LUBRICATION SYSTEM FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE

TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject matter described herein, in general, relates to a lubrication system and, in particular, relates to a lubrication system for an internal combustion engine. BACKGROUND

A lubrication system supplies lubricating oil to all moving parts in the internal combustion engine. The lubricating oil serves many purposes in the engine. The oil lubricates moving parts of the engine to reduce wear and tear by reducing friction between the moving parts. The lubricating oil also serves as a cooling agent. As the oil circulates through the various parts of the engine, the oil absorbs heat from them, thereby providing a cooling effect. Further, oil also serves as a cleansing agent, picking up particles, as it moves inside the engine.

In conventional lubrication systems provided for the internal combustion engines, oil is splashed from inside of transmission shafts onto the tooth surfaces by rotation of gears that are partially immersed in the oil. Alternatively, oil is supplied by jet from an oil supply passage onto the tooth surfaces of the transmission gears.

Known lubrication system for such engines, suffer from problems such as insufficient lubrication of the transmission system as a whole. Such problems create a necessity for machining a complicated oil passage. Further, such a lubrication system is costly to manufacture.

Therefore there is a need for providing a cost effective lubrication system that eliminates the requirement of machining a complex oil passage and that sufficiently lubricates the transmission system of an IC engine. SUMMARY The subject matter described herein is directed towards a lubrication system for an internal combustion engine. The present subject matter proposes a cost effective lubrication system that eliminates the requirement of machining a complex oil passage and that sufficiently lubricates the transmission system of an IC engine.

In order to achieve aforementioned objects, one aspect of present subject matter provides a lubricating system for an internal combustion engine including a crankcase, a set of transmission shafts disposed in the crankcase, a oil feed port supplying oil to a oil supply port through a oil passage wherein a cup shaped receiver is disposed near to the base of the oil supply port. The cup shaped receiver is located above the transmission shafts and extends from the base of inner wall on one side of the crankcase to the base of inner wall on other side of the crankcase, along the axial direction of said transmission shafts.

In accordance with another aspect of the present subject matter both the crankcase and the cup shaped receiver, which is an integral part of crankcase, is split into two halves in a plane intersecting with said transmission shaft and a groove is made on the parting surface of any one half of the crankcase. When the two halves are joined an oil passage is formed which supplies oil from the oil feed port to the oil supply port.

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present subject matter will become better understood with reference to the following description and appended

claims. This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features, aspects and advantages of the subject matter will be better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where:

Fig. I illustrates a cross-sectional view of a lubrication system of an internal combustion engine in accordance with one embodiment of the present subject matter.

Fig. 2 illustrates an intersected half of a crankcase for the internal combustion engine of

Fig.l

Fig. 3 illustrates an intersected half of a crankcase for the internal combustion engine of Fig.l DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following section, a lubrication system of an internal combustion engine in accordance with the present subject matter is described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

According to one embodiment of the present subject matter, the lubricating system for an internal combustion engine includes a crankcase, one or more transmission shafts disposed inside the crankcase, an oil feed port, an oil supply port wherein the oil feed port supplies oil to the oil supply port through an oil passage, and a cup shaped

receiver being disposed in close proximity to the base of the oil supply port wherein the cup shaped receiver is located above the transmission shafts.

Further, the transmission shafts include a main shaft and an output shaft. The transmission shafts are connected by a plurality of driving gears and driven gears mounted on the main shaft and the output shaft respectively. The crankcase is split into two halves in a plane intersecting with the transmission shafts. The cup shaped receiver, being integral with two halves of the crankcase, is also split into two halves. A groove is made on the parting surface of any one half of the crankcase such that the groove forms the integral part of the oil passage. Furthermore, a plurality of auxiliary drives is also disposed in the crankcase.

According to another embodiment of the present subject matter, the cup shaped receiver is provided at an upper portion of the crankcase along the axial direction of the transmission shafts such that the central axis of the cup shaped receiver is aligned parallel to the central axis of the main shaft. According to another embodiment of the present subject matter, the lubrication oil supply port is opened at the upper portion of the cup shaped receiver in such a manner that the opening of the lubrication oil supply port substantially coincides with the central axis of the cup shaped receiver and the outer edge of the cup shaped receiver is substantially placed away from the central axis of the main shaft, towards the output shaft.

