Injection device for an internal combustion engine

Abstract

The invention relates to an injection device (100) for a liquid or gaseous component in a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine comprising a cylinder block with one or more combustion chambers, wherein the injection device has a flat parallelepiped body with an upper surface (110) and a lower surface (120) and peripheral outer edges (125), wherein said flat parallelepiped body includes a first top-to-bottom cutout (130) for each combustion chamber forming respective inner edges (135) between the upper surface (110) and the lower surface (120) of the flat parallelepiped body, wherein, for each combustion chamber,The flat parallelepiped body includes a first channel (140) arranged to provide fluid communication between a first liquid or gaseous component supply opening (141) in the outer edge (125) and at least one first liquid or gaseous component injection opening (142) in the inner edge (135) of said combustion chamber. The invention also relates to uses of such an injection device (100), as well as a method for modifying a reciprocating internal combustion engine.

Description

Title of the invention: Injection device for an internal combustion engine Technical field

[0001] The present invention relates generally to an injection device for adapting an existing reciprocating internal combustion engine (design) to inject one or more additional liquid or gaseous components into the combustion chamber(s) of the engine without significant modification thereof, uses of such injection devices and a corresponding method for adapting an existing reciprocating internal combustion engine (design). State of the art

[0002] Two- and four-stroke reciprocating internal combustion engines are well known and generally comprise an engine crankcase generally including an engine block or cylinder block and a cylinder head mounted on top thereof; a crankshaft rotatable about a crankshaft axis; one or more cylinders disposed within said engine crankcase; a piston disposed within each cylinder for movement along a reciprocating axis between a top dead center (TDC) position distal to said crankshaft and a bottom dead center (BDC) position proximal to said crankshaft. The reciprocating piston is operatively connected to the crankshaft such that it imparts rotational motion to the crankshaft.Furthermore, the engine also comprises a combustion chamber defined within said cylinder arranged in the engine crankcase and a piston head opposite said crankshaft, at least one air intake valve and one exhaust valve per cylinder, means for supplying fuel to said combustion chamber, at least one spark plug per cylinder, if the engine is based on spark ignition of the air-fuel mixture, and generally an engine control unit for controlling the operation of the engine.

[0003] For example, four-stroke direct fuel injection engines operate on a cycle of four consecutive, repetitive strokes, these strokes being as follows:

[0004] Intake stroke: The piston begins to move downwards from top dead center to bottom dead center, the intake valve opens and air enters the combustion chamber.

[0005] Compression stroke: The piston returns from bottom dead center to top dead center and compresses the air inside the cylinder, which increases the pressure and temperature inside the combustion chamber.

[0006] Combustion Stroke (Power Stroke): Typically, at the end of the compression stroke (before the piston reaches top dead center) until very early in the combustion stroke, the fuel injectors begin injecting fuel into the combustion chamber. At some point, the fuel either ignites spontaneously (compression ignition) or is ignited by a spark produced by a spark plug (spark ignition). The combustion of the air-fuel mixture exerts pressure on the piston crown and pushes the piston downward, transmitting energy to the rotating crankshaft.

[0007] Exhaust stroke: After reaching the bottom of the cylinder (bottom dead center), the piston begins to rise, the exhaust valve opens and the scavenging effect of the piston causes the exhaust gases to leave the combustion chamber towards the exhaust system and ultimately the atmosphere.

[0008] Two- and four-stroke internal combustion reciprocating engines have been widely used with liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons, but due to stricter regulations relating to environmental considerations, such as an undesirable carbon footprint, alternative fuels, such as hydrogen, as a sole fuel or at least as a partial replacement for hydrocarbons, appear to be a solution to avoid or at least reduce the release of carbon oxides and unburned hydrocarbons.

[0009] Recently, WO 2023 / 152295 A1 has proposed to operate a four-stroke reciprocating internal combustion engine using hydrogen as fuel with one or more additional controlled injections of water into the combustion chamber(s) in order to optimize hydrogen combustion, reduce NOx production, reduce the risk of knocking, increase torque and efficiency.

