Opposed-piston engine in a light-duty truck
AssigneeAchates Power, Inc.
InventorsRichard D. Warlick, Jr., Cain Piotrowski
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An opposed-piston engine is configured to fit in an engine compartment of a light-duty truck without compromising engine operations or the integrity of the engine compartment. The opposed-piston engine includes an air handling system and can be configured so that a cylinder assembly of the engine is tilted. The tilt of the cylinder assembly can allow for all of the components of the engine's air handling system to be located on one side of the opposed-piston engine. The air handling system of the opposed-piston engine can be configured with a cobra-head shaped intake duct assembly.
Claims29
A vehicle, comprising:
- a chassis with spaced-apart frame rails running in a longitudinal direction of the chassis, between front and rear ends of the truck;
- an engine compartment comprising and bounded by a hood, a firewall, and at least one cowl panel;
- an opposed-piston engine supported on the frame rails and fitted in the engine compartment;
- the opposed-piston engine comprising:
- a cylinder assembly with a longitudinal axis that is offset from a vertical plane of the engine by an angle;
- two crankshafts positioned at respective exhaust and intake ends of the cylinder assembly;
- and
- an air handling system that comprises an EGR loop.
A truck, comprising:
- a chassis;
- an engine compartment defined by a front end of the truck, a firewall, a cowl panel;
- and a hood;
- and,
- an opposed-piston engine supported on the chassis and fitted in the engine compartment;
- the opposed-piston engine comprising:
- a tilted inline cylinder assembly;
- and,
- an air handling system with a turbocharger situated near an exhaust end of the cylinder assembly, and an intake duct assembly for transporting intake air to a compressor of the turbocharger;
- the intake duct assembly having a turning bend duct adjacent the firewall for turning an inward flow of intake air in a first direction to an outward flow of intake air which is substantially opposite the first direction.
A turning bend intake duct for a vehicle, comprising:
- a cobra-head duct portion with a first wall, a second wall facing away from the first wall, and an air transport case defined between the first wall and the second wall;
- the air transport case having a first end defining a substantially tubular inlet that curves in a first direction, and a second end, opposite the first end, with an outlet comprising an annular rim formed in the front wall, facing the first direction;
- in which the case has a shape in a front elevation view that widens in the direction of the outlet;
- and,
- in which the back wall of the case has a flat wall section.
A truck, comprising:
- a chassis with spaced-apart frame rails running in a longitudinal direction of the chassis, between front and rear ends of the truck;
- an engine compartment comprising and bounded by a hood, a firewall, and at least one cowl panel;
- an opposed-piston engine supported on the frame rails and fitted in the engine compartment;
- the opposed-piston engine comprising:
- an engine block with a cylinder assembly comprising two or more cylinders in an in-line configuration, the cylinder assembly having an intake side where intake ports of each cylinder are located and an exhaust side where exhaust ports of each cylinder are located, the cylinder assembly tilted to locate the intake side on a first side of the truck, in the vicinity of the hood;
- two crankshafts positioned at respective exhaust and intake ends of the cylinder assembly;
- and
- an air handling system that comprises both a high-pressure exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) loop and a low-pressure EGR loop located on a second side of the truck.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.