Referring now to Fig.l, a lubrication system of an internal combustion engine is illustrated with respect to one embodiment of the present subject matter. As shown in Fig.l, an internal combustion engine of the present subject matter mainly comprises a

crankcase 101, a single-cylinder block 102, and a cylinder head 103. In the given layout, a main shaft 112 receives a rotational force from a crank shaft 106 through a gear (not shown). An output shaft 111 receives the rotational force from the main shaft 112 through a plurality of driving gears 115 and driven gears 116 disposed on the main shaft 112 and the driven shaft 111 respectively. A set of auxiliary drives 110 and 113 are also disposed in the crankcase 101.

As shown in Fig.l, a cup shaped receiver 117 is provided at an upper portion of the crankcase 101 along the axial direction of the transmission shafts i.e. main shaft 112 and output shaft 111. The cup shaped receiver 117 extends from base of the inner wall on one side of the crankcase 101 to base of the inner wall on other side of the crankcase 101 along the axial direction of the transmission shafts 111 and 112. A lubricating oil supply port 107 is disposed at the upstream end of an oil supply passage 108. A lubricating oil supply port 109 is disposed at the downstream end of the lubricating oil supply passage 108. The lubricating oil supply port 109 is opened at the edge of cup shaped receiver 117.

The crankcase 101 of the present embodiment is intersected into a left half 101/1 and a right half 101/2, by a plane intersecting with the transmitting shafts (i.e. main shaft 112 and output shaft 111).

Fig.2 illustrates one half, i.e. the left half 101/1, of the crankcase 101 intersected by a plane intersecting with the transmitting shafts. Similarly Fig.3 illustrates the right half 101/2, of the intersected crankcase 101 for the internal combustion engine shown in Fig.1,

As illustrated in Fig.2 and Fig.3, the lubricating oil supply port 109 opens at the parting surfaces of the crankcase 101. The cup shaped receiver 117 is split into a left half 117/1 and a right half 117/2 with the parting surface therebetween. A lubricating oil supply groove 108/1 is cut on the left half 101/1 of the split crankcase 101 as shown in Fig.2. On the right half 101/2 of the split crankcase 101, as shown in Fig.3, other side 108/2 of the lubricating oil supply passage 108, is without a groove. Upon assembling the crankcase 101 by combining the left half 101/1 with the right half 101/2, the complete lubricating oil supply passage 108 is formed. Thus, a lubricating oil supply passage 108 is formed without machining a complex oil passage through wall of the crankcase 101. Lubrication oil fed from an oil pump (not shown in figure) flows through the lubrication oil feed port 107 and the lubricating oil supply groove 108/1 of the lubricating oil supply passage 108, and is supplied from the lubrication oil supply port 109 onto the lower surface of the cup shaped receiver 117. At this stage, by effect of gravity, the lubricating oil fills up the cup shaped receiver 117 and overflows uniformly from the upper surface of the cup shaped receiver 117 onto the set of driving gears 115 and driven gears 116 and the like, thereby sufficiently lubricating them.

In one embodiment of the present subject matter, the cup shaped receiver 117 is provided at an upper portion of the crankcase 101 along the axial direction of the transmission shafts (i.e. main shaft 112 and output shaft 111) such that the central axis of the cup shaped receiver 117 is aligned substantially parallel to the central axis of the main shaft 112, so that the lubricating oil flows down uniformly onto the transmission gears 115 & 116.

In another embodiment of the present subject matter, the lubricating oil supply port 109 is opened substantially at a lower portion of the cup shaped receiver 117, such that the lubricating oil fills up and flows down uniformly to the transmission gears 115 and 116. In yet another embodiment of the present subject matter, the lubricating oil supply port 109 is opened at the upper portion of the cup shaped receiver 117. Further, the opening of the lubrication oil supply port 109 substantially coincides with the central axis of the cup shaped receiver. Furthermore, the outer edge of the cup shaped receiver is placed away from the central axis of the main shaft 112 so as to bias towards the output shaft 111 such that the lubricating oil fills up and flows down uniformly onto the transmission gears 115 and 116.

In yet another embodiment of the present subject matter, the lubricating oil supply port 109 is opened substantially at the upper portion of the cup shaped receiver 117, so that the lubricating oil fills up and flows down uniformly to the transmission gears 115 and 116.

Although the subject matter has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. As such, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred embodiment contained therein.