An automotive variable mechanical lubricant pump is mechanically driven by the internal combustion engine. The mechanical lubricant pump is designed as a positive displacement pump and is provided with a pump rotor with numerous slidable rotor vanes rotating within a shiftable control ring which is slidable between a maximum eccentricity position and a minimum eccentricity position. The rotor vanes separate the pumping chamber into numerous rotating pumping compartments. The compartment stroke is varied by increasing or decreasing the eccentricity of the control ring with respect to the pump rotor. Since the compartment stroke is variable, the pump delivery pressure can be controlled and kept more or less constant independent of the rotational speed of the lubricant pump. In a relatively simple and cost-effective construction, the mechanical lubricant pump is provided with one control ring preload spring for pushing the control ring into the maximum eccentricity position in which the compartment stroke is the most and is provided with one single counter-acting hydraulic control chamber for pushing the control ring into the minimum eccentricity position. The control chamber is typically directly charged with the pump outlet pressure. The hydraulic pressure in the control chamber can be controlled by a separate hydraulic control valve which regulates the hydraulic control chamber pressure. WO 2008 037 070 A1 discloses a typical variable mechanical lubricant pump with a hydraulic closed-loop control circuit for controlling the lubricant delivery pressure of the pump. The control circuit is provided with a complex control valve with five hydraulic ports and with two active plunger surfaces. A first active plunger surface is always pressurized with the pump delivery pressure and the second active plunger surface can selectively be pressurized with the delivery pressure or with atmospheric pressure so that a second level of a set delivery pressure can be selected. In practice, it can be disadvantageous to control the pumps delivery pressure as the control variable, because the fluidic resistance of the engine is highly variable. A reliable lubrication of the engine can only be guaranteed with a relatively high set delivery pressure considering the highest possible fluidic resistance of the engine.

Alternatively, the control variable can be the gallery pressure of the engine. In general, it is not a significant problem that the actual lubricant pressure value is picked up remote from the pump delivery port. But when the engine is started after having stood still, the engines and the pumps hydraulic system is empty and is only successively filled with the pressurized lubricant. As a result, the detected gallery pressure is very low at the beginning of the starting procedure so that the control ring stays in the maximum eccentricity position until the lubricant has arrived at the engine's gallery and until the separate hydraulic control valve is charged with the lubricant gallery pressure. As a consequence, the mechanical lubricant pump runs with a maximum eccentricity as long as the lubricant has not arrived at the pickup location of the gallery pressure.

It is an object of the Invention to provide a simple and reliable automotive variable mechanical lubricant pump. This object is solved with an automotive variable mechanical lubricant pump with the features of claim 1.

The lubricant pump is provided with a pump rotor with numerous slidable rotor vanes rotating in a shiftable control ring which is shiftable between a maximum eccentricity position and a minimum eccentricity position. The control ring encloses a pumping chamber where the pumping action takes place. The pumping chamber is divided by the slidable rotor vanes into numerous rotating pumping compartments.

The control ring can be provided linearly shiftable or, alternatively, pivotable. The term 'eccentricity' refers to the distance between the rotation axis of the pump rotor and the center of the control ring. The inner circumference of the control ring can be precisely circular or can have a non-circular contour. However, the center of the control ring preferably is the geometric middle. At low control ring eccentricity, the compartment stroke is low, at high control ring eccentricity, the compartment stroke is high. The lubricant pump is provided with a control ring preload spring for pushing the control ring into the maximum eccentricity direction and with a single hydraulic control chamber pushing the control ring into the minimum eccentricity direction against the force of the preload spring. The hydraulic control chamber is charged with the engines gallery pressure so that the control variable is the engines gallery pressure. No other hydraulic chamber is provided for systematically pushing the control ring into the low or high eccentricity direction. This hydraulic concept of the lubricant pump is simple and cost effective. The lubricant pump is provided with a closed-loop pressure control circuit for controlling the remote gallery pressure of the engine via the control chamber pressure in the control chamber. In the simplest embodiment, no further control means for affecting the general control behavior is provided in the pressure control circuit.

The lubricant pump Is provided with an integrated overpressure valve In the fluidic association with the lubricant delivery port of the pump. The overpressure valve opens to, preferably, atmospheric pressure if the applied lubricant pressure exceeds a maximum pressure limit. The term "atmospheric pressure" in this context means a pressure in the range of atmospheric pressure. The overpressure valve can be, for example, fluidically connected to the pump inlet which could have a pressure level below the atmospheric pressure. However, the overpressure valve outlet is always fluidically connected to a pressure level being in the order of atmospheric pressure. Right after a cold start of the engine, the hydraulic pressure control circuit is not or not completely filled with lubricant. Since the control variable is the gallery pressure, the hydraulic control circuit is relatively large and has a relatively high hydraulic volume as it also includes the lubrication channels of the engine. As a result, it can take up to many seconds until the hydraulic control circuit is completely filled with the lubricant.

