Turbocharger control linkage with reduced heat flow
AssigneeBorgWarner Inc.
InventorVahidin Alajbegovic
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The life of an actuator such as a turbocharger VTG actuator is extended by reducing heat conduction from the turbine housing along the control linkage to the actuator link and into the actuator, thereby protecting sensitive electronic components. To this end, the control linkage may be equipped with cooling fins, or be made hollow rather than solid, or be made of a thermal energy retarding material in order to retard heat from the turbine housing assembly reaching the actuator.
Claims13
A turbocharger including an electric actuator unit connected internally within a turbocharger housing (1) connected to a variable turbine geometry mechanism via an axially extending control linkage,
- wherein the axially extending control linkage includes a shaft and a rod end, and wherein at least one of the shaft and the rod ends is provided with a plurality of cooling fins along at least one axial segment thereof cooling fins.
A turbocharger including an electric actuator unit connected internally within a turbocharger housing (1) connected to a variable turbine geometry mechanism via an axially extending control linkage,
- wherein the axially extending control linkage includes a shaft and a rod end, and
- wherein at least one of the shaft and the rod ends is provided with at least one hollow segment having a plurality of cooling fins.
A turbocharger including:
- a turbocharger housing (1);
- an electric actuator unit (10) attached to the turbocharger housing (1), the electric actuator unit (10) including an actuator drive arm (12);
- at least one of a variable turbine-geometry mechanism;
- a control linkage including a drive-end rod end (15) and a driven-end rod end (7) connected directly to each other or connected via an intermediate center section, each rod end (15, 7) including a cylindrical section (20) and a head section (3) divided by a transition plane (19), with a ball (8) constrained but free to rotate in the head (3), wherein each ball includes a bore (9);
- a drive pin (14) extending from the actuator shaft (11) into the bore (9) in the ball (8) in the drive-end rod end (15);
- a driven pin (6) extending from the bore (9) in the ball (8) in the driven-end rod end (7) and connected for driving the variable turbine geometry mechanism;
- wherein a surface area of the control linkage between the transition planes (19) is at least 1.4 times that of a baseline surface area;
- wherein the baseline surface area is calculated using a model control linkage;
- wherein the model control linkage comprises a drive-end rod end (15) and a driven-end rod end (7), the rod ends connected via a shaft (16), each rod end (15, 7) including a cylindrical section (20) and the head section (3) divided by a transition plane (19), with a ball (8) constrained but free to rotate in the head section (3), wherein each ball includes a bore (9);
- wherein the model control linkage has the same centerline length as the control linkage, wherein the centerline length is the distance from the center of the ball (8) of the drive-end rod end (15) to the center of the ball (8) of the driven-end rod end (7);
- wherein a diameter of the shaft of the model control linkage is the same as a diameter of the bore (9) of the control linkage;
- wherein the lengths and diameter of the cylindrical sections (20) of the rod ends of the model control linkage are determined as follows:
- Calc. length
- Length from
- from
- Ball
- end to
- Transition
- Head
- Barrel
- bore
- centerline
- plane to end
- Diameter
- diameter
- Descriptor
- B
- A
- C
- D
- J
- Rod end 5
- 5
- 27
- 18
- 18
- 9
- Rod end 6
- 6
- 30
- 20
- 20
- 11
- Rod end 8
- 8
- 36
- 25
- 24
- 14
- Rod end 10
- 10
- 43
- 30
- 28
- 17
- Rod end 12
- 12
- 50
- 35
- 32
- 19
- Rod end 14
- 14
- 57
- 40
- 36
- 22
- Rod end 16
- 16
- 64
- 46
- 42
- 29
- Rod end 20
- 20
- 77
- 54
- 50
- 32
- and
- wherein the surface area of the model control linkage is measured between the transition planes (19).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.