CLIAMS:I Claim:
1. An oil pump (100), said oil pump adapted to be located downstream of an oil sump (102) and supplying oil to plurality of components, said oil pump 100 comprising at least
a metering valve (104) placed on the inlet of said oil pump (100) and adapted to modulate the flow of oil to said oil pump 100.
2. The oil pump 100 of claim 1, wherein said metering valve 104 is integrated on the inlet of said oil pump 100.
3. The oil pump 100 of claim 1, wherein said metering valve 104 is integrated on the outlet of said oil pump 100.
4. The oil pump 100 of claim 1, wherein said oil pump 100 is an electrically driven oil pump 100.
5. The oil pump 100 of claim 1, wherein said modulation of flow of oil is done by taking input from at least a combination of engine operating conditions comprising engine speed, engine pressure, engine temperature, and load on the engine 108.
6. The oil pump 100 of claim 1, wherein said metering valve 104 is actuated through a piezo element.
7. An oil pump 100, said oil pump 100 adapted to be located downstream of an oil sump and supplying oil to plurality of components, said oil pump 100 comprising at least
an inlet flow path (200), an outlet flow path (202) and a mounting block (204), characterized in that
a metering valve (104) located on said mounting block (204) and in flow communication with said inlet flow path (200) and said outlet flow path (202).
8. The oil pumps 100 of claim 1 or claim 7, wherein said mounting block is located on an engine body.
9. A control unit (106) for an oil pump 100, said control unit 106 adapted to:
Receive at least one engine 108 operating condition as an input; and

Modulate a metering valve 104 in response to said received input so as to control the flow of oil to and from said oil pump 100.
10. The control unit 106 of claim 9, wherein said engine 108 operating condition is chosen from a combination comprising, engine speed, engine temperature, pressure, and load on the engine 108. ,TagSPECI:The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

Field of the invention
[001] This invention relates to the field of oil pump for an engine.

Background of the invention
[002] An oil pump is used for lubrication of different parts of the engine like cam shaft bearing, crankshaft bearing, as a coolant for piston, turbocharger bearing, etc. The source of lubricating oil for the oil pump comes from an oil sump through the pre-filter. As the oil pump continuously supplies oil to different parts of the engine, there is a need to regulate the flow of oil based upon different engine operating conditions. This is required to ensure prudent use of oil for lubrication.

[003] Prior art patent application US20130151113 discloses an oil pump control system for a vehicle, may include an oil pump configured to supply oil to an engine, an oil pressure control valve regulating oil pressure value of a discharging part in the oil pump, an oil pressure sensor sensing and outputting the oil pressure value of the discharging part in the oil pump, and a controller receiving a signal of the oil pressure value, determining a target oil pressure value of the discharging part in the oil pump in response to information relating to an oil pressure and operation state of the engine among vehicle information inputted from outside, comparing the sensed oil pressure value inputted from the oil pressure sensor with the target oil pressure value, and performing feedback control to drive the oil pressure control valve.

Brief description of the accompanying drawing
[004] Different modes of the invention are disclosed in detail in the description and illustrated in the accompanying drawing:
[005] FIG. 1 illustrates an oil pump; and
[006] FIG. 2 illustrates a metering valve located on mounting block.

Detailed description of the embodiments
[007] FIG. 1 illustrates an oil pump 100. The oil pump 100 is used for supplying oil for lubricating different components of the engine. The oil pump 100 receives oil from an oil sump 102. The oil pump 100 may be a mechanically driven pump or an electrically driven pump. The oil pump 100 may be driven by the engine through a mechanical drive arrangement like gears, belt and chain drive, and the like or through an electric motor. The electric motor can be as standalone motor or may be on the pump itself. The oil pump 100 is adapted to be located downstream of an oil sump 102 and comprises at least a metering valve 104 placed on the inlet of the oil pump 100 and adapted to modulate the flow of oil to the oil pump 100. The modulation of flow of oil is done by taking input from at least a combination of engine operating conditions comprising engine speed, engine pressure, engine temperature, and load on the engine. The engine operating conditions may be obtained from sensors. The metering valve 104 is a solenoid valve. The metering valve 104 may also be controlled through any other electrical means. The metering valve 104 is actuated using a control unit 106. The control unit 106 may be the engine control unit 106 which is used for overall engine management or a standalone control unit 106 exclusively to modulate the oil pump 100. The control unit 106 is adapted to receive at least one engine operating condition as an input. The engine operating condition may be chosen from a combination comprising, engine speed, engine temperature, pressure, and load on the engine. The metering valve 104 is modulated in response to the received input so as to control the flow of oil to and from the oil pump 100. By receiving input about the engine operating condition, the metering valve can now modulate the exact quantity of oil required for lubrication, thereby avoiding excess use of oil. The metering valve 104 may have different flow cross sections like, square, rectangle, triangle, circular, semi-circular, quadrilateral, trapezoid and a combination thereof.

