Patent ID: 7328676

Claim:
Hydraulic valve play compensation element for an internal combustion engine, comprising a reverse-spring/free-ball element, with a cylindrical housing, a cylindrical piston guided therein with sealing play, and a control valve which is arranged between a low-pressure chamber of the piston and a high-pressure chamber of the housing, on a piston head of the piston and which has a closing body, which is movable to contact a valve seat located around an axial bore hole in the piston head when carrying out a stroke in a closing direction against a force of a control-valve spring and which is biased against a contact surface of a valve cap surrounding the closing body when carrying out a stroke in an opening direction, a region of the axial bore hole for the closing body by the spring includes narrow guidance surfaces having gaps therebetween, which maintain an axial alignment of the closing body and the valve seat as the closing body is moved in the opening and closing directions to enable a volume flow of hydraulic medium between the high-pressure chamber and the low-pressure chamber.