As long as the hydraulic pressure control circuit is not completely filled and is not working properly, the control ring remains in the maximum eccentricity position so that the pump is running with the maximum volumetric performance. In particular, if the lubricant is cold and/or the rotational speed of the engine and of the pump rotor is relatively high, a hydraulic overpressure can occur in the pumping compartments which could damage or destroy the rotor vanes and other engine components as a lubricant filter or lubricant cooler.

The integrated overpressure valve guarantees that no damaging overpressures can appear downstream of the lubricant delivery port of the pump so that also a damaging lubricant overpressure In the pumping compartments is reliably avoided.

The term 'integrated" means that the overpressure valve is a part of the mechanical lubricant pump, and is, for example, integrated in the housing body of the pump. Since the overpressure valve is integrated into the pump, no external overpressure valve is needed.

The lubricant pump according to the invention is hydraulically a simple construction, guarantees a reliable lubrication of the engine because the control variable is the engines gallery pressure and reliably avoids damaging lubricant overpressures with a simple integrated overpressure valve In fluidic association with the lubricant delivery port. In an embodiment of the invention, the overpressure valve is fluidically arranged upstream of a pumping chamber outlet of the pumping chamber and downstream of the lubricant delivery port of the pump. Preferably, the overpressure valve is arranged fluidically as close as possible to the pumping chamber outlet so that damages of the slidable vanes can reliably be avoided.

In an embodiment of the invention, the overpressure valve is a typical check valve. A check valve is a simple and reliable mechanical overpressure valve and comprises a valve body and a mechanical spring preloading the valve body into the closed position.

In an embodiment of the invention, the valve outlet of the overpressure valve is fluidically directly connected to an atmospheric pump drain port. The lubricant pump is provided with one or more atmospheric pump drain port which is connectable to the lubricant tank the engine. The lubricant in the engine's lubricant tank is normally more or less at atmospheric pressure. In an embodiment of the invention, the hydraulic control circuit Is provided with a separate hydraulic pressure control valve directly regulating the control chamber pressure. The valve inlet port of the control valve Is directly charged with the remote gallery pressure of the engine via a gallery pressure port of the pump. The hydraulic pressure control valve Is basically a pure hydraulic valve without any electric valve for the basic valve function, so that the hydraulic control valve is a relatively simple and reliable mechanical means for providing and defining a properly adapted control characteristics. The hydraulic pressure control valve directs the lubricants gallery pressure to the control chamber as long as the lubricant pressure charged at the inlet port of the control valve is relatively low. If the lubricant pressure at the inlet port, which is the gallery pressure, is relatively high, the control valve reduces or closes the fluidic connection between the gallery pressure port and the control chamber to thereby control the position of the shiftable control ring to adapt the volumetric pump performance accordingly.

When the engine is started, the hydraulic control circuit including the hydraulic pressure control valve can be in part or completely empty and is only filled with air of atmospheric pressure so that no relevant pressure is present in the hydraulic control chamber. The control ring is in the maximum eccentricity position with the result that the pump performance is at the maximum level. The integrated overpressure valve reliably avoids any overpressure in the pressure part of the lubricant pump.

In an embodiment of the invention, the hydraulic pressure control valve is provided with a plunger comprising a valve body for opening and closing a valve port. If the valve port is open, the control chamber is pressurized with the gallery pressure, if the valve port is closed, the control chamber is not pressurized with the gallery pressure. The hydraulic pressure control valve is provided with a valve preload spring pushing the valve body into the open valve position in which the valve port is open. The plunger is provided with a first active plunger surface which is charged with the gallery pressure of the gallery pressure port of the control valve.

In an embodiment of the invention, the control valve plunger comprises a second active plunger surface, which is charged with the gallery pressure of the gallery pressure port via an electrically activated hydraulic set pressure switch. The second active plunger surface is connected to atmospheric pressure or to the gallery pressure, dependent on the switching status of the electrically actuated hydraulic set pressure switch. As a result, two different set-pressures can be chosen. The electrically actuated set pressure switch is controlled by an electronic set pressure control which can be a part of an engine control. The electronic set pressure control selects the set pressure in dependency on numerous conditions, for example the lubricant temperature, the atmospheric air temperature, engine's rotational speed etc.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the hydraulic control circuit is provided with an electrically controlled and actuated pressure control valve selectively connecting the control chamber to an atmospheric pump drain port or to the gallery pressure port. The electrically controlled pressure control valve is preferably a proportional valve allowing to adapt the lubricant flow to/from the control chamber in dependency on the engine's pressure situation.

