Internal-combustion engines – Two-cycle – Combined pump and motor cylinder
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-04
2002-03-05
Wolfe, Willis R. (Department: 3747)
Internal-combustion engines
Two-cycle
Combined pump and motor cylinder
C123S072000, C123S197300
Reexamination Certificate
active
06352057
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a supercharged two-stroke or four-stroke internal combustion engine having one or more cylinders, and operating by admitting a carburated mixture or by admitting fresh air with the direct or indirect injection of fuel. The invention is just as applicable to petrol engines equipped with spark plugs as it is to diesel engines which use compression ignition.
Although the invention is described hereinafter with more particular reference to a single-cylinder engine in the case of a two-stroke engine, which is well suited to all applications of small industrial engines intended for motorized cultivation, garden tools, lawn mowers, cutters, scrub clearers or the like, the invention is not in any way restricted thereto and is also applicable to two-stroke or four-stroke multi-cylinder in-line or V engines.
A two-stroke single-cylinder engine which operates with natural aspiration into the cylinder of a carburated mixture which passes through the crankcase is already known. This engine has a pipe for admitting the air/fuel mixture and a pipe for exhausting the burnt gases, both of which pipes open in the form of ports toward the bottom of the cylinder, near bottom dead center (PMB). The carburated mixture from the carburetor is drawn into the crankcase through a valve, during the upstroke of the piston which causes a depression in the crankcase, and is then delivered to the cylinder, during the downstroke of the piston, causing a raised pressure in the crankcase. During the downstroke of the piston, the mixture inlet ports are open at practically the same time as the exhaust ports, which means that about 20% of the mixture is discharged directly to the exhaust, leading to a high fuel consumption and a great deal of atmospheric pollution. The main advantage of this engine is its low cost, but new antipollution standards will ultimately spell the end for this type of engine.
Another known engine is of the loop scavenging type, which operates with a positive-displacement compressor, for example of the Roots type, making it easier to introduce the carburated mixture into the cylinder and to generate low-pressure supercharging. This engine also has a mixture inlet pipe and an exhaust pipe, the pipes both opening via ports toward the bottom of the cylinder. In this engine, the carburated mixture is admitted into the cylinder from the compressor, with an orientation such that the mixture experiences a loop-like upward rotating movement after the manner of a “loop-the-loop” in the cylinder, while the burnt gases from the previous cycle are discharged to the exhaust ports. The particular arrangement of the inlet and exhaust ports makes it possible for part of the admitted mixture not to be exhausted directly, and this reduces both fuel consumption and environmental pollution.
Yet another known engine is of the uniflow type, which also operates using a positive-displacement compressor. This engine has an inlet pipe connected at its upstream end to the compressor and at its downstream end to an inlet ring which opens via a number of ports toward the bottom of the cylinder, with an orientation such that the mixture is introduced with a great deal of rotational movement. The burnt gases are discharged at the top of the cylinder through one or more exhaust valves. This type of engine allows control over the filling of the cylinder and the possible recirculation of burnt gases, so as to obtain combustion which causes less pollution. Furthermore, when this type of engine is operating on the diesel cycle, introducing the air near the bottom of the cylinder makes it possible to obtain a great deal of air rotation, which is needed for obtaining good efficiency. This engine makes it possible to consume even less fuel than the loop-scavenging engine, and also makes it possible to reduce polluting emissions.
However, these last two types of engine cost far more than engines with transfer via the crankcase, because they contain more parts, particularly the compressor, and furthermore, in the case of the uniflow engine, valve control means. Furthermore, compressors of the Roots type are of low efficiency; for example, a two-stroke single-cylinder engine with a one-liter cylinder capacity and a power of 55 kW will consume 17 kW for driving the compressor. What is more, a Roots compressor does not operate beyond a pressure higher than 1.2 bar.
Finally, engines with exhaust and inlet valves are known and these are able to obtain the lowest consumptions and the lowest emissions, but this type of engine is also the most expensive because both the exhaust valves and the inlet valves have to be controlled. The efficiency of this engine is better because the control of the opening and closing of the valves using parts external to the cylinder means that the entire piston stroke can be used whereas with the previous engines in which admission was via ports, part of the compression stroke and of the expansion stroke was lost.
The object of the invention is to provide a supercharged two-stroke or four-stroke internal combustion engine, for example of the loop scavenging, uniflow or valve type, or of the four-stroke valves type, which allows the efficiency to be improved and the emissions to be reduced.
To this end, the subject of the invention is a two-stroke or four-stroke internal combustion engine, operating by admitting a carburated mixture or by admitting fresh air with the direct or indirect injection of fuel, the engine having at least one cylinder defining a variable-volume combustion chamber in which an engine piston coupled by a connecting rod to the wrist pin of a crankshaft executes a reciprocating movement, and a compressor associated with each cylinder in order to supercharge the cylinder with carburated mixture or with fresh air, characterized in that said compressor is a compressor with at least one stage, in the compression chamber of which there moves a compressor piston which is coupled to the crankshaft by a link rod articulated to an eccentric, said eccentric being mounted on the shaft of said crankshaft.
As a preference, the angle of the dihedron, the solid angle of intersection of which is formed by the axis of the crankshaft and the two half-planes of which extend one toward the eccentric and the other toward the wrist pin, is of the order of 90° so as to obtain a phase shift between the top dead center (PMH) positions of the engine piston and of the compressor piston which are associated with the same cylinder, which phase shift ensures that the pressure in the compression chamber is at its maximum before the carburated mixture or the fresh air is admitted into the combustion chamber.
In this case, when the stage of the compression chamber which communicates directly with the cylinder is located between the compressor piston and the crankshaft, the wrist pin has a phase shift in advance of the eccentric in the direction of rotation of the crankshaft and, conversely, when the aforementioned stage is on the opposite side of the compressor piston to the crankshaft, the eccentric has a phase shift in advance of the wrist pin in the direction of rotation of the crankshaft.
Advantageously, the cylinder capacity of the compressor is of the order of magnitude of that of the cylinder, but with a compressor piston which has a diameter markedly greater than the diameter of the engine piston, so that the compressor piston has a short compression stroke in the compression chamber.
In a particular embodiment, the compressor piston is rigidly attached at its center to the link rod for connection with the eccentric so that the compressor piston moves in the compression chamber by rocking back and forth about lower and upper parts of the compression chamber, the axis of the compressor being offset, in the direction of the axis of the crankshaft, with respect to the axis of the cylinder. In this case, the compressor piston can have, at its periphery, a spherical edging fitted with a spherical sealing ring which is preferably unable to rotate with respect to the compressor piston,
Huynh Hai
Wolfe Willis R.
LandOfFree
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