IP Library Granted Patent US 12,644,402
Granted Patent B2
US 12,644,402 · App. 18/904,617 · Granted Jun 2, 2026

Oil separation device and array for internal combustion engine

Inventors: Rodney Allen Lawrence (Frankfort, IN); Joshua Amiel Lehe (West Lafayette, IN); Chetan Vishwanath Kulkarni (West Lafayette, IN); Brandyn A. Stack (Lafayette, IN); Yegor Litvinov (Shakopee, MN); Mircea Radu Farmus (West Lafayette, IN)
Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
F01M13/04F01M2013/0438
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,644,402
App. No.
18/904,617
Granted
Jun 2, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Apparatuses including an oil separation device are discussed and shown. The oil separation device can optionally include a jacket arranged between an inner housing and an outer housing. The inner housing has an inner cavity that receives a filter configured to separate the oil from a blow-by gas. A first inlet port is positioned to extend generally tangentially relative to the jacket and a first outlet port is positioned to extend generally tangentially relative to the jacket. The oil separation device can include a first cover and a second cover coupled to or integral with at least the outer housing at opposing end portions. The first cover and the second cover are configured to receive the blow-by gas and to pass the blow-by gas as desired.

Claims (8)

1 . An engine system comprising:

an array of oil separating apparatuses, wherein the array of the oil separating apparatuses includes an assembly of at least a first oil separating apparatus and a second oil separating apparatus that are physically coupled together, wherein the first oil separating apparatus includes a first jacket and the second oil separating apparatus includes a second jacket, wherein the first jacket is in fluid communication with the second jacket via a first jumper tube, wherein, via a first inlet port, the first jacket receives a fluid flowing in a generally tangential direction relative to the first jacket and circulates the fluid from the first inlet port around the first jacket to a first outlet port communicating with the first jumper tube, and wherein the first outlet port and the first jumper tube are positioned to extend generally tangentially relative to the first jacket;

a first one or more fluid lines passing a blow-by gas from an engine to the array of the oil separating apparatuses, wherein oil is separated from the blow-by gas by passing through a first filter of the first oil separating apparatus and a second filter of the second oil separating apparatus, wherein the first jacket surrounds, thermally protects and is sealed as to be entirely separated from the first filter and the second jacket surrounds, thermally protects and is sealed so as to be entirely separated from the second filter; and

a second one or more fluid lines passing the blow-by gas from the array of the oil separating apparatuses back to the engine.

2 . The engine system of claim 1 , further comprising a second jumper tube having a construction that differs from a construction of the first jumper tube, wherein the first jacket is in additional fluid communication with the second jacket via the second jumper tube, wherein the first jumper tube has a first passage therethrough and the second jumper tube has a second passage therethrough, wherein a diameter of the first passage is larger than a diameter of the second passage, and wherein the second jumper tube is positioned to act as one of an air vent adapter to allow for passage of air between the first jacket and the second jacket or a drain back adapter to allow for passage of the fluid between the first jacket and the second jacket during a servicing operation performed on the array.

3 . The engine system of claim 1 , wherein, via a second inlet port in communication with the first jumper tube, the second jacket receives the fluid flowing in a generally tangential direction relative to the second jacket and circulates the fluid from the second inlet port around the second jacket to a second outlet port, and wherein the second inlet port, the second outlet port and the first jumper tube are positioned to extend generally tangentially relative to the second jacket.

4 . The engine system of claim 3 , wherein the first inlet port is configured to communicate with the first jacket to introduce the fluid into the first jacket as a flow in a first direction and the first outlet port is configured to communicate with the first jacket to route the flow of the fluid from the first jacket in the first direction or an orthogonal direction to the first direction through the first jumper tube.

