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USOO7762219B2 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 7.762,219 B2 Shuttleworth (45) Date of Patent: Jul. 27, 2010 (54) RECIRCULATION SYSTEM FOR MOTOR 5,647.309 A 7/1997 Avery 5,782,226 A 7/1998 Gartner (75) Inventor: Richard Jack Shuttleworth, Nelson 6,386,154 B1* 5/2002 Hellman et al. ............ 123,588 (NZ) 6.427,644 B1 8, 2002 Dabadie et al. 6,431,128 B1 8, 2002 Dabadie (73) Assignee: Shuttleworth Axial Motor Company, Nelson (NZ) FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS (*) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this EP O682743 11, 1995 patent is extended or adjusted under 35 EP O953745 11, 1999 U.S.C. 154(b) by 576 days. 2.E. 2. (21) Appl. No.: 10/590,337 W s 12 (22) PCT Filed: Feb. 7, 2005 W S. :3. (86). PCT No.: PCT/NZ2OOS/OOOO11 * cited by examiner S371 (c)(1), (2), (4) Date: Jun. 22, 2007 Primary Examiner Noah Kamen (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Dann, Dorfman, Herrell and (87) PCT Pub. No.: WO2005/080781 Skillman, P.C. PCT Pub. Date: Sep. 1, 2005 (57) ABSTRACT (65) Prior Publication Data A motor has an engine block with cylinders arranged to fire in US 2007/O295OO8A1 Dec. 27, 2007 a firing order. Arecirculation system delivers combusted mix s ture from a cylinder which has just fired to at least partly mix (30) Foreign Application Priority Data with fuel for the next cylinder in the firing order. Injector bodies (401-405) are associated with each cylinder. Each Feb. 23, 2004 (NZ) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 531314 injector body (401-405) has an internal chamber (424) in communication with a fuel inlet port (426) for delivering fuel (51) Int. Cl. into the internal chamber, a fuel outlet port (428) for deliver F02B 75/20 (2006.01) ing fuel under pressure from the chamber into the associated (52) U.S. Cl. .......................................... 123/58.8 cylinder and a combusted mixture out-let port (442). The (58) Field of Classification Search ................. 123/58.8 combusted mixture outlet port (442) of each injector body See application file for complete search history. (401–405) is fluidly connected to the combusted mixture inlet port (438) of the next cylinder in the firing order. Alterna (56) References Cited tively, the recirculation system is arranged Substantially inter U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS nally within the cylinder head. 4.475,524 A 10, 1984 Eckert et al. 4,787,343 A 1 1/1988 Tuckey 34 Claims, 7 Drawing Sheets S. 7.an 101 3.x. N. f N Sulf, S SS 323 Š2S ŽS2% 26 22 22 7 E. U.S. Patent Jul. 27, 2010 Sheet 1 of 7 US 7,762.219 B2 FIGURE 1 U.S. Patent Jul. 27, 2010 Sheet 2 of 7 US 7,762.219 B2 FIGURE 2 U.S. Patent Jul. 27, 2010 Sheet 3 of 7 US 7,762.219 B2 N yé 2 Š it.ÉIN%.2%NsŽ E3N N 2 SY27 7 1/ &2See N FIGURE 3 U.S. Patent Jul. 27, 2010 Sheet 4 of 7 US 7,762.219 B2 FIGURE 4 U.S. Patent US 7,762.219 B2 FIGURES U.S. Patent Jul. 27, 2010 Sheet 6 of 7 US 7,762.219 B2 U.S. Patent Jul. 27, 2010 Sheet 7 of 7 US 7,762.219 B2 % | % 94,9|| 22 (HIRI[10][HL NZZ (Z ||89 US 7,762,219 B2 1. 2 RECIRCULATION SYSTEM FOR MOTOR plurality of cylinders arranged to fire with a firing order, and a recirculation system configured to deliver combusted mix FIELD OF THE INVENTION ture under combustion pressure and temperature from a cyl inder which has just fired to at least partly mix with fuel for the The present invention relates to a recirculation system for a 5 next cylinder in the firing order to improve the combustion motor or engine and to a motor or engine incorporating the properties of the fuel. recirculation system. While the invention has application for It should be noted that where reference herein is made to axial motors, it also has applications for other motors. The “combusted mixture under combustion temperature and pres term “motor is used interchangeably with “engine'. Sure', that need not mean that the temperature and pressure 10 will be at the same levels as at the time of combustion, as BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION pressure and temperature losses will occur during transfer of the mixture. However, the mixture will be at a significantly Over the years engine manufacturers have been working to elevated temperature and pressure relative to any combustible improve the weight, size efficiency and manufacturing costs mixture in the next cylinder in the firing order. of engines. In part this has lead to the development of axial 15 motors. An axial motor includes an engine block in which the The term comprising as used in this specification and cylinders are spaced evenly in a circular configuration about claims means consisting at least in part of, that is to say an axis of the engine block, rather than in the