EP3467287B1

EP3467287B1 - Cylinder liner assembly for engine

Info

Publication number: EP3467287B1
Application number: EP18197805.7A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Paul MLYNARCZYK; Volker Abraham; Sven AUGUSTINIACK; Jan GREBIEN; Sascha Burkhard
Original assignee: Caterpillar Motoren GmbH and Co KG
Current assignee: Caterpillar Motoren GmbH and Co KG
Priority date: 2017-10-06
Filing date: 2018-09-28
Publication date: 2022-04-20
Anticipated expiration: 2038-09-28
Also published as: EP3467287A1; GB2567208A; GB201716367D0

Description

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to an engine, and more particularly to a cylinder liner assembly of the engine.

Background

Engines, such as multi-cylinder engines, are generally subjected to stresses during an operation of the engine. Such stresses may cause corrosion, and eventually, failure of engine components, such as an engine block, cylinder liners, cylinder liner support, and the like. For example, some engines include individual cylinder liner support that have ribs or web to interconnect adjacent cylinder liners. The ribs or webs are subjected to non-uniform stresses distribution (stiffness). This non-uniform stress distribution may cause corrosion of the cylinder liner support, which is not desirable.
U.S. Patent Number 2,817,327 describes an engine block construction utilizing wet cylinder liners, which simplifies the cylinder block casting. Thus, the casting can be made merely in a box-like form so that when the liners with their top plate are in position, a coolant space is provided between the liners and the side and end walls of the block casting. The construction requires a minimum of space between the respective cylinders since no part of the cylinder block is located between the liners. The liner assembly comprising the plate and the liners is replaceable as a single unit and because of its rigidity the effect of the stresses resulting from securing the cylinder head to the block is minimized. The construction also provides wide choice for the location of the studs for securing the head to the block and the plate provides a metal coolant seal.
Engines with different support structure for their cylinder liners are known from JP2008232079A , EP1288477A2 , WO2012137873A1 , GB2044852A , DE19849912A1 , DE202016104878U1 or JPS5888440A1 .

Summary of the Disclosure

The main aspect of the invention is defined by claim 1.
Other features and aspects of this disclosure will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary engine;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an engine block of the engine of FIG. 1, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;
FIG. 3 is a cut-away view of the engine block shown in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a cut-away view of the engine block shown in FIG. 2; and
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the engine block showing openings in a mounting structure of a cylinder liner assembly.