5 . The engine system of claim 4 , wherein the first inlet port is located at a first tangential corner of the first jacket and the first outlet port is located at a second tangential corner of the first jacket, wherein the first tangential corner is opposite from the second tangential corner, wherein the second inlet port is located at a third tangential corner of the second jacket and the second outlet port is located at a fourth tangential corner of the second jacket, wherein the third tangential corner is opposite from the fourth tangential corner.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 2, 2024
From: LAWRENCE, RODNEY ALLEN; LEHE, JOSHUA AMIEL; KULKARNI, CHETAN VISHWANATH; STACK, BRANDYN A.; LITVINOV, YEGOR; FARMUS, MIRCEA RADU
To: CATERPILLAR INC.
Reel/Frame 069106/0456 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20260092543A1 · Apr 2, 2026
References Cited (80)
US 2642052A · Wagner et al. · 1953 [cited by applicant]
US 4768493A · Ohtaka et al. · 1988 [cited by applicant]
US 5171338A · Baert · 1992 [cited by applicant]
US 5277154A · Mcdowell · 1994 [cited by applicant]
US 5450835A · Wagner · 1995 [cited by applicant]
US 5456239A · Henderson et al. · 1995 [cited by applicant]
US 5937837A · Shaffer et al. · 1999 [cited by applicant]
US 6234154B1 · Spix · 2001 [cited by applicant]
US 6561171B2 · Burgess · 2003 [cited by applicant]
US 6691687B1 · Liang et al. · 2004 [cited by applicant]
US 6702941B1 · Haq et al. · 2004 [cited by applicant]
US 7011690B2 · Altvater et al. · 2006 [cited by applicant]
US 7182864B2 · Brown et al. · 2007 [cited by applicant]
US 7311208B2 · Brown et al. · 2007 [cited by applicant]
US 7635409B2 · Mahoney et al. · 2009 [cited by applicant]
US 8210135B2 · Slaughter et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 8657901B2 · Chapman · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 9169808B2 · Kitagawa · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 9222698B2 · Mcclanahan et al. · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 9447714B2 · Khan et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 9581061B2 · Kurita et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 9650927B2 · Subedi et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 9677507B2 · Kurosawa et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 9702282B2 · Peck et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 9926888B2 · Okawa et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 10001040B2 · Copley et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 10184444B2 · Plenk · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 10213715B2 · South et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 10543442B2 · Janakiraman et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 10550742B2 · Zuerker et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 10704434B2 · Akita et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 10876445B2 · Kress et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 10876631B2 · Zuerker et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 11311829B2 · Nelson et al. · 2022 [cited by applicant]
US 11331606B2 · Roy et al. · 2022 [cited by applicant]
US 11839842B2 · Piva et al. · 2023 [cited by applicant]
US 11946397B1 · Lawrence et al. · 2024 [cited by applicant]
US 12023619B2 · Parikh et al. · 2024 [cited by applicant]
US 20030102257A1 · Reid · 2003 [cited by applicant]
US 20040089600A1 · Haq et al. · 2004 [cited by applicant]
US 20060090651A1 · Liu et al. · 2006 [cited by applicant]
US 20080035103A1 · Barris et al. · 2008 [cited by applicant]
US 20090199794A1 · Slaughter et al. · 2009 [cited by applicant]
US 20100051388A1 · Clark et al. · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 20140182569A1 · Hwang et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 20170014745A1 · Zuerker et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20190218947A1 · Akita et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20220314148A1 · Calcaterra et al. · 2022 [cited by applicant]
US 20230313750A1 · Li et al. · 2023 [cited by applicant]
US 20240218817A1 · Lawrence et al. · 2024 [cited by applicant]
CN 1070428 · 2001 [cited by applicant]
CN 203436916 · 2014 [cited by applicant]
CN 107701263 · 2018 [cited by applicant]
CN 107701263A · 2018 [cited by applicant]
CN 207420558 · 2018 [cited by applicant]
CN 108993050 · 2018 [cited by applicant]
CN 109424388 · 2020 [cited by applicant]
CN 111927594 · 2020 [cited by applicant]
CN 112824656 · 2021 [cited by applicant]
CN 112901309 · 2021 [cited by applicant]
CN 222208049U · 2024 [cited by examiner]
DE 102004031619 · 2006 [cited by applicant]
DE 10310452 · 2008 [cited by applicant]
EP 0774289 · 1997 [cited by applicant]
EP 1762293A2 · 2007 [cited by examiner]
EP 2478949 · 2012 [cited by applicant]
EP 1965045 · 2012 [cited by applicant]
EP 2934716 · 2015 [cited by applicant]
JP 2007247448 · 2007 [cited by applicant]
JP 4448418 · 2010 [cited by applicant]
JP 5085523 · 2012 [cited by applicant]
JP 6126885 · 2017 [cited by applicant]
JP 2017066963 · 2017 [cited by applicant]
KR 101714717B1 · 2017 [cited by applicant]
KR 20210009662 · 2021 [cited by applicant]
KR 20220104883 · 2022 [cited by applicant]
WO 2015108853A1 · 2015 [cited by applicant]
WO 2020064205 · 2020 [cited by applicant]
“U.S. Appl. No. 18/092,525, Non Final Office Action mailed Sep. 28, 2024”, 8 pgs. [cited by applicant]
Written Opinion and International Search Report for Int'l. Patent Appln. No. PCT/US2025/046128, mailed Dec. 11, 2025 (14 pgs). [cited by applicant]