US1931541A - Mechanism for controlling the admission of fuel and air to internal combustion engines for highly volatile fuel - Google Patents

Description

001.24, 1933. K E HESSELMAN 1,931,541

MECHANISM FOR CONTROLLING THE ADMISSION 0F FUEL AND AIR TO INTERNAL: COMBUSTION ENGINES FOR HIGHLY VOLATILE FUEL Filed May 6, 1930 I 1 g; 5 a 19 Q: Z0 1J$ Et i 17.14"

I/Vl/E/VTOK. @M 44 MM war/M Patented Oct. 24, 1933 UNITED STATES MECHANISM FOR CONTROLLING THE AD- IWISSION F FUEL AND AIR- TO INTERNAL COMBUSTION VOLATILE FUEL ENGINES FOR HIGHLY Knut Jonas Elias Hesselman, Saltsjo-Storangen,

near Stockholm, Sweden Application May 6, 1930, Serial No. 450,146, and in Sweden May 7, 1929 16 Claims.

The present invention relates to internal combustion or explosion engines of the kind which are driven by highly volatile fuel.

The object of the invention is to provide a controlled injection of fuel and combustion air so that the quantity of fuel admitted-to the engine for each stroke will be properly adjusted in relation to the load and, in case of multicylinder engines, will be equal for all of the cylinders, and the quantity of air drawn in at each stroke will be properly adjusted in relation to the quantity of fuel admitted for each stroke. This will notonly reduce the consumption of fuel but will also secure proportionality between the quantities of fuel and air contained in the fuel charge supplied for each stroke over the entire working range of the engine.

The invention is characterized, chiefly, by the fact that the fuel is injected into the'air inlet conduit of the engine by means of a pump provided with a regulating device which varies the quantity of fuel to be injected for each stroke in accordance with the load of the engine, the air inlet conduit being provided with a spring operated air regulating device, the spring load of which is made dependent on the regulating device of the pump in such a way that, upon a reduction of the load of the engine to a predetermined degree, the quantity of air drawn in during each suction period will be proportional or substantially proportional to the quantity of fuel injected for each stroke. Other characteristic features of the invention will appear as the following description proceeds.

In the accompanying rmawing a vertical section of a device embodying this invention is illustrated.

Mounted in the cover 2 of the cylinder 1 of the engine (not otherwise shown) is the cylinder 4 inlet valve 3. Communicating with the air inlet inlet pipe 5 which opens to the atmosphere at 6. Highly volatile liquid fuel is injected ,into the air inlet pipe 5 by means of a spraying nozzle 7 fed from the fuel pump 8. The fuel pump is provided with a device for regulating the quantity to be injected. As shown in the drawing said device comprises a lever 10 cooperating with a disk or collar on the pump plunger 9 which serves to limit the suction stroke of the plunger and a control lever 11 to adjust the lever 19 under manual control or under the control of a governor. The suction stroke of the plunger 9 is effected in the embodiment shown by means of a spring 12 and the delivery stroke is efiected by passage 4 formed in the cylinder cover is the air a cam disk 13 driven from a shaft of the engine and operating the plunger through the medium of a sliding block 14.

Provided inside the air inlet pipe 5 adjacent to the port 6 is a regulating device comprising a spring loaded valve plate 15 cooperating with a seat 16 surrounding the air inlet port 6. The valve plate 15 is slidably mounted on a stem 17 projecting to the outside of the valve casing through a sleeve shaped projection 18 of the valve casing and bearing with its outer end against the control level 11. The valve plate 15.is supported by a spring 19 resting on a disk 20 providing an abutment on the stem 17. Screwed on the threaded upper end of the stem 7 17 projecting above the valve plate 15 is a nut 21 serving as an upper stop for the valve plate. The stem 17 and associated parts maybe termed a movable carrier for the spring 19. I

When the engine operates at normal or full 7 load the air regulating device is in the position shown. In this position the nut 21 maintains the valve 15 in its lowermost and fully open position. In this position the spring 19 is under no tension or under a slight tension only. In other words, the valve in this position is rendered inefiective to control flow of air to the inlet passage 4. If the load decreases and the fuel pump regulating device is consequently operated to reduce the amount of fuel to be injected, by swinging the control lever 11 upwards, then the stem 17 will be moved upwards simultaneously. In this movement the spring 19 will lift the valve plate 15 without any hindrance, causing it to throttle the air supply accordingly until it approaches the seat 16. Upon further decrease of the quantity of fuel to be injected, that is, upon continued upward move ment of the stem 17, the spring 19 will be put under tension so as to press the valve 15 against its seat with a pressure that increases with continued upward movement of the stem 17 or, in other words, the spring tension acting on the valve will correspond to a more and more re duced pressure within the cylinder. Thus, the valve will allow only such quantity of air to enter as is determined by the vacuum within the cylinder. By suitably adjusting the spring tension, the quantity of air admitted to the air inlet pipe during each suction period will be substantially proportional to the quantity of fuel injected for each stroke.

