Patent ID: 7261069

Claim:
A de-aeration system for a coolant system of an internal combustion engine, comprising: a sump chamber having a bottom end; a de-aeration baffle disposed above an interface with aerated coolant of a coolant system, said de-aeration baffle defining a baffled chamber internal to said de-aeration baffle, said sump chamber being disposed adjacently external to said de-aeration baffle; said de-aeration baffle comprising: a shell disposed adjacent said bottom end of said sump chamber; a hollow stem connected to said shell, wherein said stem fluidically communicates with said shell; and a baffle orifice located in said stem, wherein said orifice has an orifice diameter and said stem has a stem internal diameter, and wherein said orifice diameter is less than one-half the stem internal diameter; and an outlet conduit in fluidic communication with said sump chamber, said outlet conduit being adapted to connect with the coolant system downstream of said sump chamber; wherein coolant of the coolant system enters said baffled chamber, passes into said sump chamber and thereupon exits, via said outlet conduit, back to the coolant system, wherein air bubbles suspended in the coolant at said baffled and sump chambers mix with air above a surface of the coolant and thereupon exit said said baffled and sump chambers.