GB2626188A - Internal combustion engine (I.C.E.) - Google Patents

Abstract

An internal combustion engine comprised of pairs of cylinders 1, each with two opposed pistons 2 attached to crankshafts 4 at either end of the cylinders. Hydrogen, oxygen and water are introduced into the cylinder between the pistons whereupon the hydrogen and oxygen are ignited causing an exothermic reaction producing heat and water as steam, the heat from which converts the introduced water into more steam at pressure. After this steam has driven the pistons apart and its power has been used, it is then allowed to leave the cylinders via a valving system in the pistons and travel into the crank casing which also doubles as an exhaust manifold. The crankshafts 4 are connected such that their respective torque outputs are combined and the pistons 2 move synchronously. Non oxidising and hydrophilic materials may used where necessary to protect components and to utilise water to lubricate them.

Description

Internal Combustion Engine (I.C.E.) This invention is pertaining to an internal combustion engine or I.C.E. designed to ease pollution and utilise the growing renewable energy sector.

Introduction

The conventional internal combustion engine is a ubiquitous means of both mobile and stationary power production. There is a vast, global network involved in the manufacture and upkeep of such machines. It is, however, also a major producer of pollution and not very efficient. One possible way to reduce the pollution of these engines is to replace the hydrocarbon based fuels with hydrogen. This removes carbon from the emissions of these engines almost entirely but the hydrogen cannot be burned efficiently in a conventional engine without creating pollutants with the nitrogen in the air that these engines use. Hydrogen, however, suffers from pre-ignition due to the high compression in conventional engines and its flame is very hot and fast. The most efficient internal combustion engines at the moment lose sixty percent of the fuel energy they use through heat, vibration and parasitic losses from the mechanism of the engines themselves, particularly from driving the camshaft to operate the intake and exhaust valves and the compression stroke.

This invention has been devised to utilise the power of hydrogen in a simple, balanced and efficient I.C.E. (from now on referred to as"the engine") that can replace hydrocarbon burning engines but utilise the infrastructure that has grown up around them. It is a two stroke engine with each cylinder having a combustion (sometimes called expansion) stroke with every revolution of the crankshaft.lt has been devised to remove the need for a compression stroke or a camshaft. This is achieved by injecting a stoichiometric ratio of hydrogen and oxygen in the combustion chamber, also adding water as the working fluid, and placing the exhaust valve in the piston itself. The engine will use an arrangement of cylinders, pistons and crankshafts that cancel out each other's imbalances. The only waste product of this engine would be pure water as steam or condensed into its liquid form. It is a two stroke engine with each cylinder having a combustion (sometimes called expansion) stroke with every revolution of the crankshaft.

Introduction to the drawings

Figure 1 shows an arrangement of cylinders (1) that show the pistons (2) linked by connecting rods (3) to the crankshafts (4) with the exhaust valves (5) fully open.

Figure 2 shows an arrangement of crankshafts (4) with an arrangement of gears (6) to connect them.

Figure 3 shows an arrangement of cylinders looked at from one end of the cylinders (1) showing where the crankshafts (4) that would be placed at this end.

Description

The engine will be, in its simplest form, composed of a cylinder (1) closed at one end containing a piston (2) that can move along its length within it in a reciprocating fashion. These two components contain a volume of space between them hereafter called the combustion chamber The piston will be connected to a crankshaft (4) via a connecting rod (3)which converts the reciprocal motion of the piston(2) into rotary motion. All much in the same way as a conventional engine.

In a conventional engine, the point where the piston is furthest out of the cylinder (usually called bottom dead centre or B.D.C.) has the combustion chamber at its largest volume and it contains the most air, the oxygen of which is used to combust the fuel and the rest of which (mainly nitrogen) is used as the working fluid. The piston is then driven by the crankshaft down the cylinder, compressing the air as it goes until it reaches the furthest point in the cylinder where the volume is at its lowest (called top dead centre or T.D.C.). The process requires energy from the engine to compress this gas.

The proposed engine will use water as the working fluid injected directly into the combustion chamber at, or soon after T.D.C.. Water, converted to steam, increases in volume by a factor of 1600 so only a small amount by volume needs to be introduced. This means that there is no need for large intake valves or a compression stroke.

