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US5582145A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Four-stroke-cycle engine

Assignee: IHI Shibaura Machinery Corp
•
Filing: 1995-11-15
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Granted: 1996-12-10
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Expires: 2015-11-15
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Abstract

Abstract Air is drawn into the crank chamber when the negative pressure is built up in the crank chamber, and the air mixed with the blowby drawn into the crank chamber is led as the secondary air to the exhaust gas discharge section when the positive pressure is built up in the crank chamber. Thus the secondary air is mixed with the exhaust gases discharged from the combustion chamber, and the mixture of the exhaust gases and the secondary air is burned again (oxidized) in the exhaust gas cleaning section, thereby cleaning up the exhaust gases. Furthermore, the present invention is provided with two valves for checking the back flow of the air while maintaining the air flow from the crank chamber to the exhaust gas discharge section. One valve (first valve) is disposed within the intake passage and opens when the negative pressure is built up in the crank chamber. The other valve (second valve) is disposed within the guide passage and opens when the positive pressure is built up in the crank chamber.

Inventors

  • 👤 Shigemitsu Aizawa
  • 👤 Naohiro Maruyama
  • 👤 Yuichi Momose

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-05 08:36
CPC Classifications
F; F01; F01N; F01N3/00; F01N3/08; F01N3/10; F01N3/24; F01N3/30; F01M; F01M13/00; F01M13/02; F01M13/028; F02; F02B; F02B63/00; F02B63/02; F02B75/00; F02B75/02; F02B2075/022; F02B2075/027; F02B2275/00; F02B2275/34; F02F; F02F7/00; F02F7/006; Y; Y02; Y02T; Y02T10/00; Y02T10/10; Y02T10/12

