Thermal ignition method and apparatus for internal combustion engines

Abstract

The compression stroke supplies a small portion of the compressed air to a considerably smaller, fixed-volume receiving chamber through a valved communication passage. Simultaneously, fuel is injected into the air stream to mix with the air with the air pressure increasing in the small chamber until the air reaches ignition temperature to ignite the air/fuel mixture. The resulting rapid rise in pressure acts upon a check valve to seal the passage and to contain the combustion process within the small chamber. The small quantity of air therein is insufficient to support complete combustion, therefore most of the fuel is conditioned to a state of auto-ignition. The piston continues to compress the main air charge in the cylinder and slightly before TDC a controllable valve opens a second passage to expel the superheated mixture into the large volume of compressed air in the cylinder. The fuel is instantaneously oxidized, creating a high pressure gas to apply force to a piston that connects to working elements that connect to work. This combustion method extracts the maximum energy from various types and grades of liquid, gaseous or particulate fuels without electrical ignition systems or high pressure fuel injection systems. Additional energy would be extracted by converting the heat energy to a steam power cycle, which also cools the engine internally.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.