BREATHER SYSTEM AND BREATHER CHANNEL FOR
DISTRIBUTION OF BLOW -BY GAS IN ENGINE
FIELD OF INVENTION:
[001] The present subject matter described herein, relates to internal combustion
5 engine, and, in particular, to a breather system in the internal combustion engine
to separate oil from blow-by gas and transferring the blow-by gas to the internal
combustion. engine from air intake system.
BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ART:
[002] Generally, in internal combustion engine, during working of the engine,
10 some gases present in the combustion chamber pass through a gap between the
piston rings and the cylinder walls and enter the crankcase. These gases are
known as blow-by gases. The crankcase has engine oil at lower level, therefore
the blow by gases mix with the oil droplets present in the crankcase. The oil
mixed blow-by gases cannot be released safely in the environment.
15 [003] In the internal combustion engine where blow-by gas is not discharged
outside the engine, but instead, is. returned to a combustion chamber. The blow
by-gases can be returned in the engine from the inlet system through a breather
circuit, and 1s burnt before exhausting to environment. The blow-by gas contains
unburnt oil or unburnt oil products which create environment pollution, if it left
20 out in environment. Therefore, combusting a mixture containing oil is undesirable
as it creates a substantial amount of pollutants, such as hydro carbon (HC) and
unbumt hydro carbons (UBHC). Therefore, in order to reduce pollutants produced
by the engine, the oil droplets must first be removed from the mixture in such a
way that only the blow-by gases are re-combusted.
25 [004] Fig. 1 illustrates breather arrangement 100 in the engine to remove the oil
from the blow-by gases. The breather arrangement 1 00 comprises air cleaner unit
102, breather hose 104, and a cylinder head cover 106. In the present arrangement
the breather hose 104 is directly connected with the air cleaner unit 1 02where
fresh intake air is filtered. The blow-by gas travels from the crankcase to the air
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cleaner unit 102 via breather hose 104. The blow by gas is directly supplied to the
clean side of the air cleaner unit 102. The blow-by gas mixes .w ith the fresh air to
make heterogeneous mixture, which goes to the internal combustion engine
through throttle. In this arrangement, excess amount of engine oil which is mixed
5 with the blow-by gas cannot he separated in effective manner in the absem:t:: of
any "gas- liquid" separator mechanism in the head cover. Due to which, excess
amount of oil spread over the filter element which increases the filter element
pressure drop. After some time, the filter element becomes oily which reduces its
capacity to filter the fresh air for intake. In the absence of fresh air, efficiency of
10 · the engine decreases. Further, the internal combustion engine generates more
polluted gases in presence of blow-by gas containing oil and polluted air for
combustion. As shown in the fig. 3, the excess engine oil present in the blow-by
gas leaks/seeps from the air cleaner assembly particularly from the gasket sealing
area and other connection of air cleaner unit.
15 [005] In another arrangement as illustrated in Fig. 2, the breather apparatus 200
transfers the blow-by gas to air cleaner outlet hose or throttle inlet hose. The
breather hose 206 directly connects with the air cleaner outlet hose 204, i.e.,
throttle inlet hose. The blow-by gas is then transferred to breather apparatus for
re-buming in the combustion engine. The air cleaner outlet hose 204 allows the
20 passage of the blow-by gas filtered from the cylinder head cover to mix with the
fresh filtered air. After the cylinder head cover, the blow-by gas still contains lot
of oil mist which directly enters in the air cleaner outlet hose 204 and to the
combustion chamber. As shown in the fig.4, the oil present iii the blow-by gas
leaks/seeps from the hose and throttle body joints.
25 [006] WO publication W01996041933 Al relates to a method and an apparatus
for reducing oil content of blow-by gas in an internal combustion engine. The
method includes conveying the blow-by gas away from the engine to be cooled in·
a heat exchanger .. Oil condensing· from the cooled blow-by gas is returned to the
engine and the cooled blow-by gas is exhausted to environment or conveyed to the
30 engine air intake system. This relates to heat exchanger which cools the blow by
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gas to reduce the oil consumption. This increases the efficiency of the gas-liquid
separator.
