JPH0448840B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) This invention removes lubricating oil that is constantly used and contaminated, such as automobile engine oil, from the place where it is used, and replenishes clean oil instead. The present invention also relates to a method for centrally managing lubricating oil in which extracted contaminated oil is intensively cleaned and restored.

(Prior art) Conventionally, engine oil that lubricates automobile engines becomes contaminated with carbon and iron powder generated during driving, and additives and viscosity decrease. After a certain period of use, it was necessary to replace the oil with clean oil.

Currently, the contaminated oil that has been replaced has traditionally been disposed of as waste oil.

However, processing of such waste oil has been extremely difficult. Incineration and dumping have the potential to pollute the air, rivers, and oceans, and the installation of disposal equipment incurs enormous equipment and treatment costs.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) This invention removes lubricating oil contaminated by use from the place where it is used, supplies clean lubricating oil instead, and uses a ground-mounted cleaning device to remove the lubricating oil. The purpose is to intensively clean and reuse the oil to prevent the generation of waste oil.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the means adopted by the present invention is to store engine oil in a capacity larger than at least the total amount of engine oil of a plurality of vehicles to be treated. A clean tank is installed on the ground, and contaminated engine oil extracted from the oil pan of each vehicle is centrifuged and then put into the clean tank, and the engine oil in the clean tank is constantly cleaned by centrifugation and filtration. At the same time, the reduced amount and additives were replenished to restore the properties of the engine oil, and the restored clean engine oil in the clean tank was supplied to the oil pan of the vehicle from which the contaminated engine oil was extracted. It is characterized by

(Function) After the contaminated engine oil is removed from the engine oil pan, clean engine oil is replenished. Replenish the engine oil with additives, etc. to restore its original properties.

(Embodiments) Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. In the figure, reference numeral 1 indicates an oil pan of an automobile engine, to which a connecting pipe 2 having a coupler joint 3 that can be easily connected to or separated from an external hose is connected. The outer end of the connecting pipe 2 is plugged with plug means to prevent oil from flowing out during use.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a clean tank fixedly installed on the ground, including a suction pipe 5 from which supernatant oil in the tank can be taken out, an extraction pipe 6 from which oil to be treated is taken out to the outside, and a supply pipe for supplying contaminated oil to the tank. pipe 7
are connected to each other. The suction pipe 5 has a float 8 that moves up and down according to the oil level in the tank 4, and can always take out supernatant oil near the oil level. The extraction pipe 6 opens near the bottom of the tank 4 and is connected to a circulation pump 9 for discharging oil that has collected near the bottom of the tank and needs to be cleaned. The supply pipe 7 is a pipe for centrifuging the contaminated oil extracted from the oil pan 1 and then supplying it to a tank, and is connected to the discharge port of the centrifugal separator 10. Reference numeral 11 denotes a bubble stopper plate that prevents bubbles generated when the contaminated oil supplied through the supply pipe 7 and the oil in the tank from spreading throughout the tank.

Two introduction pipes 12 and 13 are connected to the suction port of the centrifugal separator 10, and the first introduction pipe 12
is connected to the outlet of the hopper 14, and the second introduction pipe 13 is connected to the heater 16 via the first on-off valve 15. The heater 16 is connected to the outlet of the circulation pump 9. Further, the flow path from the heater 16 is branched between the first on-off valve 15 and connected to the filtration device 18 via the second on-off valve 17, and the outlet of the filtration device 18 is connected to the clean tank 4.
connected to. Thus, the first and second on-off valves 1
5 and 17, the clean tank 4 - circulation pump 9 - heater 16 - first on-off valve 15 - centrifugal separator 10 - clean tank 4, or the clean tank 4 - circulation pump 9 - heater 16 - second on-off valve 1
Two circulation circuits are formed: 7-filtration device 18-clean tank 4, and either one of the circulation circuits is selected or used in combination depending on the degree of contamination of the oil and the properties of the sludge contained therein to carry out the required cleaning process. It can be done. Note that the circulation pump 9 and the centrifugal separator 10 are coaxially connected to a drive source and operated synchronously.

