The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 19, 1997
Filed:
Sep. 19, 1996
Roger P Butterfield, Trumansburg, NY (US);
J Christian Haesloop, Rock Stream, NY (US);
Borg-Warner Automotive, Inc., Sterling Heights, MI (US);
Abstract
A camshaft (126) has a vane (160) secured to an end thereof for non-oscillating rotation therewith. The camshaft (126) also carries a housing (129) which can rotate with the camshaft (126) but which is oscillatable with the camshaft (126). The vane (160) has opposed lobes (160a, 160b) which are received in opposed recesses (131, 132), respectively, of the housing (129). The recesses (131, 132) have greater circumferential extent than the lobes (160a, 160b) to permit the vane (160) and housing (129) to oscillate with respect to one another, and thereby permit the camshaft (126) to change in phase relative to a crankshaft. The camshaft (126) tends to change direction in reaction to engine oil pressure and/or camshaft torque pulses which it experiences during its normal operation, and it is permitted to either advance or retard by selectively blocking or permitting the flow of engine oil through the return lines (101, 102) from the recesses (131, 132) by controlling the position of a spool (300) within a spool valve body (198) in response to a signal indicative of an engine operating condition from an engine control unit (108). The spool (300) is selectively positioned by controlling hydraulic loads on its opposed end in response to a signal from an engine control unit (108). The vane (160) can be biased to an extreme position to provide a counteractive force to a unidirectionally acting frictional torque experienced by the camshaft (126) during rotation.