USRE17627E - Engine-coolieta- system - Google Patents

Description

| P. BARLOW ENGINE COOLING SYSTEM March 25, 1930.

Original Filed Au 5, 1926 I N VEN TOR:

ATTORNEY.

Reissued Mar. 25, 1930 UNITED STATES I Re. 17,627

PATENT OFFICE V LESTER P. BARLOW, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN ENGINE-COOLING SYSTEM Original No. 1,632,581, dated June 14, 1927, Serial No. 127,257, filed August 5, 1926. Application for reissue filed March 18, 1929.

This invention relates to vapor cooling systems for internal combustion engines and more particularly those employed on automobiles, trucks, and other motor vehicles.

One object of my invention is to deliver to the jacket of the engine cylinders on starting the engine only enough liquid to fill the jacket to a predetermined level above the cylinders and then cease the flow of liquid to the jacket until the liquid therein reaches the boiling point, thereby allowing the engine to be warmed up quickly regardless of the outside atmospheric temperature in which the engine is started.

Another object of my invention is to antomatically supply cooling liquid to the cylinder jacket in exact proportions to the amounts of liquid going off as steam from the surface of the liquid body in the acket go from time to time during the steaming operation, and thus automatically maintain a substantially constant liquid level above the cylinders to prevent either flooding the jacket to stop the steaming operation or the boiling away of the liquid body to overheat the cylinders.

A further object of my invention is to supply the cooling liquid to the cylinder acket through a standpipe or chamber having a so by-pass at the height of the liquid level for the jacket, so as to regulate said level in the jacket yet allow for a continuous and uninterrupted circulation of liquid through the chamber to supply the jacket without any of as the excess liquids passing therethrough.

A further object of the invention is to provide a cooling system which will be open continuously to the atmosphere so that it will operate at all times at atmospheric pressure.

A further object of my invention is to so position the supply and reserve tank of the system that it may be readily reached for filling and so that the level of the cooling liquid therein will be below the level of the i5 cylinder jacket.

A still further object of my invention is to locate this tank under the apron along the running board at the side of the car and utilize a place not heretofore generally used for this purpose.

Serial No. 348,101.

The invention consists further in the matters hereinafterdescribed and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a side view (more or less diagrammatic) of an automotive power plant assembly equipped with a vapor cooling system constructed in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 illustrates the supply and reserve tank of the system located beneath the apron of the running-board at one side of the car.

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 33 of Figure 2, and

Figure 4 illustrates a modified form of construction to be hereinafter described.

In Figure 1, 1 indicates the cylinder block of an internal combustio'nengine, and 2 the "head clamped on top of the block over the upper ends of the engine cylinders 3 there- 1n, as usual in motor vehicle engine designs. Block 1 is provided with the usual chamber 4 about the engine cylinder so as to receive the cooling liquids, as water, as heretofore, said chamber defining the water jacket about the cylinder, as usual- The head 2 has a vapor collecting space or steam dome 5 ex tending above the head and in direct communication at all times at its lower end with the upper end of the chamber 4 so as to receive the steam rising from the body of the liquid in the chamber when brought to the boiling temperature from the heat of the explosions in the cylinders during the operation of the engine.

The dome 5 is connected with a header or chamber 6 at the upper end of a cooler or condenser 7 by a conduit 8. The condenser may take the form of an automobile radiator with water tubes and air passages so as to fit in with thepresent automobile designs. The lower portion of the condenser 7 is provided with a condensate collecting header or chamber 9, which is connected by a down wardly extending conduit 10 with a manifold 11 arranged below the condenser, as shown in Figure 1, so that any-condensate which reaches chamber 9 is at once drained from it. The manifold 11is connected by a conduit 12 with the intake of a pump 13, also located below the level of the lower end of condenser supply and thus compensate for natural losses through leakage and evaporation.

. mosphere.

the water level a in the dome 5 and is coni nected at that level by an outlet or overflow pipe or conduit 16 with a supply tank or reservoir 17 located below the level of the lower end of condenser 7 as shown. A supply conduit 18 connects the standpipe 14 with the discharge outlet of the pump 13, so that said pump when in operation deliversliquid to the standpipe and through the same supplies liquid'to the jacket 4 to the level a therein.

