Internal combustion engines

Details Internal combustion engines Internal combustion engines

1994-11-10

1996-07-02

Solis, Erick R.

Internal-combustion engines

Combustion chamber means having fuel injection only

Combination igniting means and injector

123527, 313120, 313125, F02M 5706

Patent

active

055311997

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to internal combustion engines of the kind which use, as their source of power, a gaseous fuel stored as a gas. Many such engines have been proposed and used, in both automobile and stationary applications. It has however been common practice in such applications to prepare the charge of air and fuel gas, necessary for each power stroke of the combustion cycle, by mixing the two gaseous constituents in controllable proportions in a manifold upstream of the cylinder, in a manner and at pressures analogous to those in which air and vapourised fuel are premixed in a conventional gasoline-fuelled internal combustion engine. The gas fraction of the mixture thus displaces the equivalent volume of air, so preventing the engine from developing the best power or, if desired, fuel economy. Also, because the fuel gas must be stored at considerable pressure, typically of the order of 250 bar in order to maximise the time interval between refuellings, means must be provided between the tank and the manifold to reduce the pressure of the gas considerably, say to about 70 bar,


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention arises from appreciating a number of potential advantages applicable to that use of pre-compressed gas, particularly compressed natural gas (CNG) as a fuel. Amongst these are firstly admitting the gaseous fuel directly to the cylinder of an internal combustion engine by way of a high pressure line and a variable orifice valve located substantially at the point of entry into the cylinder. Secondly, designing that valve in such a way that it may fit conveniently either into the spark plug hole of a conventional petrol-driven engine or the injector hole of a conventional diesel engine, so facilitating the conversion of either type of engine to operating on fuel stored as compressed gas. Thirdly the possibility of combining, within the admission valve unit, the means to generate a spark and ignite the fuel/air mixture within the cylinder at the start of the power stroke of the combustion cycle, closely following the admission of the gas fuel at the end of the compression stroke once the air has been raised to substantially its maximum pressure. Where CNG is used for fuel, such late admission and ignition is necessary because of the high octane rating of the fuel, and the incorporation of the spark-generating means within the valve unit clearly facilitates the conversion of conventional liquid-fuel internal combustion engines, especially those of diesel type where no such spark-generating means would have been required.
Means for injecting gas from a high pressure line or rail directly into the cylinder of an Internal combustion engine have been described in many prior publications, amongst them Patent Specification EP-A-0425327. The present invention is to be distinguished from that prior publication firstly because the admission valve described in that document does not principally control the admission of fuel to the cylinder. The bulk if not all of the fuel is admitted elsewhere, and the main function of the valve is to control the admission of air, inhibitory gas or the like. Secondly, there is no teaching whatever in EP-A-0425327 of incorporating, within the valve, any possible means to generate a spark. Specification US-A-4520763 does teach the generation of a spark in certain of the illustrated embodiments, but the teaching of this document concentrates upon using only hydrogen as a fuel, and contains no teaching of any need for, or indeed advantage of, admitting the fuel to the cylinder only when the air already there has been compressed to substantially minimum volume. In contrast US-A-3926169 does teach the use of a natural gaseous fuel, such as methane, but again there is no express teaching of any potential advantage of admitting the gaseous fuel to the cylinder during the air-compression stroke, and no teaching at all of advantage in delaying admission until substantially the end of that stroke.


BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The inv

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