Throttle device

A throttle device is described, in particular a throttle valve in a suction pipe of an internal-combustion engine. This throttle device consists of a housing, a throttle valve control, a position sensor and a throttle valve fastened to a throttle valve shaft. The throttle device is arranged between the clean-air-side air filter connection and the suction pipe of the internal-combustion engine. The air filter connection and/or the suction pipe consist of a plastic material, and the individual elements of the throttle device are constructed as modules which can be fitted, screwed or clamped together.

The invention relates to a throttle device according to the preamble of the 
main claim. 
A throttle valve is known, for example, from European Patent Document EP 04 
98 933 A1. It is integrated into a housing which can be fastened on a 
supporting body. The housing is constructed in the manner of a throttle 
valve connection piece; that is, the connection piece is fastened on one 
side to the supporting body and on the other side to the suction system of 
an internal-combustion engine. 
A disadvantage of this throttle valve fastening is the fact that high 
component expenditures are required, and a larger number of sealing 
elements is necessary between the individual components. 
Furthermore, from International Patent Document WO 91 05 152 a throttle 
device is known for reducing the charge cycle losses in the case of an 
internal-combustion engine. This throttle device is also a separate 
component which, on one side, must be connected to the suction system of 
an engine and, on the other side, must be connected to an air-carrying 
system. 
A disadvantage of this known device are the high mounting expenditures as 
well as the large number of component parts which must be joined to form a 
unit when the throttle device is assembled. In contrast, in the course of 
the continuing reduction of components and of the optimization as well as 
the weight reduction in vehicle and automobile construction, there is the 
endeavor to produce complete systems which achieve this objective. 
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a throttle device 
which requires lower mounting expenditures and simplifies the servicing of 
the system. Based on the preamble of the main claim, this object is 
achieved by means of its characterizing features. 
A significant advantage of the invention is the fact that the consequent 
use of plastic material in the area of the suction system of an 
internal-combustion engine is largely taken into account. Because of the 
lower modulus of elasticity, specifically plastic material partially 
causes much lower specific stress to the material as a result of the 
support surface considerably enlarged by deformation than in the case of 
steel pairings. In addition, synthetic material has further interesting 
features, such as resistance to corrosion, high mechanical damping, an 
extremely low friction coefficient, lower wear, a low specific weight, 
good processing capacities and low finished part costs in the case of mass 
production. Particularly the latter suitability of the plastic materials 
for a finishing at reasonable cost which is particularly striking during 
the injection molding of parts of a complicated design, makes the plastic 
materials superior to other materials. 
Known throttle valves or throttle devices were normally constructed of 
metal and arranged between a plastic air filter and a plastic suction 
system. By means of the modular construction of the throttle valve, the 
assembling expenditures can be reduced considerably. In addition, the 
modular design permits an easy exchange of defective parts and a 
componentized manufacturing in the case of which, starting from a basic 
module, different components, according to the demand, can be combined 
with one another to form a throttle device. 
An advantageous embodiment of the invention provides that the throttle 
valve be equipped with a shaft divided into two parts. This has the 
advantage of, in addition to facilitating the assembly, making it possible 
for two separate modules to be present on the shaft parts. This provides 
that the position sensor is arranged on one shaft portion and the 
adjusting unit is arranged on the other shaft portion. 
A further embodiment of the invention provides that the throttle valve 
module is to be slid as a complete unit into an existing connection piece 
or is to be connected between two connection pieces. Thus, an additional 
throttle valve connection piece is avoided. 
According to another embodiment of the invention, it is expedient to 
integrate the housing of the throttle valve module into a connection. This 
means that the connection element between an air filter outlet and a 
suction system inlet simultaneously forms the throttle valve module. 
These and other characteristics of preferred embodiments of the invention, 
in addition to being described in the claims, are also indicated in the 
specification and the drawings, in which case the individual 
characteristics may each be implemented alone or as several 
characteristics in the form of subcombinations in the case of the 
embodiment of the invention and may be implemented in other fields and may 
represent advantageous embodiments as well as embodiments that can be 
protected separately for which a protection is claimed here.

The mounting module 10 according to FIG. 1 consists of a throttle valve 11 
which is provided with two bearing parts 12, 13. On bearing part 12, a 
position tapping device or position sensor 14 is arranged; on bearing part 
13, the receiving device 15 for the Bowden cable, which is not shown here, 
is provided. The whole mounting module 10 is hung into the connecting 
flange 16 of a suction pipe. A connecting flange 17, which represents the 
clean-air outlet of the air filter, is put over the mounting module 10 and 
thus, in connection with the connecting flange 16, forms the fastening 
device for the mounting module 10. 
This mounting module can be sealed off particularly well. The connecting 
flange 16 or the connecting flange 17 may have a surrounding groove for a 
rubber sealing strip. The bearings and the additional seal may be 
preassembled as well as the throttle valve with the two lateral parts. 
By means of this method of construction, the two connecting flanges 16, 17 
may be constructed according to the system of constant wall thicknesses. 
By way of a detachable connecting technique, the mounting module may be 
replaced or repaired at any time. 
The sealing of the throttle valve 11 in the connecting flange 16 takes 
place by suitable sealing beads which are arranged in the connecting 
flange 16 and on which the throttle valve rests in a sealing manner. 
FIG. 2 illustrates a throttle valve plug-in module with divided throttle 
valve shafts. A throttle valve connection piece 18, which by means of 
suitable screwed connections, is connected to a suction system not shown 
here, consists of a plastic injection molded part. On this plastic 
injection molded part, a preassembled module 19 is fastened which contains 
position sensors and additional measuring devices as well as a half-shaft 
20. On the opposite side of the control side for the throttle valve, the 
fastening device 21 for the Bowden cable, a restoring spring 22 as well as 
the other half-shaft not visible here are arranged. Before the assembling 
of these two modules, the throttle valve is inserted into the throttle 
valve connection piece 18 and is fixed on the half-shafts by the 
assembling of the two modules. 
An advantage of this throttle valve plug-in module is the fact that the 
individual modules, such as the module 19, can be exchanged easily. In 
addition, for different series, the correspondingly adapted modules may be 
mounted in the manner of an assembly of prefabricated machine parts. 
FIG. 3 illustrates a preassembled throttle valve module 23 which is 
fastened between connecting flange 24 and connecting flange 25. While 
connecting flange 25 represents the outlet side of the air filter, 
connecting flange 24 is connected with the suction pipe side of the 
engine. The throttle valve module 23 comprises the throttle valve 26 as 
well as the throttle valve shaft 27 and the bearing 28. The position 
sensors arranged on the shafts or the activating device for the throttle 
valve are not shown here. 
FIG. 4 illustrates a throttle valve slide-in module which is fitted into a 
suction system connection piece 29. This throttle valve slide-in module 30 
consists of a throttle valve connection piece 32 in which the throttle 
valve 32 is arranged. On one side of the plug-in module 30, a position 
generator 33 is situated; on the opposite side, the position sensor 34 is 
situated. 
This slide-in module has the advantage that different constructions may be 
installed in the existing space without the requirement of changing the 
module concept. The preassembled throttle valve slide-in module is 
connected by way of a suitable sealing system with the suction system 
connection piece 29. This version also has the advantage that the whole 
module can be exchanged very rapidly.