Automotive Engine Associates

Ana Tech Corporation

Merle R Showalter

A hydrodynamic thrust bearing adapted for positioning between a fixed base and a moving member spaced from said fixed base, the moving member having a rigid flat face confronting the fixed base, wherein the hydrodynamic thrust bearing includes a thin metal disk having undulations extending radially outward from the center of the disk in a symmetrical manner throughout one entire surface of the metal disk, and a planar face on the other side, the disk is positioned between the fixed base and the rigid flat face of the moving member whereby the undulations of the disk are in contact with the rigid flat face and the planar face is in contact with the fixed base, lubricant is supplied between the disk undulation and the confronting rigid flat face of the moving member whereby thrust movement relative to the disk will produce a very thin film of lubricant between the undulations of the disk and the cooperating rigid flat face of the fixed base.

Hydrodynamic thrust bearing

A hydrodynamic journal bearing including a rotary journal shaft which is circular in cross section, a journal bearing surrounding the journal shaft and having at least two arcuate bearing surfaces, each arcuate surface defined by a radius slightly greater than that of the journal shaft so that the journal shaft will be in lubricated contact with at least the mid portion of each arcuate bearing surface while the ends of each arcuate bearing will be spaced from the surface of the rotary journal shaft, and seals to assure that lubrication almost completely fills all spaces between the rotary journal shaft surface and that of the journal bearing surface.

Engine bearings

NO.sub.x abatement results with EGR obtained in practice have been drastically less than those predicted by kinetic calculations. This disparity can be eliminated in all heterogeneous combustion processes by complete mixing to the microscale of exhaust gas recirculation with intake air prior to introduction into the heterogeneous burner. To achieve the required mixedness the air and EGR must be folded together in a controlled fashion in a turbulent flow having mean flow streamlines structured so that turbulent diffusion and molecular diffusion need only act to mix at relatively small distances. Scaleable vortex mixing means to achieve this folding together and mixing are disclosed. Complete vortex mixing of air and EGR prior to the supply of this 'oxidizer mix' into heterogeneous combustion systems such as diesel engines, stationary turbines, large burners, and power plants produces radical NO.sub.x reductions at low cost.

Abatement of NO.sub.x from heterogeneous combustion sources by

Side loads on the valve guide due to rocker tip sliding can be essentially eliminated with a rocker tip which maintains a squeeze film of oil between the valve tip and the rocker tip. This squeeze film of oil between rocker tip and valve tip can be arranged with a special rocker tip involving a spherical lubricated support, a flat section engaging the flat plane of the valve tip spring, means to produce a clearance between the rocker tip and the valve tip during the periods when the valve is closed, and lubricant supply means to assure that oil is present between the rocker tip and the valve tip to replenish the film when the valve is closed. During the closed or unloaded period, a film of oil is established between the rocker tip and valve guide. This oil film is not completely squeezed out when the valve is actuated due to the squeeze film effect. Because of the full film of oil between the valve tip and the rocker tip, the friction side force produced by the rocker tip actuation is radically reduced.

Squeeze film rocker tip

Method and apparatus for producing intense, consistent swirl and air-fuel-E.G.R.-vorticity charge uniformity without any net penalty in engine power, volumetric efficiency, or pumping work. Method and apparatus permit optimal swirl and turbulence for flame stability and fuel economy throughout the R.P.M.-load phase space of engine operation. Method and apparatus require no substantial changes in combustion chamber shape or basic engine structure. For spark fired engines, the method and apparatus permits operation at air-fuel-E.G.R.-intake manifold vacuum combinations having excellent fuel consumption characteristics combined with very low emissions of CO, HC, and NO. For diesel engines, the method and apparatus permits optimized swirl without the volumetric efficiency and pumping work penalties accepted with present art swirl inducing techniques.

High swirl very low pollution piston engine employing optimizable

A servo control which adjusts the supply of combustion diluent (either excess air or EGR) upwards until the statistical variation of flame speed achieves a set limit. The system is intended as a control coefficient input to an automatic control system capable of more rapid dynamic response than the roughness controller itself. For engines characterized by exceptional homogeneity and in-cylinder flow control, control of flame speed variability up to set limit nearly minimizes NO.sub.x emissions and very nearly optimizes fuel efficiency at all engine speeds and loads. Two 'measures' of flame speed are disclosed, first peak blowdown pressure in the exhaust, and second, the ionization breakdown voltage of an additional spark fired a specified number of crank angles after the ignition spark.

