The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 05, 2003
Filed:
Mar. 27, 2000
J. Vincent Serve, Springfield, OH (US);
AVL List GmbH, Graz, AT;
Abstract
A method is provided for operating an internal combustion engine comprising a combustion chamber defined by the inner wall of a cylinder, a cylinder head and the upper surface of a piston moveable longitudinally within the cylinder, the engine further comprising a pre-combustion chamber in communication with the combustion chamber. The method comprises supplying to the combustion chamber a first combustible mixture of a first hydrocarbon fuel and oxygen; supplying to the pre-combustion chamber a second combustible mixture of a second hydrocarbon fuel and oxygen, the second combustible mixture being auto-ignitable; and compressing the first and second combustible mixtures by moving the piston within the cylinder; wherein under operating conditions in which the aforementioned steps are insufficient to operate the engine and keep it running, the method further comprises the step of generating a spark to cause ignition of the compressed first combustible mixture in the combustion chamber. An internal combustion engine operable using this method is also provided. In addition, a cylinder head for the modification of existing engines to operate using this method is also provided. The method is particularly useful for starting the internal combustion engine, especially when cold.