It will be observed that the distance of the abutment disk 20 from the air inlet opening 6 determines the amount of spring load on the valve plate 15 when the apparatus is in the range of its movement wherein throttling" of the air takes place, and also that the valve construction is such that the size of the opening for flow of air past the valve varies proportionately with movement of the valve toward and away from its seat. noted that the parts and 11 of the control .mechanism, the former determining the length of the pump stroke and the latter determining the value of the spring load on the air valve, are arranged so that their movements are in substantially direct proportion to each other. This arrangement I find to be particularly effective for obtaining the desired results with mechanism of the utmost simplicity and practicability which involves no difficulty either in its manufacture or maintenance.

It is to be noted that many modifications may be made without departing from the principle of the invention. Thus, the design and arrangement of the pump or the air regulating device or both may be modified.

What I claim is:

1. In an internal combustion engine having a working cylinder, means providing a passage for supplying a mixture of volatile fuel and air to the engine and having an inlet for air, pump means for supplying a predetermined quantity of fuel to said passage for each working stroke of the cylinder, control means for governing the quantity of fuel delivered by said pumping means for each working stroke of the cylinder, a valve for controlling said inlet, said valve being movable in response to variations in pressure in said passage, a spring load acting on said valve under the influence of said control means for maintaining a substantially constant ratio between the quantity of fuel and air supplied for each such working stroke irrespective of variations in engine speed, and means for rendering said valve ineffective at high engine load.

2. In an internal combustion engine having a working cylinder, means providing a passage for supplying a mixture of volatile fuel and air to the engine and having an inlet for air, pump means for supplying a predetermined quantity of fuel to said passage for each working stroke of the cylinder, control means for governing the quantity of fuel delivered by said pumping means for each working stroke of the cylinder, a valve for controlling said inlet, a spring for closing said valve, a movable carrier for said spring, said carrier being operatively associated with said control means so as to be moved with said control means in a direction tending to close the valve when the control means is moved to decrease the amount of fuel supplied, and means moving with said carrier for rendering said spring ineffective to close the valve when the control means is moved to a position for supplying substantially full load fuel injection.

3. In an internal combustion engine, means providing 'a passage for supplying a mixture of volatile fuel and air to an internal combustion engine and having an air inlet, a pump for injecting fuel into said passage, control means for varying the quantity of fuel delivered by the pump in accordance with variations in engine load, a valve for controlling the admission of air through said inlet, said valve being movable in response to variations in pressure in said passage, means including a spring for moving said valve toward closed position, said last named Further, it is to be means being actuated by movement of said control means, and means for rendering said spring ineffective when the control means is moved to a position providing substantially maximum fuel injection.

4. In an internal combustion engine having-a working cylinder, means providing a passage for supplyinga mixture of volatile fuel and air to said cylinder and having an air inlet, a plunger pump for injecting fuel into said passage, control means for governing the length of the efifective stroke of said pump whereby to vary the quantity of fuel injected per working stroke of the cylinder, a valve for governing the admission of air through said inlet, a movable member adapted to be actuated by movement of said control means, said valve being carried by said member and movable relative thereto, means on said movable member providing a spring carrier and a spring between said carrier and said valve,

said spring tending to cause said valve to move with said carrier and permitting said valve to move relative to said carrier when the valve approaches its seat.

5. In an internal combustion engine having a working cylinder, means providing a passage for supplying a mixture of volatile fuel and air to an internal combustion engine and having an air inlet, a plunger pump for injecting fuel into said passage, control means for governing the length of the effective stroke of said pump whereby to vary the quantity of fuel injected per working stroke of the cylinder, a valve for governing the admission of air through said inlet, said valve being adapted to open due to differential air pressure caused by engine suction, and a spring influenced by movement of the control means for applying to said valve a closing pressure increasing as the fuel supply is decreased, said valve being adapted to move to fully open position without resistance from said spring when the control means is moved to substantially full load position. I