inline, “V” or when interpreting statements in this specification and claims horizontally opposed configurations of traditional engines. which include that term, the features prefaced by that term in The reciprocal motion of the pistons in an axial motor can be each statement all need to be present but other features can transferred to rotational motion of an output shaft by way of also be present. a wobble plate configuration, such as that disclosed in NZ In accordance with a second aspect of the present inven 221336. tion, there is provided a motor comprising: an engine block Generally, as with conventional internal combustion with a plurality of cylinders arranged to fire with a firing engines, the compression ratio and therefore power output of 25 order; and a recirculation system comprising fluid transfer the axial motor is at least in part limited by the quality of the paths which are arranged to provide a fluid connection fuel being burnt. If poor quality fuel is used, a lower com between cylinders sequentially in the firing order of the pression ratio must be used in the motor or else “knocking’ or motor, the motor configured Such that combustion in a cylin auto-igniting will occur, which ultimately could damage der creates a combusted mixture having a combustion pres components of the motor. Some higher density fuels (“heavy' 30 Sure, which combustion pressure forces some of that com fuels) such as diesel hydrocarbon fuel exhibit poor combus busted mixture to at least partly mix with fuel for the next tion properties as they are difficult to atomise prior to com cylinder in the firing order to improve the combustion prop bustion, compared to lower density fuels (“light' fuels) such erties of the fuel. as petrol. In one embodiment, each cylinder has an injector body A number of internal combustion engines are configured to 35 associated therewith, with each injector body having an inter deliver exhaust gas under relatively low pressure to cylinders nal chamber in communication with a fuel inlet port for to go some way towards improving combustion properties delivering fuel into the internal chamber, a fuel outlet port for and/or reducing emissions. Such engines are described in delivering fuel under pressure from the chamber into the U.S. Pat. No. 6,427,644; U.S. Pat. No. 5,782,226; U.S. Pat. associated cylinder, a mixture inlet port and a mixture outlet No. 4,475,524 and EP 0682743. 40 port, with the mixture inlet port of each injector body in fluid WO 03/008785 and WO 03/040530 to Scuderi describe communication with the mixture outlet port of an injector four stroke split cycle internal combustion engines. The body associated with the immediately preceding cylinder in engines have a compression cylinder containing a compres the firing order of the motor, the motor configured to deliver sion piston and a power cylinder containing a power piston. combusted mixture under combustion pressure and tempera The compression piston performs the intake and compression 45 ture from an outlet port of an injector body associated with a strokes of a four stroke cycle, and the power piston performs cylinder that has just fired to an inlet port of an injector body the power and exhaust strokes of the same four stroke cycle. associated with the next cylinder in the firing order of the A fresh air/fuel mixture is compressed in the compression motor to at least partly mix with fliel in the internal chamber cylinder and is delivered via a gas passage to the combustion of the injector body associated with said next cylinder in the cylinder for combustion, and then exhausted from the engine. 50 firing order to improve the combustion properties of the fuel. The two pistons are provided so that the power piston can be The fuel inlet port of each injector body is preferably offset to align the maximum combustion pressure with the configured for receipt of a respective fuel injector. maximum torque applied to the crank shaft, and so that the Advantageously, each mixture inlet port comprises a non compression piston can be offset to align the maximum com return valve which allows the mixture to travel into the inter pression with the maximum torque applied from the crank 55 shaft. The Scuderi systems do not address compression ratio nal chamber through the port but not out of the internal issues. Only fresh compressed mixture is shared between chamber through the port. cylinders. Preferably, each mixture outlet port comprises a non-return It is an object of the present invention to provide a recircu valve which allows mixture to travel out of the internal cham lation system for a motor which is operable to improve com 60 berthrough the port but not into the internal chamber through bustion properties and improve performance and/or which at the port.