into which the blowby vapors are introduced, a central perforated stem inside the canister so that the blowby vapor with oil can be directed radially outwardly within the canister, a coalescing filter in a cylindrical form radially outward of the stem and within the canister, and the discharge for the blowby vapor is at the top of the canister and radially outwardly from the coalescing filter.

The movable wall may include a plate on a diaphragm on one side of the chamber. The movable wall may be resiliently urged to the first position by a spring. Preferably, the filter is a coalescing filter.

The first and second valves may be configured identically as discs, each having a central protrusion on one disc side forming a valve stem. The second valve is opened when the movable wall pushes the valve stem of the second valve. In an embodiment the second valve is normally closed by gravity.

The invention includes the combination of such an oil separator and the engine for which it is useful.

The invention can also be considered as a method of removing oil from blowby vapors in an engine having a crankcase and an intake manifold. The method includes filtering the blowby vapor from the engine crankcase to form a vapor depleted of oil and a collected oil, directing the vapor depleted of oil to the engine manifold. At high engine loads the collected oil is held in a chamber, and at low engine loads while the engine is still running, the collected oil is forced from the chamber back to the crankcase.

Holding the collected oil in a chamber may include allowing the collected oil to flow past an open first valve to the chamber and be held against further flow by a closed second valve. The first valve may be allowed to stay open by a low vacuum on the chamber side of the first valve when the engine is at high load.

Forcing the collected oil from the chamber back to the crankcase may include closing the first valve and opening the second valve to open a drain line to the crankcase. It may also include compressing the chamber to force the oil past the second valve.

Filtering preferably includes passing the blowby vapor radially outward through an annular filter, particularly a coalescing filter.

Filtering the blowby vapor from the engine crankcase to form a vapor depleted of oil and collected oil can conveniently include allowing the collected oil to flow under the influence of gravity to a chamber.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be better understood by a reading of the Detailed Description of the Examples of the Invention along with a review of the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic showing of a typical V-type engine incorporating an embodiment of the filter apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top perspective view of a typical filter apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a lower perspective view of a typical filter apparatus; and

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-section of a typical filter apparatus taken along lines 3-3 of FIG. 3 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLES OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows a partial cross-section of a typical V-type gasoline-powered engine embodying the present invention. Air flows into the air filter 4 through the intake duct 2. Some of this air is directed via a conduit 6 through an engine aperture 9 to the interior 12 of the engine block 10, passing first through a breather cap 8. An oil pan 14 holds a volume of lubricating oil that is circulated throughout engine interior, or crankcase, 12. As the engine runs, the lubricating oil heats and emits oil vapors, which are trapped in crankcase 12. As shown by the arrows in FIG. 1, fresh air entering crankcase 12 at aperture 9 circulates therein, mixing with the trapped vapors, exiting engine block 10 at an aperture 16, and passing thence through positive crankcase ventilating (PCV) valve 20. The direction of flow is defined by a vacuum present in the intake manifold 30 whenever the engine is running, which vacuum pulls the air through the system. The mixture of air and crankcase vapors is channeled via a conduit 22 from PCV valve 20 to inlet port 44 of oil recovery filter 24.

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 show a preferred embodiment of a filter apparatus. A canister 56 has a central opening 44 in its base into which the blowby vapors are introduced. A central stem 52 inside the canister has a number of perforations 53 in it so that the vapor and oil mist can be directed radially outwardly within the canister. After a slight spacing, the vapor and mist encounter a coalescing filter 54 in a cylindrical form. The coalescing filter causes the fine droplets of oil to coalesce to the point where they no longer are carried in the blowby vapor stream and instead are allowed to flow by gravity downwardly to the bottom of the canister 56. The blowby vapor depleted of oil exits the top of the canister through an outlet 42 that is located near the top and offset outwardly from the coalescing filter.

