An exhaust-gas turbocharger of said type is known from DE 10 2008 053 079 Al . In said known design, a coupling rod connects the actuator (for example an electric actuator or a pneumatic control capsule) to the assembly of an adjusting lever of an adjustable turbine geometry (VTG), also referred to as a guide grate. Here, the coupling rod transmits the movement generated by the actuator to the VTG. Instead of a VTG or in addition to the VTG, the use of a coupling rod is also possible in the case of an exhaust-gas turbocharger having a wastegate which constitutes a turbine bypass. Here, the coupling rod which is composed of plastic is mounted on a pin assigned to the actuator and on a pin assigned to the adjusting lever, and is secured by means of a lock washer. The known coupling rod however has the disadvantage of a high level of wear at its eyelets into which the pins of the actuator and of the adjusting lever are inserted.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an exhaust-gas turbocharger of the type indicated in the preamble of claim 1 which permits a reduction of the wear of its coupling rod.

This object is achieved by the features of claim 1.

By virtue of the fact that the eyelets of the coupling rod are provided with metal sleeves, the invention makes it possible for the wear of the coupling rod eyelets to be reduced considerably.

The dependent claims contain advantageous developments of the invention. Claims 8 and 9 define a coupling rod as an object which can be marketed independently.

Further details, features and advantages of the invention become apparent from the following description of an exemplary embodiment with reference to the drawing, in which:

Figure 1 shows a perspective illustration of an exhaust-gas turbocharger according to the invention,

Figure 2 shows an enlarged view of the detail A in Figure 1 , Figure 3 shows a perspective view of the coupling rod according to the invention,

Figure 4 shows a perspective illustration of the coupling rod with the eyelets sectioned, and

Figure 5 shows a perspective illustration of a pneumatic actuator.

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a turbocharger 1 according to the invention. The turbocharger 1 has a turbine 2, the housing of which is not shown in Figure 1. The turbocharger 1 also has a bearing housing 3 and a compressor 4 with a compressor housing 5, said compressor housing being connected to the bearing housing 3 which in turn is connected to the turbine housing (not illustrated).

The turbocharger 1 is furthermore provided with an actuator 6 which, in the example, is fixed to the compressor housing 5 and may be in the form of an electric actuator or pneumatic actuator.

The actuator 6 has a pin 7 which is inserted into a first eyelet 8 of a coupling rod 9 which is illustrated in detail in Figures 3 and 4. The turbine 2 is equipped with a variable turbine geometry (likewise not illustrated in any more detail) which is symbolized by an adjusting lever 10 which has a pin 11 which is inserted into a second eyelet 12 of the coupling rod 9.

As can be seen in particular from the illustration of Figures 3 and 4, the eyelets 8 and 12 of the coupling rod 9 are provided in each case with a metal sleeve 13 and 14 respectively. The illustration of Figure 4 in particular, which is sectioned in the region of the eyelets 8 and 12, shows here that, in this particularly preferred embodiment, the plastics material of the coupling rod 9 surrounds the metal sleeves 13 and 14 at the outer circumference thereof, such that an integration of said metal sleeves 13 and 14 into the plastics material of the coupling rod 9 is possible by a process of encapsulation by injection molding.

In the embodiment of the coupling rod 9 according to the invention illustrated in Figures 1 to 4, said coupling rod has a cranked design. It is however alternatively also possible for the coupling rod 9 to be of rectilinear design.

Figures 1 and 2 also show that, for the fixing of the pins 7 and 11, lock washers

15 and 16 respectively are provided which are mounted on the pins 7 and 11 respectively and thus fix the coupling rod 9. The embodiment illustrated in Figure 5 shows the use of a coupling rod 9 according to the invention in a pneumatic actuator 17. It is provided here that the internal control rod of the actuator 17 has, at least at its outer end, a region in which a metal bushing 18 is embedded into a rod region composed of plastic.

In addition to the above written disclosure of the invention, reference is hereby explicitly made to the illustrative disclosure thereof in Figures 1 to 5.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

Exhaust-gas turbocharger

Turbine

Bearing housing

Compressor

Compressor housing

Actuator

Pin

Eyelet

Coupling rod

Adjusting lever

Pin

Eyelet

, 14 Metal sleeves

, 16 Lock washers

Actuator

Metal bushing