Valve drive for an internal combustion engine

1. A valve drive for an internal combustion engine, having a gas exchange valve and having a valve actuating element which has a contact face for an end face on a valve shank of the gas exchange valve which is actuated in the opening and closing direction by the valve actuating element, wherein the contact face and/or the end face is provided with a wear prevention layer which is composed of at least one metal-free amorphous hydrocarbon layer with sp 2 and sp 3 hybridized carbon, and wherein the amorphous hydrocarbon layer has a hydrogen proportion of a maximum of 16 atom %, wherein at least one adhesion-promoting layer and/or at least one intermediate layer is provided under the amorphous hydrocarbon layer, and wherein the at least one intermediate layer is formed as a metal-containing hydrocarbon layer, whose metal components are composed of W, Ti, Hf, or Ge or a combination thereof, and has a thickness of approximately 0.5 μm to 2.0 μm.

2. The valve drive according to claim 1 , wherein the valve actuating element is embodied as a valve lever which is acted on at least indirectly by a cam, with the contact face running on an end section which is materially connected to the valve lever.

3. The valve drive according to claim 1 , wherein the valve actuating element is embodied as a hydraulic valve play compensating element which is moved with the gas exchange valve in its opening and closing direction and which forms a modular unit with a housing, a compensating piston which is mounted in a longitudinally movable manner and which delimits a pressure space in the housing, a non-return valve and a restoring spring, which modular unit is provided in particular for being held in a bucket tappet, with the contact face running on an end side of the housing.

4. The valve drive according to claim 1 , wherein the valve actuating element is embodied as a hydraulic valve play compensating element which is moved with the gas exchange valve in its opening and closing direction and which forms a modular unit with a housing, a compensating piston which is mounted in a longitudinally movable manner and which delimits a pressure space in the housing, a non-return valve, a restoring spring and a joint shoe which is retained on the housing, which modular unit is provided in particular for being held in a rocker arm or a tilting lever, with the contact face running on an end side of the joint shoe.

5. The valve drive according to claim 1 , wherein the valve drive has a mechanical valve play adjusting arrangement, by virtue of the valve actuating element being embodied as a single-part bucket tappet with a hollow cylindrical wall which is mounted in a longitudinally movable manner in a guide of the internal combustion engine and which merges at one end into a base, which base is acted on at the outside by a cam and has, at the inside, an elevation, of a defined height, which faces towards the gas exchange valve, with the contact face running on an end side of the elevation.

6. The valve drive according to claim 1 , wherein the valve drive has a mechanical valve play adjusting arrangement, by virtue of the valve actuating element being embodied as an underlying adjusting disc, of a defined thickness, for a bucket tappet which has a hollow cylindrical wall which is mounted in a longitudinally movable manner in a guide of the internal combustion engine and which merges at one end into a base, which base is acted on at the outside by a cam either indirectly via a run-on disc or directly and bears at the inside against the adjusting disc, with the contact face running on an end side of the adjusting disc.

7. The valve drive according to claim 1 , wherein the valve drive has a mechanical valve play adjusting arrangement by means of an adjusting cap which engages around the valve shank with a hollow cylindrical wall which merges at one end into a base with a defined thickness, with the end face on the valve shank running on an outer side of the base.

8. The valve drive according to claim 1 , wherein the valve actuating element ( 4 ) is embodied as a valve lever, which is acted on by a cam, with mechanical valve play adjustment, with the contact face running on an end side of an adjusting screw which is screwed into the valve lever.

9. The valve drive according to claim 1 , wherein the amorphous hydrocarbon layer has process-induced impurities of less than 1 atom %.

10. The valve drive according to claim 1 , wherein the amorphous hydrocarbon layer has a thickness of approximately 0.8 μm to 2.5 μm.

11. The valve drive according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one adhesion-promoting layer is composed of metallic substances, borides, carbides and/or nitrides of the transition metals and has a thickness of approximately 0.1 μm to 0.5 μm.

12. A valve drive for an internal combustion engine, comprising a gas exchange valve and having a rocker arm which has a contact face for contacting an end face on a valve shank of the gas exchange valve which is selectively actuated in an opened position and a closed position by the rocker arm, wherein the contact face has a wear prevention layer which is composed of at least one metal-free amorphous hydrocarbon layer with sp 2 and sp 3 hybridized carbon, and wherein the amorphous hydrocarbon layer has a hydrogen proportion of a maximum of 16 atom %, wherein at least one adhesion-promoting layer and/or at least one intermediate layer is provided under the amorphous hydrocarbon layer, and wherein the at least one intermediate layer is formed as a metal-containing hydrocarbon layer, whose metal components are composed of W, Ti, Hf, or Ge or a combination thereof, and has a thickness of approximately 0.5 μm to 2.0 μm.