Hitachi, Ltd.

Yoko Nakayama

Takuya Shiraishi

Toshiharu Nogi

Noboru Tokuyasu

Minoru Ohsuga

Yoshihiro Sukegawa

Yusuke Kihara

Minoru Oosuga

Tohru Ishikawa

Yutaka Takaku

Mamoru Fujieda

Mineo Kashiwaya

Kenji Tsuchita

By a lean burn operation, a highly efficient operation region is enlarged, the proportion of engine operation in a low torque condition is increased, and the proportion of motor operation using a battery is decreased. It is possible to provide a hybrid car of an engine-electric motor configuration which can effect a highly efficient operation without increasing the capacity of motor and that of battery.

Hybrid car

A direct injection engine and a controller for the engine, which can realize super-retard combustion under high backpressure and can minimize an emission amount of HC at the startup. A cavity is formed in a piston such that fuel spray injected from a fuel injection valve is blown into the cavity. An obstacle member, such as a step, is provided in the cavity to decelerate or stop the fuel spray blown into the cavity. A mount position, mount posture, nozzle structure, injection port shape, etc. of the fuel injection valve are set such that the fuel spray injected from the fuel injection valve is made up of a lead fuel spray component directed toward the ignition plug and having a penetration to extend long beyond the ignition plug, and a main fuel spray component directed toward the piston, thereby enabling the super-retard combustion to be performed under high backpressure.

Direct injection engine and controller for the same

The amount of air to be introduced is controlled for each cylinder, whereby it is intended to make it possible to control the torque generated in each cylinder, perform an ultra-lean burn operation, purify the exhaust gas, and increase the output of an engine. An air flow control valve adapted to be on-off controlled in accordance with an operated quantity of an accelerator pedal is disposed in each branch pipe or intake port. The air flow control valve may be a throttle valve disposed in each branch pipe or it may be a variable intake valve for opening and closing the intake port.

Internal combustion engine, and control apparatus and method thereof

There is provided a cylinder injection type internal combustion engine capable of performing stratified charge operation at the time of a vehicle speed of 120 km/h and/or an engine rotational speed of 3200 rpm to enhance the fuel efficiency and/or to observe the emission regulations. In the internal combustion engine, a stratum of air and/or air flow is formed between a fuel spray injected from an injection valve and the top face of a piston and/or the wall surface of a combustion chamber, and a face shape contrived to guide the air flow is formed on the top face of the piston. Also, the stratified charge operation can be performed even at the time of cold start or cranking.

Cylinder injection type internal combustion engine, control method for internal combustion engine, and fuel injection valve

A fuel injection equipment to control the instability of combustion when the airflow is weak, and improve the fuel cost. A fuel injection equipment for an cylinder injection type and spark ignition type internal combustion engine that injects gasoline directly to a combustion chamber, wherein the top angle at the point of fuel spray in the pressurized atmosphere of absolute pressure 0.5 MPa is from &#x2212;10&#xb0; to 10&#xb0;. Further, the fuel is injected at the compression stroke of the internal combustion engine which installs the fuel injection equipment, and said internal combustion engine is started.

Fuel injection equipment, internal combustion engine, and control method of fuel injection equipment

In a center injection type of direct engine, since it has an ignition plug and an injector arranged in proximity, there occurs the problem that a sprayed liquid fuel directly strikes the ignition plug and causes the plug to misfire. A notch is to be provided at a portion of the injector end so as to form a coarse-grained portion and a dense portion in sprays of fuel, and the injector is disposed so that the coarse-grained portion is directed towards the ignition plug. It is possible to avoid the misfiring of the ignition plug and thus prolong the life of the plug, by preventing a liquid fuel from directly striking the plug.

Direct injection gasoline engine

Fuel-air mixture is supplied with stability to the neighboring area of an ignition plug without any effect on deflection of fuel spray due to the air flow (swirl/tumble) in a combustion chamber, and the deposition of fuel onto the side wall of a combustion chamber is reduced, leading to the prevention of occurrence of smoke. A fuel injection apparatus includes a fuel injection valve having a nozzle opening to a combustion chamber and an ignition plug. The fuel injection valve forms a fuel spray having different levels of average speed. The fuel spray has relatively high speed at least in half of a single cycle of a fuel injection, and after that, the fuel injection valve forms relatively low-speed fuel spray, and consequently, a fuel-air mixture including high-speed fuel spray is supplied to a neighboring area of the ignition plug.

Fuel injection apparatus and control method thereof

With a cylinder direct injection engine in which fuel is injected directly into combustion chambers and air-fuel mixture is guided by an air flow, it is difficult to secure combustion stability under low engine speed and low load conditions such as during idling. Furthermore, there are needs for improvement of emission characteristics and fuel economy in other operation modes as well. An engine according to the invention injects fuel while dividing the same in plural parts during a compression stroke. The first injection forms a lean air-fuel mixture around an ignition plug, and the second injection makes a flammable air-fuel mixture reach an area around the ignition plug. This ensures efficient stratified combustion and allows improvement in emission and fuel economy performance.

Fuel injection apparatus and method for cylinder injection type internal combustion engine

In a center injection type of direct injection engine, since it has an ignition plug and an injector arranged in proximity, there occurs the problem that a sprayed liquid fuel directly strikes the ignition plug and causes the plug to misfire. A notch is to be provided at a portion of the injector end so as to form a coarse-grained portion and a dense portion in sprays of fuel, and the injector is disposed so that the coarse-grained portion is directed towards the ignition plug. It is possible to avoid the misfiring of the ignition plug and thus prolong the life of the plug, by preventing a liquid fuel from directly striking the plug.

A fuel injector employed in a direct injection engine comprising a spark plug arranged on the top of a combustion chamber, a fuel injector located on said combustion chamber and an intake air control means installed on an intake manifold. A forward tumble air flow is formed in the combustion chamber by the intake air control means, and the fuel injector is available in two types; an annular (conical) spray type characterized by uniform density and a spray type characterized by high/low density. In the case of latter type, arrangement is made to ensure that the denser portion is placed face-to-face with the spark plug. Spray fuel rises along the wall surface of the combustion chamber on the intake side, and is carried to the spark plug by forward tumble air flow (called &ldquo;tumble guide&rdquo;) moving from the fuel injector to the spark plug. This allows stratified charge combustion to be performed in the operation range from low to high speed ranges, with the result that discharge of gas containing hazardous gas component such as THC is reduced and fuel economy is improved.

Cylinder injection engine and fuel injection nozzle used for the engine

A combustion chamber is formed using a flat piston having a low cooling loss and therein a forward tumble is generated. A fuel spray is formed by a provision of a splitter which is provided to make off-set from a center of an injection port at a tip end of a tumble atomization system fuel injector. The fuel spray is divided into a fuel spray having a strong penetration force and a fuel spray having a small penetration force. The fuel spray having the strong penetration force is injected in a vicinity of an ignition plug. Accordingly, a fuel adhesion to the piston can be reduced and further a reduction of a discharge HC and a fuel consumption can be improved.

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Hitachi, Japan

Yoko Nakayama