Gaseous fuel engine configuration and method using always-open fuel admission ports

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11639701-B1
Application number	US-202217829670-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jun 1, 2022
Priority date	Jun 1, 2022
Publication date	May 2, 2023
Grant date	May 2, 2023

Abstract

An engine system includes an engine housing having a cylinder block and a cylinder head. An intake opening and an exhaust opening and an igniter opening are formed in a fire deck surface of the cylinder head. A plurality of always-open fuel admission ports are fluidly connected to a combustion chamber and arranged in at least one of the cylinder block or the cylinder head. The always-open fuel admission ports convey a gaseous fuel such as a gaseous hydrogen fuel, a gaseous hydrocarbon fuel, or still others, to the combustion chamber.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An engine system comprising: an engine housing including a cylinder block, and a cylinder head attached to the cylinder block and including a fire deck, and the fire deck including a lower fire deck surface having formed therein each of an intake opening, an exhaust opening, and an igniter opening; a piston movable within the cylinder block between a top-dead-center position and a bottom-dead-center position; a combustion chamber formed by the cylinder block, the cylinder head, and the piston; a plurality of always-open fuel admission ports fluidly connected to the combustion chamber and arranged in the cylinder head, the plurality of always-open hydrogen fuel admission ports opening in the lower fire deck surface; and a plurality of fuel feed conduits extending through the cylinder head to the plurality of always-open hydrogen fuel admission ports.

2. The engine system of claim 1 further comprising at least one check valve structured to check a fluid flow through the plurality of fuel feed conduits in a flow direction away from the combustion chamber.

3. The engine system of claim 2 further comprising a plurality of flame arrestors positioned within the plurality of fuel feed conduits at locations fluidly between the respective always-open hydrogen fuel admission port and the at least one check valve.

4. The engine system of claim 1 wherein: the intake opening is one of two intake openings and the exhaust opening is one of two exhaust openings; and the plurality of always-open hydrogen fuel admission ports have a non-uniform distribution relative to the two intake openings and the two exhaust openings.

5. The engine system of claim 4 wherein the plurality of always-open hydrogen fuel admission ports are biased in distribution closer to the two intake openings than to the two exhaust openings.

6. The engine system of claim 5 wherein center axes of each of the two intake openings and the two exhaust openings define a quadrilateral shape, at least one of the plurality of always-open hydrogen fuel admission ports is inside the quadrilateral shape and at least one of the plurality of always-open hydrogen fuel admission ports is outside the quadrilateral shape.

7. The engine system of claim 1 wherein a number of the plurality of always-open hydrogen fuel admission ports is three or greater.

8. The engine system of claim 1 further comprising an intake conduit extending through the cylinder head to the intake opening, and an always-open hydrogen fuel admission port opening to the intake conduit, and the plurality of fuel feed conduits includes a valve back conduit extending to the one of the plurality of always-open fuel admission ports opening to the intake conduit.

9. The engine system of claim 1 further comprising a gaseous fuel supply connected to the plurality of fuel feed conduits, at least one pump located fluidly between the gaseous fuel supply and the plurality of fuel feed conduits, and a spark ignition device supported in the igniter opening.

10. A cylinder head comprising: a cylinder head casting including an upper surface, a fire deck having a lower fire deck surface, a coolant cavity formed between the upper surface and the lower fire deck surface, a plurality of gas exchange conduits extending through the coolant cavity to a plurality of gas exchange openings in the lower fire deck surface, and an igniter opening in the lower fire deck surface; and the cylinder head casting further including a plurality of always-open hydrogen fuel admission ports in the lower fire deck surface, and a plurality of fuel feed conduits each extending through the cylinder head casting to one of the plurality of always-open hydrogen fuel admission ports.

11. The cylinder head of claim 10 wherein the cylinder head casting further includes an always-open fuel admission port fluidly connected to one of the plurality of gas exchange conduits.

12. The cylinder head of claim 10 further comprising at least one check valve structured to check a fluid flow through the plurality of fuel feed conduits, and a plurality of flame arrestors each positioned within one of the plurality of fuel feed conduits at a location fluidly between the respective one of the plurality of always-open hydrogen fuel admission ports and the at least one check valve.

13. The cylinder head of claim 10 wherein: the plurality of gas exchange openings includes two intake openings and two exhaust openings; the plurality of always-open fuel admission ports are biased in distribution closer to the two intake openings than to the two exhaust openings; and center axes of each of the two intake openings and the two exhaust openings define a quadrilateral shape, at least one of the plurality of always-open hydrogen fuel admission ports is inside the quadrilateral shape and at least one of the plurality of always-open fuel admission ports is outside the quadrilateral shape.

14. A method of operating an engine comprising: conveying pressurized air into a combustion chamber in an engine; moving a piston of the engine from a bottom-dead-center position toward a top-dead-center-position to increase a fluid pressure in the combustion chamber; admitting a gaseous hydrogen fuel through a plurality of always-open fuel admission ports in a lower deck surface of a cylinder head of the engine into the combustion chamber; a plurality of fuel feed conduits extending through the cylinder head to the plurality of always-open hydrogen fuel admission ports; and igniting the gaseous hydrogen fuel within the combustion chamber.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the always-open fuel admission ports are biased in distribution closer to intake openings than to exhaust openings in the cylinder head.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising distributing an amount of the admitted gaseous hydrogen fuel between the always-open fuel admission ports in a fire deck and an always-open fuel admission port in an intake conduit of the cylinder head.

Assignees

• Caterpillar Inc

Inventors

• Koci Chad
• John Bobby
• Kavuri Naga Krishna Chaitanya
• Anders Jonathan William

Classifications

• F02M21/023 Primary

  Valves; Pressure or flow regulators in the fuel supply or return system · CPC title

• F02M21/0209 Primary

  Hydrocarbon fuels, e.g. methane or acetylene · CPC title

• F02F1/24

  Cylinder heads · CPC title

• Y02T10/30

  Use of alternative fuels, e.g. biofuels · CPC title

• F02F1/4285

  of both intake and exhaust channel · CPC title