Schaeffler Technologies Ag & Co .kg

Richard Best

Florin Bugescu

Debora Manther

Anna Strehlau

Yunshan Liu

Xiaopo Ma

Donald R Haefner

Matthew Evans

Lucian Botez

Lutz Kirbach

James Westbrook

Debra Manther

Jemel Jones

The switchable hydraulic lash adjuster uses balls that move radially in order to lock and unlock the switchable elements in the hydraulic lash adjuster. An axially movable piston acts on the ball to force it to engage and to allow it to disengage the inner housing.

Switchable hydraulic lash adjuster with spherical locking pins

The finger follower has an inner and outer body and a torsional lost motion spring positioned at its lash adjuster end of the outer body. The torsional lost motion springs have a short leg that abuts the outer body and a long leg that contacts the inner body. The torsional spring is located above the pivot point of the finger follower so as to provide a low mass moment of inertia and to reduce the weight over the valve stem end of the follower.

Roller finger follower for valve deactivation

The finger follower has an inner and outer body and a torsional lost motion spring positioned at its lash adjuster end of the outer body. The torsional lost motion spring has two helical parts each with a short leg that abuts the outer body and a long leg that contacts the inner body. The torsional spring is located above the pivot point of the finger follower so as to provide a low mass moment of inertia and to reduce the weight over the valve stem end of the follower.

A hydraulic cam follower for simultaneous actuation of several equal-acting gas-exchange valves, especially for a tappet pushrod valve train of an engine, includes an outer part, whose base forms a cam contacting surface, and from whose head hollow-cylindrical guides extend in the same number as the valves in a direction towards the base. A housing of a hydraulic play compensation element is provided in each guide and sits with its bottom side on an inside of the bottom of the outer part. A concentric pressure piston is guided in a borehole starting from a head end of each housing so it can move axially. A non-return valve is located at a bottom-side base of the piston and a high-pressure space is formed axially between the base and the bottom side of the housing. A reservoir for hydraulic medium is formed between the base and a head end of the piston.

Hydraulic cam follower

A switchable valve train for gas-exchange valves of internal combustion engines with a rocker arm device (), in which a rocking motion about a rocker arm axis () can be introduced by at least one cam (), one tappet, or the like, wherein this rocking motion can be transmitted to at least one valve (). The rocker arm device () is formed from at least one cam lever part () in working connection with the cam () and a valve lever part () in working connection with the valve (), which are supported so that they can rock about the rocker arm axis (). A coupling device is constructed between the cam lever part () and the valve lever part (), in order to selectively engage and disengage the transmission of the rocking motion.

Switchable valve train for gas-exchange valves of internal combustion engines

The low profile valve lifter assembly has flats inside the bore of the outer housing and walls are formed and extended down from the plate of the guide such that the walls align with the flats of the bore to prevent rotation of the lifter with the guide. A groove and protuberance are provided in the flats and on the side wall of the guide in order to properly orient the lifter with the guide. The flats can be connected to form a pocket and the walls of the guide can be connected to form a sleeve that mates with the pocket.

Low profile valve lifter assembly

A hydraulic cam follower (), such as a roller tappet, is provided. This is used for the actuation of two identically operating gas-exchange valves and should be installed inclined to the direction of the force of gravity. The cam follower () comprises a pot-shaped housing (), whose bottom () is provided with a roller as a cam contacting element (). In the housing (), two guides () extending parallel to the direction of the internal combustion engine are provided, in each of which a pressure piston () is arranged so that it can move axially, whose end () away from the housing is constructed as a support for contact with a respective tappet pushrod. Each pressure piston () encloses a reservoir () for hydraulic medium. For each pressure piston (), an opening () extends from the outer casing () of the housing () for feeding hydraulic medium to the reservoirs (), wherein the openings () are arranged on a peripheral segment of the outer casing () lying at the top viewed in the direction of the force of gravity. Thus, a so-called double roller tappet is provided as a cam follower (), which can store a sufficiently large amount of hydraulic medium despite its inclined installation.

Proposed is a cam follower () for a valve drive of an internal combustion engine, having a roller (), which is rotatably mounted on a journal (), as a cam thrust face, which journal () runs with its outer casing () in a respective bore () of a first and second guide wall () of the cam follower (), between which guide walls () the roller () is held, which outer casing () is composed of a first and a second section (), which first section () intrinsically has a greater diameter than the second section (), wherein the journal () has an axial travel limitation in one direction by means of its collar () which is situated between the sections (), and in the other direction by means of a radially projecting element such as a securing ring (), which collar () and which securing ring () abut against one of the guide walls ().

Cam follower for a valve drive of an internal combustion engine

Proposed is a switchable valvetrain () for an internal combustion engine, having a row of rocker arms () which extend in the longitudinal direction of a cylinder head, which rocker arms () run via a recess () on an upper side () on a head () of a bearing journal (), which bearing journal () is axially moveably arranged in a bore () of a carrier () which runs above, with piston-like coupling means () being provided for selectively coupling the bearing journal () to the carrier ().

Valvetrain switchable lever arm for internal combustion engine using collapsing pivot element at center pivot

Proposed is a switchable valvetrain () for an internal combustion engine, having a row of rocker arms () which extend in the longitudinal direction of a cylinder head, which rocker arms () run via a recess () on their upper side () on a head () of a bearing journal (), which bearing journal () is axially moveably arranged in a bore () of a carrier ()/insert part () which runs above, with piston-like coupling means () being provided for selectively coupling the bearing journal () to the carrier ().

A valve drive () for an internal combustion engine with a lever-type cam follower () is provided, which is used for the variable adjustable transmission of a raised section () of a cam () to a gas-exchange valve (), in that the cam follower () is supported with an end section () away from the cam on a pivot bearing (), which can be positioned variably on a circular arc-shaped displacement path (), and an end section () close to the cam includes a transmission surface () in connection with the gas-exchange valve (), and also with a support (), wherein a contact surface () for the cam () is mounted rotatably on this support (). Here, the center of the displacement path () should be essentially identical to the rotational center () of the support () when the contact surface () interacts with a raised section-free base circle () of the cam ().

Valve drive of an internal combustion engine

A device () for the hydraulic lash adjustment for several identically acting gas-exchange valves per cylinder of a valve train of an internal combustion engine is provided, the device ()including a common housing () with directly adjacent pressure pistons () provided corresponding to the number of identically acting gas-exchange valves. Each pressure piston () moves relative to the housing in an axial direction in a separate guide () in the housing (), and also has a support () for an at least indirect contact with the corresponding gas-exchange valve on a distal end () away from the housing, and a non-return valve () in the region of a housing bottom () wherein a separate high-pressure chamber () is associated with each pressure piston () in which the non-return valve () opens. The high-pressure chamber () extends axially between the bottom () of the pressure piston () and a base () of the housing (), and the pressure pistons () arranged in the common housing () have a common reservoir.

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Garden City, MI, United States of America

Richard Best