Abstract:
The present invention relates to a single-piece air induction sealing system. A fuel injector bore is included in the air induction sealing system. The air induction sealing system can be inserted into a manifold runner.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to a combination of an air induction sealing system with the integration of a fuel injector bore into a single unit that can be inserted into a manifold runner to isolate the manifold from the cylinder head or engine block while reducing the overall assembly profile.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0004]    Gasoline and diesel engines utilize a compression of a fuel and air mixture to combust within a cylinder to move a piston. Such engines conventionally may use a fuel injector located within the upper manifold, lower manifold or at times within the cylinder head attached to the engine block. The fuel injector located within a fuel injector bore in such systems causes the overall height of the assembly to be larger than necessary.  
           [0005]    Additional manufacturing problems may occur in which the fuel injector bore needs to be machined or formed within such lower intake manifold, upper intake manifold, or within the cylinder head. Such additional forming or machine operations increase the cost of the entire engine.  
           [0006]    What is needed is a air induction sealing system with integration of a fuel injector bore to thereby reduce the height of the entire engine assembly along with reducing material used in its construction. Possibly, the lower manifold may be entirely eliminated.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    According to the present invention, a fuel injector bore for a fuel injector in the structure of a carrier gasket that will seal both the air induction manifold and eliminate the need for a separate lower intake manifold is provided.  
           [0008]    This structure permits an overall reduction in the height of the engine assembly, as well as, isolation of the manifold from the cylinder head or engine block.  
           [0009]    The air induction system member may include separate gaskets on the top and the bottom for allowing accommodation for dissimilar materials as well as greater tolerance acceptance versus traditional carrier gaskets. Either press in place gaskets along the top or bottom sealing surfaces along with a fuel injector bore are molded into the side of the component. Other types of elastomeric seals such as O-rings, lip seals, and face seals or other equivalent seals may be used.  
           [0010]    The fuel injector bore is nested into a cutout detail in the manifold runner to allow the entire component to slide up into the runner effectively eliminating the traditional lower intake manifold while isolating the upper manifold from the cylinder head. Upon assembly, the member component is trapped between the manifold and the cylinder head through fasteners such as traditional isolated or non-isolated mounting posts depending upon the mounting strategy of the manifold supplier.  
           [0011]    The invention, in one form thereof, comprises a sleeve having a bore through which air may travel. A second bore sized for a fuel injector opens into the first bore. The sleeve is formed for mounting between an upper intake manifold and either a cylinder head or engine block.  
           [0012]    The invention, in another form thereof, comprises one or more single-piece assemblies each having an air inlet bore, a fuel injector bore and an air and fuel outlet. The fuel injector bore is in communication with the air inlet bore.  
           [0013]    The invention, in yet another form thereof, comprises one or more single-piece assemblies each having an air inlet bore, a fuel injector bore, an air and fuel outlet and one or more sealing grooves. The fuel injector bore is in communication with the air inlet bore.  
           [0014]    An advantage of the present invention is that the air induction sealing system may be integrated with the fuel injector bore in a single assembly.  
           [0015]    Another advantage of the present invention is the ability to isolate the intake manifold from the cylinder head while reducing the overall assembly height and eliminating the additional machining or forming operations to form the fuel injector bore.  
           [0016]    A further advantage of the present invention is that the reduction of the material by possibly eliminating the use or the necessity of the lower intake manifold is apparent.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0017]    The above-mentioned and other features and advantages of this invention, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and the invention will be better understood by reference to the following description of an embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 1 is a sectional view of one form of the present invention;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 2 is a side view of the air induction sealing system of FIG. 1;  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 3 is a top view of the air induction sealing system of FIG. 1;  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the air induction sealing system of FIG. 1;  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 5 is a prior art diagram of an existing manifold configuration with the lower manifold having fuel injector bores;  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 6 is a prior art view of an upper and lower manifold combination in which the fuel injector bores are located within the cylinder head;  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 7 is an alternate embodiment of the present invention showing one form of a plurality of air induction sealing systems including fuel injector bores attached to a single plate;  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 8 shows a plurality of air induction sealing systems connected by adjoining tabs;  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 9 shows an embodiment of the present invention in which the air induction sealing system with the fuel injector bore can attach to a manifold runner and cylinder block;  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 10 is another embodiment of the present invention in which the air induction sealing system is shown located between the manifold runner and cylinder block with a use of trapped seals either molded in the top of the assembly or located within the seal grooves retained in the assembly;  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 11 is an alternate embodiment of the present invention in which the seals are located within grooves of the manifold runner itself;  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 12 is an enlarged top view of the air induction sealing system with a seal molded in place;  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 13 is a drawing similar to the enlarged view of FIG. 12 showing a press-in-place seal located within a seal groove; and  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 14 shows an alternate embodiment of the present invention in which the air induction sealing system integrated with the fuel injector bore may be attached into a manifold runner by attachment bosses, clips, fasteners, or other attachment means with an interfitting elastomeric seal. 
     
    
       [0032]    Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. The exemplification set out herein illustrates one preferred embodiment of the invention, in one form, and such exemplification is not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner.  
