919 results about "Spark-ignition engine" patented technology

An ignition system for an internal combustion engine having at least one combustion chamber where the ignition system includes a housing, an ignition device, an injector, and a pre-chamber having a nozzle disposed spaced from the proximal portion of the pre-chamber. The igniter portion of the ignition device and the nozzle of the injector are operatively supported in the proximal portion of the pre-chamber and disposed flush therewith. The igniter portion ignites the fuel in pre-chamber such that partially combusted pre-chamber products are forced through orifices in the pre-chamber nozzle and extinguish, but dispersed through the combustion chamber so as to ignite the main fuel charge therein.

A control system controls a spark-ignition internal combustion engine. The spark-ignition internal combustion engine includes a cylinder, and a fuel injection valve arranged in the cylinder; and an intake port that communicates with the cylinder, and a fuel injection valve arranged in the intake port. Fuel is injected from both the fuel injection valves in at least a part of an operating range. If combustion fluctuations exceed a predetermined amount, in consideration of a preset proportion of fuels to be injected into the cylinder and the intake port, a proportion of fuel to be injected into the cylinder is decreased and a proportion of fuel to be injected into the intake port is increased.

The present invention relates to methods for robust controlled auto-ignition and spark ignited combustion controls in gasoline direct-injection engines, including transients, using either exhaust re-breathing or a combination of exhaust re-compression and re-breathing valve strategy. These methods are capable of enabling engine operation with either lean of stoichiometric or stoichiometric air/fuel ratio for oxides of nitrogen (NOx) control, with varying exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) rates and throttle valve positions for knock control, and with a combination of homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) and spark ignition (SI) combustion modes to optimize fuel economy over a wide range of engine operating conditions.

A control device for a spark-ignition engine, in which a mixture in a combustion chamber is fired by compression ignition in a part-load range under warm-running conditions, includes an EGR controller incorporating a valve operation controller for controlling internal EGR of hot burned gas and a cold EGR controller for controlling external EGR of cold burned gas. The EGR controller performs EGR control operation to leave the hot EGR gas in the combustion chamber in a lower-load, lower-speed region within a compression ignition combustion range and to introduce the cold EGR gas into the combustion chamber in a higher-load, higher-speed region within the compression ignition combustion range. The control device further includes a firing assist unit for inducing the compression ignition at least when ignitability of the mixture decreases due to introduction of the cold EGR gas in the compression ignition combustion range.

The present invention provides an internal combustion engine system which uses a blended fuel of gasoline and ethanol, operates with high efficiency, and can inhibit nitrogen oxide and the like from being discharged. The internal combustion engine system comprises: a fuel tank 3 that accommodates a blended fuel having an octane number of 80 to 100, which has been prepared by blending gasoline having the octane number of 30 to 85 and ethanol into a weight ratio between 9:1 and 6:4; separating means 4 for adding water to the blended fuel to separate the blended fuel into the gasoline and an ethanol-water mixture liquid; reforming means 8 for reforming one part of the ethanol-water mixture liquid to produce a mixture liquid of diethyl ether and water; and fuel injectors 10a, 10b and 10c which independently inject each of the gasoline, the ethanol-water mixture liquid and the mixture liquid of diethyl ether and water. The internal combustion engine system conducts spark ignition combustion when a load is high, and conducts homogeneous charge compression ignition combustion when the load is low.

The present invention concerns a method and a system for operating an internal combustion engine capable of performing auto-ignition combustion as well as spark-ignition combustion. In auto-ignition combustion mode, inlet and outlet control devices are adjusted to retain a portion of exhaust gas for subjecting the retained exhaust gas to compression. In one preferred embodiment, a parameter indicative of engine-surrounding environment is monitored. Closing timing of the outlet control device is adjusted in response to the monitored parameter, thereby to vary an exhaust gas retaining duration when there is a change in the monitored parameter.

For the purpose of improving the fuel efficiency by lean combustion and enhancing the fuel efficiency improvement effects by performing compression ignition efficiently in some cylinders, a multi-cylinder spark ignition engine is constructed such that exhaust gas, that is exhausted from preceding cylinders 2A, 2D on the exhaust stroke side among pairs of cylinders whose exhaust stroke and intake stroke overlap in a low load, low rotational speed region, is directly introduced through an inter-cylinder gas passage 22 into following cylinders 2B, 2C on the intake stroke side and only gas exhausted from the following cylinders 2B, 2C is fed to an exhaust passage 20, which is provided with a three-way catalyst 24. Combustion controller is provided that controls the combustion of each of the cylinders such that combustion is conducted by forced ignition in a condition in which the air/fuel ratio is a lean air/fuel ratio which is larger by a prescribed amount than the stoichiometric air/fuel ratio in the preceding cylinders 2A, 2D and, in the following cylinders 2B, 2C, fuel is supplied to burnt gas of lean air/fuel ratio introduced from the preceding cylinders 2A, 2D and combustion is conducted by compression ignition.

