Ventilation device for a crankcase of an internal combustion engine

Abstract

A breathing device for a crankcase of an internal combustion engine, having a balancing shaft with mass-balancing weights. The breathing device is arranged in the cylinder head above the charge-cycle valves of the internal combustion engine and has at least one orifice for the inflow of gas, and a gas-guiding space which runs within the balancing shaft and which is connected to an intake system of the internal combustion engine. A space arranged outside the balancing shaft is connected to the crankcase. In order to reduce construction expenditures and to improve the degree of oil separation, at least one orifice is arranged in at least one of the mass-balancing weights. The orifice opens into at least one axially running feed bore connected to at least one oil-discharging radial bore in the mass-balancing weight. The radial bore communicates the space outside the balancing shaft with the gas-guiding space of the balancing shaft. Alternatively, the orifice may be arranged in the balancing shaft and open into the gas-guiding space which is connected to the intake system of the internal combustion engine and to oil-discharging radial bores which are defined in the mass-balancing weights and open into the space outside the balancing shaft.