Cylinder block assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11300073-B2
Application number	US-202016883474-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 26, 2020
Priority date	May 30, 2019
Publication date	Apr 12, 2022
Grant date	Apr 12, 2022

Abstract

A cylinder block assembly has: a cylinder block having three cylinders aligned side-by-side; and four crank caps arranged side-by-side in an alignment direction of the cylinders and fastened to the cylinder block. The crank caps and the cylinder block are provided with crank bearings which rotatably support a crankshaft. The crank caps are arranged at both sides of each cylinder in the alignment direction. Intermediate crank caps positioned at intermediate positions in the plurality of the crank caps include removed parts so as to more easily deform when receiving a load from the crankshaft compared with the side crank caps.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A cylinder block assembly comprising: a cylinder block having three cylinders aligned side-by-side; and four crank caps arranged side-by-side in an alignment direction of the cylinders and fastened to the cylinder block, wherein
the crank caps and the cylinder block are provided with crank bearings which rotatably support a crankshaft,
the crank caps are arranged at both sides of each cylinder in the alignment direction; and
two intermediate crank caps positioned at intermediate positions in the plurality of the crank caps arranged side-by-side are configured to have shapes including removed parts which are removed compared with side crank caps positioned at both ends, so as to more easily deform when receiving a load from the crankshaft compared with the side crank caps.

2. The cylinder block assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the removed parts include hole parts extending passing through the crank caps.

3. The cylinder block assembly according to claim 2 , wherein one crank cap includes a plurality of the hole parts.

4. The cylinder block assembly according to claim 3 , wherein the plurality of the hole parts provided at one crank cap are arranged in a direction perpendicular to an alignment direction of the cylinders and a direction in which the crank caps are attached to the cylinder block.

5. The cylinder block assembly according to claim 3 , wherein the plurality of the hole parts provided at one crank cap have the same shapes as each other.

6. The cylinder block assembly according to claim 2 , wherein the hole parts are formed so as to extend in an alignment direction of the cylinders.

7. The cylinder block assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the removed parts include grooves formed at side surfaces of the crank caps positioned in the alignment direction of the cylinders.

8. The cylinder block assembly according to claim 7 , wherein the grooves are formed to be symmetrical shapes on the both side surfaces of the crank caps positioned in the alignment direction of the cylinders.

9. The cylinder block assembly according to claim 1 , wherein at least parts of the removed parts are arranged so as to overlap bearings of the crank caps when viewed in the direction of attachment to the cylinder block.

10. The cylinder block assembly according to of claim 1 , wherein the intermediate crank caps have the same shapes as each other.

11. The cylinder block assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the side crank caps have the same shapes as each other.

12. A method of production of a cylinder block assembly comprising: a cylinder block having three cylinders aligned side-by-side and four crank caps arranged side-by-side in an alignment direction of the cylinders and fastened to the cylinder block to rotatably support a crankshaft, the method comprising steps of:
producing a plurality of crank caps of the same shapes;
performing removal processing for removing part of some of the crank caps among the produced crank caps so as to easily deform when receiving a load from the crankshaft;
assembling the crank caps, to which the removal processing have been performed, to two intermediate crank journals positioned at intermediate positions among a plurality of crank journals of the crankshaft; and
assembling crank caps, to which the removal processing have not been performed, to side crank journals positioned at two ends among the plurality of crank journals.

13. The method of production of a cylinder block assembly according to claim 12 wherein the removal processing includes processing for forming hole parts passing through the crank caps or processing for forming grooves at side surfaces of the crank caps positioned in the alignment direction of the cylinders.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Fukutomi Ippei

Classifications

• F02B2075/1812

  three · CPC title

• F02F7/0095 Primary

  Constructing engine casings (welded casings F02F7/0034) · CPC title

• F16C9/02

  Crankshaft bearings · CPC title

• F16C43/02 Primary

  Assembling sliding-contact bearings · CPC title

• F16C2360/22

  Internal combustion engines · CPC title