Once combustion is complete, the steam, now having performed the required work, can be released as exhaust. With the exhaust valve (5) placed within the piston (2), the steam can escape through it into the crankcase which would now double as the exhaust manifold.

This valve (5) can be opened and closed by changes in location of the crankshaft (4) /connecting rod (3) positions in relation to the piston (2) and valve (5), being open while the pistons (2) are moving toward each other.

With no intake valves and the exhaust valve (5) located on the piston (2), the need for a camshaft to operate them is removed and with it the concomitant parasitic losses, vibrations, imbalances and complication of manufacture that need to be overcome.

This further means that the engine can use an opposed piston design with two pistons (2) moving in and out of one cylinder (1), each with its own connecting rod (3) and crankshaft (4).

As shown in figure 1. two of these cylinders (1) can be paired together with the four crankshafts (4) turning in the directions shown. This arrangement means that not only do the forces driving the pistons (2) cancel each other out, the forces acting on the connecting rods (3) and crankshafts (4) are also cancelled. This means that the engine is perfectly balanced and will be free of the vibrations usually caused by the motions of these components, rendering steps to negate these problems such as balancing shafts unnecessary further simplifying the engine.

Figure two shows the four crankshafts (4) connected by a set of gears (5). These gears maintain the timing of the motion of the crankshafts (4) and therefore pistons (2) to ensure the components move synchronously with each other This also connects the torque supplied by the crankshafts (4) so all of the output from the engine can be taken from any combination of the shafts at the centre of the gears (5) or the crankshafts (4) themselves.

Figure 3. shows three sets of cylinders (1) from the point of view looking at their ends with two of the crankshafts (4) connecting them, a further two being at the other end. Connecting three pairs of cylinders (1) in this way and separating the cranks by 120 degrees of rotation ensures that at least one pair of cylinders (1) is undergoing its power stroke at any one time, creating smooth torque production.

At the halfway point along each cylinder (1), a ring of injectors will introduce enough liquid water and gaseous hydrogen and oxygen that, when ignited by a spark, the gases react to produce water and enough heat energy to turn the water both introduced and produced into steam with enough pressure to drive the pistons (2) apart providing, by means of the connecting rods (3) and crankshafts (4), useable torque.

The stoichiometric burning of the gases is described as an oxidising flame and this, in combination with water and steam, could provide problems for conventional materials used in engine manufacture. Also the wet nature of the crankcase, because it also doubles as the exhaust manifold, means conventional lubrication is a problem. This can be solved by using non oxidising materials with hydrophilic surfaces. This means they will resist the oxidation and always be coated with a thin film of water The components can be made of, or coated with, such materials.

The same materials are usually also poor conductors of heat so they will keep all of the combustion energy in the chamber and ensure more of this energy can be used to create steam pressure.

Once this steam has imparted its energy to the pistons and is released as exhaust, it may either be released into the atmosphere or condensed and kept as pure water for future use.

The high temperatures and flame speed of the hydrogen-oxygen reaction will be mitigated by the addition of the water as a fine spray, the energy released being instantly in close contact with the water and absorbed by it, controlling both the temperature and explosive nature of the reaction.

Claims (4)

1. Claims.1 A horizontally opposed internal combustion engine consisting of a number of pairs cylinders that are open at both ends, each with two pistons that may move reciprocally within each cylinder, each piston being attached to a crank on a shaft meaning that for every pair of cylinders there are four pistons and four cranks, the shafts of which are connected to each other such that they are synchronous and their respective torque may be combined, there being halfway along the length of each cylinder a means by which hydrogen oxygen and liquid water can be introduced between the pistons and a means by which it can be ignited with the hydrogen oxygen and liquid watery being converted into steam, the pressure of which forcing the pistons apart turning the cranks and providing power, the steam being allowed to pass through the piston through a valving mechanism into the volume containing the cranks.
2. 2 An engine as described in claim 1, whose components are made of or coated with such materials that resist the oxidising and otherwise corrosive nature of the combustion of hydrogen with oxygen and the resultant steam.
3. 3 An engine as described in claim 1, whose components are made of or coated with such materials that are hydrophilic in nature that they may attract a film of water to protect them from the effects of combustion and to act as lubrication between them.
4. 4 An engine as described in claim 1, whereby three pairs of cylinders are connected by four crankshafts, the cranks for each pair of cylinders are separated upon the crankshafts by one hundred and twenty degrees of rotation.