Detailed Description

Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or the like parts. Also, corresponding or similar reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or corresponding parts.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary engine 100. The engine 100 is embodied as an internal combustion engine, and more particularly a reciprocating piston engine. Further, the engine 100 may include any one of a spark ignition engine or a compression ignition engine, such as a diesel engine, a natural gas engine, a homogeneous charge compression ignition engine, a reactivity controlled compression ignition engine, or any other engine known in the art. The engine 100 may be fueled by one or a combination of gasoline, diesel fuel, biodiesel, dimethyl ether, alcohol, natural gas, propane, or any other combustion fuel known in the art.
It should be recognized that the concepts of the present disclosure may be suitably applicable to any type and configuration of the engine 100. In one embodiment, the engine 100 may be mounted on a machine (not shown). The engine 100 and/or the machine may be used for applications including, but not limited to, power generation, transportation, construction, agriculture, forestry, aviation, marine, material handling, and waste management. Moreover, as shown in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the engine 100 is according to the invention in the form of a multi-cylinder engine.
The engine 100 includes an engine block 102. The engine 100 also includes a cylinder head 104 mounted on the engine block 102. The cylinder head 104 may house one or more components and/or systems (not shown) of the engine 100 such as a valve train, an intake manifold, an exhaust manifold, sensors, and so on. Additionally, the engine 100 may include various other components and/or systems (not shown) such as a crankcase, a fuel system, an air system, a cooling system, a turbocharger, an exhaust gas recirculation system, an exhaust gas aftertreatment system, and so on.
Referring to FIG. 2, a number of cylinders 106 are disposed within the engine block 102. The engine 100 further includes a piston (not shown) movably disposed within each of the cylinders 106. Each of the pistons may be coupled to a crankshaft (not shown) of the engine 100. Energy generated from combustion of the fuel inside the cylinders 106 may be converted to rotational energy of the crankshaft by the pistons.
Further, the cylinders 106 may be arranged in any configuration such as inline, radial, "V", and so on. The engine 100 includes a first bank of cylinders 108 provided at a first side 109 of the engine 100. Further, the engine 100 includes a second bank of cylinders 110 provided at a second side 111 of the engine 100. As shown, the first and second bank of cylinders 108, 110 include the cylinders 106. The first bank of cylinders 108 includes six cylinders 106. Similarly, the second bank of cylinders 110 includes six cylinders 106. The engine 100 may alternatively include 8 cylinders, 10 cylinders, 16 cylinders, or 20 cylinders, based on system requirements.
Further, the engine block 102 includes a block 112. The block 112 has a generally rectangular box shaped structure having side walls 114 and end walls 116. For explanatory purposes, the present disclosure will now be explained in relation to components provided at the first side 109 of the engine 100. However, it should be noted that the details provided below are equally applicable to components provided at the second side 111 of the engine 100.
As shown in the accompanying figure, a cylinder liner assembly 118 is disposed in the block 112. The cylinder liner assembly 118 includes a number of cylinder liners 120 that are received within the engine block 102 and the cylinder head 104 (see FIG. 1) closes off an upper end 122 (shown in FIG. 3) of the cylinder liners 120. The cylinder liners 120 define an inner wall of the cylinders 106. Further, the cylinder liners 120 extend along an axis X-X' (shown in FIG. 4). Further, a cylinder liner room 124 (shown in FIG. 4) is defined between the respective cylinder liners 120 and the engine block 102.
The cylinder liner assembly 118 is secured at a top portion of the engine block 102 by being clamped between the block 112 and the cylinder head 104. The cylinder head 104 may be secured to the block 112 in the usual manner, that is, by the use of studs threaded into the block 112. The cylinder liner assembly 118 also includes a mounting structure 126 attached to the engine block 102. The mounting structure 126 is integrally formed with the engine block 102. The mounting structure 126 couples the number of cylinder liners 120 to the engine block 102. The cylinder liners 120 rest on the mounting structure 126 and are secured thereto.
As shown in FIG. 3, the mounting structure 126 includes a first cylinder liner support plate 128. The first cylinder liner support plate 128 defines a number of equally spaced apart first cylinder liner receiving openings 130, only one of which is shown in the accompanying figure. The first cylinder liner support plate 128 extends along a length "L" (shown in FIG. 2) of the engine block 102. Further, a second cylinder liner support plate 132 defines a number of equally spaced apart second cylinder liner receiving openings 134. The second cylinder liner support plate 132 extends along the length "L" of the engine block 102. It should be noted that the cylinder liners 120 are received within the respective first and second cylinder liner receiving openings 130, 134.
The mounting structure 126 includes a number of first cylinder liner radial guides 138 and a number of second cylinder liner radial guides 140. The first cylinder liner radial guides 138 are defined in the first cylinder liner support plate 128. Further, the second cylinder liner radial guides 140 are defined in the second cylinder liner support plate 132. The first and second cylinder liner radial guides 138, 140 support the cylinder liners 120 within the engine block 102. Also, the first and second cylinder liner radial guides 138, 140 are spaced apart from each other along the axis X-X' (see FIG. 4).
Referring now specifically to FIG. 4, each cylinder liner 120 includes a flange portion 142. The flange portion 142 includes a surface 144 that rests on the first cylinder liner support plate 128. Further, the flange portion 142 extends above the first cylinder liner support plate 128 along the axis X-X' defined by the cylinder liners 120, when the cylinder liner 120 is received within the engine block 102. It should be noted that the cylinder liners 120 at their upper and lower ends 122, 136 are rigidly secured to the first and second cylinder liner support plates 128, 132, respectively. Any suitable means may be provided for securing the cylinder liner 120 to the first and second cylinder liner support plates 128, 132, respectively, such as threading or by welding, brazing, and/or soldering the cylinder liners 120 to the mounting structure 126.
As shown in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5, the mounting structure 126 also defines an opening 146 (shown in FIG. 5) between two adjacent cylinder liners 120 (see FIGS. 2 to 4). The opening 146 is a hollow space or an air duct that is defined between the two adjacent cylinder liners 120. In the illustrated embodiment, the mounting structure 126 defines a number of openings 146 that are defined between each of the adjacent cylinder liners 120. It should be noted that the number of openings 146 are equally spaced apart from each other along the length "L" of the engine block 102.
Further, the number of openings 146 may vary based on the number of cylinder liners 120 associated with the engine 100. In the illustrated embodiment, the engine block 102 includes five openings 146 at the first side 109 and five openings (not shown) at the second side 111. In one example, the openings 146 are provided based on the number of cylinders 106 associated with the engine 100, dimensions of the first and second cylinder liner support plate 128, 132, and dimensions of the cylinder liners 120, without limiting the scope of the present disclosure.
It should be noted that teachings of the present disclosure in not restricted to the engine 100 shown in FIG. 1, and the teachings can be extended to different types of engines 100, without limiting the scope of the present disclosure.