6. In an internal combustion engine having a working cylinder, means providing a. passage for supplying a mixture of volatile fuel and air to said cylinder and having an air inlet, a plunger pump for injecting fuel into said passage, means comprising a rock shaft and an arm on said shaft for govering the length of the eifective stroke of said pump whereby to vary the quantity of fuel injected per working stroke of the cylinder, a valve stem operatively associated with said rock shaft so as to move upon movement thereof, a valve for governing the admission of air through said inlet, said valve being adapted to open due to differential air pressure caused by engine suction and said valve being slidably mounted on said valve stem, a spring carrier on said stem, ,a spring between said carrier and said valve, said spring tending to move said valve toward closed position, and valve retaining means on said stem for rendering said spring ineflective to move said valve when the valve stem is in predetermined positions of adjustment. r

'7. In an internal combustion engine having a working cylinder, means providing a passage for supplying a mixture of volatile fuel and air to said cylinder and having an air inlet, a plunger pump for injecting fuel into said passage, means comprising a rock shaft and an arm on said shaft for governing the length of the eflective stroke of said pump whereby to vary the quantity of fuel injected per working stroke of the cylinder, a valve stem operatively associated with said rock shaft .so as to move upon movement ,thereof,"a valve for governing the admission of air through said inlet, said valve being adapted to open due to difierential air pressure caused by engine suction and said valve being slidably mounted on said valve stem, a spring carrier on said stem, a spring between said carrier and said valve, said spring tending to move said valve toward closed position, and adjustable valve retaining means on said valve stem for rendering said spring ineffective to close the valve when the valve stem is moved to a position such that the distance from said spring carried to the valve seat exceeds a predetermined value.

8. In an internal combustion engine having a working cylinder, means providing a passage for supplying a mixture of volatile fuel and air to the engine and having an inlet for air, a .pump

for supplying a predetermined quantity of fuel to said passage for each working stroke of the cylinder, control means for governing the quantity of fuel delivered by said pump for each working stroke of the cylinder, a valve for controlling said inlet, a valve spring, a carrier for said spring mounted to move in accordance with movement of said control means, said carrier in one range of its movement operating through the medium of said spring, to cause movement of the valve with the carrier to closed position and in the remaining range of. its movement, operating to compress the spring to a variable degree between the carrier and the valve.

9. The method of supplying a combustible mixture of volatile fuel and air to an internal combustion engine having a valve controlled air inlet passage which consists in injecting volatile fuel into said passage in predetermined amounts variable in accordance with the load on the engine, applying a spring load to said valve tending to close it, varying the value of said load at low engine loads in accordance with variations in the quantity of fuel supplied to maintain a substantially constant ratio between the quantities of fuel and air supplied to said passage, and at high engine loads rendering said spring load ineffective whereby to permit an unrestricte'd supply of airto enter said passage.

10. That improvement in the method of supplying a combustible mixture of volatile fuel and air to an internal combustion engine by the aid of a fuel injecting pump which consists in varying the quantity of fuel injected by said pump in accordance with-variations in the load on the engine, admitting to the engine at engine loads above a predetermined value an unrestricted supply of combustion air, and at engine loads below said predetermined value restricting the supply of combustion air to said engine so as to maintain a substantially constant ratio of fuel and air irrespective of engine speed.

11. In an internal combustion engine having a working cylinder, means providing a passage for supplying a mixture ofvolatile fuel and air to the engine and having an inlet for air, pump means for supplying a measured quantity of fuel to said passage for each working stroke of the cylinder, a valve for controlling said inlet,

said valve comprising a valve member adapted to open under the influence of pressure of air admitted through said inlet and a spring load for closing the valve, said valve providing an intive to control flow of air to said passage when let opening for fiow of air increasing in size in substantially direct proportion with movement of said valve member away from closed position, regulating mechanism for regulating said pump means and said valve comprising parts operatively connected to move in substantially directly proportional relationship with respect to each other, the position of one of said parts determining the quantity of fuel delivered by said pump means for each working stroke and the position of the other of said parts determining the value of the spring load on said valve member resisting opening of the valve and means for rendering said valve member inetfecsaid'regulating mechanism is adjusted to provide a fuel supply suitable for substantially full load operation of the engine.