[007] US publication US8151776 B2 relates to a blow-by gas introducing
passage having a blow-by gas inlet port, an air-cleaner-side breather passage that
5 extends upwardly as branched from the blow-by gas introducing passage so as to
communicate with an intake system, and a case-side. breather passage thut extends
downwardly as branched from the blow-by gas introducing passage so as to
communicate with an oil chamber are provided to an inner surface of a side cover
that is detachably mounted to a timing-gear chamber communicating with a crank
10 chamber. The blow-by gas introducing passage, the air-cleaner-side breather
passage, ·and the case-side breather passage are formed integral with the side
cover.
[008) After passing the cylinder head cover, the blow-by gas still contains fine
oil mist which can cause oil leakage/seepage in air cleaner unit and air cleaner
15 outlet hose. Due to leakage/seepage, the parts have to be changed and efficiency
of the combustion engine drops. The blow-by gas which is entering in the
combustion engine according to arrangement as explained in fig.l and fig. 2,
causes environment pollution by increasing hydrocarbon and un-burnt
hydrocarbon. The blow-by gas does not mix properly with the fresh air which
20 . causes air pollution and efficiency drop of engine. Therefore, an improved
breather system is required for appropriate and homogenous mixing of blow-by
gas with the fresh air and to reduce oil leakage problem in the components of the
engmeroom.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION:
25 [009] The principal objective of the present invention is to provide a breather
system having opening inside air cleaner unit.
[0010) Another object of the present subject matter is providing homogenous
mixing of blow-by gas with fresh air for intake system of the internal combustion
engine.
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[0011] Another object of the present invention is to drain back excess amount of
oil in the breather system i.e. cylinder head cover by way of gravity.
(0012] Another object of the present invention is to avoid oil leakage/seepage in
air cleaner unit and air cleaner outlet hose joint.
5 l0013] Yet another object of the present invention is to reduce hydrocarbon and
unburnt hydrocarbon in exhaust gases of the engine for clear and clean
environment.
[0014] Yet another object of the present invention is to r~duce pressure drop
progression of air filter element which lowers the filter replacement frequency,
' 10 improve serviceability of filter, and improve the engine power and Torque.
[0015] Yet another object of the present subject matter is to reduce number of
parts/ size of parts, i.e., Hose length reduction, clamp elimination, and reduce
weight to increase fuel efficiency.
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[0016] Yet another object of the present invention is to reduce engine oil loss and
15 avoid seizing of engine and oil leakage/seepage inside engine room.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:
[0017] The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a breather system is
provided in the engine for r~ducing oil content in blow-by ·gas and mixing the
blow-by gas properly and homogenously with fresh filtered air in air cleaner unit.
20 The breather system has a breather hose which connects the air cleaner unit with
the cylinder head cover for passage of blow-by gas into the combustion chamber.
The breather hose is connected with the breather channel in the air cleaner unit.
The breather channel opens inside the air cleaner unit where fresh filtered air is
present. Further, the breather channel opens near to the air cleaner outlet w~ere
25 flow rate of air is maximum. The breather channel inside the air cleaner unit is
kept inclined at an inclination angle. The inclination angle is provided to the
breather channel in such way that opening point of the breather channel remains
on higher elevation than the breather hose inlet.
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[0018] In order to further understand the characteristics and technical contents of
the present subject matter, a description relating thereto will be made with
reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the drawings are illustrative
only but not used to limit scope of the present subject matter.
5 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF TilE DRAWINGS
[0019] It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only
typical embodiments of the present subject matter and are therefore not to be
considered for limiting of its scope, tor the invention may admit to other equally
effective embodiments. The detailed description is described with reference to the
10 accompanying figures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number
identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same .
numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and
components. Some embodiments of system or methods in accordance with
embodiments of the present subject matter are now described, by way of example,
15 and with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:
[0020] Fig. 1 illustrates arrangement of breather apparatus with air cleaner unit as
known in the art;
/ [0021] Fig. 2 illustrates arrangement of breather apparatus with air cleaner outlet
hose as known in the art;
20 (0022] Fig. 3 illustrates problem of oil leakage/seepage in the engme room
specifically, in the air cleaner sealing;
[0023] Fig. 4 illustrates problem of oil leakage/seepage m the engme room
specifically, in the air cleaner outlet hose joints;
[0024] Fig. 5(a) illustrates top view of breather system with air cleaner unit, in
25 accordance with an embodiment of the present subje9t member;
(0025] Fig. 5(b) and (c) illustrates side views of the air cleaner unit, in accordance
with an embodiment of the present subject matter;
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[0026) Fig. 6 illustrates transparent view of breather system with air cleaner unit,
in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject member;
[0027] Fig. 7 illustrates front view of breather channel showing inclination of the
breather channel with reference to air cleaner unit, in accordance with an
5 embodiment of the present subject matter;
[0028] Fig. 8 i11ustrat.es side view of breathe.r channel showing inclination of the
breather apparatus with reference to air cleaner unit, in accordance with an
embodiment of the present subject matter; and
[0029) Fig. 9 illustrates opening of the breather channel near air cleruier outlet
1 0 from inside the air cleaner unit, in accordance with the present subject matter.
[0030) The figures depict embodiments of the present subject matter for the
purposes of illustration only. A person skilled in the art will easily recognize from
the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures and
methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles
15 of the disclosure described herein.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS:
[0031) The subject matter disclosed herein relates to breather system having a
breather hose which connects air cleaner unit with cylinder head cover for passage
of blow-by gas. The breather hose opens inside the air cleaner unit where fresh
20 filtered air is present. Further, the breather hose opens near to the air cleaner outlet
· where flow rate of fresh air is maximum.
[00~2] Conventionally, the blow-by gas from the cylinder head cover enters the
air cleaner unit where filter element is present. Due to fine oil mist, the filter
element soaks the oil and gets damaged. Further the oil soaked in the filter
25 element leaks/seeps from the air cleaner sealing area. Therefore, air filter element
has to be replaced frequently. Further in another arrangement, the blow-by gas
from the cylinder head cover enters directly into the air cleaner outlet hose, i.e.,
throttle inlet hose. There is no filtering of oil after the cylinder head cover,
therefore, oil from the blow-by gas stores in the throttle body and leaks/seeps
from the joints. The cylinder head cover has ga.S-liquid separator to separate the
heavy particles of the oil from the blow-by gas. Still fine particles of the oil mist
remains in the blow-by gas. Use of the blow-by gas having oil mist can cause
environment pollution by increasing the hydrocarbon and unburnt hydro carbon.
5 Further, the blow-by gas does not mix properlylhomogenously with the fresh
filtered air which decreases the efficiency of the combustion engine. The
heterogeneous mixture of blow-by gas and fresh air does not provide proper blast
in the combustion chamber. Therefore, a lot ofunburnt carbon particles exhaust in
the environment which causes environment pollution.
10 [0033] According to present subject matter, a breather system is provided in the
engine for reducing oil content in blow-by gas and mixing the blow-by gas
properly/homogenously with fresh filtered air in air cleaner unit. The breather
system has a breather hose which connects the cylinder head cover to air cleaner
unit for passage of blow-by gas. The breather hose is connected with the breather
15 channel in the air cleaner unit. The breather channel opens inside the air cleaner
unit where fresh filtered air is present. Further, the breather channel opens near the
air cleaner outlet hose where flow rate of air is maximum. The breather channel
inside the air cleaner unit is kept inclined at an inclination angle. The inclination
angle is provided to the breather channel in such way that opening point of the
20 breather channel remains on higher elevation than the breather channel inlet.
[0034] It should be noted that the description and figures merely illustrate the
principles of the present subject matter. It should be appreciated by those skilled
in the art that conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily
utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the
25 same purposes of the present subject matter. It should also be appreciated by those
skilled in the art that by devising various arrangements that, although not
explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the present subject
matter and are included within its spirit and scope. Furthermore, all examples
. recited herein are principally intended expressly to be for pedagogical purposes to
30 aid the reader in understanding the principles of the present subject matter and the
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concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to furthering the art, and are to be
construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and
conditions. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the
present subject matter, both as to its organization and method of operation,
5 together with further objects and advantages will be better understood from the
following description when considered in connection with the accompanying
figures.