[0010] However, the separate injection of more than one component (fuel, oxidant or inert constituent) into the combustion chamber requires the existence and therefore the installation of an additional injector per combustion chamber, which in turn generally requires significant modifications to the configuration of an engine due in particular to the presence of other elements, such as two or more intake and exhaust valves with their actuating devices, a fuel injector, a spark plug in the case of spark ignition, etc., which must be provided in the cylinder head of the engine. Depending on the diameter of the cylinders and the number of intake and exhaust valves, the installation of an additional injector often becomes problematic, if not impossible, and would therefore require significant design modifications, at least at the level of the cylinder head and its elements.

[0011] However, such design modifications are not only complex and take time, but often amount to developing an entirely new engine, as major modifications to the cylinder head are likely to lead to further changes, not only in design, but also in engine characteristics.

[0012] Furthermore, the need to modify the design of a large portion of the engine casing makes this approach largely unusable for adapting existing engines to operate with additional injection of a component that was not included in the original engine design.

[0013] Even if it is possible to design a new part, such as a new cylinder head that can accommodate an additional injector, for an existing engine, this would still require the replacement of major engine parts with new parts, which would significantly increase the costs and complexity of the retrofit. Technical problem

[0014] It is an object of the present invention to provide an injection device for a reciprocating internal combustion engine, which allows at least one (additional) liquid or gaseous component, such as a fuel, an oxidant or an inert component, to be injected into the combustion chamber(s) of said engine, without requiring additional space in the cylinder head, without requiring a new design of the cylinder head and whose injection device can be easily mounted on an existing engine, for example to retrofit it so that it operates with more than one fuel or with more than one injected component, whether it is a fuel, an oxidant or another liquid or gaseous component. General description of the invention

[0015] In order to overcome the aforementioned problems, the present invention provides, in a first aspect, an injection device for injecting a liquid or gaseous component into a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine having a cylinder block with one or more combustion chambers; wherein the injection device comprises a flat parallelepiped body with an upper surface and a lower surface and outer edges surrounding it; wherein said flat parallelepiped body comprises a first cutout from top to bottom for each combustion chamber forming respective inner edges between the upper surface and the lower surface of the flat parallelepiped body;wherein, for each combustion chamber, the flat parallelepiped body comprises a first channel designed to provide fluid communication between a (at least one) first liquid or gaseous component supply opening in the outer edge and at least one first liquid or gaseous component injection opening in the inner edge of said combustion chamber.;

[0016] In a second aspect, the invention relates to a reciprocating internal combustion engine comprising a cylinder block with one or more combustion chambers and a cylinder head, which comprises one or more injection devices as described in relation to the first aspect, mounted between said cylinder block and said cylinder head, if deemed necessary or useful, by means of one or more intermediate cylinder head gaskets.

[0017] In a third aspect, the invention relates to the use of an injection device as described in the first aspect, for adapting an existing reciprocating internal combustion engine with one or more combustion chambers, such as a gasoline or diesel engine, to the injection of one or more additional liquid or gaseous components (compared to the original fuel, such as gasoline or diesel) into each of said combustion chambers or of two or more alternative liquid or gaseous components, such as hydrogen and water, comprising the sealing placement of said injection device between the cylinder block and a cylinder head of said reciprocating internal combustion engine, if deemed necessary or useful by means of one or more intermediate cylinder head gaskets.

[0018] A fourth aspect of the invention relates to the use of an injection device as disclosed in the first aspect, mounted between the cylinder block and a cylinder head of said reciprocating internal combustion engine, such as a gasoline or diesel engine, if deemed necessary or useful by means of one or more intermediate cylinder head gaskets, for operating said engine with separately injected hydrogen and water, the hydrogen preferably being injected via said injection device, for example as described in WO 2023 / 152295 A1.

