Patent ID: 9322304
Filing Date: 2016-04-26
CPC Classification: F01L

Claim Text:
1. A variable valve actuation apparatus of an internal combustion engine, comprising: a driving rotary member adapted to be driven by a crankshaft of the engine and configured to define therein a working-fluid chamber; a vane rotor adapted to be fixedly connected to a camshaft and configured to partition the working-fluid chamber into a phase-advance hydraulic chamber and a phase-retard hydraulic chamber and configured to relatively rotate in either one of a phase-advance direction and a phase-retard direction with respect to the driving rotary member by selectively supplying working fluid to one of the phase-advance hydraulic chamber and the phase-retard hydraulic chamber and draining working fluid from the other of the phase-advance hydraulic chamber and the phase-retard hydraulic chamber; a slide bore formed in the vane rotor as an axial through hole extending along an axial direction of the camshaft; a lock member slidably disposed in the slide bore; a retaining hole formed in an inner face of the driving rotary member so as to face the working-fluid chamber; and a lock-hole structural member fixed into the retaining hole and configured to form a lock hole with which a tip of the lock member is brought into engagement when the vane rotor has relatively rotated to a predetermined angular position with respect to the driving rotary member, wherein a flat surface is formed along a given part of an inner peripheral surface of the retaining hole, and wherein a planar section is formed along a given part of an outer peripheral surface of the lock-hole structural member, the planar section being configured to abut the flat surface of the retaining hole.