Internal combustion engine with fuel injection

Claim 1

Internal combustion engine with spark ignition having pistons slidable in respective cylinders, a cylinder head covering the cylinders, and, associated with each cylinder, a fuel injector and a sparking plug, each cylinder containing a combustion chamber the volume of which is formed predominantly in the associated piston, wherein: each fuel injector is situated in the side wall of the associated cylinder adjacent the cylinder head; the portion of each combustion chamber formed in the piston is concentrated in one part of the surface of the piston so as to form extensive squish areas between the cooperating surfaces of the piston and the cylinder head; the cylinder head is provided, for each cylinder, with a respective shield projecting substantially in the axial direction within the cylinder on the side thereof opposite the associated injector and positioned adjacent the electrodes of the respective sparking plug, the said shield having an impingement surface facing towards the fuel injector, and each fuel injector is arranged to direct a single compact jet of fuel, at a substantially zero angle of divergence, onto and substantially perpendicularly to said impingement surface of the said shield to cause fine atomization of the fuel in the region of the cylinder adjacent the sparking plug electrodes.