A base 43 at the bottom of the canister has a groove 58 (See FIG. 2) which leads to a channel 60 that extends downward to a compartment 62 in the bottom of the canister. A valve 72 is located at the bottom of that compartment 62 to lead into a larger chamber 66 closed at its bottom by a movable plate 68 sealed around its periphery by a diaphragm 69. The valve 72 can selectively cover or uncover passageways 64, depending on the valve's position. The bottom of the plate 68 is urged upward by a spring 70, and the volume 84 on the spring side of the plate is exposed to the pressure at the intake manifold 44 by inlet 45. As used herein, the term “manifold” can include similar parts that supply the intake air to the cylinders of the engine, including turbo-chargers, supercharger or other booster for the engine. Above the plate 68, a second valve 74 that is normally closed by gravity opens upward to an outward disposal channel 80 for oil when the plate is urged upward by the spring 70 and contacts it. The spring is selected to have a specifications to operate in this fashion, and is typically a compression coil spring. Alternately, an extension spring could be used, located above the plate 68. The two valves 72 and 74 can be configured identically, each as disc with a central protruding valve stem. When the plate 68 rises, it contacts the valve stem 76 of the valve 74 forcing it open and clearing passageways 78. The valve stem of the valve 72 primarily helps keep the disc's movement aligned with the communication passageways 64.

In operation, the oil removed from the blowby gas by the filter 54 drains to the compartment 62 above the first valve 72 but flows through the passageways 64 into the chamber 66 above the plate 68 when the engine is at low load and therefore high vacuum. When the engine load increases, the intake vacuum at 45 decreases, which allows the diaphragm plate 68 to move upwardly, closing the valve 72 draining from the canister and opening the second valve 74 to allow the oil which has accumulated in the chamber 66 above the plate 68 to divert outwardly to the oil drain 80 to be routed back to the crankcase.

The air entering the canister is drawn into a filter 54 that separates fine oil droplets from the air before the air returns to the engine through outlet 42. As the filter is saturated, it reduces the air flow based on mass on the filter media. This causes the vacuum from the engine to increase in the device and air flow reduces when the engine is producing the most power.

The oil collected on the filter 54 falls into the bottom of the cavity where it is picked up by the vacuum driven pump (i.e. the combined action of the valves, chamber and diaphragm plate) that returns the captured oil to the engine. This pump uses selected spring pressure balanced against changing vacuum during engine operation to drive the diaphragm in the base of the device repeatedly in and out. This action causes oil to move past the device's valves and forces it back into the crankcase of the engine. When it is time to return the collected oil to the crankcase, the arrangement of the pressures on the valves not only open the valves, but also provides a vacuum to pull the oil downward for the return path to the crankcase. Thus the system does not have to rely on gravity.

The oil collected at the bottom of the canister is continually pumped back to the crankcase as the load on the engine varies, preventing large oil accumulations. That is, when a vehicle driver or other engine operator changes the load, such as by shifting gears, or changing from acceleration to coasting or deceleration, the vacuum levels change, to force collected oil back toward the crankcase.

The following table shows the valve positions at various engine loads:

The valving that returns the collected oil to the crankcase is important to a user, and eliminates one more thing that can be forgotten, when operating a race engine over an extended period of time. Not having to remember to drain the vent oil collector has value, in view of the possible performance/safety outcomes that will result if a conventional collector is not emptied when it is full.

The coalescing filter to separate the oil from the moisture/water is a preferred structure, but other filters can be used.

Other filter geometries may also prove useful in the practice of the invention, such as a flow radially inward as taught by U.S. Pat. No. 8,449,637 to Heinen et al, or through a more planer filter material as taught by U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,406 to Namiki et al., or radially outward through a horizontal axis, as taught by U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,349 to Blum. The disclosures of these references are hereby incorporated herein by reference. The corresponding canister design has the groove to collect oil located at a position where oil on the filter can drain, and an oil drain path and pumping mechanism adapted to the revised geometry. This may result in the valves being mounted for movement along a horizontal path, but can be constrained by springs or other valve actuator.

Certain modifications and improvements will occur to those skilled in the art upon reading the foregoing description. It should be understood that all such modifications and improvements have been omitted for the sake of conciseness and readability, but are properly within the scope of the following claims.