Turbo System and Method of Installing

Question

I am the owner of SOHO Motorsports and we are in the process of designing a turbo system for a vehicle that is in our shop and I wanted to ask an important question before we begin building this turbo system on this vehicle. Does this patent (patent # US6745568) include every single turbo system that requires the removal of the existing muffler on a vehicle? Please let me know as we would like to know before we begin building this turbo system.

Answer 1

I see a key aspect of the claims as the turbocharger is attached to the exhaust system to sit at a point lower than the existing oil flow and a regulated oiling system is therefore used. One thing you might do is look at the 9 patent documents cited on the front page of this patent. They were all things looked at by the examiner when deciding if these claims were new. Generally speaking, anything taught in any of those documents is not covered by the claims of this patent. And you could do your own quick search in google patents for "turbo charger method remove muffler".

Answer 2

Claim 1 recites:

1. A turbocharger system for an internal combustion engine, comprising: a turbocharger having an oil inlet configured for being coupled to a pressure side of an oiling system, an oil outlet, an exhaust inlet, an exhaust outlet, an air charge inlet, and an air charge outlet; an oil pump in fluid communication with the oil outlet and configured for being in fluid communication with the oiling system; a pressure driven check valve in fluid communication with the oil inlet to prevent oil from flowing into the turbocharger when the pressure on the pressure side of the oiling system drops below a predetermined level; and mounting hardware for mounting the turbocharger to an exhaust pipe and away from the internal combustion engine, and at or below the oil level of the oiling system.

This looks narrower and somewhat different than every single turbo system that requires the removal of the existing muffler on a vehicle, would you agree? There are a couple other independent claims, though.