Machine Housing Ventilator

Abstract

A machine housing ventilator has an oil separator device which has a media inlet and a media outlet. The media outlet is covered by an air-permeable ventilating device or is fluidically connected thereto. The oil separator device has an oil separator housing in which the media inlet is provided. A gaseous medium can enter the oil separator housing through the media inlet in a planned manner and can escape through the oil separator device and through the ventilating device into the environment surrounding the machine housing ventilator. The oil separator housing has a labyrinth ventilator device for deflecting medium flowing through the machine housing ventilator, and an intended rectilinear flow direction through the oil separator housing, a so-called ventilation direction, is defined. The ventilation direction runs in the direction from the media inlet to the media outlet. The labyrinth ventilator device is at least partially surrounded, in a circumferential direction relative to the ventilation direction, by the oil separator housing and is formed as a separate component from the housing.

Claims

1.-5. (canceled)

6. A machine housing ventilator, comprising: an oil separator mechanism which has a media inlet and a media outlet; an air-permeable ventilation mechanism, wherein the media outlet is covered by the air-permeable ventilation mechanism or is fluidically connected thereto, wherein the oil separator mechanism further comprises: an oil separator housing in which the media inlet is arranged, wherein the media inlet allows a gaseous medium to enter the oil separator housing as intended, and to escape through the media outlet and through the air permeable ventilation mechanism into an environment surrounding the machine housing ventilator; and a labyrinth ventilator mechanism for deflecting medium flowing through the machine housing ventilator, wherein an imaginary rectilinear flow direction through the oil separator housing is defined as a ventilation direction from the media inlet to the media outlet, and the labyrinth ventilator mechanism is surrounded by the oil separator housing, at least in part, in a circumferential direction, in relation to the ventilation direction, and is configured as a separate component in relation to the oil separator housing.

7. The machine housing ventilator according to claim 6, wherein the labyrinth ventilator mechanism has a first and at least a second deflector wall, and the first and the at least second deflector wall are connected to one another via a center web and spaced apart from one another by the web, the first and the at least second deflector wall are arranged downstream of the media inlet and upstream of the media outlet, in the ventilation direction, in the oil separator housing, the first deflector wall closes off the oil separator housing except for at least a first flow-through region which can be flowed through, and the second deflector wall closes off the oil separator housing except for at least a second flow-through region which can be flowed through, and the first deflector wall constricts an area that can be flowed through in the oil separator housing to 40% or less of a total cross-sectional area of the oil separator housing, relative to the location at which the first deflector wall is arranged, and the second deflector wall constricts the area that can be flowed through in the oil separator housing to 40% or less of the total cross-sectional area of the oil separator housing, relative to the location at which the second deflector wall is arranged.

8. The machine housing ventilator according to claim 7, wherein the first and the at least a second deflector wall are arranged in the oil separator housing such that: the first and the second flow-through regions are offset in relation to one another, so that a rectilinear flow in the ventilation direction through the oil separator housing is prevented by the first and the at least a second deflector wall.

9. The machine housing ventilator according to claim 6, wherein the labyrinth ventilator mechanism has an end wall which comprises at least an outlet region which can be freely flowed through, the oil separator housing has a limit stop, the end wall is in contact with the oil separator housing at the limit stop in an axial direction, and the at least one outlet region which can be freely flowed through forms the media outlet in the end wall.

10. A motor vehicle gearbox comprising a machine housing ventilator according to claim 6.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] FIG. 1 is a perspective sectional representation through a machine housing ventilator arranged on a motor vehicle gearbox; and

[0018] FIG. 2 is a perspective representation of a labyrinth ventilator mechanism for use in a hollow cylindrical oil separator housing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] In the case of machine housing ventilators known in the art, in particular those which allow barrier-free pressure compensation, in other words, pressure compensation without passing through a membrane, this ventilator may be made up of a ventilator lower part used in the gearbox housing, preferably glued in, which is made of a metal material, preferably an aluminum material, and a ventilating mechanism, preferably a ventilator cap. Labyrinth structures, such as those proposed by means of the labyrinth mechanism as a separate component, offer functional advantages compared with this, which prevent, or at least reduce, the escape of oil and oil foam.

[0020] It is furthermore known in the art that the ventilator cap has small bores or recesses, through which an excess pressure existing in the machine housing interior can escape therefrom by means of the machine housing ventilator, and the medium flowing out through the ventilator cap in this case carries small amounts of oil and oil foam with it, this medium can therefore be perceived as an aerosol and transport this oil, or oil foam, into the environment in solutions known in the art.

