Internal combustion engine with regenerator, hot air ignition, and naturally aspirated engine control
OwnerRichard Pattoninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An internal combustion engine and method is disclosed wherein separate compression and power cylinders are used and a regenerator or pair of regenerators is mounted between them to provide heat for hot-air ignition. The single regenerator embodiment operates as a two-stroke cycle engine and the embodiment with an alternating pair of regenerators operates as a four-stroke cycle engine. The engine varies the amount of air entering the power cylinder to control the engine output during naturally aspirated operation using valve timing and/or volume control of dead space and can optionally include supercharging to control the engine at higher output levels.
Claims22
An internal combustion engine, comprising:
- a compression cylinder having an intake valve and at least one transfer compression valve;
- a compression piston mounted for reciprocation inside said compression cylinder;
- a power cylinder having at least one transfer power valve;
- a power piston mounted for reciprocation inside said power cylinder;
- a passage connected between each transfer compression valve and transfer power valve, said passage including a regenerator and a regenerator exhaust valve between said transfer compression valve and said regenerator;
- and
- means to vary an amount of gas entering the power cylinder during naturally aspirated engine operation to control engine output power without throttling.
An internal combustion engine process with thermal efficiency greater than 50%, comprising:
- drawing air though an intake valve into a compression cylinder;
- closing said intake valve and compressing said air with a compression piston;
- opening at least one transfer compression valve to pass compressed air through a regenerator and a transfer power valve to supply heated compressed air to a power cylinder;
- combusting fuel in said heated compressed air to drive said power piston;
- opening said transfer power valve and to pass exhaust gas through said regenerator and a regenerator exhaust valve to reclaim exhaust gas heat;
- and
- controlling the engine during naturally aspirated engine operation by varying the an amount of gas entering the power cylinder to control engine output power without throttling.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.