Lubricating oil heating arrangement for vehicle engines.

摘要

This heater arrangement for engine lubricating oil has a vertical separating wall (8) in the oil sump (2) to separate the oil in the operating chamber (10) from that in the surrounding secondary oil chamber (12). When the engine is started, oil from the operating chamber (10) is sent through a supply duct (14) to the engine (1) and hot oil is returned to the operating chamber (10) from the cylinder head (20) through an oil return duct (24). A secondary return duct (28) sends hot oil to the secondary oil chamber (12) whose cooler and less viscose oil passes into the operating chamber through openings (22) in the separating wall (8). This allows the oil temperature in the smaller operating chamber (10) to rise quickly to the engine operating temperature, whilst the oil in the larger secondary oil chamber (12) is allowed to flow into the operating chamber (10) as it is heated and its viscosity reduces.