DESC:Field of the invention:
The present invention relates generally to an oil drain arrangement and more particularly, to an oil drain device that allows drainage of oil in a controlled manner.

Background of the invention:
In engines especially disel engines, a lubricating oil is used for lubricating various moving parts for reducing wear and tear of the moving parts. The lubricating oil is generally stored in an oil pan or sump which is usually at the bottom part of the engine.

Most of the manufacturers of diesel powered generating sets (DG Sets) in the industry recommend change of lubricating oil between 300 to 600 hours. During the oil change activity, the used/old oil is drained from the oil pan and replenished with fresh oil. However, this activity of draining the oil from the oil pan is very cumbersome, tedious and time-consuming especially in case of an enclosed generator set where there is generally constrained access or lack of free space for accessing a drain outlet of the oil pan. In such conditions, a service mechanic has to travel to the site with special tools for opening a drain plug provided at a bottom of the oil pan. As soon as the drain plug is opened, the oil immediately spills out forcefully and if the plug momentarily interferes with an escaping stream as the plug is removed, splashing and spilling of the oil occurs everywhere. Even hands and body parts of the person carrying out this activity gets dirty and oily with the used/old oil coming out of the oil pan / sump. Moreover, if oil gets spilled on the floor near the generator set, then it results in messy and unhygienic situation. Further, it consumes time to clean the floor.

Also, when a waste oil receptacle tank is positioned directly below the crankcase, oil spills uncontrollably. There is no sufficient room even for such waste oil receptacle tank in case of generator sets when they are packaged to make a compact product with minimum possible footprint so as to occupy lesser floor space.

Many devices and systems are known in the prior art for draining the oil from the oil pan. One of the prior arts discloses protection of threading of the oil pan and also provides two or multi-piece drain plug. Another method involves removal of a dip stick of the engine and snaking a hose through the dip stick tube to remove the oil from the engine by suction. However, this method is not acceptable due to high likelihood of incomplete removal of dirty oil from the engine, particularly with crankcases having a oil pan below the level that cannot be reached by the suction tube. This method thus may leave significant quantity of old/ dirty oil.

In addition, the prior art systems and methods fail to disclose removal of magnetic contamination present in the oil that hampers overall oil drainage activity. Hence, there exists a need for an improved and simple oil drain device that overcomes the above mentioned drawbacks of the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an oil drain device that solves one or more aforementioned and other problems related to draining of the oil from oil pan of the engine.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an oil drain device that filters magnetic contamination present in the oil thereby increasing the oil drainage activity.

Accordingly, the present invention in an embodiment provides an oil drain device for draining oil from an oil pan of an engine, comprising a banjo-type bolt and a spindle. According to the present invention, the banjo-type bolt has a head, a shank, an inlet fluid passageway and outlet fluid passageway provided on the shank intersecting with a central bore of the banjo-type bolt forming a drain passageway for draining oil and separated by a threading mating with a threading of an opening provided to the oil pan for draining purpose.. According to the present invention, the spindle is threadably positioned on the banjo-type bolt to open and close the outward fluid passageway for draing the oil from the oil pan of the engine controllably.

In another embodiment, the present invention provides a magnet is fitted on a distal end of the shank near the inlet fluid passageway of the banjo nut for attracting ferrous particles in the oil.

In one another embodiment, the present invention provides a connection means for connecting a hose to the outlet fluid passageway of the banjo-type bolt for draining the oil at a predetermined distance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS OF THE PREFERABLE EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION:
Reference will be made to embodiments of the invention, examples of which may be illustrated in the accompanying figures. These figures are intended to be illustrative, not limiting. Although the invention is generally described in the context of these embodiments, it should be understood that it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to these particular embodiments:

Figure 1 shows an oil drain device equipped to an oil pan of an engine in accordance with preferable embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 shows an oil drain device, in accordance with preferable embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 3 shows a banjo-type bolt of the oil drain device of Figures 2; and