The tank or reservoir 17 is connected with the manifold 11 on the intake side of the pump by a conduit 19 so as to supply make up water to the system and permit the liquids to circulate through the standpipe 14 and its intake and overflow conduits 18 and 16 without passing through the cylinder acket and the dome. The tank 17 has a capacity to con tain all the liquid required for the system and 'sufiicient in addition to constitute a reserve Said tank- 17 has a filling neck 20, the closure cap of which has a vent opening 21 to the at Another vent 22 to the atmosphere is provided for the condenser 7 at its lower-condensate collecting chamber 9, said vent having its opening from chamber 9 above the level of the liquid in'the supplytank 17, as shown. To balance the pressure in the dome 5 and in the regulating cham ber 14, I provide. a connection between them by a pipe 28, as shown inF-igure 1.

a As shown in Figure 1, the tubes 23,23,01? the condenser 7 are vertically disposed and connect the upper steamreceiving chamber 6 with the lower condensate collecting chamber'9, These tubes are spaced apart so that air flowingthrough the condenser from front X to. rear will contact with the tubes to cool v them and cause the steam passing downward through the tubes to be condensed and returned to liquid form to the system through the condensate collecting chamber 9. A fan On first placing the system inoperation,

the tank or reservoir 17 is completely filled .with cooling liquid through the neck 20 to the v level indicated by the dotted line b. As the tankis so located as to extend above the pump 1' 3 and manifold 11, these two elements as well as the conduits 12 and 19 and the portions of the conduits and 18 below the level 5 are filled with liquid, thus priming all of the parts and not delaying their filling on starting the engine. supplied to supply tank or reservoir 17 will overflow neck so that the liquid in tank 17 and in conduit 19, manifold 11 and conduits 12 and 10 cannot rise above the level indicated by dotted line I) and cannot reach condensate collecting chamber 9 and, of course, cannot close the inner end of vent 22 which is thus at all times open to the outside atmosgphere. Being thus at all times open to the outside atmosphere by vent 22 the pressure in the condenser portion of the cooling system, cannot exceed or be lower than atmostern will also be continuously maintained at atmospheric pressure, vent 21 on supply tank 17 aiding in maintaining the supply portion of the system at atmospheric pressure.

The cooling system is thus open continuously to the atmosphere and operates throughout both on the condenser side and on the supply side at all times at the pressure of the outside atmosphere.

On first starting the motor or engine, the :ump' 13 draws liquid from the tank 17 and delivers it to the jacket chamber 4 through the conduit 18 and standpipe 14. The pump fills the jacket chamber 4 to approximately the level indicated by a, whereupon the flow to the jacket ceases, 'due to the fact that the overflow pipe 16 is connected with the upper end of the standpipe 14, at the height of the level a. The pump continues to operate and by the bypass 16 circulates the excess liquid back through the tank without passing through the jacket, and thus making no change in the levela. From the fact that the flow of liquid to the jacket ceases when level a has been reached, the engine is allowed to warm up rapidly and bring the liquid in the jacket to the boiling point in a relatively short period of time and thus quickly raise the walls of the engine cylinders to the desired economical operating temperature, regardless of load condi ions on the engine or the outside atmospheric temperature.

hen the liquid in the jacket 4 reaches boiling or steaming temperature, steam rises from the level a of the liquid in the jacket and flows to the condenser 7 through the outlet conduit 8. The level a in the jacket is being constantly lowered to a slight extent 1y portions of the liquid body in the jacket going ofi" steam from the heat furnished by the explosions in the cylinders, thereby al lowing the pump to constantly supply liquid Any excess of liquid 20, from the exterior of the car.

to the jacket through the standpipe l t to make up or compensate for the amounts going off as steam. As the bypass or overflow conduit 16 opens into the standpipe 14 in the plane of the level a in the jacket, it follows that no more make-up liquid will be supplied to the jacket 4 than enough to compensate for the amounts going olf as steam in the jacket. Thus the amounts of liquid supplied to the jacket from time to time during the boiling of the liquid in the jacket will be in direct proportion to the amounts of liquid going off as steam in the jacket. This is an important feature of my invention because not enough of the cooler liquid is supplied to the jacket at any time during the steaming operation to interfere with or hinder the same, thereby maintaining the cylinder walls of the engine at a substantially constant operating temperature regardless of load and atmospheric temperature conditions. Vhile considerably more amounts of the liquid about the engine cylinders will be converted into steam from time to time during the operation of the engine under heavier loads than under lighter loads, yet the amount of cooler liquid supplied to the jacket under a heavier load from time to time will not be suflicient to so hinder the steaming action in the jacket as to materially reduce the operating temperature of the cylinder walls. I