Two embodiments of the invention are described with reference to the enclosed drawings, wherein figure 1 shows schematically a closed-loop control circuit with an internal combustion engine which is supplied with pressurized lubricant coming from a first embodiment of an automotive variable mechanical lubricant pump with a hydraulic pump control chamber being charged with the pump delivery pressure, with a two-level multi set pressure switch in a low set-pressure condition and with the pressure control valve in a dosed status, figure 2 shows the lubricant pump of figure 1 with the pressure control valve in an open status, figure 3 shows the lubricant pump of figure 1 with the two-level hydraulic set pressure switch in a high set- pressure condition, and figure 4 shows the control circuit with a second embodiment of the variable mechanical lubricant pump with the pump control chamber being charged with the gallery pressure via an electric pressure control valve.

The figures show an arrangement of an automotive variable mechanical lubricant pump 10, an internal combustion engine 12 and a lubricant tank 14 with a liquid lubricant 14', namely engine oil. The lubricant 14' in the lubricant tank 14 Is sucked by the lubricant pump 10 and is delivered as pressurized lubricant to the engine 12 for lubrication and cooling of the engine 12. The shown and described arrangement defines a closed-loop lubricant pressure control circuit.

The lubricant pump 10 of the first embodiment comprises a pumping unit 30, a hydraulic control valve 50 and an electrically actuated hydraulic set pressure switch 80 which all together are integrated in one single lubricant pump device. The pumping unit 30 is provided with a rotatable pump rotor 32 with five radially slidable rotor vanes 36 which are rotating in a linearly shiftable control ring 34. The pump rotor 32 is directly mechanically driven by the engine 12 via a belt or a gear. The control ring 34 is linearly shiftable in a linear shifting direction. The control ring 34 encloses a pumping chamber 26 which is divided by the rotor vanes 36 into five rotating pumping compartments. The pump rotor 32 rotates In clockwise direction.

The control ring 34 is shiftable between a maximum eccentricity position as shown in all figures thereby providing a maximum compartment stroke, and a minimum eccentricity position providing a minimum compartment stroke. In the maximum eccentricity position of the control ring 34, the pumping performance Is maximized, whereas in the minimum eccentricity position of the control ring 34, the pumping performance is minimized, The control ring 34 is arranged shiftable within a pumping unit housing 30' which supports the control ring 34 linearly shiftable. The control ring 34 is pushed by a control ring preload spring 40 into the maximum eccentricity position, as shown in the figures. The preload spring 40 is provided in a spring chamber 38 which is hydraulically connected to the lubricant tank 14 via a pump drain port 20' and which is generally under atmospheric pressure.

A hydraulic control chamber 42 is provided opposite to the spring chamber 38. The hydraulic control chamber 42 Is defined by the pumping unit housing 30' and by a control chamber piston 44 being a part of the body of the control ring 34. If the hydraulic control chamber 42 is charged with pressurized lubricant, the control ring 34 is pushed into the minimum eccentricity position against the preload spring 40.

The lubricant which is pumped and pressurized in the pumping chamber 26 and in the pumping compartments is directly discharged from the pumping chamber 26 through a pumping chamber outlet 21 to a hydraulic delivery chamber 23 which is defined by the outside surface of the control ring 34 and by the pumping unit housing 30'. The pressure of the lubricant in the hydraulic delivery chamber 23 is the delivery pressure PD of the lubricant pump 10 which is the lubricant pressure at a delivery port 22. The inlet of the engines lubricant gallery is fluidically connected to the pump's delivery port 22 so that the engines lubricant gallery is provided with lubricant with the delivery pressure PD,

The hydraulic control chamber 42 is charged with the lubricant having the control chamber pressure PC, which can be the gallery pressure PG, the atmospheric pressure PA or a pressure between the gallery pressure PG and the atmospheric pressure PA, The control chamber pressure PC In the control chamber 42 is controlled by a hydraulic control valve 50 directly regulating the control chamber pressure PC.

The hydraulic control valve 50 is provided with a valve housing which is generally cylindrical inside. A complex valve plunger 60 comprising a cylindrical valve body 64 Is provided axially shiftable within the valve housing. The hydraulic control valve 50 is provided with a valve inlet port 54 which is hydraulically directly connected to the pressure gallery pump port 24, with a valve outlet port 56 which is hydraulically directly connected to a pump drain port 20" with a valve control port 58 being hydraulically directly connected to the control chamber 42 and with a hydraulic switch port 52. The valve's hydraulic switch port 52 is charged via an electrically actuated hydraulic set pressure switch 80 either with the gallery pressure PG of the gallery pressure port 24 or with the atmospheric pressure PA of the pump drain port 20".