Figure 4 shows a spindle of the oil drain device of Figures 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION:
In general, the present invention provides an oil drain device for draining oil from an oil pan of an engine, comprising a banjo-type bolt having a head, a shank, and an inlet fluid passageway and outlet fluid passageway provided on the shank intersecting with a central bore of the banjo-type bolt and separated by a threading mating with threading of an opening provided to the oil pan for draining purpose and a spindle being thereadably positioned on the banjo-type bolt to open and close the outward fluid passageway for draining the oil from the oil pan of the engine controllably. A magnet is fitted on a distal end of the shank near the inlet fluid passageway of the banjo nut for attracting ferrous particles in the oil and a connection means for connecting a hose to the outlet fluid passageway of the banjo-type bolt for draining the oil at a predetermined distance.

The invention now described herein below with the help of Figures 1-4 explains specific exemplary details of an oil drain device for better understanding. A person skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and may have not been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figure may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, features, and structures.
The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplary embodiments of the invention as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the invention.
It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Now, to illustrate the invention, a preferred embodiment thereof will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings which in no way restrict the scope of the invention and are for the purpose of illustration only.

The present invention describes an oil drain device for engines. The oil drain device allows drainage of oil in a controlled manner without any spillage and leakage during routine preventive maintenance of diesel engines thereby making the entire process clean, hygienic, non-messy and very convenient.

Referring to Figure 1 shows an oil drain device (200) of the present inventivon fitted to a bottom portion of an oil pan (20) of an engine (not shown) in accordance with the present invention. The oil drain device (200) is threadably connected to an opening (not shown) provided at the bottom of the oil pan (20). The oil drain device (200) is connected to a hose (40) through a connection means (60). The hose pipe (40) includes a locking plug (80) connected at another end thereof. The locking plug (80) can be removed manually during drainage of oil.

Now referring to Figure 2-4, the oil drain device (200) comprises a banjo-type bolt (140), a magnet (150) adapted fixedly on a distal end (130) of the banjo type bolt (140), a threading means (164), a nut (160), a spindle (170) and a knob (180).

The banjo-type bolt (140) has a head (142) and a shank (144) extending from the head (142). A central bore (146) extends from top of the head (142) to distal end (130) of the shank (144), through the whole length of the bolt (140). As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the banjo- type bolt (140) has two through holes one acting as inlet fluid passageway (124) near the distal end (130) of the shank (144) and second acts as an outlet fluid passageway (114). Both through holes (114, 124) intersects the central bore (146) of the banjo-type bolt forming a passageway for oil to be drained.

The through holes (114, 124) shown in the Figures 2 and 3 form preferably at 900 to each other in separate horizontal plane. This maintain the strength of the banjo-type bolt. Further, the through holes (114, 144) as shown in the Figures 2 and 3 pass through and through the shank (144) of the banjo-type bolt (140). Alternatively, the holes may not through and through, that is the holes will extend upto the central bore for forming a passageway for oil.

The inlet fluid passageway (124) and the outlet fluid passageway (114) are separated by a threadings (118) provided over the shank (144). The threadings (118) mate with threads provided in the hole (not shown) of the oil pan (20) of the engine (not shown).

As shown in the Figure 1, the hose (40) is connected to outlet fluid passageway (114) by means of a connector or connecting means (60).

The magnet (150) is secured on the distal end (130) of the banjo-type bolt (140). In this embodiment, the magnet (150) is secured to the distal end (130) of the bolt (140) using a suitable adhesive. The magnet (150) and the through hole (114) are defined along a horizontal axis X. The horizontal axis X is perpendicular to the vertical axis Y. The magnet (150) facilitates removal of magnetic particles from the oil during the running condition of the engine as well as during oil draining process.

