Abstract:
An internal combustion engine comprising at least one cylinder) and a crankshaft disposed at one end of the cylinder. Within each cylinder there is a pair of opposed, reciprocating pistons that form a combustion chamber ( 28 ) therebetween, including an outer piston being the piston furthest from the crankshaft and an inner piston. The pistons drive the crankshaft ( 14 ) via respective drive linkages. The drive linkage for the outer piston is external to the cylinder.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    This invention relates to internal combustion engines. More particularly it relates to internal combustion engines with an opposed piston configuration. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    WO2008/149061 (Cox Powertrain) describes a 2-cylinder 2-stroke direct injection internal combustion engine. The two cylinders are horizontally opposed and in each cylinder there are opposed, reciprocating pistons that form a combustion chamber between them. The pistons drive a central crankshaft between the two cylinders. The inner piston (i.e. the piston closer to the crankshaft) in each cylinder drives the crankshaft through a pair of parallel scotch yoke mechanisms. The outer piston in each cylinder drives the crankshaft through a third scotch yoke, nested between the two scotch yoke mechanisms of the inner piston, via a drive rod that passes through the centre of the inner piston. The drive rod has a hollow tubular form and fuel is injected into the combustion chamber by a fuel injector housed within the drive rod. The wall of the drive rod has a series of circumferentially spaced apertures through which the fuel is projected laterally outwardly into the combustion chamber. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0003]    The present invention is a development of the configuration of the engine described in WO2008/149061 and seeks to offer embodiments that retain the benefits of that earlier engine, namely a very compact and efficient engine with a high ratio of power output to weight, whilst offering yet further benefits. 
         [0004]    The present invention provides an internal combustion engine comprising at least one cylinder, a crankshaft disposed at one end of the cylinder, and a pair of opposed, reciprocating pistons within the cylinder forming a combustion chamber therebetween, wherein the pistons drive the crankshaft via respective drive linkages, the drive linkage for the piston furthest from the crankshaft (the ‘outer’ piston) being external to the cylinder. Preferably one or more of the drive linkages comprise a scotch yoke mechanism. 
         [0005]    By providing the linkage for the outer piston external to the cylinder, the need for any drive rods passing through the inner cylinder is avoided. The absence of a drive rod or rods passing through the combustion chamber also allows for a more straightforward, conventional combustion chamber design, simpler cooling of the inner piston, elimination of a blowby path to the crankcase and elimination of heat losses to the drive rod. The use of an external linkage also means that an injector can be located centrally with respect to the piston (or close to the centre of the piston) without obstruction. 
         [0006]    Any suitable drive linkage may be used to translate the opposed reciprocating motion of the pistons into a rotary motion of the crankshaft. In preferred embodiments, however, scotch yoke mechanisms are used, as noted above. Where scotch yoke mechanisms are used, as a minimum it would be necessary to have at least one scotch yoke through which the inner piston (i.e. the piston closest to the crankshaft) drives the crankshaft and at least one scotch yoke through which the outer piston drives the crankshaft. However, to avoid undesirable unbalanced forces on the outer piston, whilst avoiding the need for a central drive rod through the cylinder, it is more preferable for the outer piston to drive the crankshaft through a pair of scotch yokes, one to either side of the cylinder connected to the outer piston by respective connection members on opposite sides of the cylinder. The connection members may, for example, be one or more drive rods. 
         [0007]    Whilst a single cylinder configuration is possible preferred engines in accordance with embodiments of the invention comprise multiple cylinders, for example two cylinders, four cylinders, six cylinders, eight cylinders or more. 
         [0008]    Where multiple cylinders are used, various configurations are possible that may offer different benefits in terms of balance of forces, overall shape and size of the engine, etc. Exemplary configurations include (but are not limited to) coaxial opposed pairs of cylinders (e.g. ‘flat two’, ‘flat four’, etc), ‘straight’ configurations with all of the cylinders side-by-side, ‘U’ configurations with two straight banks of cylinders side-by-side (e.g. ‘square 4’), ‘V’ configurations and ‘W’ configurations (i.e. two adjacent banks of ‘V’ configured cylinders) and radial configurations. Depending on the configuration, the multiple cylinders may drive a single crankshaft or a plurality of crankshafts. Typically ‘flat’, ‘straight’, ‘V’ and radial configurations will have a single crankshaft, whereas ‘U’ and ‘W’ configurations will have two crankshafts, one for each bank of cylinders. In some embodiments of the invention it is possible to use two engine units (each with one or more cylinders) with contra-rotating crankshafts that drive a shared output shaft through a bevel gearbox. This arrangement has the advantage that torque recoil effects are balanced. 
