Internal Combustion Engine Coolant Jacket with Opposite Inlet and Outlet
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing internal combustion engine cooling systems suffer from uneven cooling due to increasing coolant temperature from inlet to outlet, leading to vapor locks at high engine loads, and require additional flow control elements that increase flow losses.
Innovation Solution
The engine design arranges the inlet and outlet on opposite sides of the cylinder row, allowing coolant to be divided into two partial flows with equal resistance, eliminating the need for throttling elements and ensuring minimal flow losses. Coolant is routed around outer combustion chambers, and a coolant collection strip provides additional cooling, with adjustable throttle elements for variable distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If coolant is directed from one end of the cylinder bank to the other, then the cooling jacket structure is simple, but the cooling becomes uneven and vapor locks form near the outlet end
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling jacket is segmented into multiple independent cooling circuits, each with its own inlet and outlet passages. This divides the single cooling flow path into multiple parallel paths, allowing cooler coolant to reach different cylinder regions simultaneously and preventing the temperature gradient that causes vapor locks.
2Reliability
If flow control elements are added to equalize coolant distribution, then cooling uniformity improves, but flow losses increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling jacket passages are designed with equal flow resistance characteristics, creating equipotential flow conditions where coolant naturally distributes evenly to all cylinders without requiring throttling elements. The passage cross-sections and lengths are balanced to ensure equal pressure drops across parallel flow paths.
3Reliability
If the coolant jacket is separated into intake and exhaust sides with separate passages, then each cylinder receives equal coolant flow, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is segmented into intake and exhaust side circuits with separate inlet and outlet passages for each side. This segmentation allows independent optimization of flow paths for each cylinder bank side, ensuring equal coolant distribution while maintaining clear functional separation between intake and exhaust cooling zones.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design achieves uniform coolant distribution and reduced flow losses, enhancing cooling efficiency by directing cooler coolant to the hotter side and allowing for variable coolant allocation between the cylinder crankcase and head, thereby minimizing vapor locks and optimizing cooling performance.
Implementation Method 1
The cylinders are cooled by the coolant being circulated through contact with the cylinder walls
Implementation Method 2
The increasing temperature of the coolant from the inlet end to the outlet end of the jacket causes the cylinders to be cooled unevenly
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to an internal combustion engine having a plurality of combustion chambers (1) which are arranged next to one another in a cylinder row in a cylinder crankcase and are surrounded on both sides of the cylinder row by a common coolant jacket (2). As a result, the coolant passes from a coolant collecting rail (3) through an inlet (4) which is configured as a supply on the circumferential side to the walls (not shown) which enclose the combustion chambers (1). Subsequently, the coolant is discharged through an outlet (6) which serves as a drain. Immediately downstream of the inlet (4), the supplied coolant stream is divided into two part streams which flow around the cylinder row in opposite flow directions (7, 8) and meet one another in the region of the outlet (6). By virtue of the fact that the inlet (4) is arranged on an outlet side (9) which is hot during operation for the combustion gases of the internal combustion engine and the outlet (6) is arranged on a suction side (10) for the fresh air which is fed to the internal combustion engine, the entire coolant stream is first of all fed to the relatively hotter side of the cylinder crankcase. A substantial increase in efficiency of the cooling action is achieved as a result. Moreover, the respective overall length of the coolant part streams between the inlet (4) and the outlet (6), which coolant part streams in the process flow in each case through both a coolant jacket section on the outlet side (9) and a coolant jacket section on the suction side (10), matches. As a result of said arrangement, a very favourable homogeneous distribution of the flow and the throttle points in the part streams, in particular as a result of the cylinder head screws which are provided in the cylinder crankcase, is possible without additional throttling.