As shown ing Figure 2, the spindle (170) is rotatably adapted in the central bore (146) from the head of the banjo type bolt (140) for opening and closing of the outlet fluid passageway (114) by using threading means (164) and the nut (160). The nut (160) is positioned along a middle portion of the spindle (170). The nut (160) and the spindle (170) arrangement has a dual "O" ring (190) positioned therebetween forming a unique type piston barrel type design to avoid seepage of the oil. The spindle (170) includes a first set of predefined threads (164) (hereinafter “the first threads (164)”) configured on a bottom portion thereof and a projection (168) configured on a top end thereof. The projection (168) includes a second set of predefined threads (166) (hereinafter, “the second threads (166)”) configured thereon. The knob (180) is positioned along the top end of the spindle (170). Specifically, the knob (180) is secured on the second threads (166) of the spindle (170) using a nut. The spindle (170) in combination with the outlet fluid passageway (114) of the banjo-type bolt acts as a valve and can be rotated with the help of the knob to open and close the outlet fluid passageway (114).
According to the present invention, the threading means (164) are fixed to the head (142) of the banjo-type bolt (140). Known adhesives can be used for fitting the threading means (164) over the head (142) of the banjo-type bolt (140). Alternatively, the banjo type bolt can be produced with the threading means extending from the head of the banjo type bolt.

Again referring to Figures 2-4, in operation, during servicing for draining oil from the oil pan (20), the knob (180) is rotated. The rotation of the knob (180) causes the spindle (170) to move and open the outlet fluid passageway (114). The outlet fluid passageway (114) allows used/dirty oil from the oil pan (20) to pass through the hose pipe (40) and on removal of the locking plug (80) provided on the hose (40), used oil drains out from the oil panel of the engine. The flow of the oil can be controlled with the help of rotation of the spindle wherein opening of the outlet fluid passageway proportionally depends upon the rotation of the spindle. The magnet provided on the distal end of the banjo-type bolt attracts ferrous particles in the oil during running condition of the engine thereby reduces wear and tear of the engine by preventing passageway of the ferrous particles along with the lubricating oil into the engine and during servicing, the oil drain device can be removed after emptying the oil pan to remove ferrous particles attached to the magnet before replenishing the oil pan.

The oil drain device of the present invention allows drainage of oil in a controlled manner without any spillage and leakage during routine preventive maintenance of diesel engines thereby making the entire process clean, hygienic, non-messy and very convenient. The device with plug integrated arrangement is simple to operate and does not require any operator, technician or mechanic. The device facilitates process of oil change especially in constrained access as in a very cost effective way.
The foregoing description of specific embodiments of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching.

The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the present invention and its practical application, to thereby enable others, skilled in the art to best utilize the present invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.

It is understood that various omission and substitutions of equivalents are contemplated as circumstance may suggest or render expedient, but such are intended to cover the application or implementation without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention.
,CLAIMS:
1. An oil drain device for draining oil from an oil pan of an engine, comprising:
a banjo-type bolt having a head, a shank, an inlet fluid passageway and outlet fluid passageway provided on the shank intersecting with a central bore of the banjo-type bolt forming a drain passageway for draining oil and separated by a threading mating with a threading of an opening provided to the oil pan for draining purpose; and
a spindle being rotatably positioned in the central bore of the banjo-type bolt to open and close the outward fluid passageway for draining the oil from the oil pan of the engine controllably.

2. The oil drain device as claimed in claim 1, wherein a knob is fited on the spindle for rotating the spindle for opening and closing the outward fluid passageway.

3. The oil drain device as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the spindle is secured rotatably in the central bore of the banjo-type bolt wih a nut, a threading means and dual ‘O’ rings to prevent seepage of the oil.

4. The oil drain device as claimed in one of the preceding claims 1 to 3, wherein a magnet is fitted on a distal end of the shank near the inlet fluid passageway of the banjo nut for attracting ferrous particles in the oil.

5. The oil drain device as claimed in one of the preceding claims 1 to 4, further comprises a connection means for connecting a hose to the outlet fluid passageway of the banjo-type bolt for draining the oil at a predetermined distance.

6. The oil drain device as claimed in one of the preceding claims 1 to 5, wherein the inlet and outlet fluid passageways are through holes for forming a passageway for oil.

7. The oil drain device as claimed in one of the preceding claims 1 to 5, wherein the inlet and outlet fluid passageways are the holes extending upto the central bore for forming a passageway for oil.

8. The oil drain device as claimed in the claims 1, 6 or 7, wherein the inlet fluid passageway and outlet fluid passageway preferably makes 900 angle to each other.