         [0009]    Where the engine configuration comprises multiple cylinders in a side-by-side configuration, the pistons of adjacent cylinders may advantageously share drive linkages (e.g. scotch yoke mechanisms). In particular the outer piston of one cylinder may share a drive linkage with the inner piston of an adjacent cylinder. 
         [0010]    It has not previously been proposed that pistons in adjacent cylinders should share a driving connection to the crankshaft. This approach may also be used in an engine having drive mechanisms that are within the cylinder. 
         [0011]    By adopting this approach the number of driving connections (e.g. scotch yokes) that would otherwise be required is reduced, minimising the required length of the crankshaft and leading to a more compact overall design. 
         [0012]    The cross-linking, via the drive linkage (e.g. scotch yoke mechanism), of inner piston in one cylinder with the outer piston in the adjacent cylinder also helps to stabilise the pistons within the cylinders, resisting unwanted rotation of the pistons about axes perpendicular to the central axis of the cylinder. In the case where the drive linkage is a scotch yoke mechanism, this arrangement in which rotation of the pistons is prevented may also serve to locate the yoke sliders, avoiding a requirement for other features (such as tracks or cylindrical running surfaces) to locate the yoke sliders. 
         [0013]    Side-by-side configurations include, for example, flat configurations with two or more pairs of opposed cylinders arranged adjacent to one another, and straight configurations with two or more cylinders parallel with and adjacent to one another in a line, or any other arrangements that have a bank of two or more cylinders in a straight configuration. 
         [0014]    In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, the engine comprises at least two pairs of cylinders, the cylinders of each pair being coaxially opposed and the cylinder pairs being arranged adjacent one another in a flat configuration with a crankshaft that extends between the opposed cylinders of each pair. Each cylinder has a pair of opposed pistons that reciprocate within the cylinder to drive the crankshaft via scotch yoke mechanisms. The outer piston in each cylinder shares a scotch yoke with a respective inner piston of a cylinder that is in an adjacent pair of cylinders and on the opposite side of the crankshaft. 
         [0015]    By using an external drive linkage for the outer piston, the requirement for a central drive rod for the outer piston, as used in the arrangement described in WO2008/149061, is obviated. Consequently, embodiments of the invention may comprise a fuel injector disposed on or close to the central axis of the cylinder with a nozzle that is exposed directly within the combustion chamber. Specifically, the fuel injector may have a nozzle at one end that is positioned within the combustion chamber at the point of injection (e.g. for a compression ignition (CI) engine, typically when the pistons are at or near the point in the cycle of minimum contained volume, i.e. where the faces of the pistons are closest to one another) and through which the fuel is expelled. By exposing the nozzle of the injector directly to the combustion chamber, as opposed to the prior art arrangement discussed above in which the injector is housed within the central drive rod, the need to inject fuel through apertures in a wall is avoided. This leads to a simpler construction, improved fuel injection, air motion and combustion characteristics, and makes it possible to use more conventional injectors. 
         [0016]    The fuel injector may be fixed in position and extend through the centre of the outer piston, the outer piston being configured to reciprocate along a housing of the injector. Alternatively, the fuel injector may move with the outer piston through part of the piston&#39;s stroke or the piston&#39;s entire stroke. In the latter case, the injector may be fixed to the piston. 