[0019] Finally, according to a fifth aspect, the invention discloses a method of converting a reciprocating internal combustion engine comprising a cylinder block with one or more combustion chambers and a cylinder head to enable its operation with at least one additional gaseous or liquid component supplying said combustion chambers, the method comprising the following steps: - remove the fixing means between the cylinder block and the cylinder head to separate the cylinder head from the cylinder block, if necessary, remove the cylinder head gasket; - placing an injection device as described in relation to the first aspect on the cylinder head by aligning the first cutouts with the combustion chambers of the cylinder block, possibly by first inserting a cylinder head gasket on the cylinder block. - place the cylinder head on the injection device, aligning the first cutouts with the combustion chambers of the cylinder block, possibly inserting another cylinder head gasket between the injection device and the cylinder head; and - fixing the cylinder head and the injection device to the cylinder block by said means fixing; - connecting a first or additional pressurizable source of additional gaseous or liquid component to the first or other supply opening of the injection device.

[0020] Although each first channel may be connected to a single first injection opening in the inner edge of each respective combustion chamber, it may be advantageous in certain cases, for example for the injection of larger quantities and / or in shorter times, for each first channel to comprise more than one first injection opening, for example from 2 to 10, preferably from 3 to 5 first injection openings in the inner edge of said combustion chamber. In other words, the first channel within the injection device comprises at least one or more branch segments, each leading to a first injection opening in the inner edge of each respective combustion chamber.In such cases, this plurality of first injection openings is distributed equally or unequally along the inner edge of said combustion chamber, but it is advantageously distributed equally along the inner edge. Furthermore, in certain embodiments, depending on the nature or state of the liquid or gaseous component to be injected, and when the injection into the combustion chamber is intended to be essentially simultaneous, it is advantageous to keep the (travel) distance between the first supply opening in the outer edge and each of the two or more first injection openings of the liquid or gaseous component in the inner edge of said combustion chamber of an identical or very similar length.Furthermore, it may be desirable to slightly stagger the actual injection times into the combustion chamber (without the need for multiple timed injections at the injector or even for an additional channel with an additional injector for the same liquid or gas component) between the two or more injection openings, for example to achieve a better distribution of the liquid or gas component in the combustion chamber. In such cases, the first channel and its branch segments may be configured in such a way that the distances between the respective feed opening and injection opening are offset accordingly.

[0021] Surprisingly, the inventors found that providing more first injection openings does not necessarily result in better and / or more uniform distribution of the first component in the distribution chamber, at least not if said first component is a gaseous component. Therefore, in embodiments where the first component is gaseous, such as for example hydrogen or oxygen, providing only one first injection opening in the inner edge of each respective combustion chamber may be preferable.

[0022] As one use of the injection arrangement of the first aspect is to convert an existing engine to accommodate additional injection without major revision of the cylinder head design, the height or thickness of the flat parallelepiped body is generally kept to a minimum while allowing integration of the first channels with their respective injection and feed openings. In practice, the flat parallelepiped body has a height between the upper and lower surfaces of 1 to 12 mm, preferably 2 to 9 mm, more preferably 3 to 7 mm, for example 3.5 to 4.5 mm.

[0023] While the addition of an injection device of the invention between the cylinder block and the cylinder head, even as thin as this, will have an impact on the compression ratio, this may be deemed acceptable (or even desirable) or not. In the latter case, it may be advantageous to replace the pistons with slightly taller ones or to "plane" off a fraction or the total height of the injection device, the top of the cylinder block and / or the bottom of the cylinder head before installation.

[0024] The size of the first openings is chosen to allow the injection of appropriate quantities of the first liquid or gaseous component within the injection times of the engine. Furthermore, if the first gaseous or liquid component is flammable, it may be desirable or necessary to prevent the flame front and / or back pressure from penetrating the injection orifice. This may be achieved at least partially, for example, by limiting the size or cross-section of the first injection openings. Thus, depending on the nature, state and pressure of the first gaseous or liquid component, the cross-section of each first injection opening in the inner edge of said combustion chamber may, for example, be between 0.05 and 20 mm2, preferably between 0.2 and 7 mm2, for example between 0.75 and 3.25 mm2.

