Oil separator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9664080-B2
Application number	US-201314399156-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 9, 2013
Priority date	May 9, 2012
Publication date	May 30, 2017
Grant date	May 30, 2017

Abstract

An oil separator is provided that makes it possible to minimize the number of times of operation for recovering separated oil. The oil separator separates and recovers oil by causing air that contains oil and has been introduced into a casing to strike an impingement member. The oil separator supplies the oil that has been separated from the air to the oil pan of an engine, thereby allowing the oil to be used as lubricant for the engine.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a compressor configured to compress air;
an air dryer configured to dry the compressed air and supply the dried compressed air; and
an oil separator comprising:
a housing and an impingement member located in the housing, wherein
the oil separator is configured to introduce air compressed by the compressor into the housing and cause the introduced compressed air to strike the impingement member to separate oil from the introduced compressed air, thereby recovering the oil, and
is configured to selectively supply the oil separated from the introduced compressed air to an oil pan of an engine to be used as lubricant for the engine.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein
the oil pan is located on a circulation path of the lubricant for the engine, and
the separated oil is supplied to the oil pan via the circulation path.

3. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a pump that supplies the separated oil to the oil pan.

4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the oil separator is further configured to supply separated oil to the oil pan when the engine is not running.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the oil separator is further configured to supply separated oil to the oil pan when the amount of the separated oil in the oil separator reaches a predetermined amount.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the oil separator is further configured to stop the supply of the separated oil to the oil pan when the amount of the lubricant in the oil pan reaches an upper limit amount.

7. A system, comprising:
a compressor configured to compress air;
an air dryer configured to dry the compressed air and supply the dried compressed air; and
an oil separator comprising:
a housing;
an impingement member located in the housing; and
an oil controller;
wherein the oil separator is configured to introduce air compressed by the compressor into the housing and cause the introduced compressed air to strike the impingement member to separate oil from the introduced compressed air, thereby recovering the oil, and
the oil controller is configured to sense an amount of separated oil in the oil separator and to selectively cause the separated oil in the oil separator to be supplied to an oil pan of an engine to be used as lubricant for the engine based on the sensed amount of separated oil in the oil separator.

8. The system according to claim 7 , wherein
the oil pan is located on a circulation path of the lubricant for the engine, and
the separated oil is supplied to the oil pan via the circulation path.

9. The system according to claim 7 , further comprising a pump controlled by the oil controller and that supplies the separated oil to the oil pan.

10. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the oil controller is further configured to sense whether the engine is running or not running and to selectively cause the separated oil in the oil separator to be supplied to the oil pan when the engine is not running.

11. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the oil controller is further configured to sense an amount of oil in the oil pan and to selectively cause the separated oil in the oil separator to be supplied to the oil pan when the amount of the oil in the oil pan is less than an upper limit amount.

12. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the oil controller is further configured to sense an amount of oil in the oil pan and to selectively cause the supply of the separated oil to the oil pan to be stopped when the amount of the oil in the oil pan reaches an upper limit amount.

13. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the oil controller is further configured to sense an amount of oil in the oil pan and to selectively cause the separated oil in the oil separator to be supplied to the oil pan when the amount of the separated oil in the oil pan is less than an upper limit amount.

14. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the oil controller is further configured to sense an amount of oil in the oil pan and to selectively cause the supply of the separated oil to the oil pan to be stopped when the amount of the oil in the oil pan reaches an upper limit amount.

Assignees

• Nabtesco Automotive Corp

Inventors

• Sugio Takuya

Classifications

• F01M13/04 Primary

  having means for purifying air before leaving crankcase, e.g. removing oil · CPC title

• F01M2013/0433

  with a deflection device, e.g. screen · CPC title

• F01M2013/0488

  with oil trap in the return conduit to the crankcase · CPC title

• B01D46/0031

  with collecting, draining means · CPC title

• F01M11/061

  Means for keeping lubricant level constant · CPC title