Oil Pump Assemblies



Oil Pump Assemblies

The oil pump in an internal combustion engine circulates engine oil under pressure to the rotating bearings, the sliding pistons and the camshaft of the engine. This lubricates the bearings, allows the use of higher-capacity fluid bearings and also assists in cooling the engine.

As well as its primary purpose for lubrication, pressurized oil is increasingly used as a hydraulic fluid to power small actuators. One of the first notable uses in this way was for hydraulic tappets in camshaft and valve actuation. Increasingly common recent uses may include the tensioner for a timing belt or variators for variable valve timing systems.

For simplicity and reliability, mechanical pumps are used, driven by mechanical geartrains from the crankshaft. Reducing pump speed is beneficial[b] and so it is usual to drive the pump from the cam (if this is mounted in the cylinder block) or distributor shaft, which turns at half engine speed. Placing the oil pump low-down uses a near-vertical drive shaft, driven by helical skew gears from the camshaft. Some engines, such as the Fiat Twin Cam engine of 1964, began as OHV engines with an oil pump driven from a conventional camshaft in the cylinder block. When the twin overhead cam engine was developed, the previous oil pump arrangement was retained and the camshaft became a shortened stub shaft. Even when the distributor position was moved from the previous block-mount to being mounted on the cylinder head camshafts, the oil pump drive remained in the same position, the unused distributor position now covered by a blanking plate.

The oiling system addresses the need to properly lubricate an engine when it's running. Properly lubricating an engine not only reduces friction between moving parts but is also the main method by which heat is removed from pistons, bearings, and shafts. Failing to properly lubricate an engine will result in engine failure. The oil pump forces the motor oil through the passages in the engine to properly distribute oil to different engine components. In a common oiling system, oil is drawn out of the oil sump through a wire mesh strainer that removes some of the larger pieces of debris from the oil. The flow made by the oil pump allows the oil to be distributed around the engine. In this system, oil flows through an oil filter and sometimes an oil cooler, before going through the engine's oil passages and being dispersed to lubricate pistons, rings, springs, valve stems, and more.

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