Caterpillar Inc.

Richard P Staab

Darryl Dean Baldwin

Bradley Joseph Shaffer

John Jay Bernardi

Min Wu

Dennis R Walling

David W Brandes

A spark plug assembly for an internal combustion engine has a housing, an electrode, an axis and a conducting member radially oriented relative to the axis has a collar disposed about the axis and connected to an end of the housing. The spark plug is connected to the engine and exposed to a combustion chamber of the engine. The collar extends a predetermined distance from the end of the housing and shields a gap between the conducting member and electrode from air swirl introduced into a combustion chamber.

Shielded spark plug electrode

A method of controlling a internal combustion engine assembly is disclosed. The internal combustion engine assembly includes (i) a internal combustion engine having an engine inlet and an engine outlet, (ii) a mixing chamber having an air inlet, a gaseous fuel inlet, and a fuel-air mixture outlet, (iii) a fuel valve which controls a ratio of air-to-gaseous fuel in a fuel-air mixture advanced through the fuel-air mixture outlet of the mixing chamber, and (iv) a throttle operable to control flow rate of the fuel-air mixture which is advanced from the fuel-air mixture outlet to the engine inlet. The method includes the step of determining oxygen content of exhaust gases advanced through the engine outlet and generating a oxygen content signal in response thereto. The method further includes the step of determining a load on the internal combustion engine and generating a load signal in response thereto. The method still further includes the step of adjusting the fuel valve to alter the ratio of air-to-gaseous fuel in the fuel-air mixture advanced through the fuel-air mixture outlet of the mixing chamber based on the oxygen content signal and the load signal. The internal combustion engine assembly further includes an exhaust conduit positioned in fluid communication with the engine outlet, and an oxygen sensor positioned in the exhaust conduit for generating the oxygen content signal. The internal combustion engine assembly further includes a pressure sensor positioned in a fuel-air mixture conduit for generating the load signal. An internal combustion engine assembly is also disclosed.

Method of operating an internal combustion engine which uses a low energy gaseous fuel

A crankcase blowby disposal system for a reciprocating engine comprising a heat exchanger in fluid communication with an oil filter and the crankcase in which blowby comprising oil droplets, oil mist, oil vapor, water vapor and other gases, the blowby is vented from the crankcase, passes through the heat exchanger which cools the blowby to a temperature below the dew point of the oil vapor and above the dew point of the water vapor, whereby the oil vapor condenses and the water vapor does not condense, then the cooled blowby passes through an oil filter which removes essentially all the oil from the blowby, the oil free blowby is then returned to the engine intake or exhaust or vented to the atmosphere, the oil collected in the oil filter may be returned to the crankcase.

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Metamora, IL, United States of America

Richard P Staab