Patent ID: 7305945

Claim:
A method for changing the lift of inlet valves of an internal combustion engine between a partial lift and a full lift, the lift of the inlet valves being controlled by at least one camshaft, which comprises respective partial lift cams and full lift cams acting alternatively on the inlet valve depending on whether the partial lift cams or the full lift cams engage the inlet valves, and the control times of all the inlet valves assigned to the camshaft being adjusted by rotating the camshaft by a given angle, said method comprising the steps of setting the control times of the inlet valves ( 2 ) by rotating the camshaft ( 1 ) in such a way that a changeover between the partial lift cams ( 3 ) and the full lift cams ( 4 ) occurs at points within a characteristic performance graph of the internal combustion engine at which the suction capacity of the internal combustion engine when using the partial lift cams ( 3 ) corresponds essentially to the suction capacity of the internal combustion engine when using the full lift cams ( 4 ).