[008] In an embodiment the metering valve 104 may be integrated on the inlet of the oil pump 100.The metering valve may also be located at any point on the line leading from the oil sump to the oil pump 100. The metering valve could also be mounted as a separate unit on the inlet of the oil pump 100. In another embodiment the metering valve 104 may be integrated on the outlet of the oil pump 100. With the inclusion of the metering concept in the oil pump 100, it is possible to convert the oil pump 100 into a variable supply oil pump 100.

[009] For the purpose of better understanding, the modulation of flow of oil through oil pump 100 disclosed above is explained by having the metering valve 104 on the inlet of the oil pump 100. Oil, from the oil sump 102 flows to the oil pump 100 via the metering valve 104 that is placed at the inlet of the oil pump 100. The metering valve 104 is controlled by the control unit 106. The control unit 106 receives input about different operating conditions of the engine, and based upon these inputs the metering valve 104 is modulated the flow of oil to the oil pump 100. By modulating the flow of oil at the inlet of the oil pump 100, the energy consumed by the oil pump 100 is reduced, as the oil pump 100 now has a metered quantity of oil to be delivered to different parts of the engine for lubrication.

[0010] In accordance with another embodiment of the oil pump of this disclosure, the metering valve 104 is located at the outlet of the oil pump 100, on the oil pump 100 itself, by machining a part of the oil pump to house the metering valve, or at any point on the outlet line of the oil pump 100.

[0011] FIG. 2 illustrates a metering valve 104 located on mounting block 204. The oil pump 100 is adapted to be located downstream of the oil sump 102 and supplying oil to plurality of components. The oil pump 100 comprises at least an inlet flow path 200, an outlet flow path 202 and a mounting block 204. The metering valve 104 is located on the mounting block 204 and in flow communication with the inlet flow path 200 and the outlet flow path 202.The mounting block may be located on the engine body 205. The oil from the oil sump 102 is drawn by the oil pump 100 through the inlet flow path 200 and the metering valve 104 that is located on the mounting block 204. The inlet flow path 200 to the metering valve is extended from the existing oil supply line in the engine and then the metered oil from the metering valve 104 flows to the oil pump through the outlet flow path 202 from the metering valve 104. The metering valve 104 disclosed herein, receives input from the control unit about different operating conditions of the engine. The mounting block 204 may also be located on the oil pump in which case no special modification would be required for the oil pump. By using the above mentioned mounting block 204, it is possible to use the metering concept without changing the engine architecture. Since the mounting block 204, can be readily mounted on the engine body, the overall cost of the proposed arrangement can be reduced.

[0012] For the purpose of better understanding, the modulation of flow of oil through the metering valve 104 located on the mounting block 204 will be as explained below. The main purpose of having a separate mounting block 204, is that now we have an additional flexibility of having the metering valve 104 at different locations along the flow path of the oil from the oil sump 102 till the oil reaches engine to lubricate the components of the engine. In this case, the mounting block 204 is located on the engine body 205. The mounting block 204 may be adapted, through, for example, machining to receive the inlet flow path 200 of oil. The existing inlet flow path 200 is extended so as to have a flow connection through the mounting block 204. The oil from the oil sump 102, flows through the inlet flow path 200 via the mounting block 204. The metering valve 104 that is located on the mounting block 204, modulates the flow of oil. The oil then flows to the outlet flow path 202 to reach the oil pump 100. From the oil pump 100, the oil flows to different components of the engine for lubrication.

[0013] It should be understood that embodiments explained in the description above are only illustrative and do not limit the scope of this invention in terms of type oil pump used and the valve profile of the metering valve. Many such embodiments and other modifications and changes in the embodiment explained in the description are envisaged. The scope of the invention is only limited by the scope of the claims.