12. In an internal combustion engine having a working cylinder, means providing a passage for supplying a mixture of volatile fuel and air to the engine and having an inlet for air, pump means for supplying a measured quantity offuel to said passage for each working stroke of the cylinder, a valve for controlling said inlet, said valve comprising a reciprocable valve member adapted to open under the influence of pressure of air admitted through said inlet and a spring load for closing the valve, mechanism for regulating said pump means and said valve comprising parts operatively connected to move in substantially directly proportional relationship with respect to each other, the position of one of said parts determining the quantity of fuel delivered by said pump means for each working stroke and the position of the other of said parts determining the value of the spring load on said valve member resisting opening of the valve and means for rendering said valve member ineffective to control flow of air to said passage when said regulating mechanism is adjusted to provide a fuel supply suitable for substantially full load operation of the engine.

13. In an internal combustion engine having a working cylinder, means providing a passage for supplying a mixture of volatile fuel and air to the engine and having an inlet for air, pump means for supplying a measured quantity of fuel to said passage for each working stroke of the cylinder, a valve for controlling said inlet, said valve comprising a reciprocable valve member adapted to open under the influence of pressure of air admitted through said inlet and a spring load for closing the valve, said valve member and said inlet cooperating to provide an inlet means and said valve comprising parts operatively connected to move in substantially directly proportional relationship with respect to each other, the position of one of said parts determining the quantity of fuel delivered by said pump means for each working stroke and the position of the other of said parts determining the value of the spring load on said valve member resisting opening of the valve, and means for rendering said spring load inefiective to move said valve member away from substantially fully open position when said regulating means is adjusted to provide a fuel supply suitable for substantially full load operation of the engine.

14. 'In an internal combustion engine having a working cylinder, means providing a passage for supplying a mixture of volatile fuel and air to the engine and having an inlet for air, pump means for supplying a measured quantity of fuel to said passage for each working stroke of the cylinder, a valve for controlling said inlet,

said valve comprising a reciprocable valve member adapted to open under the influence of pressure of air admitted through said inlet, a loading spring and an abutment against which said spring reacts, said spring tending to close said valve, the distance of said abutment from said inlet opening determining the force due to 'air pressure required to open the valve, regulating mechanism for regulating said pump and said valve comprising parts operatively connected to move in substantially directly proportional relationship with respect to each other, the posi= tion oi one of said parts determining the quan-- tity oi fuel delivered by said pump means for each working stroke or the cyinder, the position or the other of said parts determining the distance between said inlet opening and said abutment and said other of said parts determining a distance between said abutment and said valve opening sumcient to cause said valve to be fully opened when said regulating mechanism is adiusted to provide a fuel supply suitable for substantially full load operation ofthe engine.

15. In an internal combustion engine having a working cylinder, means providing a passage for supplying a mixture of volatile fuel and air to the engine and having an inlet for air, pump means for supplying a measured quantity of fuel to said passage for each working stroke of the cylinder, a valve for controlling said inlet, said valve comprising a reciprocable valve member adapted to open under the influence of pressure of air admitted through said inlet, a loading spring and an abutment against which said spring reacts, said spring tending to close said valve and said abutment being adjustable with respect to said inlet opening to determine the force required to open the valve against the resistance provided by the loading spring, regulating mechanism for regulating said pump means and-said valve comprising parts operatively connected to move in directly proportional relationship with respect to each other, the position of one of said parts determining the quantity of fuel delivered by said pump means for each Working stroke 01 the cylinder, the position of the other of said parts determining the position of adjustment of said abutment relative to said inlet opening and said other of said parts determining a position of adjustment of said abutment for causing said valve member to be fully opened when said regulating mechanism is adjusted to provide a fuel supply suitable for substantially full load operation of the engine.

16. In an internal combustion engine having a working cylinder, means for providing a passage for volatile fuel and air to the engine and having an. inlet for air, a plunger pump for supplying a measured quantity of fuel to the cylinder for each working stroke, a valve for controlling said inlet, said valve comprising a reciprocable valve member adapted to open under the influence or pressure of air admitted through said inlet, said valve providing an inlet opening for flow of air increasing in size in'substantially direct proportion with movement of said valve member away from closed position, mechanism for regulating said pump means and said valve comprising a first part movable to alter the effective stroke of said pump. whereby to regulate the quantity of fuel delivered by the pump for each working stroke and asecond part operatively connected with said first part so as to move in substantially directly proportional relationship therewith, said second part providing an abutment, and a loading spring for said valve, said spring reacting against said abutment and tending to close the valve and said second part having a position rendering said loading spring ineiiective to move said valve member from fully open position when said regulating mechanism is adjusted to pro- .vide a fuel supply suitable for substantially full load operation of the engine.

JONAS ELIAS I-ESSELMAN.

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