Reheated residual gas ignitor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11739702-B2
Application number	US-202117182691-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 23, 2021
Priority date	Feb 23, 2021
Publication date	Aug 29, 2023
Grant date	Aug 29, 2023

Abstract

A residual gas ignitor for use in igniting a fuel-air mixture within a main combustion chamber of an engine. The residual gas ignitor includes at least one inlet/outlet port, a residual gas ignitor chamber for receiving a combustion gas from the main combustion chamber, an ignitor valve for opening and closing the at least one inlet/outlet port, an actuator for actuating the ignitor valve to open and close the at least one inlet/outlet port, a valve guide for keeping the ignitor valve in a correct orientation within the residual gas ignitor, a preload spring for being in compression when the actuator disposes the ignitor valve into the closed position, and a heating element for maintaining or increasing a temperature of the combustion gas while the combustion gas is in the residual gas ignitor chamber. The residual gas ignitor may be used in engines for initiating combustion of fuel-air mixtures.

First claim

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An internal combustion engine having a cylinder, comprising:
a main combustion chamber; and
a residual gas ignitor, the residual gas ignitor disposed at least partially within the main combustion chamber and in fluid communication with the main combustion chamber through at least one port, wherein the residual gas ignitor does not include a spark plug; the residual gas ignitor further comprising:
a residual gas ignitor chamber configured for receiving combustion gas from the main combustion chamber;
an ignitor valve configured for opening and closing the at least one port, the ignitor valve located within the residual gas ignitor chamber;
a control system configured to actuate the ignitor valve into the open position during a compression stroke of the internal combustion engine, providing the combustion gas into the main combustion chamber through the at least one port;
an actuator configured for actuating the ignitor valve to open and close the at least one port;
a valve guide configured for keeping the ignitor valve in a correct orientation within the residual gas ignitor; and
a preload spring configured for being in compression when the actuator is actuating the ignitor valve into the closed position, and when the actuator is not actuating the ignitor valve, the preload spring releases compression and opens the ignitor valve allowing for intake of the combustion gas into the residual gas ignitor chamber.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the internal combustion engine further comprises:
an engine intake line having an inlet end in communication with an ambient environment and an outlet end in communication with the internal combustion engine, the engine intake line to provide intake air to the internal combustion engine; and
an engine exhaust line having an inlet end in communication with the internal combustion engine and an outlet end in communication with the ambient environment, the engine exhaust line to receive exhaust gases from the internal combustion engine.

3. The system of claim 2 , further comprising:
a heating element configured for maintaining or increasing a temperature of the combustion gas, while the combustion gas is in the residual gas ignitor chamber, at or to a temperature sufficient to ignite a fuel/air mixture in the main combustion chamber when the combustion gas is discharged from the ignitor chamber to the main combustion chamber.

4. The system of claim 2 , further comprising:
an insulating layer configured for maintaining the temperature of the combustion gas while the combustion gas is in the residual gas ignitor chamber.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein residual gas ignitor is configured to maintain a pressure in the residual gas ignitor from 5 bar to 250 bar, and a temperature from 400° C. to 2000° C.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the residual gas ignitor has a gas chamber volume of 0.5% of an engine displacement to 10% of the internal combustion engine displacement, where the internal combustion engine displacement is a volume of a plurality of main combustion chambers.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the residual gas ignitor further comprises between two and twelve ports located around a periphery of a bottom end of the residual gas ignitor.

8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising steps of:
generating the combustion gas in the main combustion chamber initiating a first ignition stroke;
flowing a first portion of the combustion gas into the residual gas ignitor;
actuating an actuator in the residual gas ignitor, thereby closing an ignitor valve in the residual gas ignitor;
flowing a second portion of the combustion gas into an exhaust gas flow line, as an exhaust gas;
closing an exhaust valve in the exhaust gas flow line;
opening an intake valve in an intake flow line, thereby filling the main combustion chamber with a fuel-air mixture;
closing the intake valve;
compressing the fuel-air mixture main combustion chamber;
igniting the fuel-air mixture in the main combustion chamber and initiating a second ignition stroke, the igniting and initiating comprising de-actuating the actuator in the residual gas ignitor, thereby opening the ignitor valve allowing the first portion of the combustion gas to enter the main combustion chamber, the first portion of the combustion gas igniting the fuel-air mixture in the main combustion chamber and initiating the second ignition stroke.

9. The system of claim 8 , further comprising repeating the steps of generating through igniting in each subsequent engine cycle.

10. The system of claim 8 , further comprising heating the stream of combustion gas in the residual gas ignitor via a heating element.

11. The system of claim 8 , further comprising compressing a preload spring in the residual gas ignitor during the actuating step.

12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising de-compressing the preload spring in the residual gas ignitor during the de-actuating step.

13. The system of claim 8 , where in a volume of an interior chamber of the residual gas ignitor remains constant, and the flowing of the first portion of the stream of combustion gas into and out of the residual gas ignitor is performed by a pressure differential between the residual gas ignitor and the main combustion chamber.

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co
• Aramco Services Co

Inventors

• Yu Xin
• Cleary Dave

Classifications

• Y02T10/12

  Improving ICE efficiencies · CPC title

• F02D13/0276 Primary

  Actuation of an additional valve for a special application, e.g. for decompression, exhaust gas recirculation or cylinder scavenging · CPC title

• F02B1/12

  with compression ignition (with fuel-air charge ignited by compression ignition of an additional fuel F02B7/00) · CPC title

• F02B47/08

  the substances including exhaust gas · CPC title

• F02D13/0273

  Multiple actuations of a valve within an engine cycle · CPC title