Exhaust valve, exhaust valve assembly and exhaust valve system for two-stroke internal combustion engines, two-stroke internal combustion engine having same and method for cleaning an exhaust valve

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022316421-A1
Application number	US-202217848204-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 23, 2022
Priority date	Jun 28, 2019
Publication date	Oct 6, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

An exhaust valve assembly for a two-stroke internal combustion engine has a housing adapted for connection to an engine block of the two-stroke internal combustion engine; an electric actuator having an electric motor, the electric motor being disposed in the housing; and at least one reciprocating exhaust valve operatively connected to the electric actuator. The at least one exhaust valve is linearly movable by the electric motor. A portion of the at least one exhaust valve is disposed in the housing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An exhaust valve assembly for a two-stroke internal combustion engine comprising:
a housing adapted for connection to an engine block of the two-stroke internal combustion engine; an electric actuator comprising an electric motor, the electric motor being disposed in the housing; and at least one reciprocating exhaust valve operatively connected to the electric actuator, the at least one exhaust valve being linearly movable by the electric motor, and a portion of the at least one exhaust valve being disposed in the housing.

2 . The exhaust valve assembly of claim 1 , wherein:
each exhaust valve of the at least one exhaust valve has a blade and a shaft connected to the blade; and the portion of the at least one exhaust valve being disposed in the housing is a portion of the shaft.

3 . The exhaust valve assembly of claim 2 , wherein:
the housing includes:
a housing body; and
a base plate connected to the housing body;
the electric motor being disposed in a volume defined between the housing body and the base plate; and the base plate is disposed between the housing body and the blade of each of the at least one exhaust valve.

4 . The exhaust valve assembly of claim 3 , wherein the shaft of each of the at least one exhaust valve extends through the base plate.

5 . The exhaust valve assembly of claim 4 , further comprising at least one pair of exhaust valve passage fillers connected to the base plate for filling a portion of at least one exhaust valve passage defined by the engine block for receiving the at least one exhaust valve; and
wherein:
the least one pair of exhaust valve passage fillers is disposed between the base plate and the blade of the at least one exhaust valve; and
the shaft of the at least one exhaust valve extends between the exhaust valve passage fillers of the at least one pair of exhaust valve passage fillers.

6 . The exhaust valve assembly of claim 5 , wherein the at least one pair of exhaust valve passage fillers are integral with the base plate.

7 . The exhaust valve assembly of claim 4 , wherein, for each exhaust valve of the at least one exhaust valve, the housing includes a seal disposed between the base plate and the shaft of the at least one exhaust valve.

8 . The exhaust valve assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a vibration absorbing mount connecting the electric actuator to the housing.

9 . The exhaust valve assembly of claim 8 , wherein:
the housing includes:
a housing body; and
a cover connected to the housing body, the housing body being disposed at least in part between the blade of the at least one valve and the cover; and
the vibration absorbing mount connects the electric actuator to the cover.

10 . The exhaust valve assembly of claim 1 , wherein the electric actuator further comprises a lead screw operatively connecting the at least one exhaust valve to an output shaft of the electric motor for converting rotation of the output shaft to linear motion.

11 . The exhaust valve assembly of claim 10 , wherein the lead screw and the output shaft are parallel to each other.

12 . The exhaust valve assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a vibration absorbing mount connecting the at least one exhaust valve to the electric actuator.

13 . The exhaust valve assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a tie bar connected to the electric actuator; and
wherein:
the at least one exhaust valve is a plurality of exhaust valves; and
each exhaust valve of the plurality of exhaust valves is operatively connected to the electric actuator via the tie bar.

14 . The exhaust valve assembly of claim 13 , wherein:
each exhaust valve of the plurality of exhaust valves has a blade and a shaft connected to the blade; and the shaft of each exhaust valve of the plurality of exhaust valves is connected to the tie bar.

15 . The exhaust valve assembly of claim 14 , further comprising a plurality of vibration absorbing mounts connecting the shafts of the plurality of exhaust valves to the tie bar.

16 . A two-stroke internal combustion engine comprising:
an engine block defining:
at least one cylinder;
at least one exhaust passage communicating with the at least one cylinder; and
at least one exhaust valve passage communicating with the at least one exhaust passage;
at least one piston disposed in the at least one cylinder; and the exhaust valve assembly of claim 1 connected to the engine block, the at least one exhaust valve being disposed at least in part in the at least on exhaust valve passage.

17 . The two-stroke internal combustion engine of claim 16 , wherein the housing of the exhaust valve assembly is fastened to the engine block.

Assignees

• Brp Us Inc

Inventors

• Johnson Justin
• Raetzman Roger
• Davenport Mike
• Zamora Joseph

Classifications

• F01L2800/11

  Fault detection, diagnosis · CPC title

• F02F7/0043

  Arrangements of mechanical drive elements · CPC title

• F01L2301/00

  Using particular materials · CPC title

• F01L2810/03

  Reducing vibration · CPC title

• F01L2201/00

  Electronic control systems; Apparatus or methods therefor · CPC title