Internal-combustion engines – Intake manifold – Manifold tuning – balancing or pressure regulating means
Patent
1998-12-03
2000-11-21
Dolinar, Andrew M.
Internal-combustion engines
Intake manifold
Manifold tuning, balancing or pressure regulating means
12318455, F02M 3510
Patent
active
061487821
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to an air flow device for a unit, for example an internal combustion engine, which requires for its operation a given amount of air, in accordance with the preamble of claim 1 and the parallel independent claim 6.
For example, in known internal combustion engines for motor vehicles, to achieve optimal performance air intake systems are preferred which have variable intake sections and thus permit adaptation to various requirements of engine operation. Noise suppression is also important here.
For example, an air intake device for an internal combustion engine is disclosed in DE-OS 40 41 786, in which a controllable shut-off means is present in order to vary the opening through which the aspirated air flows. The shut-off means is in a transverse channel situated between two intake channels and is opened or closed by commands from an electronic control. The commands are dependent upon the rotational speed of the internal combustion engine and on the temperature of the outside air, which is determined by a temperature sensor.
To achieve an improvement of efficiency in the conversion of energy by an internal combustion engine in a range far below the nominal engine power and thus a reduction of the fuel consumption per unit distance, a selective cutoff of cylinders in the internal combustion engine is often practiced. To control engine torque the number of active cylinders can be reduced, in addition to the ordinary throttle adjustment. The cylinders not contributing to the torque continue to run mechanically but are not supplied with fuel. In this cylinder cutout system, however, the pulsation of the aspirated air also changes.
One typical application of cylinder cutout involves changing a 6-cylinder internal combustion engine from 6-cylinder to 3-cylinder operation. Although the suction pulse emitted by each of these cylinders in the air intake device remains unchanged in itself, the cyclical interaction of 6 cylinders results in a different kind of pulsation than that of 3 cylinders. Especially, deep humming sounds are annoying; in view of the space available in a motor vehicle, these low-frequency components can be diminished only by costly reflective sound dampers (e.g., Helmholtz resonators).
But also in many other applications the resonating action of the air intake device plays an important part, and often the available space is a critical factor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is addressed to the problem of improving in a simple manner an air flow device according to the preamble of claim 1 and of the parallel independent claim 6, such that optimal operating conditions, and especially noise conditions, will prevail in different states of operation of the attached unit.
The air flow device according to the invention solves the stated problem by the features specified in the characterizing part of claim 1 and of the parallel independent claim 6. The air flow device of the invention is advantageous especially due to the fact that, by varying the course of the air flow and the aspiration geometry, an adaptation can be made to various states of operation, as for example when the number of cylinders in an internal combustion engine is varied, especially with regard to the optimization of noise emission.
The invention describes a flexible system for aspirating various amounts of air, especially in the case of pulsating flow conditions. With two adjusting devices according to claim 1, it is advantageously possible with one of them to switch the paths of the flow between them and with the other to change sound propagation paths through at least three flow channels consisting for example of flexible tubes. In the embodiment of the invention, a flap in each adjusting device can assume two positions in which, by deflecting the air flow, either a longer and narrower or a shorter and wider flow path and sound propagation path can be created.
An air flow device contains at the inlet end an air filter, as a rule, with an air intake funnel. These parts form
REFERENCES:
patent: 2835235 (1958-05-01), Gassmann
patent: 4932369 (1990-06-01), Parr
patent: 5143026 (1992-09-01), Brustle et al.
patent: 5438964 (1995-08-01), Breidenbach
patent: 5947072 (1999-09-01), Loy et al.
Dolinar Andrew M.
Filterwerk Mann & Hummel GmbH
Huynh Hai
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