Combustion chamber constructions for opposed-piston engines
AssigneeAchates Power, Inc.
InventorsTristan M. Burton, Fabien G. Redon
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Abstract
An opposed-piston engine includes a ported cylinder and a pair of pistons disposed to reciprocate in the bore of the cylinder. A combustion chamber is defined by opposing shaped piston end surfaces as the pistons approach respective top dead center (TDC) locations in the bore. At the end of scavenging, the shaped end surfaces of the pistons interact with swirl to produce turbulence in the charge air motion in the combustion chamber; the additional bulk motions include tumble. Fuel is injected into the turbulent charge air motion along a major axis, of the combustion chamber.
Claims13
A combustion chamber construction for an internal combustion engine including at least one cylinder (120) with longitudinally-separated exhaust and intake ports (126, 124) and a pair of pistons disposed in opposition to one another in a bore of the cylinder, in which:
- the pistons have shaped end surfaces (182a, 182b) that define a combustion chamber (200) having an elongated tapered shape with at least one injection port (203) aligned with a major axis (202) of the combustion chamber when the pistons are near top dead center (TDC) positions in the cylinder;
- and,
- the cylinder includes at least one fuel injector port (165) extending in a radial direction of the cylinder at a location aligned with the injection port of the combustion chamber;
- in which the elongated tapered shape is defined between a first shape (183) in a first end surface (182a) and a second shape (186), complementary to the first shape, in the second end surface (182b);
- and
- in which the first end surface (182a) includes a bowl (183) defining a concave surface and the second end surface (182b) includes an elongated cleft (188), symmetrically curved in cross-section and generally elliptical in plan, formed in a convex surface (186).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.