Reference numeral 19 indicates two three-way pots 20 and 21, a strainer 22, a pump 23, and a scaled switch 24.
The joint hose 25 is connected to the first three-way socket 20, and the hopper 14 is connected to the second three-way socket 21. Further, a suction pipe 5 for taking out the supernatant oil in the clean tank 4 is connected between the strainer 22 and the pump 23 via a third on-off valve 26. The joint hose 25 has a coupler joint 27 that can freely come into contact with and separate from the coupler joint 3 of the connecting pipe 2 extending from the oil pan 1, and easily connect the connecting pipe 2 and the joint hose 25.
Easy to connect or separate.

After driving a predetermined distance, the engine oil of a car returned to the garage is changed as follows.
Next, as shown in Figure 1, the joint hose 25
is connected to the connecting pipe 2, the first three-way socket 20 is opened to the strainer 22 side, the second three-way socket 21 is opened to the hopper 14 side, and the third opening/closing valve 26 at the outlet of the suction pipe 5 is closed. and,
The pump 23 is operated to suck the contaminated oil in the oil pan 1 and throw it into the hopper 14.

After the suction is completed, as shown in FIG.
4 side to open the third on-off valve 26 at the outlet of the suction pipe 5. The pump 23 is operated to suck the supernatant oil in the clean tank 4 through the suction pipe 5, and the annular circuit 19, joint hose 25,
Clean oil is supplied to the oil pan 1 through the connecting pipe 2. The feed amount of clean oil is detected by a scaled switch 24, and when the specified amount is reached, the operation of the pump 23 is stopped to stop the feed. After stopping the supply, remove the joint hose 25 from the connecting pipe 2,
It is stored on the wall of the clean tank 4. In this way, the engine oil of the car returned to the warehouse is replaced with clean oil.

As shown in FIG. 1, the contaminated oil extracted from the oil pan 1 and put into the hopper 14 is supplied after centrifuging the sludge with a centrifugal separator 10 coaxial with the pump 9. It is put into the clean tank 4 via the pipe 7.

Since the contaminated oil from the hopper 14 is not sufficiently cleaned by passing it through the centrifugal separator 10 once, it is cleaned by the constant cleaning operation described below. That is, first, the first on-off valve 15 is opened and the circulation pump 9 is driven to take out the contaminated oil at the bottom of the tank via the take-out pipe 6 and then to the heater 16.
The sample is sent to a centrifuge 10 while being heated, and centrifuged by passing through it a required number of times. After the centrifugal separation process has been sufficiently performed, the second on-off valve 17 is also opened. and,
While adjusting the flow rates of the first and second on-off valves 15 and 17, the water is also allowed to flow through the filtration device 18 at the same time as the centrifugation, thereby performing a filtration process. In this way, by performing both centrifugation and filtration, the contaminated oil in the clean tank 4 is sufficiently cleaned.

As a preferable example of the filtration device 18, the filtration device disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 57-22969 can be used. This filtration device was proposed by the applicant of this patent, and will be outlined below with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. 101 in the figure
is a cylindrical body casing whose upper surface can be opened and closed with a lid 102, and has an inlet 10 for contaminated oil on one side.
3, a filtrate outlet 104 is formed in the center of the lower surface,
A filter element 105 is disposed inside. As shown in FIG. 5, the filter element 105 is made by laminating a large number of thin disc-shaped papers,
A filtrate extraction passage 106 is formed in the center. The filter element 105 is housed in a cartridge container 107 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and can be easily inserted into and removed from the main casing 101. Before use, the cartridge container 107 has a cylindrical shape with its upper and lower surfaces sealed, and the upper surface is provided with an easy-to-open upper opening 108, and the lower surface is easily opened with a lower opening 109 by inserting a needle-like member. Formable. A pressure receiving plate 110 is placed on the top surface of the filter element 105,
Filter element 105 due to weight and hydraulic pressure
A predetermined compressive force is applied to the paper to reduce the gap between the layers of the stacked papers, resulting in the desired filtration accuracy.

