Engine flameproofing
AssigneePyroban Limited
InventorsPhilip G. Tyrer, John Pluck
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus and a method are disclosed for flame-proofing an internal combustion engine by provision of a sensor for detecting the presence of flammable gases in the vicinity of the assembly, a canopy shrouding a hot surface of the engine, and a source of non-flammable fluid operable responsive to signals from the sensor to inject the fluid into the space between the canopy and the said surface, thereby cooling the hot surface and inerting the atmosphere within the canopy.
Claims19
An internal combustion engine assembly comprising an engine having an engine air inlet and having a hot external surface exposed to a normally combustion-supporting environment, a sensor for detecting the presence of flammable gases externally of the engine in the vicinity of the assembly, a canopy shrouding said hot surface of the engine, and a source of non-flammable fluid operable responsive to signals from the sensor from detection of the presence of flammable gases externally of the engine in the vicinity of said assembly to inject a sufficient quantity of said non-flammable fluid into the space between the canopy and the said external surface for preventing said flammable gases from burning due to contact with said external surface, by both cooling said surface and by substantially diminishing the combustion-supporting character of said normally combustion-supporting environment.
A flameproofing shroud attachment for a hot external surface of an internal combustion engine comprising a canopy for the said hot external surface;
- a sensor for detecting the presence of flamable gas within said canopy;
- and means to supply and inject non-flamable fluid into the atmosphere within the canopy responsive to signals from said sensor that flamable gas has been detected within said canopy;
A method of flameproofing an internal combustion engine having a hot external surface comprising detecting the presence in the vicinity of the engine of flammable gases, and in the event of such detection, automatically actuating fluid injection means to inject non-flammable fluid into a space defined between the said external surface and a canopy disposed thereover.
A method as claimed in claim 17 wherein the engine includes a coolant system containing water and wherein said water which constitutes said non-flamable fluid is extracted from the engine coolant system for injection into said canopy.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.