[0025] Additionally or alternatively, to prevent the flame front and / or back pressure from substantially penetrating the injection opening, the first channel, advantageously located close to the first injection opening of at least one liquid or gaseous component, may also comprise or be equipped with a check valve or a one-way valve, such as back pressure check valves, for example, swing check valves, butterfly check valves, etc. Preferably, taking into account their size, the first channel may comprise a passive check valve with fixed geometry, such as those described in US 1,329,559, with 2 to 12 flow control segments, for example, 4 to 8 flow control segments, depending on the desired degree of back pressure regulation effect.Another advantage of these fixed geometry passive check valves is that they have no moving parts and are therefore not subject to wear and are generally durable and maintenance-free. In cases where the first channel . comprises more than one first liquid or gaseous component injection opening, each of which may be associated with a separate upstream check valve or check valve, i.e. within the bypass segment, or a check valve may be provided for more than one first injection opening (or for all first injection openings of said first channel), i.e. it may be provided within the first channel upstream of a bypass segment (or upstream of all bypass segments) within the first channel.

[0026] A notable advantage of using check valves, and in particular passive check valves with fixed geometry, is that, even if their efficiency is not perfect, they allow the use of low pressure injectors, called port (fuel) injectors, connected to the first supply opening to control the injection of the first component. These port injectors are more common, less fragile and less expensive than high pressure injectors.Furthermore, another advantage, and not the least for certain applications, is that since these port injectors operate at a comparatively low pressure (e.g., maximum 10 bar), the source of the first component does not need to be kept under high pressure or, conversely, remains usable when the pressure falls below the pressure required by high-pressure injectors (typically operating between 30 and 40 bar), which means that for (mobile) applications relying for example on a gaseous first component contained in pressurized cylinders, such as H2 or O2, the cylinders can be emptied more thoroughly and used for a longer time before being empty.

[0027] Thus, in some embodiments, the injection device comprises an injector mounted in fluid connection with the first supply opening of each channel, preferably a conventional low-pressure port injector. Another option would be to use two types of injectors to inject the first component: a port injector for a first injection and a high-pressure injector for a second injection. In such cases, the first low-pressure injection could be the main injection and the second high-pressure injection could represent only a fraction of the amount of the first injection, preferably from 1 to 10% by weight, more preferably from 2 to 8% by weight, for example from 3 to 5% by weight of the total mass of the first component injected. The order of the first and second injections can of course be reversed if desired.Such a dual injector type configuration (separate or in a single housing) can be advantageously used to inject first gaseous components, such as in particular hydrogen. These two types of injectors are preferably connected to the same first channel of the injection device. To connect two separate injectors, the first supply opening can be provided with a Y-manifold. additional external mounted between the first feed opening and each of the two injectors. Alternatively, the (or each) first channel comprises two first feed openings, each of these first feed openings (of the same first channel) being designed to mount an injector therein, such as in particular a conventional low-pressure port injector and a conventional high-pressure injector. In advantageous embodiments, the check valves described above may also be used to protect the injector(s) against undesirable and possibly excessively high transient backpressures from the combustion chamber, independently of or in addition to their role of preventing the propagation of the flame front in the injection device.

[0028] In an advantageous embodiment, the injection device is configured such that the first supply opening of each channel is adapted to be connected to a first pressurizable source of the first gaseous or liquid component, either directly or preferably via an additional injector as described above. An important advantage of the invention is that any other means necessary to supply the first gaseous or liquid component in the appropriate state for injection, even the aforementioned injectors, can be remote from the engine and placed relatively freely on the side of the cylinder block or even at any other location in relative proximity to the engine. An injection device according to the invention therefore does not require substantial modification of the cylinder block or the cylinder head of the internal combustion engine.

