Automotive pendulum-slider pump

Abstract

An automotive pendulum-slider pump for providing a pressurized lubricant. The automotive pendulum-slider pump includes a non-rotatable rotor housing, a rotor ring which rotates within the rotor housing and which encloses a pumping chamber which includes a suction opening, a discharge opening, and an automatically switching pressure adaption valve, a rotor hub which is connected with the rotor ring to co-rotate therewith, and pendulum vanes which are arranged over a circumference of the rotor ring. The pendulum vanes are pivotably hinged via a respective pendulum hinge at the rotor ring. The pendulum vanes fluidically separate the pumping chamber into pumping compartments. The automatically switching pressure adaption valve of the pumping chamber pre-opens a fluidic connection between at least one of the pumping compartments and the discharge opening immediately before the at least one of the pumping compartments has arrived at the discharge opening.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 - 15 . (canceled) 
     
     
         16 . An automotive pendulum-slider pump for providing a pressurized lubricant, the automotive pendulum-slider pump comprising:
 a rotor housing which is non-rotatable;   a rotor ring which is configured to rotate within the rotor housing and to enclose a pumping chamber which comprises a suction opening, a discharge opening, and an automatically switching pressure adaption valve;   a rotor hub which is connected with the rotor ring so as to co-rotate therewith; and   a plurality of pendulum vanes which are arranged over a circumference of the rotor ring, each of the plurality of pendulum vanes being pivotably hinged via a separate pendulum hinge at the rotor ring, the plurality of pendulum vanes being configured to fluidically separate the pumping chamber into a plurality of pumping compartments,   wherein,   the automatically switching pressure adaption valve of the pumping chamber is configured to pre-open a fluidic connection between at least one of the plurality of pumping compartments and the discharge opening immediately before the at least one of the plurality of pumping compartments has arrived at the discharge opening.   
     
     
         17 . The automotive pendulum-slider pump as recited in  claim 16 , wherein an odd number of the plurality of pendulum vanes is provided. 
     
     
         18 . The automotive pendulum-slider pump as recited in  claim 16 , wherein some but not all of the plurality of pumping compartments are further configured to be pre-openable via the automatically switching pressure adaption valve. 
     
     
         19 . The automotive pendulum-slider pump as recited in  claim 16 , wherein the automatically switching pressure adaption valve is further configured to fluidically connect two of the plurality of pumping compartments which are adjacent to each other so that, with respect to a rotational direction of the rotor ring, a following pre-openable pumping compartment which is not directly fluidically connected to the discharge opening is indirectly fluidically connected to the discharge opening via a leading non-pre-openable pumping compartment which is already in a direct fluidic connection with the discharge opening. 
     
     
         20 . The automotive pendulum-slider pump as recited in  claim 19 , wherein,
 a plurality of following pre-openable pumping compartments and respective leading non-pre-openable pumping compartments arranged adjacent thereto is provided, and   each of the following pre-openable pumping compartments is provided with at least one valve opening at the rotor ring.   
     
     
         21 . The automotive pendulum-slider pump as recited in  claim 20 , wherein a number of the plurality of following pre-openable pumping compartments is less than an odd number of the plurality of pendulum vanes divided by two. 
     
     
         22 . The automotive pendulum-slider pump as recited in  claim 20 , further comprising:
 one single static connection channel which is arranged at the rotor housing, the one single static connection channel being configured to intermittently open and close the direct fluidic connection between the at least one valve opening of the following pre-openable pumping compartments and the discharge opening.   
     
     
         23 . The automotive pendulum-slider pump as recited in  claim 19 , wherein,
 a plurality of following pre-openable pumping compartments and respective leading non-pre-openable pumping compartments arranged adjacent thereto is provided, and   each of the following pre-openable pumping compartments and its respective leading non-pre-openable pumping compartments is provided with at least one valve opening at the rotor ring.   
     
     
         24 . The automotive pendulum-slider pump as recited in  claim 23 , wherein the at least one valve opening is arranged adjacent to the separate pendulum hinge. 
     
     
         25 . The automotive pendulum-slider pump as recited in  claim 23 , further comprising:
 one single static connection channel which is arranged at the rotor housing, the one single static connection channel being configured to intermittently open and close the direct fluidic connection between the at least one valve opening of the following pre-openable pumping compartment and the at least one valve opening of the leading non-pre-openable pumping compartment which is adjacent thereto.   
     
     
         26 . The automotive pendulum-slider pump as recited in  claim 23 , wherein the at least one valve opening is defined by a valve opening groove which is arranged at an axial front surface of the rotor ring. 
     
     
         27 . The automotive pendulum-slider pump as recited in  claim 26 , wherein the one single static connection channel is defined by a connection groove at an axial front surface of the rotor housing at a same axial end of the pumping chamber as the valve opening groove which is provided in the rotor ring. 
     
     
         28 . The automotive pendulum-slider pump to  claim 26 , wherein a depth of the valve opening groove within the rotor ring is from 0.1 to 5.0 mm. 
     
     
         29 . The automotive pendulum-slider pump as recited in  claim 27 , wherein a depth of the connection groove at the rotor housing is from 0.1 to 5.0 mm. 
     
     
         30 . The automotive pendulum-slider pump as recited in  claim 16 , wherein the rotor housing is defined by a control ring which is configured to be non-rotatable and radially-shiftable so as to vary an eccentricity of the rotor ring with respect to the rotor hub.