The contaminated oil introduced from the inlet 103 enters the cartridge container 107 and enters the filter element 1.
It passes through the interlayer gap 05 and reaches the outlet 104 from the outlet passage 106. While passing through the gap between the layers of the filter element 105, impurities and foreign substances in the oil adhere to the paper fibers and are removed.

Next, a case will be described in which the properties of the engine oil in the clean tank are restored. The amount of additives remaining and the amount of oil removed from the engine oil differ for each individual vehicle, but these are
By putting the oil into two large-capacity clean tanks, the amount is averaged, so in reality, the averaged amounts of additives and oil in the clean tanks can be measured and replenished as appropriate. For example, a case will be explained in which 10 container forklifts each containing 30 liters of engine oil stored in the vehicle's oil pan are treated with a 200-volume clean tank. The initial total base value (TBN), which indicates the amount of additives, was 25.1, and when all 10 engine oils were treated once a month for about 4 months, the TBN in the clean tank decreased to 6.41 after 4 months. Therefore, when we refilled 20 clean tanks with TBN70 new oil, the TBN in the clean tanks was
13 and was able to restore the additive.

In the oil that has been cleaned as described above, a decrease in viscosity, a decrease in additives, and a decrease in the amount are observed, so new oil and additives are replenished to restore the viscosity, additives, and amount. In this way, engine oil can be cleaned and reused without being discarded through this centralized management method, eliminating the problem of waste oil disposal and eliminating the need to replenish new oil.
A significant reduction in costs can be expected.

(Effects of the Invention) According to this invention, the following effects can be expected.

Since no waste oil is produced, waste oil pollution is not caused.
Also, equipment costs for waste oil treatment are unnecessary.

Since engine oil can always be kept at a constant property, engine wear can be reduced.

Oil can be saved by not having to dispose of oil.

Since there is no need to store new oil or waste oil in drums, it is safe in terms of fire prevention management.

The effort required for engine maintenance is greatly reduced.

Regardless of the number of vehicles, whether they are new or old, the type of engine, etc., all vehicles can be managed only during the oil change period.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 are diagrams showing the circuit of the management device according to the present invention, FIG. 3 is a vertical perspective view of the filtration device, FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of a cartridge container housing a filter element, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the filter element. It is a perspective view of an element and a pressure receiving plate. 1...Oil pan, 2...Connection pipe, 3...Couple joint, 4...Clean tank, 5...Suction pipe, 6...Takeout pipe, 7...Supply pipe, 8...
Float, 9... Circulation pump, 10... Centrifugal separator, 11
...Bubble prevention plate, 12...First introduction pipe, 13
...Second introduction pipe, 14...Hopper, 15...First
On-off valve, 16... Heater, 17... Second on-off valve, 1
8... Filter device, 19... Annular circuit, 20, 21... Three-way pot, 22... Strainer, 23... Pump, 2
4...Switch with scale, 25...Joint hose,
26...Third on-off valve, 27...Couple joint,
101... Main body casing, 102... Lid, 103...
Inlet port, 104... Outlet port, 105... Filter element, 106... Outlet passage, 107... Cartridge container, 108... Top opening, 109... Bottom opening, 110... Pressure receiving plate.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A clean tank was installed on the ground to store engine oil with a capacity that was at least larger than the total amount of engine oil of the multiple vehicles being treated, and the contaminated engine oil extracted from the oil pan of each vehicle was centrifugally processed. After that, put it in the clean tank,
The engine oil in the clean tank is constantly cleaned by centrifugal separation and filtration, and the properties of the engine oil are restored by replenishing the reduced amount and additives, and the restored clean engine oil in the clean tank is freed from the aforementioned contaminants. A method for managing engine oil for an automobile, characterized in that the extracted engine oil is supplied to an oil pan of a vehicle from which it has been drained.