Patent ID: 9739193
Date: 2017-08-22
CPC Classifications: C10J,F02B,Y02T

Claim:
1. An igniter system for a reciprocating piston internal combustion engine having one or more cylinders including at least one igniter per cylinder, the igniter system comprising: a combustion chamber connected to a main cylinder of the engine by an igniter tube having a restricted diameter bore, wherein a lean burn fuel mixture is introduced into the combustion chamber by the normal compression stroke of the engine; a hydrogen valve that injects a hydrogen rich gas at high pressure near top dead center into the combustion chamber forming a mixture of hydrogen and air having a hydrogen concentration above the stoichiometric ratio for hydrogen and air in the combustion chamber; and a spark ignition source that injects hot burning hydrogen into the main cylinder, wherein hot unburned hydrogen is delivered into the main cylinder as a result of the injection and combustion of said hydrogen rich gas, wherein an internal bore of the combustion chamber and the restricted diameter bore of the igniter tube are configured such that a detonation event in the combustion chamber results in hydrogen injection into the main cylinder at supersonic velocities relative to a local speed of sound in the main cylinder.