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0033]    Referring now to the drawings and particularly to FIG. 1, there is shown an air induction sealing system  20 . For the purposes of this application, air induction sealing system  20  could be styled as a conduit, pipe, or tube in any respect including sealing elements on the top and bottom, or as a carrier gasket assembly. More particularly, FIG. 1 shows air induction sealing system  20  formed of a conduit  22  having a conduit bore  24  therein. Conduit bore  24  includes an air inlet  26  and an air and fuel outlet  28 . Conduit  22  on each inlet and outlet side includes sealing elements  30  about conduit bore  24 . Sealing elements  30  are made from an elastomeric material, such as rubber, but other materials can be utilized as well. Sealing elements  30  may be a press-in-place seal element  54  as shown in FIG. 13, or some other type of seal mechanism such as a molded in-place seal or other elastomeric seal such as a O-ring, lip seal, or face seal as utilized to seal conduit  22  between an upper intake manifold  42  (shown in FIGS. 5 and 6) and either a cylinder head  36  (shown in FIGS. 9 and 10) or cylinder block (not shown).  
         [0034]    As shown in FIG. 1, sealing elements  30  are inserted into seal grooves  52 . Air induction sealing system  20  further includes a fuel injector bore  32  into which a fuel injector  40  is inserted. Fuel injector  40  is shown in FIG. 14. Fuel injector bore  32  is open to the outside of conduit  22  while further opening into conduit bore  24 .  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 2 shows an elevational side profile of air induction sealing system  20 . FIG. 3 shows a top view of air induction sealing system  20  of FIG. 1. FIG. 4 shows a bottom view of the same embodiment shown in FIG. 1. Air induction sealing system  20  would be particularly useful for eliminating a lower intake manifold  38  (shown in FIGS. 5 and 6) in gasoline or diesel engines. Further, it may be utilized in any engine that incorporates air and fuel injection isolation.  
         [0036]    The main component of air induction sealing system  20 , that of conduit  22 , may be formed from a thermal set or thermal plastic material having plastic features. Additionally, conduit  22  may be comprised of rubber incorporating a plastic element for the seal in both the upper and lower positions. Other conventional materials may be utilized such as metals, or other engineered plastics. Air induction sealing system  20  with sealing elements  30  and seal groove  52 , as well as, press-in-place seal elements  54  and press-in-place seal grooves  58  would simplify the attachment of the upper intake manifold  42  to that of cylinder head  36  or an engine block  34 . Air induction sealing system  20  would additionally eliminate labor and other component failure modes associated with lower intake manifold  38 .  
         [0037]    The environment into which air induction sealing system  20  could be utilized is shown in the prior art FIGS. 5 and 6. FIGS. 5 and 6 show engine block  34  having cylinder head  36  with lower intake manifold  38  located thereupon. In both FIGS. 5 and 6 upper intake manifold  42  is shown in the build up on the portion of engine block  34 . Fuel injector bores  32  are shown in lower manifold  38  in FIG. 5 and in cylinder head  36  in FIG. 6.  
         [0038]    In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, a plurality of air induction sealing systems  20  with fuel injector bores  32  (shown in a simplified form) are located about a plate  46  for ease of handling and assembly. Although not shown in FIG. 7, each air induction sealing system  20  would include sealing elements  30 .  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 8 shows another embodiment of the present invention in which the plurality of air induction sealing systems  20 , in simplified form, are connected together by an adjoining tab member  48  or other member to ease assembly and control of the placement of air induction sealing systems  20  within an engine. Tab member  48  may be located at a particular location along conduit  22  such that it would not interfere with the connection of upper intake manifolds  42  to cylinder head  36  or engine block  34 .  
         [0040]    [0040]FIG. 9 shows how a manifold runner  50  of a typical upper intake manifold  42  would interfit into an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 9, sealing elements  30  are located for assembly between conduit  22  and both the manifold runner  50  and cylinder head  36 . Although in the previous embodiments conduit bore  24  was cylindrical in shape, the present invention does not have such limitation as shown in FIG. 9. Conduit bore  24  may be of various dimensions, shapes and geometries as long as there is communication with fuel injector bore  32  and/or the cylinder block.  
         [0041]    [0041]FIG. 10 shows an alternate embodiment of the present invention in which manifold runner  50  traps sealing elements  30  between the conduit  22  and itself.  
         [0042]    In another embodiment, sealing element  30  may be molded on top of conduit  22  as shown in FIG. 12.  
         [0043]    Yet another embodiment, press-in-place seal groove  58  as shown in FIG. 13 may be used to locate a press-in-place seal element  54  of conventional construction. Press-in-place seal element  54  is made from an elastomeric material, such as rubber, but other materials can be utilized as well. Such assembly would be located about conduit bore  24  both on the intake and output side of air induction sealing system  20 . FIG. 11 shows this us style of embodiment in which either manifold runner  50  includes a press-in-place seal groove  58  for seating press-in-place seal elements  54  or conduit  22  includes a press-in-place seal groove  58  along either the top, bottom, or both surfaces to include press-in-place seal element  54 .  
         [0044]    An alternate embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 14 in which air induction sealing system  20  is shown having fuel injector bore  32  formed into conduit  22  which may interfit and connect to manifold runner  50  utilizing an attachment means  56  formed on manifold runner  50  itself. Attachment means  56  can be an attachment boss, clip, fastener or other attaching means. Sealing elements  30  such as an O-ring, lip seal, face seal or other type of seals may be located around the periphery of the modified conduit  22  for sealing of air induction system  20  to manifold runner  50 . Alternate attachment means, such as screws, may be utilized as well. In FIG. 14, fuel injector  40  is shown directed to interfit into fuel injector bore  32 . The present invention in any of its embodiments would lower the total stack height of the engine allowing more room in the center of the engine for additional parts and/or cooling.  
         [0045]    While this invention has been described as having a preferred design, the present invention can be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention using its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains and which fall within the limits of the appended claims.