[0029] The shape of the cross-section of the first openings is generally chosen to promote good distribution of the first liquid or gaseous component in the combustion chamber during injection. Although a number of regular or irregular shapes may be suitable, the first opening for injecting at least one liquid or gaseous component into the inner edge of said combustion chamber preferably has a round, oval or polygonal section.

[0030] The first channel is generally configured within the parallelepiped body so as to be essentially parallel to its upper and lower surfaces. However, this does not mean that certain segments of the channel, for example the end segments near the injection opening and / or near the feed opening, cannot be inclined vertically towards the lower or upper surfaces, for example at angles of + / - 30°, preferably + / -15°, more preferably + / - 7°, while retaining their opening in the respective edge.

[0031] Similarly, an end segment of the first channel upstream of the first injection opening of at least one liquid or gaseous component may be non-perpendicular to a tangent to said inner edge in the inner edge of said combustion chamber, which means that the first injected liquid or gaseous component is not not injected towards the center of the combustion chamber, but rather to one side thereof, thereby creating or maintaining a swirling motion inside the combustion chamber. Preferably, said end segment of the first channel upstream of the first injection opening of at least one liquid or gaseous component forms an angle of 3 to 65°, preferably 5 to 45°, more preferably 7 to 20°, with respect to said tangent in a plane parallel to the upper or lower surfaces of the injection device.

[0032] Although the injection device presented herein may be made of any suitable material capable of withstanding the pressures, temperatures and frictions within such an engine, said injection device is generally made of metal or metal alloys, preferably steel or aluminum, or made of or comprising ceramics.

[0033] In practice, the flat parallelepiped body of the injection device will often closely match the configuration and shape of the top of the cylinder block and the bottom of the cylinder head. Therefore, it will generally include second cutouts from top to bottom for the means of fixing the cylinder head to the cylinder block, the circulation of the lubricant between the cylinder head and the cylinder block and / or the cooling circuit between the cylinder head and the cylinder block, etc.

[0034] Depending on the intended operation of the internal combustion engine, it may be desirable or necessary to provide the possibility of injecting still other liquid or gaseous components, such as a second, a third, etc. To achieve this, two or more injection devices as described herein can easily be stacked to inject at least one other liquid or gaseous component into the combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine.

[0035] In other embodiments, the invention also provides injection devices whose flat parallelepiped body comprises, for each combustion chamber, at least one (second, third, ...) additional channel arranged so as to ensure fluid communication between at least one (second, third, ...) additional opening for supplying liquid or gaseous components in the outer edge and one (second, third, ...) additional opening for injecting liquid or gaseous components in the inner edge of said combustion chamber. Thus, in another embodiment, an injection device according to the invention can make it possible to inject two (or more) additional liquid or gaseous components into the combustion chambers of the modified engine with a single injection device.

[0036] When other injection openings for liquid or gaseous components are located in the inner edge of said combustion chamber, they may be placed at a different height from that of the first injection openings of liquid or gaseous components. However, if it is desired to place all injection openings at the same height, the first and additional channels can be placed at the same height inside the parallelepiped body, or the end segments downstream of the injection opening can be inclined vertically with corresponding angles so that the injection openings are at the same height.

[0037] Furthermore, for the reasons set out in the context of the first channel, the injection device may be configured such that each additional channel (second, third, ...) comprises only one or, if deemed advantageous, more than one, such as from 2 to 10, preferably from 3 to 5 additional injection openings in the inner edge of said combustion chamber, where these (second, third, ...) additional injection openings are preferably distributed uniformly along the inner edge of said combustion chamber, for example alternating with said first injection openings.

[0038] It is understood that these other (second, third,...) channels, feed and injection openings, end segments, etc. may also, independently of each other, comprise one or all of the features described in the context of the first channel, the first feed opening, the first injection opening, the end segment, etc. such as single or multiple injection ports with identical or different cross-sectional shapes and / or sizes, non-return valves, etc.

