Internal-combustion engines – Free piston – Single chamber; one piston
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-07
2001-08-28
Kamen, Noah P. (Department: 3747)
Internal-combustion engines
Free piston
Single chamber; one piston
Reexamination Certificate
active
06279517
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to a free piston engine in accordance with the preamble of claim
1
.
Free piston engines of this kind are known from, or instance, WO 96/03575 filed by the applicant.
The disadvantage of the known free piston engines is that after fuel combustion, the combustion gasses do not leave the combustion chamber quickly enough to be replaced by clean oxygen-rich air. As a result the amount of oxygen present in the combustion chamber is limited causing the amount of combustible fuel to be limited and consequently also the energy to be generated by a particular engine.
It is the object of the invention to increase the amount of energy to be supplied by a particular engine and to that end the free piston engine comprises a purging air dosing system provided for supplying additional combustion air, which purging air dosing system comprises means for synchronising the supply of combustion air with the movement of the piston.
This achieves that the moment of supplying additional combustion air can be subject to and adapted to the movement of the piston and the stroke frequency of the engine, so that a limited amount of energy suffices to supply the additional combustion air, and the extra oxygen fed into the combustion chamber is optimally utilized.
In accordance with a first embodiment of the invention the purging air dosing system comprises a second air pump for compressing air, buffer means for storing compressed air and a valve operationable by the synchronising means for dosing compressed air. This is a simple manner to realise separate dosing of additional combustion air.
In accordance with a second embodiment of the invention the purging air dosing system comprises a third air pump having a pump chamber and an air piston movable in the pump chamber, the pump chamber being connected to the first air chamber or the combustion chamber via a nonreturn valve. This avoids the use of a quick-acting valve which is prone to malfunctioning.
In accordance with a further improvement of the invention, the synchronising means comprise sensor means for detecting movement of the piston past an air-dosing position. This further simplifies the control because the purging air dosing depends hereby directly on the position of the piston.
The invention is also embodied in a method of purging combustion gasses from the combustion chamber of the free piston engine in accordance with the invention, which is characterized in that supplying the additional combustion air is started at an adjustable time after starting the movement of the piston. This simple method achieves that after each stroke the engine is ready for the next stroke, irrespective of the stroke frequency.
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Darby & Darby
Huynh Hai
Innas Free Piston B.V.
Kamen Noah P.
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