Internal combustion engine including an injector combustion seal positioned between a fuel injector and an engine body

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9410520-B2
Application number	US-201313962641-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 8, 2013
Priority date	Aug 8, 2013
Publication date	Aug 9, 2016
Grant date	Aug 9, 2016

Abstract

This disclosure provides a fuel injector seal assembly comprising a seal component fabricated or formed of a first material and a thermally conductive or heat transfer component fabricated or formed of a second material that is different from the first material. The first material has a greater strength than the second material, and the second material has a greater thermal conductivity than the first material. Thus, the injector seal assembly is able to provide a primary benefit of a combustion seal while also providing an enhanced benefit of transferring heat from one portion of the fuel injector to another portion of the fuel injector.

First claim

We claim:

1. An internal combustion engine including a fuel injector assembly for mounting in an engine cylinder head, comprising:
an engine cylinder head sealing surface;
a fuel injector body including a longitudinal axis, a nozzle element housing, and a nozzle retainer; and
an injector seal assembly positioned between the fuel injector body and the engine cylinder head, the injector seal assembly including a seal component formed of a first material, the seal component positioned in a space formed longitudinally between the fuel injector body and the engine cylinder head sealing surface for receiving a fuel injector clamp load, and a thermally conductive component formed of a second material different than the first material, the second material having a higher thermal conductivity than the first material, and the thermally conductive component positioned radially between the nozzle element housing and the seal component to transfer heat from the nozzle element housing to the seal component, the fuel injector clamp load transmitted to the engine cylinder head sealing surface through the seal component and independent of the thermally conductive component.

2. The internal combustion engine of claim 1 , wherein the seal component is positioned longitudinally between the nozzle retainer and the cylinder head.

3. An internal combustion engine, comprising:
a mounting bore having a longitudinal axis formed in a portion of the engine and including a sealing surface formed at a first angle with respect to the longitudinal axis;
a fuel injector positioned in the mounting bore, the fuel injector including an injector body having a nozzle housing;
a sealing ring positioned longitudinally between the injector body and the sealing surface to create a first fluid seal between the sealing ring and the sealing surface;
a heat transfer sleeve formed from a thermally conductive material to transfer heat from the nozzle housing to the sealing ring and including a heat transfer sleeve first end, a heat transfer sleeve second end, a heat transfer sleeve inner surface, and a heat transfer sleeve outer surface, the heat transfer sleeve sized and dimensioned to be positionable in the mounting bore adjacent the nozzle housing, the heat transfer sleeve inner surface dimensioned to exert a radial force inwardly on the nozzle housing at the heat transfer sleeve second end and the heat transfer sleeve outer surface dimensioned to exert a radial force outwardly on the sealing ring at the heat transfer sleeve first end; and
a fuel injector clamp load transmitted to the sealing surface through the sealing ring and independent of the heat transfer sleeve.

4. The internal combustion engine of claim 3 , wherein the heat transfer sleeve inner surface is dimensioned to exert a radial force inwardly on the nozzle housing at the heat transfer sleeve first end.

5. The internal combustion engine of claim 3 , wherein the sealing ring is formed from a first material and the heat transfer sleeve is formed from a second material that is different from the first material.

6. The internal combustion engine of claim 5 , wherein the first material is a stainless steel material.

7. The internal combustion engine of claim 6 , wherein the stainless steel material is SAE 303.

8. The internal combustion engine of claim 5 , wherein the second material is a copper material.

9. The internal combustion engine of claim 8 , wherein the copper material is one of the group consisting of UNS C15100 and UNS C15000, including an HO 1 temper.

10. The internal combustion engine of claim 3 , wherein the first angle is about 45 degrees.

11. The internal combustion engine of claim 3 , wherein the sealing ring includes a second angle for mating with the sealing surface and the second angle is about 43.625 degrees.

12. The internal combustion engine of claim 3 , wherein the heat transfer sleeve includes a head portion and the sealing ring includes a step portion and the head portion is captured between the step portion and the injector body.

13. An internal combustion engine comprising:
an engine body including a combustion chamber and a mounting bore;
a fuel injector positioned in the mounting bore and including a longitudinal axis and a distal end;
a spacer component positioned longitudinally between the fuel injector and the engine body at a spaced longitudinal distance from the distal end for receiving a fuel injector clamp load; and
a thermally conductive component in contact with the distal end and with the spacer component and positioned a spaced radial distance from the engine body and a spaced radial distance from the fuel injector in a region extending between the distal end and the spacer component, the fuel injector clamp load transmitted to the engine body through the spacer component and independent of the thermally conductive component.

14. The internal combustion engine of claim 13 , wherein a proximate end of the thermally conductive component is a press fit radially between the spacer component and an exterior radial surface of the fuel injector.

15. The internal combustion engine of claim 13 , wherein the spacer component is formed from a first material and the thermally conductive component is formed from a second material that is different from the first material.

16. The internal combustion engine of claim 15 , wherein the first material is a stainless steel material.

17. The internal combustion engine of claim 16 , wherein the stainless steel material is SAE 303.

18. The internal combustion engine of claim 15 , wherein the second material is a copper material.

19. The internal combustion engine of claim 18 , wherein the copper material is one of the group consisting of UNS C15100 and UNS C15000, including an HO 1 temper.

Assignees

• Cummins Inc

Inventors

• Franks Gregory S
• Knight Joshua G
• Rasener Fred M
• Small Hanna C
• Stacy Eric L
• Worthington Joseph A
• Yeole Amit

Classifications

• F02M2200/858

  sealing arrangements between injector and engine · CPC title

• F02M61/14 Primary

  Arrangements of injectors with respect to engines; Mounting of injectors · CPC title