Method for cold starting of ethanol-fueled engines

A system for starting a spark-ignited internal combustion engine, said system comprising:

• a combustion cylinder capped by a firing chamber in an engine head;
• a piston reciprocally disposed in said combustion cylinder;
• an intake air manifold having an entrance throttle valve and being in communication with said firing chamber via an intake valve;
• an exhaust manifold in communication with said firing chamber via an exhaust valve;
• a spark igniter disposed in said firing chamber;
• a fuel injector disposed in either of said intake manifold or said firing chamber;
• and
• a control module including a processor and a memory, said processor operable to execute a method characterized by the steps of:
• a) forming a mixture of fuel and air within said firing chamber and cylinder;
• b) holding said entrance throttle valve closed, and disabling said spark igniter and said fuel injector;
• c) cranking said engine through at least one complete four-stroke engine cycle to adiabatically heat said mixture of fuel and air;
• and
• d) re-enabling normal controlled operation of said entrance throttle valve, said spark igniter, and said fuel injector to ignite said adiabatically heated mixture of fuel and air and thereby start said engine.

A method for starting a spark-ignited internal combustion engine having a piston reciprocally disposed in a combustion cylinder capped by a firing chamber in an engine head;

• the engine further including an intake air manifold having an entrance throttle valve and being in communication with said firing chamber via an intake valve;
• the engine further including an exhaust manifold in communication with said firing chamber via an exhaust valve;
• the engine further including a spark igniter disposed in said firing chamber and a fuel injector disposed in one of said intake manifold and said firing chamber, characterized in that the method comprises the steps of:
• using said fuel injector to form a mixture of fuel and air within said firing chamber and said cylinder;
• cranking said engine through at least one complete four-stroke engine cycle to adiabatically heat said mixture of fuel and air;
• holding said entrance throttle valve closed through said at least one complete four-stroke cycle;
• disabling said spark igniter and said fuel injector through said at least one complete four-stroke cycle;
• re-enabling normal controlled operation of said entrance throttle valve, said spark igniter, and said fuel injector to ignite said adiabatically heated mixture of fuel and air and thereby start said engine.