Industrial Applicability

The present disclosure relates to the cylinder liner assembly 118 having the mounting structure 126. The mounting structure 126 couples the cylinder liners 120 to the engine block 102 and defines the one or more openings 146 between the adjacent cylinder liners 120 of the cylinder liner assembly 118. The one or more openings 146 provide uniform stress distribution in the engine block 102, during an operation of the engine 100. For example, the openings 146 allow uniform stress distribution in the mounting structure 126, and more particularly, in the first cylinder liner support plate 128. The uniform stress distribution in turn eliminates any damage of the first cylinder liner support plate 128.
Further, the one or more openings 146 also optimize and improve pressure compensation in the engine block 102, during the operation of the engine 100. More particularly, the adjacent cylinder liners 120 are connected such that the gas pulsations within the cylinders 106 can be transferred to the first and second cylinder liner support plates 128, 132, safely. Further, the openings 146 eliminate oxidation of the cylinder liner room 124 by optimizing gas pulsations during the operation of the engine 100. The optimized gas pulsations in turn eliminate corrosion of the mounting structure 126 of the cylinder liner assembly 118 and also eliminate corrosion at an interface of the cylinder liners 120 and the engine block 102.

Claims

An engine (100) comprising a cylinder liner assembly (118), the cylinder liner assembly (118) comprising:
an engine block (102);

a plurality of cylinder liners (120); and

a mounting structure (126) integrally formed with the engine block, the mounting structure (126) being adapted to couple the plurality of cylinder liners (120) to the engine block (102);

wherein the mounting structure (126) includes a first cylinder liner support plate (128) and a second cylinder liner support plate (132);

the first cylinder liner support plate (128) being adapted to support an upper end (122) of the plurality of cylinder liners (120);

the second cylinder liner support plate (132) being spaced apart from the first cylinder liner support plate (128) along an axis (X-X') defined by the plurality of cylinder liners (120), wherein the second cylinder liner support plate (132) is adapted to support a lower end (136) of the plurality of cylinder liners (120);

wherein a cylinder liner room (124) is defined between the respective cylinder liners (120) and the engine block (102), and

the mounting structure (126) defines a respective opening (146) between each of the cylinder liners (120) and a respective adjacent one of the cylinder liners (120) to provide uniform stress distribution and optimize pressure compensation in the engine block (102) during operation of the engine (100);

the cylinder liner room (124) and the opening (146) being located axially in-between the first cylinder liner support plate (128) and the second cylinder liner support plate (132);

characterised in that the opening (146) is configured as an air duct to eliminate oxidation of the cylinder liner room (124) by optimizing gas pulsations during operation of the engine (100).
The cylinder liner assembly (118) of claim 1, wherein the respective openings (146) are equally spaced apart from each other along a length (L) of the engine block (102).