[0039] As previously indicated, the first gaseous or liquid component may be a fuel, an oxidant or even an inert component not participating in the combustion reaction(s). Since the present invention makes it possible to inject at least one other component (or at least two different components by replacing the original fuel with another component), the operation of a diesel or gasoline engine with hydrogen and water, as described in WO 2023 / 152295 A1, can be easily implemented with limited costs. But the different uses of the injection devices as described here are multiple, since such an injection device can be used for example to inject (additional) oxygen, thus making it possible to inject larger quantities of fuel, whether conventional liquid (fossil) fuels or gaseous or liquid fuels that are more neutral in terms of CO2 emissions.Furthermore, by operating the engines modified by the injection device of the invention with compressed oxygen only, instead of air, the engine could operate at any speed or load without (the possibility of) producing NOx.

[0040] Further, by injecting hydrogen as a first component and oxygen as a second component through the corresponding first and second channels in an injection device of the present invention (and possibly by injecting any additional components, such as water, through the original injector), it would be possible to get rid of the intake valves and corresponding controls inside the cylinder head, thus reducing the number of moving parts, the corresponding maintenance and repair and, furthermore, freeing up space to implement other modifications and additions that may further contribute to reliable but clean, CO2-neutral and NOx-free operation of reciprocating internal combustion engines.

[0041] As is evident from the above, a major advantage of the present invention is that, although it allows the operation of a reciprocating internal combustion engine to be substantially modified by allowing the use of at least one additional injected component (and possibly replacing the existing injected component with another), it does not require a redesign of the cylinder block or even the cylinder head of the engine, all other additional parts, such as the additional injector(s), liquid or gaseous component containers, control unit, etc., can be installed relatively freely outside the (original) engine, making it an ideal tool for retrofitting. Furthermore, installation, setup and maintenance can be carried out by any mechanic, with some basic additional training or instruction. Brief description of the drawings

[0042] Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

[0043] [Fig. 1] is a perspective view of an embodiment of an injection device according to the first aspect of the invention;

[0044] [Fig.2] is a top view of the injection device according to the first aspect of the invention as shown in [Fig.l];

[0045] [Fig.3] (a) - (c) are schematic cross-sections of the body of different embodiments of injection devices having a first liquid or gaseous component supply opening and one (a), three (b) or four (c) first liquid or gaseous component injection openings; and

[0046] [Fig. 4] is a schematic cross-section of the body of a still different embodiment of an injection device for injecting two different components (fuel, oxidant, etc.), said injection device comprising a first channel and another channel with their corresponding first liquid or gaseous component supply opening and first liquid or gaseous component injection opening.

[0047] Other details and advantages of the present invention will emerge from the following detailed description of several non-limiting embodiments, with reference to the attached drawings. Description of Preferred Embodiments

[0048] [Fig.l] shows an example of an injection device 100 in perspective view. This injection device has a roughly parallelepiped body with an upper surface 110 and a lower surface (120, not visible in [Fig.l]) and peripheral outer edges 125. For each cylinder or combustion chamber of the reciprocating internal combustion engine (a six-cylinder engine in the illustrated case), the injection device 100 comprises a top-to-bottom cutout 130 whose dimensions and shape correspond to those of the cross-section of the combustion chamber at the top of the cylinder block. These first top-to-bottom cutouts 130 each form an inner edge 135.

[0049] The injection device illustrated in [Fig.l] comprises, for each combustion chamber, a first channel 140 (in reality not visible, therefore shown in dotted lines) provided inside the body of the injection device with an opening in the outer edge 125, i.e. the first feed opening 141 of the liquid or gaseous component, and an opening in the inner edge 135 of the first cutout 130 from top to bottom of the combustion chamber, the feed opening and the injection opening being in fluid connection through the first channel 140.

[0050] The injection device of [Fig.l] also comprises other top-down cutouts, called second top-down cutouts 150, located at different locations and having different shapes and sizes. These second cutouts 150 can serve, for example, as a passage for the means for fixing the cylinder head to the cylinder block, for the circulation of the lubricant between the cylinder head and the cylinder block and / or for the cooling circuit between the cylinder head and the cylinder block.