[0021] By contrast, the solution depicted in FIG. 1 is provided, in which an oil separator mechanism 1 is used with a labyrinth mechanism 7. In the case of a retrofitting solution, the labyrinth mechanism 7 is received in the ventilator lower part used as the oil separator housing 5. The ventilator lower part, or oil separator housing 5, is devised in such a way in many existing machine housing ventilators that it can be further used without any additional change with a labyrinth mechanism 7, in addition to which a combination of a labyrinth mechanism 7 with an oil separator housing 5 adapted thereto, or a ventilator mechanism 4 with a labyrinth mechanism 7, can be used as a one-part solution. The proposed design means that the oil and the oil foam are retained in the oil separator housing 5 during the pressure compensation and only the air from the interior of the machine housing, for example a gearbox housing, escapes into the surrounding environment 6. In this case, the medium which is still contaminated with oil escapes from the machine housing via the media inlet 2 into the oil separator housing 5 and flows through this basically in the ventilation direction 8. Through the labyrinth mechanism 7 arranged in the oil separator housing, the media flow is deflected multiple times, however, according to the media flow 17 (FIG. 2).

[0022] A basic consideration, in the case of the machine housing ventilator shown with the oil separator mechanism 1, is that the labyrinth mechanism 7 in the oil separator housing 5 provided, results in oil foam, oil mist and oil spray being retained at different stages. Therefore, via the media outlet 3, which is formed by the outlet region 15 in the end wall 14 in conjunction with the oil separator housing 5, only air escapes via the ventilator mechanism 4. As shown, multiple outlet regions 15, 15a can be arranged in the end wall 14. The oil separation in the ventilator housing 5 is achieved by means of the selectively deflected media flow 17 and the deflector walls 9, 10a, 10b, 10c.

[0023] The oil foam or else the aerosol, which occurs in the interior of a machine housing being ventilated, is explained based on the example of an axle drive for a motor vehicle with immersion or injection lubrication, in this axle drive through the swirling of the oil when the gears move, wherein the oil is required for lubrication. In order to remove the thermally induced excess pressure from the gearbox, ventilation with small bores or recesses is used in the environment 6 surrounding the axle gearbox. In this case, it may be that small quantities of oil also get into this environment 6. In this case, the labyrinth mechanism 7, in conjunction with the oil separator housing 5, retains the oil contained in the aerosol before it reaches the ventilator mechanism 4.

[0024] Through a multi-stage design of the labyrinth mechanism 7, in which the first deflector wall 9 with the first flow-through region 12 is spaced apart from the second deflector wall 10 with the second flow-through region 13 by the center web 11, the operating principle can be improved, particularly if it is supplemented by further second deflector walls 10a-10c, which are in turn spaced apart from one another by further center webs 11a-11c. It can be seen in FIG. 2 that the individual deflector walls 9, 10, 10a-10c are spaced apart from one another and are each turned against one another in relation to the flow-through regions 12, 13, 13a-13c, so that the deflected media flow 17 through the oil separator housing 5, caused by the labyrinth mechanism 7, results. In other words, multiple stages on the labyrinth mechanism, so-called deflector walls, which have a plate-shaped design in FIG. 2 and have cutouts or flow-through regions 12, 13, 13a-13c at opposite points in each case, are used as the labyrinth and retain oil, oil mist and oil foam.

[0025] For axial positioning, the end wall 14 rests against the axial stop 16 of the oil separator housing 5, the radial positioning is achieved by means of the support of the deflector walls 9, 10, 10a-10c. As an alternative to the embodiment shown, the labyrinth mechanism 7 can be pressed, glued or fixed with an undercut in the ventilator mechanism 4. The flow-through regions 12, 13, 13a-13c are small by comparison with those through the respective deflector wall 9, 10, 10a-10c, in any case they are smaller than 40%, and preferably smaller than 20%.

TABLE-US-00001 List of reference signs:  1 Oil separator mechanism  2 Media inlet  3 Media outlet  4 Ventilating mechanism  5 Oil separator housing  6 Surrounding environment  7 Labyrinth mechanism  8 Ventilation direction  9 First deflector wall 10 Second deflector wall 10a-10b Further second deflector walls 11 Center web between 9 and 10 11a-11c Further center webs 12 First flow-through region 13 Second flow-through region 13a-13c Further second flow-through regions 14 End wall 15 Outlet region 16 End stop of 5 17 Media flow deflected by 7