Steam entering the chamber 6 at the top of the condenser 7 will be forced downward through the tubes 23, 23, by the pressure in the dome 5. The tubes being cooled by the circulation of air against them, will cause the steam therein to be condensed therein, the condensate flowing by gravity to the lower chamber 9. From there, the condensate liquid will flow downward into the manifold 11 through the conduit 10, and thus be collected to be taken up by the pump 13 and be returned to the system for resupplying the acket with liquid in proportion to the amounts going ofl as steam therein.

I prefer, when my improved system is used with automobiles, to place the supply and reserve tank 17 in a position where it may be readily reached for filling through the neck In Figures 2 and 3 of the drawings, I have shown the tank 17 located in the space between the apron 25 and the running-board 26 at one side of the car and the adjacent side member 27 of the frame or chassis of the machine. The tank 17 has its filling neck 20 extended upward through an opening in the apron 25 so that'it may be reachedfor filling'thc tank from the outside of the car. To avoid the use of unduly long conduits 16 and 19 between the tank and the associated parts of the system I prefer to position the tank toward the front end of the car, as shown in Figure 2.

While I have shown in Figure 1 the over flow conduit 16 as connecting the standpipe 14; directly with the tank v17, I may arrange this overflow pipe 16 so as to connect the upper end of the stand pipe at the water level a with the intake'side of the pump 13, as shown in Figure 4. Thi'sarrangement shortens the distance of flow from the standpipe 1a to the intake of the pump, which may be desired in some installations. Moreover, by this arrangement the return flow from the standpipe 14 to the pump is not through the supply tank 17 to disturb or heat the same as with the assembly shown in Figure 1.

While I have shown and described the standpipe 1 1 as made separate from the cylinder block 1, it could be formed integral with periods of time, as practically all steam generated in the jacket is condensed and returned to the system. On stopping the motor steam will continue until the temperature of the cylinder walls drops below the boiling point of the liquid used. The pump 13 being idle, no liquid will be supplied to the jacket to make-up for the amounts going off as steam. The level a will naturally lower, it being raised, however, to the height required on the first starting of the engine.

The details of construction and arrangement of parts may be variously changed and modified without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

I claim as my invention 1. In an internal combustion engine vapor cooling system which is open continuously to the atmosphere and which operates at all times at atmospheric pressure the combination with a cylinder jacket having a steam space above the same, of means providing a circuit whereby a cooling liquid may be continuously circulated without passing through said jacket, and means included in said circuit and connected withsaid acket whereby a predetermined liquid level may be maintained in the jacket by supplying liquid thereto from the circuit in direct proportion to the amounts going oflfas steam in the jacket.

2. In an internal combustion engine vapor cooling system which is open continuously to the atmosphere and which operates at all times at atmospheric pressure, the combination with a cylinder jacket having a steam space above the same, of means providing a circuit whereby a cooling liquid may be con tinuously circulated without passing through said jacket, sa-idcircuit including a liquid level regulating chamber for the acket and through which the circuit enters the acket, sai'd'chamber having its outlet to the circuit at the height of the liquidlevel for thejacket in: orderto maintain'such level bysupplying liquid to the jacket from the circuit in direct proportion to the amounts going off as steam in the jacket.

3. In an internal combustion engine vapor cooling system which is open continuously to the atmosphere and which operates at all times at atmospheric pressure, the combination with a cylinder jacket having a steam space above the same, of means providing a circuit whereby a cooling liquid maybe continuouslycirculated without passing through said jacket, said circuit including; a liquid level regulating chamber for the jacket and through which the circuit enters the jacket, said chamber having its outlet to the circuit at the height of the liquid level for the jacket in order to maintain such level by supplying liquid to the jacket from the circuit in direct proportion to the amounts going off as steam in the jacket, and a supply and reserve reservoir in constant communication with said circuit.