[0051] [Fig. 2] is a top view of the embodiment of an injection device 100 of [Fig. 1], in which the same numbers refer to the same characteristics and the dotted lines indicate the position of the first channels in the body of the injection device, further showing for one cylinder the top of the combustion chamber 200 in the cylinder head (not shown) and a two-valve intake manifold 210 and a two-valve exhaust manifold 220 installed in the cylinder head (not shown).

[0052] [Fig.3] (a) to [Fig.3] (c) are schematic cross-sections of the body of different simplified embodiments of the injection devices 100 for a single-cylinder internal combustion engine configured to inject a (first) component (additional to the original injections of the engine) and having a first channel 140 with an end segment 145, a first feed opening in

[0053]

[0054] liquid or gaseous component and one (a), three (b) or four (c) first liquid or gaseous component injection openings. The embodiments illustrated in [Fig. 3] (b) and [Fig. 3] (c) therefore comprise one or more branches, one three-way branch in the example of embodiment (b) and five two-way branches in the example of embodiment (c). The number of branches in example (c) results from the fact that the first channel comprises a circular connecting segment. Such a configuration can be advantageous if the number of injection openings is equal to or greater than three, in particular in a configuration with a regular circumferential distribution, since the liquid or gaseous component can reach the respective injection opening via more than one path. [Fig.4] is a schematic cross-section of the body of another embodiment of an injection device 100 for a single-cylinder internal combustion engine, configured to inject two additional different components (fuel, oxidant, etc.), said injection device comprising a first channel 140 and another channel 160 with their corresponding first liquid or gaseous component supply openings 141, 161 and first liquid or gaseous component injection openings 142, 162. Legend :

[0055] 100 Injection device 110 Upper surface 120 Lower surface 125 Outer edge 130 First cut from top to bottom 135 Inner edge 140 First channel (inside the body of the injection device) 141 First opening for supplying liquid or gaseous components 142 First opening for injecting a liquid or gaseous component 145 End segment of the first channel 150 Second cuts from top to bottom 160 Additional channel 161 Additional opening for supplying liquid or gaseous components 162 Additional opening for injecting a liquid or gaseous component 165 End segment of the additional channel 200 Combustion chamber roof 210 Two-valve intake manifold 220 Two-valve exhaust manifold

Claims

Claims

1. An injection device (100) for injecting a liquid or gaseous component into a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine having a cylinder block with one or more combustion chambers; wherein the injection device (100) has a flat parallelepiped body with an upper surface and a lower surface and peripheral outer edges (125); wherein said flat parallelepiped body comprises a first top-down cutout (130) for each combustion chamber forming respective inner edges (135) between the upper surface (110) and the lower surface (120) of the flat parallelepiped body;wherein, for each combustion chamber, the flat parallelepiped body comprises a first channel (140) designed to provide fluid communication between a first liquid or gaseous component supply opening (141) in the outer edge (125) and at least one first liquid or gaseous component injection opening (142) in the inner edge (135) of said combustion chamber.;

2. An injection device (100) according to claim 1, wherein each first channel (140) comprises only a first injection opening (142) in the inner edge (135) of said combustion chamber for injecting a gaseous component.

3. An injection device (100) according to claim 1, wherein each first channel comprises from 2 to 10, preferably from 3 to 5 first injection openings (142) in the inner edge (135) of said combustion chamber, said first injection openings (142) being preferably uniformly distributed along the inner edge (135) of said combustion chamber.

4. An injection device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the cross-section of each first injection opening (142) in the inner edge (135) of said combustion chamber is between 0.05 and 20 mm2, preferably between 0.2 and 7 mm2, more preferably between 0.75 and 3.25 mm2.

5. An injection device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the parallelepipedal flat body has a height between the upper (110) and lower (120) surfaces of 1 to 12 mm, preferably 2 to 9 mm, more preferably 3 to 7 mm, even more preferably 3.5 to 4.5 mm.

