Internal Combustion Engine Top-Down Cooling Flow Path
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional internal combustion engine coolant systems often result in uneven cooling of cylinders due to increasing temperatures and uneven coolant flow, as coolant flows longitudinally along the cylinders.
Innovation Solution
The engine design incorporates a coolant cavity below the cylinder liner coolant jacket with upward and downward passages that bypass the cylinder liner coolant jacket, allowing coolant to be directed from the cavity to the cylinder head coolant jackets and then back down to the cylinder liners, creating a top-down cooling flow path that pools coolant and ensures even distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If coolant flows longitudinally through the coolant jacket surrounding the cylinders, then the cylinders are cooled by contact with the passing coolant, but the cooling becomes uneven due to increasing temperatures as coolant flows along the cylinders
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional coolant flow direction by introducing a downward flow path. Coolant enters the cylinder head coolant jacket from above and flows downward through the cylinder liner coolant jacket, opposite to the conventional upward flow. This inversion ensures that coolant contacts the hottest upper cylinder regions first when it is coolest, then progressively cools lower regions, achieving uniform temperature distribution along the cylinder length.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the coolant cooling system into distinct zones: an upper cylinder head coolant jacket and a lower cylinder liner coolant jacket, separated by a partition wall. This segmentation allows independent temperature control and flow management in different thermal zones, enabling the upward flow in the upper jacket and downward flow in the lower jacket to operate optimally without interfering with each other.
2Temperature
If coolant flows upward into the water jacket of cylinder heads to cool components, then cylinder head components are cooled, but uneven coolant flow across the cylinders occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different flow directions and cooling strategies to different local zones. The upper cylinder head coolant jacket receives coolant from multiple inlet passages distributed across the cylinder head, providing localized cooling to injectors and valves. The lower cylinder liner coolant jacket receives coolant from the partition wall and provides localized cooling to cylinder liners. Each zone is optimized for its specific thermal requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent inverts the conventional single-direction flow by creating a two-directional system: upward flow in the cylinder head jacket and downward flow in the cylinder liner jacket. This dual-directional approach ensures that coolant is distributed evenly across all cylinders in both zones, eliminating the uneven flow distribution problem of conventional single-direction systems.
3Device complexity
If a conventional coolant system is used with a single coolant jacket, then the structure is simple, but uneven cooling of cylinders results due to temperature increase along the flow path
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the single conventional coolant jacket into two separate jackets: an upper cylinder head coolant jacket and a lower cylinder liner coolant jacket, divided by a partition wall. This segmentation allows independent flow control in each zone, enabling the upper jacket to cool cylinder head components while the lower jacket cools cylinder liners with downward flow, achieving uniform temperature distribution without excessive structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a vertical dimension to the coolant flow path by creating separate upper and lower coolant jackets at different heights. The partition wall creates a three-dimensional cooling architecture where coolant flows upward in the upper jacket and downward in the lower jacket, adding spatial complexity that enables uniform cooling across different thermal zones while maintaining reasonable structural simplicity.
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 more effective and even cooling of both cylinder liners and cylinder heads by ensuring coolant flows evenly across all cylinders, improving thermal management and reducing temperature gradients.
Implementation Method 1
The coolant cavity is located below the cylinder liner coolant jacket and the one or more upward coolant passages are sized and arranged such that coolant pools in the coolant cavity
Implementation Method 2
One or more upward coolant passages extend from the coolant cavity to the one or more cylinder head coolant jackets while bypassing the cylinder liner coolant jacket for delivering coolant from the coolant cavity to the one or more cylinder head coolant jackets
Implementation Method 3
One or more downward coolant passages extend from the one or more cylinder head coolant jackets to the cylinder liner coolant jacket for delivering coolant from the one or more cylinder head coolant jackets to the cylinder liner coolant jacket
Implementation Method 4
The cylinders are cooled by the passing coolant through contact with the cylinder walls. The coolant then flows upward into a water jacket of one or more cylinder heads to cool the components of the cylinder heads
Implementation Method 5
The coolant then flows longitudinally through a portion of the coolant jacket surrounding the cylinders of the engine
Data Source
Figure 1~2
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AI summary
An internal combustion engine (10) having an engine block (12) and one or more cylinder heads (32). The engine block houses a plurality of cylinder liners (14) and includes a cylinder liner coolant jacket (64) below an upper planar surface (30) of the engine block and in fluid communication with the plurality of cylinder liners. The one or more cylinder heads are attached to the upper planar surface of the engine block and each of the one or more cylinder heads including one or more cylinder head coolant jackets (60, 62) and one or more downward coolant passages (66) extending from the one or more cylinder head coolant jackets to the cylinder liner coolant jacket for delivering coolant from the one or more cylinder head coolant jackets to the cylinder liner coolant jacket.