Oil control valve and hydraulic control apparatus

• US 8,495,976 B2
• Filed: 08/23/2011
• Issued: 07/30/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Shimasaki, Shinobu
• Primary Examiner(s): Eshete, Zelalem
• Application Number:
  US13/215,839
• Publication Number:
  US 20120048410A1
• Time in Patent Office: 707 Days
• Field of Search: 123/90.17, 137/625.69, 137/625.67, 137/625.68, 251/368
• US Class Current: 123/90.17
• CPC Class Codes: F01L 1/3442 using hydraulic chambers with variable volume to transmit the rotating force
• CPC Class Codes: F01L 2001/34426 Oil control valves
• CPC Class Codes: F01L 2001/34433 Location oil control valves
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/86694 Piston valve
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/8671 With annular passage [e.g., spool]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/87185 Controlled by supply or exhaust valve

Abstract

An oil control valve includes: a housing that is connected to an oil passage via which an oil is fed to and drained from a hydraulic device; an elongated spool that changes a state of oil feeding-drainage for the hydraulic device by moving in the housing; and a drain passage which is formed in the spool such that the drain passage extends in an axial direction of the spool and an outlet of the drain passage is provided at a radial side face of an axial end portion of the spool, and via which the oil that has entered the housing from the hydraulic device is drained, wherein the spool includes an elongated spool body, and an attachment that is separate from the spool body and is fixed at an axial end portion of the spool body.

Claims

1. An oil control valve comprising:

a housing that is connected to an oil passage via which an oil is fed to and drained from a hydraulic device;

an elongated spool that changes a state of oil feeding-drainage for the hydraulic device by moving in the housing; and

a drain passage which is formed in the spool such that the drain passage extends in an axial direction of the spool and an outlet of the drain passage is provided at a radial side face of an axial end portion of the spool, and via which the oil that has entered the housing from the hydraulic device is drained,

wherein the spool includes an elongated spool body, and an attachment that is separate from the spool body and is fixed at an axial end portion of the spool body;

wherein a communication portion is provided in the attachment, and the communication portion serves as the outlet of the drain passage, which is provided at the radial side face of the axial end portion of the spool, when the attachment is fixed at the spool body.

2. The oil control valve according to claim 1, wherein a wear resistance of the attachment is higher than a wear resistance of the spool body.

3. The oil control valve according to claim 2, wherein the attachment is heat-treated such that the wear resistance of the attachment is higher than the wear resistance of the spool body.

4. The oil control valve according to claim 1, wherein the attachment is produced by pressing a plate material such that the communication portion is provided in the attachment.

5. A hydraulic control apparatus comprising:

an oil control valve that is fixed at an end portion of a camshaft of an internal combustion engine and that changes a state of oil feeding-drainage for a hydraulic device; and

an actuator that is provided outside the camshaft and that drives the oil control valve,

wherein;

the oil control valve is driven by moving an elongated spool, which is disposed in a housing, in an axial direction of the spool by a pressure applied to an axial end face of the spool from the actuator;

a drain passage via which an oil that has entered the housing from the hydraulic device is drained is formed in the spool such that the drain passage extends in the axial direction of the spool and an outlet of the drain passage is provided at a radial side face of an axial end portion of the spool; and

the spool includes an elongated spool body, and an attachment that is separate from the spool body and is fixed at an axial end portion of the spool body on a side where the actuator is present, wherein a communication portion is provided in the attachment, and the communication portion serves as the outlet of the drain passage, which is provided at the radial side face of the axial end portion of the spool, when the attachment is fixed at the spool body.

6. The hydraulic control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a wear resistance of the attachment is higher than a wear resistance of the spool body.

7. The hydraulic control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the attachment is heat-treated such that the wear resistance of the attachment is higher than the wear resistance of the spool body.

8. The hydraulic control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the attachment is produced by pressing a plate material such that the communication portion is provided in the attachment.