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US 8,677,950 B2Granted
Combustion chamber promoting tumble flow
AssigneeEcoMotors, Inc.
InventorPeter Hofbauer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A combustion chamber in an opposed-piston, internal-combustion engine is disclosed in which the pistons tops are designed so that when they approach each other, they induce a tumble flow in one or two hemispherical spaces defined in the piston tops. The combustion chamber further includes injectors side mounted in the cylinder wall. In one embodiment, the tumble flows in the two hemispheres are in the same direction and in another embodiment, in opposite directions. In yet another embodiment, there is only one injector and one hemisphere in which a tumble flow is induced.
Claims16
An internal combustion engine, comprising:
- a cylinder wall;
- an intake piston disposed within the cylinder wall;
- an exhaust piston disposed within the cylinder wall;
- and
- a first fuel injector disposed in an opening that pierces the cylinder wall;
- a second fuel injector disposed in a second opening that pierces the cylinder wall, wherein:
- the pistons are adapted to reciprocate within the cylinder walls;
- the second fuel injector is in an opposed arrangement with respect to the first injector;
- when tops of the pistons are at their closest approach, a volume between the pistons forms a combustion chamber with first, second, third, and fourth regions:
- the first region being substantially a first cone proximate the first injector with a tip of the first cone closer to the first injector and a base of the first cone away from the first injector;
- the second region being substantially a hemisphere with a flat surface of the hemisphere of the second region substantially coincident with a base of the first cone;
- the third region being substantially a second cone proximate the second injector with a tip of the second cone closer to the second injector and a base of the second cone away from the second injector;
- and the fourth region being substantially a hemisphere with a flat surface of the hemisphere of the fourth region coincident with a base of the second cone of the third region;
- and
- a cross section of the pistons coincident with the base of the cone of the first region shows the tops of the two pistons on each side of the hemisphere of the second region sloped so that thin ribbons that exist between the two piston tops when the pistons are at their closest approach are substantially tangent to a periphery of the hemisphere of the second region and a cross section of the pistons coincident with the base of the cone of the third region shows the top of the two pistons on each side of the hemisphere of the fourth region sloped so that thin ribbons that exist between the two pistons tops when the pistons are at their closest approach are substantially tangent to periphery of the hemisphere of the fourth region.
12 more elements
A combustion chamber for an internal combustion engine, comprising:
- a cylinder wall;
- an intake piston disposed within the cylinder wall;
- an exhaust piston disposed within the cylinder wall;
- and
- first and second fuel injectors disposed in first and second openings that pierce the cylinder wall with the first and second injectors substantially opposed to each other wherein:
- the pistons are adapted to reciprocate within the cylinder walls;
- and
- when tops of the pistons are at their closest approach, the combustion chamber which is a volume located between the tops of the piston and comprises:
- a first cone with a tip of the cone substantially coincident with a tip of the first injector and a base of the cone located away from the first injector;
- a second cone with a tip of the second cone coincident with a tip of the second injector and a base of the cone located away from the second injector;
- a first hemisphere with a base of the first hemisphere coincident with a base of the first cone;
- and a second hemisphere with a base of the second hemisphere coincident with a base of the second cone wherein;
- considering first, second, third, and fourth quadrants of the piston tops, the intake piston has raised portions in the first and third quadrants, the intake piston has recessed portions in the second and fourth quadrants, the exhaust piston has recessed portions in the first and third quadrants, and the exhaust piston has raised portions in the second and fourth quadrants;
- the raised and recessed portions are exclusive of the cones and hemispheres defined in the piston tops;
- the second quadrant is located between the first and third quadrants;
- and
- the raised portions of the piston tops index with the recessed portions of the piston tops to develop a tumble flow in the first hemisphere in a first direction and a tumble flow in the second hemisphere in a second direction with the second direction in an opposite sense with respect to the first direction.
14 more elements
A combustion chamber for an internal combustion engine, comprising:
- a cylinder wall;
- an intake piston disposed within the cylinder wall;
- an exhaust piston disposed within the cylinder wall;
- and
- first and second fuel injectors disposed in first and second openings that pierce the cylinder wall with the first and second injectors substantially opposed to each other wherein:
- the pistons are adapted to reciprocate within the cylinder walls;
- and
- when tops of the pistons are at their closest approach, the combustion chamber which is a volume located between the tops of the piston and comprises:
- a first cone with a tip of the cone substantially coincident with a tip of the first injector and a base of the first cone located away from the first injector;
- a second cone with a tip of the second cone coincident with a tip of the second injector and a base of the second cone located away from the second injector;
- a first hemisphere with a base of the first hemisphere coincident with a base of the first cone;
- and a second hemisphere with a base of the second hemisphere coincident with a base of the second cone wherein the intake piston is generally raised in two opposed quadrants of the top of the piston and generally recessed in the other two quadrants of the top of the piston and the exhaust piston is generally recessed in the quadrants associated with the raised quadrants of the intake piston and is generally raised in the quadrants associated with the recessed quadrants of the intake piston.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.