A hybrid vehicle propulsion system is disclosed comprising an engine having at least one combustion cylinder configured to operate in a first and a second combustion mode, wherein the first combustion mode is a spark ignition mode and the second combustion mode is a compression ignition mode, wherein the engine is configured to supply an engine output; a motor configured to selectively supply or absorb a secondary output; an energy storage device configured to selectively store at least a portion of the engine output and selectively supply energy to the vehicle; a lean NOx trap configured to store NOx produced by the engine; and a controller configured to control at least the engine, the motor, and the energy storage device, wherein the controller is configured to selectively operate said at least one combustion cylinder in one of the spark ignition mode and the compression ignition mode based on a condition of the lean NOx trap.

A system and method for operating an internal combustion engine include injecting fuel through a plurality of fuel jets of a fuel injector directly into a corresponding cylinder with at least a first plurality jets oriented to primarily support operation in a stratified mode and a second plurality of jets oriented to primarily support operation in a homogeneous mode. The first plurality of jets is oriented to spray fuel generally downward toward the piston bowl and the second plurality of jets is oriented to spray fuel generally across the cylinder toward the exhaust valves. The spray jets reduce or eliminate valve, liner, and piston wetting while providing good mixing in homogeneous mode and good combustion stability for light stratified charge during cold starts to achieve desired targets for feedgas emissions and combustion efficiency.

A multi-part module including a flame cone and a connector adapted to be interposed between the normal spark plug port in an internal combustion engine block and a spark plug suitable for use with the engine in question. In the method, a quantity of fuel/air mixture is captured in a chamber which also houses the electrode of a spark plug. Upon generation of a spark from the spark plug, this quantity of fuel/air mixture ignites, generating a flame which propagates through one or more channels in a flame cone interposed between the spark plug and the cylinder of the engine and exits into the cylinder through multiple directionally oriented ports, whereupon the flame fronts rapidly ignite substantially all the fuel/air mixture held within the cylinder.

A fuel management system for using water for on-board vehicular separation of ethanol from ethanol-gasoline blends is described. Water or a water-alcohol mixture from a secondary tank is mixed with the ethanol-gasoline blend resulting in separation of the ethanol. By using on-board vehicular separation, the consumption of the externally supplied liquid from a secondary tank can be decreased to less than 1% of the gasoline consumption. This allows for long refilling periods for the externally supplied fluid. In another embodiment, a water-based fluid is directly injected into the cylinders of a spark ignition engine to eliminate knocking without causing misfire. In a further embodiment, an alcohol-based fluid is also used in those circumstances where injection of the water-based fluid may cause misfire.

A method for operating a spark-ignition engine having a three-way catalyst and a particulate filter downstream thereof, comprising: oscillating an exhaust air-fuel ratio entering the particulate filter to generate air-fuel ratio oscillations downstream of the particulate filter, while increasing exhaust temperature; when the downstream oscillations are sufficiently dissipated, enleaning the exhaust air-fuel ratio entering the particulate filter; and reducing the enleanment when an exhaust operating parameter is beyond a threshold amount.

A method for improving ignition of a spark ignited internal combustion engine by controlling the composition of recirculated exhaust gas. It is assumed that the engine has a spark ignition system and an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) loop such that at least one of the combustion cylinders is an EGR cylinder that generates an EGR stream carried by the EGR loop. Thus, the combustion charge is a mixture of air, fuel and recirculated exhaust. A first step is receiving combustibility data representing the current ignitability of the charge. It is then determined whether the energy of the ignition system is sufficient to ignite the charge. If not, the amount of hydrogen in the EGR stream is increased, which increases the ignitability of the charge.

A method to operate a multi-cylinder direct-injection engine in one of a controlled auto-ignition and a spark-ignition combustion mode is described. Engine operation and an operator torque request are monitored. Fuel delivery to a portion of the cylinders is selectively deactivated and torque output from non-deactivated cylinders is selectively increased to achieve the operator torque request when the monitored engine operation is above a predetermined threshold. An engine operating point at which an engine load demand exceeds an operating capability of the engine in a stoichiometric HCCI mode is identified. The engine is selectively operated in an unthrottled spark-ignition mode with at least one cylinder unfueled and torque output from the remaining cylinders is selectively increased.