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 14
Claim 1
Independent Claim 355 words
A four-stroke-cycle engine equipped with an exhaust gas cleaning device for supplying secondary air to exhaust gases for re-combustion of the exhaust gases, comprising: a basic component for said four-stroke-cycle engine, which includes a piston reciprocatably inserted in a cylinder and connected by a connecting rod to a rotatable crankshaft, a combustion chamber hermetically positioning the head of said piston, a valve mechanism for driving an intake valve and an exhaust valve which respectively open and close an intake port and an exhaust port communicating with said combustion chamber, a fuel feed device which produces an air-fuel mixture by mixing fuel with the air drawn into said combustion chamber through the intake port, an ignition device for igniting to explode the air-fuel mixture that has been drawn in and compressed in said combustion chamber, and a lubricating system for supplying lubricating oil to each of the moving parts, so that said valve mechanism, said fuel feed device, and said ignition device will be operated at a specific timing to thereby continuously cause a series of intake of the mixture, compression, power and exhaust strokes in said combustion chamber, thus transmitting the reciprocation of said piston produced by a series of the strokes as a rotational motion to said crankshaft through the connecting rod; an exhaust gas discharge section including the exhaust port; a hermetically closed crank chamber for housing the crankshaft; an intake passage connecting said crank chamber to the atmosphere; a first valve disposed within said intake passage and designed to open by the reciprocation of said piston when a negative pressure has been built up in said crank chamber; a guide passage connecting said crank chamber and said exhaust gas discharge section to guide the air as the secondary air from said crank chamber to said exhaust gas discharge section; a second valve disposed within said guide passage and designed to open by the reciprocation of said piston when a positive pressure is built up in said crank chamber; and an exhaust gas cleaning section for re-combustion of exhaust gases discharged to said exhaust gas discharge section and mixed with the secondary air.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 355 words
A four-stroke-cycle engine equipped with an exhaust gas cleaning device for supplying secondary air to exhaust gases for re-combustion of the exhaust gases, comprising: a basic component for said four-stroke-cycle engine, which includes a piston reciprocatably inserted in a cylinder and connected by a connecting rod to a rotatable crankshaft, a combustion chamber hermetically positioning the head of said piston, a valve mechanism for driving an intake valve and an exhaust valve which respectively open and close an intake port and an exhaust port communicating with said combustion chamber, a fuel feed device which produces an air-fuel mixture by mixing fuel with the air drawn into said combustion chamber through the intake port, an ignition device for igniting to explode the air-fuel mixture that has been drawn in and compressed in said combustion chamber, and a lubricating system for supplying lubricating oil to each of the moving parts, so that said valve mechanism, said fuel feed device, and said ignition device will be operated at a specific timing to thereby continuously cause a series of intake of the mixture, compression, power and exhaust strokes in said combustion chamber, thus transmitting the reciprocation of said piston produced by a series of the strokes as a rotational motion to said crankshaft through the connecting rod; an exhaust gas discharge section including the exhaust port; a hermetically closed crank chamber for housing the crankshaft; an intake passage connecting said crank chamber to the atmosphere; a first valve disposed within said intake passage and designed to open by the reciprocation of said piston when a negative pressure has been built up in said crank chamber; a guide passage connecting said crank chamber and said exhaust gas discharge section to guide the air as the secondary air from said crank chamber to said exhaust gas discharge section; a second valve disposed within said guide passage and designed to open by the reciprocation of said piston when a positive pressure is built up in said crank chamber; and an exhaust gas cleaning section for re-combustion of exhaust gases discharged to said exhaust gas discharge section and mixed with the secondary air.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 22 words
A four-stroke-cycle engine as recited in claim 1, wherein an air filter is mounted at the inlet port of said intake passage.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 27 words
A four-stroke-cycle engine as recited in claim 2, wherein an air cleaner provided with a carburetor communicating with the intake port is used as said air filter.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 17 words
A four-stroke-cycle engine as recited in claim 1, wherein said guide passage communicates with the exhaust port.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 66 words
A four-stroke-cycle engine as recited in claim 1, wherein said lubricating system comprises: an oil tank for reserving the lubricating oil; an oil passage connected to said oil tank and said crank chamber of said engine; and an oil supply means for supplying the oil in a form of fine particles from said oil tank to moving parts in said crank chamber via said oil passage.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 59 words
A four-stroke-cycle engine as recited in claim 5, wherein a valve mechanism housing space for housing said valve mechanism is formed as a closed space; said guide passage communicates with said exhaust gas discharge section via said valve mechanism housing space, and said second valve is disposed between said valve mechanism housing space and said exhaust gas discharge section.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 52 words
A four-stroke-cycle engine as recited in claim 6, wherein said valve mechanism is of an overhead valve type with a camshaft thereof arranged within the crankcase, said guide passage is formed integrally with each block of said engine, and a push rod of said valve mechanism is arranged within said guide passage.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 40 words
A four-stroke-cycle engine as recited in claim 5, wherein said oil supply means is composed of a means for mixing a liquid oil with gases flowing into said crank chamber and supplies the oil in a form of fine particles.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 50 words
A four-stroke-cycle engine as recited in claim 8, wherein said intake passage and said oil passage are connected in one unit before connection with said crank chamber, and the air led in through the inlet port of said intake passage is used as a gas flowing into said crank chamber.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 22 words
A four-stroke-cycle engine as recited in claim 6, wherein an air filter is mounted at the inlet port of said intake passage.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 27 words
A four-stroke-cycle engine as recited in claim 10, wherein an air cleaner provided with a carburetor connected to the intake port is used as said air filter.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 20 words
A four-stroke-cycle engine as recited in claim 1, wherein an exhaust reactor is used as said exhaust gas cleaning section.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 20 words
A four-stroke-cycle engine as recited in claim 1, wherein an oxidation catalyst is used in said exhaust gas cleaning section.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

US4493295A Cited
JPS61146837A Cited
US4969434A Cited
JPH03249317A Cited
US5193500A Cited
US5279269A Cited
JPH06346718A Cited
EP0631040A1 Cited
JPH0734838A Cited

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 1999-12-10 2000-06-10 2000-12-10 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 2003-12-10 2004-06-10 2004-12-10 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 2007-12-10 2008-06-10 2008-12-10 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

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