The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel (normally a fossil fuel) occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber.  In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine. This force is applied typically to pistons, turbine blades, or a nozzle. This force moves the component over a distance, transforming chemical energy into useful mechanical energy.

The term internal combustion engine usually refers to an engine in which combustion is intermittent, such as the more familiar four-stroke and two-stroke piston engines, along with variants, such as the six-stroke piston engine and the Wankel rotary engine.  A second class of internal combustion engines use continuous combustion: gas turbines, jet engines and most rocket engines, each of which are internal combustion engines on the same principle as previously described. 

The internal combustion engine (or ICE) is quite different from external combustion engines, such as steam or Stirling engines, in which the energy is delivered to a working fluid not consisting of, mixed with, or contaminated by combustion products. Working fluids can be air, hot water, pressurized water or even liquid sodium, heated in some kind of boiler.

“A large number of different designs for ICEs have been developed and built, with a variety of different strengths and weaknesses. Powered by an energy-dense fuel (which is very frequently gasoline, a liquid derived from fossil fuels).  While there have been and still are many stationary applications, the real strength of internal combustion engines is in mobile applications and they dominate as a power supply for cars, aircraft, and boats.”

(Wikipedia, Internal Combustion Engines, 11/28/2011)

This invention relates to reciprocating internal combustion engines, such as diesel, gasoline or natural gas powered engines, and is more specifically directed to an internal combustion engine whose major parts, including cylinder block and pistons, are made of a high performance synthetic resin material.

An effort has been made to reduce the design weight of automotive engines, or other engines, and at the same time to increase efficiency and longevity. To this end, synthetic materials have been used in such engine parts as oil pans, valve covers, gear covers, cranks, and some internal parts such as rocker arms and connecting rods. One composite engine block, in which an outer shell is formed of a synthetic material, with cylinder sleeves formed of cast iron and with metal pistons, is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,930,470. 4,440,069 discusses a composite piston for an internal combustion engine, in which the piston has a metal head or crown, and a skirt formed of a thermoplastic material, e.g., an amide-imide polymer with a high melting temperature. Polymer structures for use in internal combustion engines, such as for valve covers, composite connecting rods, and composite rocker arms, are discussed in the literature, e.g., U.S. Pats. Nos. 5,375,569; 4,726,334; and 4,438,738. [Dauphin, US Patent 8,061,324 (11/22/2011)]

Recent US Patents

Comments