Patent Publication Number: US-6659064-B1

Title: Compact four-stroke combustion engine, especially for the use in a portable working device

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to the field of the internal combustion engines. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The prior art is a four-cycle engine with oil lubrication, the oil being separately stored from the fuel. The oil is purposefully delivered to the corresponding lubrication points, or it comes from an oil sump as an oil-air mixture (oil mist) to the lubrication points. 
     The lubrication of a four-cycle internal combustion engine with a fuel-oil-air mixture, similar to the lubrication of two-cycle engines, is also known. The mixture is guided by the carburetor into the crank chamber. A one-way valve avoids the flowing back of the mixture into the carburetor. The mixture arrives over a tubular duct directly into the cylinder head or into a compression chamber. A further one-way valve avoids then the flowing back of the mixture into the crank chamber (see for example the printed document EP-A 1-0 631040 ). 
     In the known mixture lubrication of the four-cycle internal combustion engine, the whole mixture is guided through the crank chamber to the intake port. This does not only cause an undesired increased flow resistance but also makes necessary the complicated and expensive installation of different valves at different points. A further disadvantage is that the whole mixture is heated through the crank chamber and that the filling of the cylinder is thus reduced. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The aim of the invention is thus to create a four-cycle internal combustion engine with mixture lubrication which is simply structured for a lubrication which is simultaneously independent of the position and which has a favourable behaviour with respect to the mixture charge. 
     The aim is achieved by the characteristics of the present invention, taken as a whole. The core of the invention consists in guiding only one part of the mixture for lubrication through the crank chamber, while the other part directly arrives from the carburetor through the intake port into the combustion chamber. 
     A first preferred embodiment of the engine according to the invention is characterized in that the carburetor is directly connected with the intake port and that the means comprise an overflow duct which leads from the intake port to an overflow opening on the crankcase and, controlled by valve means, connects the intake port with the crank chamber. With this arrangement, a very efficient filling of the combustion space with a mixture can be achieved because of the short paths between the carburetor and the intake port. 
     A second alternative embodiment is characterized in that the means comprise an overflow duct which leads from the intake port to an overflow opening on the crankcase and, controlled by valve means, connects the intake port with the crank chamber and that the carburetor is connected with the overflow duct or the overflow opening by the valve means. This arrangement makes possible in particular the control of the whole mixture flow through the valve means. 
     Another preferred embodiment of the engine according to the invention is characterized in that the valve means comprise a rotary disk valve. Such a rotary disk valve makes possible a particularly precisely controlled charge of the mixture part flowing by the crank chamber. 
     A preferred further development of this embodiment is characterized in that the rotary disk valve is placed in the crankcase at the overflow opening and periodically opens and closes this opening and that the rotary disk valve is driven by a camshaft which actuates the admission and exhaust valves over taper push rods and which is in particular integrated into the camshaft, A space saving arrangement and a simplified drive of the rotary disk valve is thus made possible. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention will be explained in detail below with reference to embodiments which are represented in the drawings. 
     FIG. 1 shows a first preferred embodiment of the engine according to the invention with a carburetor directly connected with the intake port. 
     FIG. 2 shows a second preferred embodiment of the engine according to the invention with a carburetor connected in the area of the valve means (of the rotary disk valve). 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     FIG. 1 shows in a simplified longitudinal section a four-cycle internal combustion engine  100  which has a cylinder  12  with an internal piston  11 . The piston  11  is connected by a push rod with a crankshaft which rotates in a crank chamber  10 , placed at the lower end of the cylinder  12 , surrounded by a crankcase  1 . The cylinder  12  is closed upwards by a cylinder head  2  which simultaneously constitutes the combustion space above the piston  11 . The combustion space can also be in the piston  11 , or it is divided into the cylinder head  2  and the piston  11 . An intake port  14  for charging the combustion space with a mixture as well as an exhaust conduit  15  for blowing out the combustion gas are provided inside the cylinder head. An admission valve  4  is placed in the intake port  14  and an exhaust valve  5  is placed in the exhaust conduit  15 . Both valves  4 ,  5  are controlled over connecting rods  9  by a lower placed camshaft  7 . 
     A carburetor  8  in which the mixture formation takes place is connected at the intake port  14 . Furthermore, an overflow duct  3  is connected between the carburetor  8  and the admission valve  4  at the intake port  14 , this overflow duct leading downwards to the crankcase  1  and being connected there with the crank chamber  10  by an overflow opening  13 . The tube which forms the overflow duct  3  can either be integrated into the crankcase  1 , or it is designed as a separate tube—as shown in the figures. The overflow opening  13  can be opened and closed by means of a rotary disk valve  6 . To this end, the rotary disk valve  6  is driven by the camshaft  7  or is directly integrated into the camshaft  7 . 
     The rotary disk valve  6  controls the admission of the fuel-oil-air mixture from the carburetor  8  into the crank chamber  10  as well as the overflowing of the mixture from the crank chamber  10  into the cylinder head  2 . 
     During the upward movement of the piston  11  for the discharge of the exhaust gas (exhaust phase of the engine), the rotary disk valve  6  makes possible the flowing in of the mixture from the carburetor  8  into the crank chamber  10  for a certain time. During the following downward movement of the piston  11  (intake phase of the engine), the mixture flows from the carburetor  8  through the opened admission valve  4  into the cylinder  12 . The control periods of the rotary disk valve  6  are selected in such a way that either the overflow opening  13  is freed only just before the admission valve  4  is closed (recharging effect) or already before the admission valve  4  is opened in order to generate a charging movement before the admission valve is opened. 
     During the recharging, the mixture which is in the crankcase  1  is compressed by the downward movement of the piston  11 , since the opening in the intake port  14  is closed by the rotary disk valve  6 . Towards the end of the charging process, the rotary disk valve  6  frees the opening from the crankcase  1  to the intake port  14  and the compressed mixture flows through the opened admission valve  4  into the cylinder  12 . 
     The lubrication of the driving elements, bearings and valves takes place with the circulating mixture charging. The mixture is eventually supplied over bypass valves directly to the friction pairings, or it comes into the cylinder head  2  over the push rod pits. 
     As an alternative to the arrangement in FIG. 1, the carburetor  8  can also be fixed as represented in FIG. 2 (in FIG. 2, the same reference numerals as in FIG. 1 are used for the same elements). In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the carburetor  8  is lodged directly before the rotary disk valve  6  and thus supplies the mixture optionally over the overflow duct  3  into the intake port  14  or directly into the crank chamber  10 . For the arrangement represented in FIG. 2, there are two operating possibities: either the rotary disk valve  6  controls the whole mixture flow, i.e. as well the flow from the carburetor  8  to the intake port  14  as the flow to and from the crank chamber  10  or the crankcase charging, or it only controls the crankcase charging, as it is the case for the embodiment of FIG.  1 . Both modes of operation can be realized by a corresponding configuration of the rotary disk valve  6 . 
     Globally, there results with the invention a four-cycle internal combustion engine with a mixture lubrication independent of the position which is constructed in a simple way and which is characterized by a good charging behaviour. 
     LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS 
       100  Four-cycle internal combustion engine 
       1  crankcase 
       2  cylinder head 
       3  overflow conduit 
       4  admission valve 
       5  exhaust valve 
       6  rotary disk valve 
       7  camshaft 
       8  carburetor 
       9  push rod 
       10  crank chamber 
       11  piston 
       12  cylinder 
       13  overflow opening 
       14  intake port 
       15  exhaust conduit