[0035] These and other advantages of the present subject matter would be
described in greater detail with reference to the following figures. It should be
10 noted that the description merely illustrates the principles of the present subject
matter. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise
various arrangements that, although not explicitly described herein, embody the
principles of the present subject matter and are included within its scope.
[0036] Fig. 5(a) illustrates top view of the breather system in air cleaner unit of
15 engine room, in accordance with the present embodiment. The breather system
500 comprising an air cleaner outlet 502, air cleaner unit 504, a breather hose 506,
and a cylinder head cover 508. In the present breather system 500, the breather
hose 506 connects the cylinder head cover 508 with the air cleaner unit 504. The
air cleaner unit 504 is connected with the air intake system of the internal
20 combustion engine with the air cleaner outlet 502 ..
[0037] Fig. 5(b) and (c) illustrates the side view of air cleaner unit 504, in
accordance with the present subject matter. The air cleaner unjt 504 comprises
two sections, i.e., first section 504A and second section 504B, and air cleaner
element 512. Where the two sections are placed in stack position, i.e., one above
25 the other. The first section 504A is at lower side and the second section 504B is at
upper side in the air cleaner unit 504. The air cleaner element 512 is present in
between the first section 504A and the second section 504B. In the first section
504A, environment air is sucked and the air cleaner element 512 cleans the sucked
environment air. After cleaning, the cleaned air goes into the second section 504B
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from where cleaned air goes into the air intake system of the combustion engine
via the air cleaner outlet hose 502.
[00381 Fig. 6 illustrates placement of breather channel 600 inside the air cleaner
unit 504, in accordance with the present embodiment. The breather channel 600
5 has breather channel inlet 606 and breather channel outlet 604. The breather
channel 600 receives the blow-by gas from the breather hose 506 from the
breather channel inlet 606 and passes the blow-by gas in the air cleaner outlet 502
from the breather channel outlet 604. The breather channel 600 is provided inside
the air cleaner unit 504. The breather channel 600 can be molded, fixed, and
10 attached with the air cleaner unit 504. The breather channel 600 is connected with
the breather hose 506 at entering point, i.e., the breather chaimel inlet 606 in the
second section 504B. From the breather channel inlet 606, the blow-by gas enters
from the breather hose 506 to the breather channel 600 provided in the air cleaner
unit 504. The breather channel600 opens inside the second section 504B of the air
15 cleaner unit 504 which receives the fresh cleaned air from the first section 504A.
The breather channel outlet 604 is opened near the air cleaner outlet 502 where
the air flow rate or fresh air suction· rate is maximum. The present breather
channel 600 is placed in such a way that oil of the blow-by gas does not spread
over the air cleaner element 512 and pressure drop progression of the filter
20 element reduces. Accordingly, the air cleaner element 5.12 works for long time
and improve the engine power and torque by providing fresh filter air with
minimum pressure drop.
[0039] Fig. 7 illustrates front view of the breather charmel inside the air cleaner
unit showing the opening of the breather channel near the air cleaner outlet 502, in
25 accordance with the present subject matter. Fig. 8 illustrates side view of the
breather channel 600 inside the air cleaner unit 504 in accordance with the present
subject rriatter. The breather channel 600 opens in the second section 504B. For
the breather channel 600, there is no opening in the first section 504A. The
breather channel outlet 604 opens inside the second section 504B near the air
30 cleaner outlet 502 where the air flow rate of the fresh filtered air is maximum. The
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breather channel 600 is inclined to the air cleaner unit 504 from the breather
channel inlet 606 to breather channel outlet 604. The inclination angle 'X'
between horizontal base of the air cleaner unit 504 and the breather channel outlet
604 is in range 0° to 90° where best results are achieved when X is in range 5° to
5 45°>, specifically at 7.3° and 9°. Further, computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
techniques can be used to determine the best inclination angle for different
configurations of the air cleaner unit. Due to the inclination C!llgle of the breather
channel 600, it enables excess oil or oil mist present in the blow-by gas to settle
down and drain back by way of gravity. The excess oil settles down in the
10 breather channel 600 and flows back into oil swnp via cylinder head cover. The
inclined breather channel 600 allows the settled down excess oil to move in the oil
sump easily. Further the complete breather system 500 is designed in such a way
that the excess amount of oil moves back to the oil sump by way of gravity.