The valve plunger 60 is mechanically preloaded by a valve preload spring 69 pushing the valve plunger 60 into the closed valve position in which the hydraulic control chamber 42 is hydraulically connected only to the lubricant tank 14 so that the chamber pressure PC is atmospheric pressure PA. The electrically actuated hydraulic set pressure switch 80 is electronically controlled by an electronic set pressure control 82 which controls the switching state of the set pressure switch 60. The switch status of switch 60 depends on, for example, the lubricant temperature and the rotational pump speed. The set pressure switch 80 hydraulically connects the second active plunger surface 61 of the valve plunger 60 to the gallery pressure PG if the set-value of the gallery pressure PG is low, as shown in figures 1 and 2. If the set value of the gallery pressure PG should be high, the set pressure switch 80 is switched into the high pressure position to connect the second active plunger surface 61 to the atmospheric pressure PA of the lubricant tank 14, as shown in figure 3, The position of the control ring 34 is the equilibrium position in which the spring force of the control ring preload spring 40 is more or less equal to the hydraulic force generated by the control chamber pressure PC in the control chamber 42. The valve body 64 is, seen in axial direction, smaller than the valve control port 58 so that the valve control port 58 is, depending on the position of the valve body 64, fluidicaily connected only to the gallery pressure port 24 as shown in figure 2, or only to the drain port 20" of atmospheric pressure PA as shown In figure 1, or to both ports 24, 20".

The valve plunger 60 is provided with a first ring-like active plunger surface 62 and a second circular active plunger surface 61. The first active plunger surface 62 is directly charged with the gallery pressure PG which is transferred from the engine 12 to the lubricant pump 10 through a pump gallery pressure port 24 and via an internal gallery pressure line.

The second active plunger surface 61 is charged with the gallery pressure PG or atmospheric pressure PA via a separate hydraulic set pressure switch 80 which is a 2/3 valve. The second active plunger surface 61 is charged with the gallery pressure PG or, depending on the switching status of the hydraulic switch 80, with the atmospheric pressure PA. The set pressure switch is electrically controlled by an electronic set pressure control 82.

The lubricant pump 10 is also provided with an integrated overpressure valve 70 which Is a typical check valve. The overpressure valve inlet 74 is fluidically connected to a pump delivery conduit 71 and Is thereby charged with the pump delivery pressure PD. The overpressure valve outlet, 76 Is fluidically connected to the pump drain port 20" via an overpressure outlet conduit 72.

When the engine 12 is started after having stood still, the liquid lubricant

14' is sucked from the lubricant tank 14 through a pump suction port 20 into the pumping chamber 26 where the lubricant is pumped by the pumping compartments to the delivery chamber 23. If the lubricant is cold and has a relatively high viscosity, the lubricant's delivery pressure PD in the delivery chamber 23 can be relatively high. The hydraulic control valve 50 is not working properly as long as no lubricant has arrived there. In this constitution of the pump arrangement, the control ring 34 is in a maximum eccentricity position as shown in figures 1 to 3 so that the delivery pressure PD can be higher than a predefined maximum pressure limit PL. If this is the case, the integrated overpressure valve 70 opens the lubricant delivery conduit to atmospheric pressure PA via the pump drain port 20" until the delivery pressure PD is below the maximum pressure limit PL. As soon the hydraulic control valve 50 is working properly, the overpressure valve 70 is normally not open anymore. However, the overpressure valve 70 always avoids a delivery pressure PD above the maximum pressure limit PL so that a damage of the rotor vanes 36 is reliably avoided. The arrangement 10' according to the second embodiment as shown in figure 4 is similar to the arrangement of the first embodiment. But the control chamber 42 is charged via an electric proportional pressure control valve 150. The control valve 150 is electrically controlled by a control valve control 152 dependent on several parameters, such as the lubricant gallery pressure, the lubricant temperature etc.

10 variable mechanical lubricant pump 12 internal combustion engine

14 lubricant tank

14' lubricant

20 pump suction port

20' pump drain port

20" pump drain port

21 pumping chamber outlet

22 (pump) lubricant delivery port

23 delivery chamber

24 (pump) gallery pressure port 26 pumping chamber

30 pumping unit

30' pumping unit housing

32 pump rotor

34 control ring

36 slidable rotor vanes

38 spring chamber

40 control ring preload spring

42 hydraulic control chamber

44 control chamber piston

50 hydraulic control valve

52 valve switch port

54 valve inlet port

56 valve outlet port

58 valve control port

60 valve plunger

61 second active plunger surface 62 first active plunger surface

64 valve body 69 valve preload spring

70 integrated overpressure valve

71 lubricant delivery conduit

72 overpressure outlet conduit 74 overpressure valve inlet

76 overpressure valve outlet 80 hydraulic set pressure switch 82 electronic set pressure control 150 electric pressure control valve 152 control valve control