6. Injection device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the first injection opening (142) of at least one liquid or gaseous component in the inner edge (135) of said combustion chamber has a round, oval or polygonal section.

7. Injection device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein an end segment of the first channel (145) upstream of the first injection opening of at least one liquid or gaseous component (142) is non-perpendicular to a tangent to said inner edge (135) in the inner edge of said combustion chamber, preferably said end segment of the first channel (145) upstream of the first injection opening of at least one liquid or gaseous component (142) forms an angle of 3 to 65°, preferably 5 to 45°, more preferably 7 to 20°, relative to said tangent.

8. An injection device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the first channel (140) comprises a check valve or a one-way valve, preferably a back pressure check valve, more preferably a swing check valve, a butterfly check valve or a fixed geometry passive check valve.

9. An injection device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the first supply opening (141) of each channel is configured to be connected to a first pressurizable source of gaseous or liquid component.

10. An injection device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the first feed opening (141) of each first channel (140) is adapted for mounting an injector, preferably a conventional low pressure port injector.

11. An injection device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the first channel (140) comprises two first feed openings (141), each of these first feed openings (141) being adapted to mount therein an injector, preferably a conventional low pressure port injector and a conventional high pressure injector.

12. An injection device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the injection device (100) is made of metal or metal alloy, preferably steel or aluminum, or ceramic, or comprising ceramic elements.

13. An injection device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the parallelepiped flat body comprises second top-to-bottom cutouts (150) for the means for fixing the cylinder head to the cylinder block, the circulation of the lubricant between the cylinder head and the cylinder block and / or the cooling circuit between the cylinder head and the cylinder block.

14. An injection device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 13, for injecting at least one further liquid or gaseous component into the combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine, wherein, for each combustion chamber, the flat parallelepiped body comprises at least one additional channel (160) arranged to provide fluid communication between at least one additional gaseous or liquid component supply opening (161) in the outer edge (125) and one or more additional gaseous or liquid component injection openings (162) in the inner edge (135) of said combustion chamber.

15. An injection device (100) according to claim 14, wherein each additional channel (160) comprises from 2 to 10, preferably from 3 to 5 additional injection openings (162) in the inner edge (135) of said combustion chamber, said additional injection openings (162) being preferably distributed uniformly along the inner edge (135) of said combustion chamber, alternating with said first injection openings (142).

16. A reciprocating internal combustion engine comprising a cylinder block with one or more combustion chambers and a cylinder head, comprising an injection device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 15, mounted between said cylinder block and said cylinder head.

17. Use of an injection device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 15, for adapting an existing reciprocating internal combustion engine, such as a gasoline or diesel engine with one or more combustion chambers, to inject one or more additional liquid or gaseous components into each of said combustion chambers, comprising sealingly placing said injection device (100) between the cylinder block and a cylinder head of said reciprocating internal combustion engine.

18. Use of an injection device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 15, mounted between the cylinder block and a cylinder head of said reciprocating internal combustion engine, such as a gasoline engine or diesel, for operating said engine with separately injected hydrogen and water, the hydrogen preferably being injected via said injection device (100).

19. A method of converting a reciprocating internal combustion engine comprising a cylinder block with one or more combustion chambers and a cylinder head to enable it to operate with at least one additional gaseous or liquid component feeding said combustion chambers, the method comprising the following steps: - remove the fixing means between the cylinder block and the cylinder head to separate the cylinder head from the cylinder block; if necessary, remove the cylinder head gasket; - placing an injection device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 15 on the cylinder head by aligning the first cutouts with the combustion chambers of the cylinder block, optionally by first inserting a cylinder head gasket on the cylinder block; - placing the cylinder head on the injection device (100) by aligning the first cutouts with the combustion chambers of the cylinder block, possibly by inserting another cylinder head gasket between the injection device and the cylinder head; - fixing the cylinder head and the injection device (100) to the cylinder block by said fixing means; and - connecting a first or other pressurizable source of gaseous or liquid component to the first or other supply opening of the injection device (100).

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