4. In an internal combustion engine vapor cooling system which is open continuously to the atmosphere and which operates at all times at atmospheric pressure, the combination with a cylinder jacket having a steam space above thefsame, of means providing a circuit whereby a cooling liquid may be continuously circulated without passing, through said jacket, a liquid level regulating chamber for thejacket and a forcing pump in said circuit with the latter entering the jacket through said chamber, a reservoir in the circuit, said chamber having its inlets and outlets connected with the discharge of the pump and with the reservoir, respectively, the outlet of said chamber being at the height of the liquid level for the jacket in order to maintain said level by supplyingliquid to the jacket from the circuit in direct proportion to the amounts passing oil as steam in the jacket.

5. In an internal combustion engine vapor cooling system which is open continuously to the atmosphere andwhich operates at all times at atmospheric pressure, thercombination with a, cylinder. jacket having a steam space above the same, of means provldmg a circuitwhereby a cooling liquidmay be continuously circulated without passing through the jacket, said circuit including a liquid level regulating chamber for the jacket and connected with the intake thereat, said chamber having its outlet to the circuit at the height of the liquid level for the jacket in order to maintain such level "by supplying liquid to the jacket from the circuit indirect proportion to the amounts going ofi as steam in the jacket, and a condenser'connecte-d at its upper end with the steam space and at its lower end with thereturn side only of said circuit for supplying condensate thereto.

6. In an internal combustion engine vapor cooling system which is open continuously to the atmosphere and which operates at all times at atmospheric pressure, the combination with a cylinder jacket having a steam space above the same, of means providing a circuit whereby acooling liquid may be con tinuously circulated without passing through said jacket, said circuit including a standpipe arranged outside of the jacket and through which standpipe the circuit enters the jacket for supplying liquid thereto, said standpipe having inlet and ,outlet openings included in the circuit with the outlet opening at the height of the liquid level for the jacket. i

7. In an internal combustion engine vapor cooling system which is open continuously to the atmosphere and which operates at all times at atmospheric pressure, the combination with a cylinder jacket having a-steam space above the same, of means providing a circuit whereby a cooling liquid may be continuously circulated without passing through said jacket, said circuit including a standpipe arranged outside of the jacket and connected at its lower end with the intake of the jacket for supplying liquid thereto, said standpipe having inlet and outlet openings included in the circuit with the outlet openings at the height of the liquid level for the acket, and

a condenser connected at its upper end with the steam space and at its lower end with the return side only of the circuit for supplying condensate thereto.

' 8. In an internal combustion engine vapor cooling system which is open continuously to the atmosphere and which operates at all times at atmospheric pressure, the combination with a cylinder jacket having a steam space above the same, of means providing a circuit whereby a cooling liquid may be con tinuously circulated without passing through the jacket, said circuit including a chamber connected with the intake of the jacket for supplying liquid. thereto, said chamber havin g its outlet to the circuit at theheight of the liquid level for the jacket in order to maintain such level by supplying liquid, to the jacket from the circuit in direct proportion to the amounts going oil as steam in the jacket, a condenser connected at its upper end with the steam space and at its lower end with the return side only of said circuit for supplying condensate thereto, and a pressure balancing connection between the chamber and said steam space.

9. In a cooling system for internal combustion engines, the combination with a cylinder jacket, of means providing a circuit whereby a cooling liquid is circulated without passing 'through said jacket, means to maintain the cooling liquid at a predetermined level in the jacket, and a ventfor said system, said vent eing continuously open to the atmosphere wliereb the system operates at all times at atmospheric pressure.

10. In an internal combustion engine vapor cooling system which is open continuously to the atmosphere and WlllCh operates at all times at atmospheric pressure, the combination with a cylinder jacket having a steam space above the same, of means providing a circuit whereby cooling liquids may be continuously circulated without passing through said jacket, said circuit including a chamber connected with the intake of the jacket for supplying liquids thereto, and a supply and reserve reservoir connected with said circuit for supplying liquids thereto, said chamber having its outlet for liquids connected with the reservoir and disposed at the height of the liquid level to be maintained in the jacket.

11. In an internal combustion engine vapor cooling system which is open continuously to the atmosphere and which operates at all times at atmospheric pressure, the combination with a cylinder jacket having a steam space above the same, of means providing a circuit whereby cooling liquids may be continuously circulated without passing through said jacket, said circuit including a chamber connected with the intake of the jacket for supplying liquids thereto, a supply and reserve reservoir connected with the circuit for supplying liquids thereto, and a condenser connected with said steam space and the return side, respectively, of the circuit for supplying condensate thereto, said chamber having its outlet for liquids connected with the reservoir and disposed at the height of the liquid level to be maintained in the jacket.

