Internal combustion engine for an automobile with a divided oil pan
AssigneeVolkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft
InventorsPeter Hofbauer, Michael Willmann, Egon Wundrak
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An internal combustion engine has an oil pan divided into two chambers that communicate with each other. The first chamber is at a distance above the bottom of the oil pan, which is also the bottom of the second chamber. Because the bottom of the oil pan is cooled by the slip stream the oil in the two chambers are at different temperatures. Suction lines lead from each chamber to a thermostat valve that connects them to a discharge line. The thermostat valve operates such that when the engine is cold the oil supplied to the discharge line is relatively hot oil from the first chamber and when the engine is hot the relatively cool oil from the second chamber is supplied via the valve.
Claims12
An internal combustion engine for an automobile with an oil pan divided into two chambers from which two lubricating oil quantities having different temperatures are obtained, the two chambers are in communication with each other and are equipped with suction lines, the bottom of a first one of said chambers being placed at a distance above the bottom of the oil pan, which is also the bottom of the second one of said chambers, characterized in that
- at least the bottom region of the oil pan is exposed to the slip stream of the automobile and is designed in a heat-transmitting manner;
- and
- a suction line from each chamber opens into a common delivery line by way of a thermostat valve, said thermostat valve forms a connection means wherein at low oil temperatures, at least predominantly, effects communication of the delivery line only with the first of the chambers and at oil temperatures above a preselected level, at least predominantly, effects communication of the delivery line only with the second chamber instead of the first.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.