Hydraulic Control Valve for Engine Timing Adjustment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing valve timing adjustment systems for internal combustion engines face challenges in reliably implementing self-locking and unlocking operations with low working fluid loss, which affects engine performance.
Innovation Solution
A hydraulic control valve configuration with a rotor, camshaft cooperation, and a locking pin member, along with a spool and distribution ports, allows for selective fluid supply and discharge to adjust valve timing, enabling self-locking and unlocking operations while minimizing fluid loss.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a conventional valve timing adjustment system is used, then the system structure is simple, but the self-locking and unlocking operations are unreliable and working fluid loss is high
Solution Approach 1:
The valve timing adjustment system is segmented into distinct functional chambers: an advance chamber for advancing valve timing, a retard chamber for retarding valve timing, and a locking chamber for self-locking. The rotor is divided into multiple vanes that create these sealed chambers, allowing independent control of each function through dedicated fluid passages and ports.
Solution Approach 2:
A locking pin member acts as an intermediary mechanism between the rotor and housing. The pin can engage with locking grooves to prevent relative rotation, providing reliable self-locking. The pin is controlled by hydraulic pressure through the locking chamber, allowing it to engage and disengage as needed without direct mechanical linkage.
Solution Approach 3:
The system uses hydraulic control through a valve body with multiple ports (advance port, retard port, locking port) and passages to supply and discharge working fluid to the respective chambers. The hydraulic pressure controls the movement of vanes and the locking pin, enabling precise and reliable timing adjustment and locking operations.
2Reliability
If a valve timing adjustment system with locking mechanism is implemented, then the operational reliability is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The valve body integrates multiple control functions into a single component. The advance port, retard port, and locking port are all part of the same valve body structure, which also contains the spool and spring assembly. This merging reduces the number of separate components while maintaining full control functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotor serves multiple functions: it advances valve timing through vanes in the advance chamber, retards timing through vanes in the retard chamber, and enables self-locking through the locking pin mechanism. The working fluid serves dual purposes of both timing adjustment and locking control.
Solution Approach 3:
The locking pin member is nested within the rotor structure, with the pin movable within the rotor to engage locking grooves in the housing. The advance and retard chambers are nested within the rotor, with vanes creating sealed spaces between rotor and housing surfaces.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution ensures reliable phase angle control and improved engine performance by precisely managing working fluid flow through the valve timing adjusting device, reducing fluid loss and enhancing operational reliability.
Implementation Method 1
a locking pin member elastically installed at a locking chamber formed at the vanes
Implementation Method 2
a hydraulic control valve configured to selectively supply working fluid to or discharge from a valve timing adjusting device
Implementation Method 3
an outer spool elastically installed in the spool space of the valve body
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides a hydraulic control valve for a valve timing adjusting device of an engine. The valve timing adjusting device has a hydraulic control valve; a housing; a rotor installed in the housing and having vanes forming advance, retard and locking chambers, respectively; and a locking pin member elastically installed at the locking chamber. In particular, the hydraulic control valve includes: a valve body connected to the camshaft and having ports and a spool space; an outer spool elastically installed in the spool space and having distribution ports selectively communicated with or disconnected to the ports of the valve body; and an inner spool that is integrally coupled to the outer spool and forms a supply passage connected to a working fluid pump and a drain passage connected to a drain tank together. With this arrangement, the hydraulic control valve reliably provides phase angle control operation and the self-locking operation to adjust a valve timing and thereby improving engine performance.