12. In an internal combustion engine vapor cooling system which is open Continu ously to the atmosphere and operating at all times at atmospheric pressure, the combination with a cylinder jacket, of means for supplying cooling liquid to said jacket compr sing means for circulating the cooling liquid without passing through said jacket, and means for so controlling the admission of liquid from said circuit to the jacket as to maintain the cooling liquid in the jacket at a predetermined level.

13. In a cooling system for internal combustion engines, a cylinder jacket having a steam space above it, a condenser connected .at its upper end with said steam space and extending downward, a liquid forcing means below the level of the lower end of the condenser having its intake connected therewith, a vent open to the atmosphere leading from the lower portion of the condenser, a supply tank for cooling liquid connected with the intake of the liquid forcing means, a liquid level regulatin chamber in communication with the cylin er jacket connected with the delivery side of the liquid forcing means and having near its upper end an overflow open ing in communicationwith the supply tank, the supply tank being so located with refer-' ence to the cylinder jacket and the liquid forcing means that the overflow from the liquid level regulating chamber will flow by gravity to the supply tank and from the supply tank to the intake of the liquid forcing means.

14. In a cooling system for internal combustion engines comprising a cylinder acket having a steam space above it, a circuit for supplying liquid to the cylinder jacket, said circuit including therein a liquid forcing means, and a liquid level regulating means connected with the intake of the cylinder jacket, a reservoir for the cooling liquid in communication with the liquid level regulating means and so arranged that liquid will flow downward from the liquid level regulating means to said reservoir, a condenser con nected at its upper end with the steam space above the cylinder jacket and having its lower portion in communication with the intake of the liquid forcing means and with the reservoir, a vent open to the atmosphere leading from the lower portion of the condenser and means for maintaining the level of the liquid between the lower end of the condenser and the intake of the liquid forcing means below the level at which said vent is in communication with the condenser.

15. In a cooling system for internal combustion engines comprising a cylinder jacket having a steam space above it, a circuit for supplying cooling liquid to the cylinder jacket, including therein a pump, a liquid level regulating chamber in communication with the pump and with the intake of the cylinder jacket and a reservoir below the level of the intake of the cylinder jacket in communicationwith the liquid level regulating chamber, and a condenser in communication at its upper end with the steam space above the cylinder jacket and having its lower portion in communication with the intake of the pump and with the reservoir, a vent open to the atmosphere leading from the lower portion of the condenser and a vent in the reservoir open to the atmosphere at a level below the level at which the vent leading from the lower portion of the condenser is in communication with the condenser.

16. In a cooling system for internal combustion engines comprising acylinder jacket having a steam space above it, a circuit for supplying liquid to the cylinder jacket including therein a pump, a liquid level regulating chamber in communication with the intake of the cylinder jacket and with the pump, a reservoir for the cooling liquid below the level of the intake of the cylinder jacket in communication with the liquid level regulating chamber and with the pump, a

vent inthe reservoir open to the atmosphere, a condenser in communication at its upper end with the steamespaceabove the cylinder jacket and in communication at its lower end with the intake of the pump and with the reservoir, and a vent open to the atmosphere leading from thelower portion of the condenser at a level above that of the vent of the reservoir.

17. In a cooling system for internal combustion engines comprising a cylinder jacket having a steam space above it, a circuit for" supplying liqui'd'to the cylinder jacket ineluding therein a pump, a liquid level regulating chamber in communication with the in: take of the cylinder j acket and with the pump, a reservoir for the cooling liquid below the level of the intake of the cylinder jacket incommunication with the liquid level regulating chamber and with the pump, a vent in the reservoir open to the atmosphere, a condenser in communication at its upper end with the steam space above the cylinder jacket and in communication at its lower end with the intake of the pump and with the reservoir, and a vent'open to the atmosphere leading from the-lower portion of the condenser at a level above that of the vent of the reservoir, and means providing open communication between the liquid level regulating chamber and the steam space above the cylinder jacket. LESTER P. BARLOW.

Images