Combustion roughness servo control to control fuel/air metering or EGR

A valve lock-valve spring retainer assembly where the valve lock and valve retainer mating surfaces are spherical. The spherical valve lock-valve spring retainer mating surface permits small rotations of the valve spring retainer with respect to the plane perpendicular to the valve stem. This significantly reduces valve spring generated side loads on the valve guides.

Spherical valve lock-valve spring retainer assembly to minimize valve

A pivoted pad bearing is supported on an elastomeric pad fully contained by a supporting structure. The elastomeric pad contains some liquid. The liquid filled pad is extremely strong in compression but can pivot. The pivoted pad assembly is somewhat flexible. This flexibility is useful under conditions of fluctuating load where squeeze film effects are superimposed upon wedge film effects.

Elastomerically supported pivoted pad bearing

A liquid flow control servo valve where the flow controlling element is a magnetically loaded hydrostatic step bearing. An electromagnet has a central liquid passage 3 through it, and flow from this passage 3 is closed off by a magnetically permeable flat plate which has a planar surface matching a corresponding planar surface of the electromagnet. Pressure from passage 3 floats the plate on a thin liquid film in the manner of a hydrostatic step bearing, and the film thickness of this liquid film rapidly adjusts until the hydrostatic bearing pressure force W balances the magnetic forces on the plate. This variation in film thickness adjusts flow rate past the plate. The flow and pressure drop across the hydrostatic bearing plate rapidly adjusts to coil current in the low hysteresis electromagnet, so that P across the plate varies nearly in proportion to coil current I. The geometry of the hydrostatic bearing can be tailored to produce a wide range of viscous damping characterization using conventional squeeze film equations. So long as flow in the step bearing is laminar, the ratio of critical damping produced by the valve in a particular installation is invariant over a wide operating range of flows and fluid viscosities.

Servo valve for ultra-fast pressure regulation with controlled system

A piston having an evaporation-condensation heat pipe to transfer heat between piston crown and piston skirts. The evaporation-condensation heat pipe is formed as a structure separate from the piston itself, and the two are joined together by a high conductivity adhesive-elastomer bond.

Heat piped piston

Modifications of piston top geometry eliminate the formation of the coherent roll-up vortex characteristic of most engines and dissipatively mix absorbed HC from the cylinder wall with hot gases in the cylinder to reduce unburned HC emissions.

Anti-roll-up vortex piston

A fuel/air metering system with an air throttle valve and fuel valve positively linked with the flow crossectional area of each valve proportional to the other. The air pressure drop across the air throttle valve is sensed and a corresponding fuel pressure drop is computed. A servo valve in series with the fuel valve is controlled so that the pressure drop across the fuel valve corresponds to this computed value.

Metering system

A piston ring and cylinder assembly designed for fully hydrodynamic operation with oil control is disclosed. The rings are loaded in circumferential compression and are flexible. They conform instantaneously to cylinder wall distortions and oil film forces. The elastic properties of the ring, combined with the ring crown geometry maintain oil control (zero oil pumping to the top of the cylinder wall) with fully hydrodynamic conditions between ring and cylinder wall. The cylinder wall is finished to a very smooth surface and may be provided with a number of axial grooves near the top dead center position of the top ring so that oil is positively blown down from the top of the cylinder for oil control.

Fully hydrodynamic piston ring and cylinder assembly

A piston ring and piston assembly designed for operation with the piston skirt fully flooded with oil and with the piston rings operating as fully hydrodynamic sliders is disclosed. Geometries of rings and piston skirt are arranged to conform elastically to the real out-of-round deformations of cylinder walls in such a fashion as to maximize the advantages of full film lubrication physics. The rings are loaded in circumferential compression and are flexible. This elastic configuration makes the rings conform instantaneously to cylinder wall out-of-round to a scale of microinches. This conformability is required to maintain oil control (zero oil pumping to the top of the cylinder wall) with fully hydrodynamic conditions between the rings and the cylinder wall. The piston has a piston skirt which is flexible enough to conform to cylinder wall out-of-round and maximize squeeze film effects. The piston skirt is arranged to superimpose squeeze film and pivoted pad slider physics. The piston is equipped with a heat piped internal heat transfer structure which maintains the piston in a near isothermal condition. The piston skirts are nearly isothermal. This controls expansion for improved hydrodynamic geometry. The great majority of heat transfer from the piston crown to the cylinder passes through the piston skirt oil film to the cylinder wall. The assembly utilizes component deformations to maximize hydrodynamic and squeeze film lubrication effects to minimize engine friction and wear.

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Madison, WI, United States of America

Merle R Showalter