Method of and device for timed lubrication by means of a lubricant mist

• US 5,205,377 A
• Filed: 02/28/1992
• Issued: 04/27/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/1991
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sulzer Brothers, Ltd (Sulzer AG)
• Original Assignee: Sulzer Brothers, Ltd (Sulzer AG)
• Inventors: Pfarrwaller, Erwin, Lehn, Rudolf
• Primary Examiner(s): Lazarus, Ira S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cariaso, Alan B.
• Application Number:
  US07/843,883
• Time in Patent Office: 424 Days
• Field of Search: 184/6.1, 184/6.26, 184/6.16, 184/7.4, 184/7.3, 184/7.2, 184/55.1, 184/55.2, 417/76
• US Class Current: 184/6.26
• CPC Class Codes: D03J 1/003 Devices for lubricating machine parts
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 57/0458 Oil-mist or spray lubrication; Means to reduce foam formation reducing foam formation by venting F16H57/027
• CPC Class Codes: F16N 7/32 Mist lubrication splash lubrication F16N7/26

Abstract

The lubricant mist is supplied in timed fashion to at least one nozzle (31, 36, 40, 45) associated with a lubrication station in the zone of movement of a moving part (32, 37, 41 and 34 respectively). The timed supply of the mist is effected in dependence upon the position of a drive shaft from which the moving part derives its movement. The lubricant mist can therefore be supplied to the lubrication station in an accurately dosed quantity only when it is needed there. A possible use of the lubricating method is for looms where it is particularly important that the web of cloth produced on the loom should not be soiled by lubricant.

Claims

1. A method of lubricating at least one movable part of a machine, said part having at least one rubbing surface to be lubricated, the maching having a drive shaft for moving the movable part, the method comprising the steps of dispersing a lubricant into fine droplets and distributing the droplets in a gaseous medium to form a lubricant mist, supplying the mist in timed fashion to at least one nozzle associated with a lubrication station near the movable part, and interrupting the supply of the lubricant mist in dependence upon the relative position of the drive shaft.

2. A device for intermittently lubricating a surface of a machine including a drive shaft with a lubricant mist of lubricant droplets dispersed in a gaseous medium, the device comprising a casing, a distributor mounted in the casing and rotatable relative to the casing in dependence upon the drive shaft, a mist generator for dispersing the lubricant, a nozzle for discharging the mist toward the surface, the distributor being disposed between the mist generator and the nozzle, a first duct extending longitudinally inside the distributor, and at least one second duct which branches off the first duct and extends to a periphery of the distributor, the second duct communicating with an aperture in the casing, and a line connecting the nozzle with the aperture for flowing the mist to the nozzle.

3. A device according to claim 2, wherein the casing has a lubricant-collecting chamber located in a bottom part of the casing an below the distributor and in addition houses the mist generator, the mist generator having an intake pipe which dips into the lubricant in the collecting chamber.

4. A device according to claim 2, including a pump located in the caswing for compressing the gaseous medium, and a common drive for activating the pump and the distributor.

5. A device according to claim 3, wherein the casing is open towards the lubricant-collecting chamber in the vicinity of the distributor, and wherein the distributor includes a groove in the plane of the second duct extending peripherally of the distributor and not in flow communication with the second duct.

6. A device according to claim 2, including a plurality of second ducts which branch off the first duct, wherein the casing is open towards a lubricant-collecting chamber in the vicinity of the distributor, and wherein the distributor, in addition to the second ducts, includes additional ducts which guide oil mist from above the lubricant-collecting chamber to the first duct.

7. A device according to claim 4, including an intake restrictor disposed at an intake side of the pump for the gaseous medium.

8. A device according to claim 2, wherein the mist generator includes a bypass line for flowing the lubricant into the casing independently of the mist generator and a quantity-adjusting element disposed in the bypass line.

9. A device according to claim 2, including an air pump and a conduit connected to the distributor and in fluid communication with an air intake line of the pump.

10. A device according to claim 2, wherein the first duct has an inflow end and an other end remote therefrom, and wherein both ends of the first duct widen conically.

11. A device for lubricating a movable part of a machine, the device comprising a stationary casing defining a lubricant reservoir portion at the bottom of the casing and an atomizing chamber above the lubricant reservoir portion;

means including a mist generator for dispersing the lubricant in fine droplets in a gaseous medium in the atomizing chamber to thereby form a lubricant mist;

a distributor rotatably mounted in the chamber and operatively coupled with a drive shaft for rotation therewith, the distributor including a central bore having at least one open end communicating with the atomizing chamber so that the lubricant mist can flow into the bore, the distributor further including at least one radially oriented bore communicating with the central bore and a periphery of the distributor;

flow means carried by the casing for establishing fluid communication between an exterior of the casing and the at least one radial bore when the latter is at a predetermined angular position so that, while in said angular position, lubricant mist can flow through the longitudinal bore, the at least one radial bore and through the said flow means to the exterior of the casing; and

a lubricant mist dispersing nozzle in fluid communication with said flow means so that the nozzle receives intermittent pulses of the lubricant mist for application to said movable part as a function of the relative angular position of the drive shaft and, therewith, of the rotatable distributor.