Therefore, the present breather system reduces the oil loss of the engine. Further,
15 seizing of engine is also avoided due to reduction of oil loss. Demand of the oil
replacement is also reduced. Accordingly, service cost of the vehicle is
minimized.
[0040] Fig. 9 shows the maximum flow rate area in the air cleaner unit analyze by
the CFD. The breather channel 600 opens near the air cleaner outlet hose where
20 the air flow rate is maximum. Further, the maximum flow rate inside the air
cleaner unit 504 can be identified with the help of CFD techniques. Due to the
maximum air flow rate, the blow-by gas released from the breather channel outlet
604 mixes in homogenous manner with the fresh filtered air. Further, .the
homogenous mixture burns in the combustion chamber uniformly. Therefore, the
25 exhaust gases released from the combustion ofthe homogenous mixture contains
limited hydrocarbon (HC) and unburnt hydrocarbon (UBHC) as per norms.
[0041] The breather channel inlet 606 and the breather channel outlet 604 are
perpendicular to each other which avoid carryover of oil during vehicle running
conditions. Further, the angle between. the breather channel inlet 606 and the
30 · breather channel outlet 604 is in range 1° to 180°, where CFD techniques can be
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used to determine the best angle for different configurations of the air cleaner unit
504. In the present breather system, less hose length is required and clamp is
eliminated which reduces the weight of the vehicle and increases the fuel
efficiency of the vehicle.
5 [0042] Although emhodiments for the present subject matter have been described
in language specific to structural features, it is to be understood that the present
subject matter is not necessarily limited to the specific features described. Rather,
the specific features and methods are disclosed as embodiments for the present
subject matter. Numerous modifications and adaptations of the system/device of
10 the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and thus it is
intended by the appended claims to cover all such modifications and adaptations
which fall within the scope of the present subject matter.

We claim:
1. A breather system (500) for reducing engine oil content in blow-by gas in an
engine, the breather system (500) comprises:
a breather hose (506) connected with cylinder head cover (508) to
5 receive the blow-by gas from crankcase of the engine;
a breather channel (600) connected with the breather hose (506) to
release the blow-by gas in air cleaner unit (504).
2. The breather system (500) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the breather
10 channel (600) comprises a breather channel inlet (606) to receive the blowby
gas from the breather hose (506) and breather channel outlet (604) to
release the blow-by gas.
3. The breather system (500) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the breather
15 channel outlet (604) releases the blow-by gas in second section (504B) of
the air cleaner unit (504).
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4. The breather system (500) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the breather
channel outlet (604) opens near air cleaner outlet (502) where air flow rate
5.
. .
IS maxtmum.
The breather system (500) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the breather
channel (600) is inclined to the air cleaner unit (504), wherein inclination
angle is in range 0° to 90°.
6. The breather system (500) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the breather
. chapnel inlet ( 606) and the breather channel outlet ( 604) is perpendicular to
each other, wherein bend angle is in range 1° to 180°
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7. A breather channel (600) for reducing oil content in blow-by gas received
from cylinder head cover, where the breather channel ( 600) is provided in
air cleaner unit (504).
8. The breather channel (600) as claimed in claim 7, wherein the breather
5 channel (600) is inclined to the air cleaner unit (504),' wherein inClination
angle is in range 0° to 90°.
9. The breather channel (600) as claimed in claim 7, wherein the breather
channel (600) comprises breather channel inlet (606) to receive the blow-by
10 gas and breather channel outlet (604) to release the blow-by gas.
10. The breather channel (600) as claimed in claim 9, wherein the breather
channel outlet (604) opens near the air cleaner outlet (502) where air flow
rate is maximum.