         [0017]    The injector may be fixed to an outer part of the engine structure by any suitable coupling. In some cases it may be desirable to use a coupling that allows the injector to self-align itself parallel to the centreline of the cylinder and to accommodate tolerances and thermal distortion of the piston it is associated with. For example, an Oldham coupling may be used (this type of coupling allows the injector to move in a plane perpendicular to its axis, to allow the desired alignment, whilst preventing movement along its axis). 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0018]    An embodiment of the invention is now described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: 
           [0019]      FIG. 1  is a cross-section through a flat four engine configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0020]      FIG. 2  is a cross-section of the engine of  FIG. 1  along line z-z in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0021]      FIG. 3  is a cross-section of the engine of  FIG. 1  along the centre line of the lowermost opposed pair of cylinders as shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0022]      FIG. 4  is an isometric view of the engine of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0023]      FIG. 5  is a simplified plan view of key components (in an assembled form) of the engine of  FIG. 1 , including the crankshaft, scotch yokes, pistons, drive rods and fuel injectors; 
           [0024]      FIG. 6  is a simplified isometric view of the key components shown in  FIG. 5 ; and 
           [0025]      FIGS. 7(   a ) to  7 ( m ) show snapshots of the engine of  FIG. 1  through one complete revolution of the crankshaft at 0°, 30°, 60°, 90°, 120°, 150°, 180°, 210°, 240°, 272°, 300°, 330°, 360° respectively, starting from the point in the cycle of minimum combustion chamber volume (referred to in the following for convenience as ‘top dead centre’ or ‘TDC’—this terminology (TDC) is used because the skilled person will recognise that is the analogous point in the operating cycle for a more conventionally disposed engine) of the cylinder seen in the bottom left of the figure. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0026]    The embodiment used here to exemplify the invention is a 2-stroke, direct injection, four cylinder engine. The engine is configured with two horizontally opposed pairs of cylinders. One pair of cylinders is arranged alongside the other to give a ‘flat four’ configuration. As probably best seen in  FIG. 4 , this configuration provides the engine with a low-profile overall envelope that will be advantageous for some applications, for example for use as an outboard marine engine. Engines in accordance with embodiments of the invention can also be used as propulsion or power generation units for other marine applications, as well as for land vehicles and aircraft. 
         [0027]    In more detail, looking initially at  FIGS. 1 to 3 , the engine  10  comprises comprises four cylinders  12  arranged about a central crankshaft  14 , mounted for rotation about axis z-z (see  FIG. 1 ). The two cylinders, one either side of the crankshaft, to the bottom of  FIG. 1  are one opposed pair of cylinders and the two other cylinders, towards the top of  FIG. 1  are the other pair of opposed cylinders. 
         [0028]    Within each cylinder there are two pistons, an inner piston  16  and an outer piston  18 . The two pistons in each cylinder are opposed to one another and reciprocate in opposite directions, in this example 180 degrees out of phase. 
         [0029]    Each piston has a crown  20 ,  22 , the crowns of the two pistons facing one another, and a skirt  24 ,  26  depending from the crown. In this example, the crown  26  of the outer piston is substantially flat whereas the crown  24  of the inner piston has an annular depression with a generally tear-drop shaped cross-section. At top dead centre, when the piston crowns are closest to one another (and very nearly touching), the opposed crowns  24 ,  26  define a toroidal combustion chamber  28  into which the fuel is injected. 
         [0030]    As explained in more detail further below, when the pistons are at a position in their cycle where they are spaced furthest from one another to define a maximum contained volume within the cylinder (“bottom dead centre”), as seen for the top left and bottom right cylinders in  FIG. 1 , the piston crowns are withdrawn sufficiently far to uncover intake ports  30  and exhaust ports  32 , towards the inner and outer ends of the cylinder respectively. As the pistons  16 ,  18  move towards one another in the compression stroke of the cycle, the piston skirts cover and close the ports, the skirt  24  of the inner piston  16  closing the intake port  30  and the skirt  26  of the outer piston  18  closing the exhaust port  32 . As best seen in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the exhaust ports  32  have a greater axial extent (i.e. dimension in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the cylinder) than the intake ports so that the exhaust ports open sooner than and stay open longer than the intake ports, to aid scavenging of the cylinder. 
         [0031]    Associated with each cylinder  12  is a fuel injector  34 . The fuel injector  34  has a cylindrical housing  36  with an injector nozzle  38  at one end. Fuel is supplied under pressure to the nozzle, through the injector housing, in a conventional manner. The nozzle  38  projects from an end face of the injector housing  36 , and has a series of apertures equally spaced around its periphery through which fuel is injected in a generally radial direction. The nozzle is opened and closed by a needle valve (not shown). When the needle valve is open fuel is injected under pressure through the apertures. The opening and closing of the needle valve can be controlled in a conventional manner. In use, the injector housing may be cooled by a supply of a coolant fluid, which may be the fuel itself or an engine coolant for example (although this may not be required in some cases). 
         [0032]    The fuel injector  34  is mounted along the central axis of the cylinder  12 . In this example, an outer end of the injector  34  is fixed to a component  40  at the outer end of the cylinder (i.e. the end of the cylinder opposite the crankshaft  14 ). The injector  34  extends through a central opening  42  in the outer piston crown  22  to locate the inner end of the injector, from which the nozzle  38  projects, centrally in the cylinder  12 . More specifically, as seen in the bottom left and top right cylinders in  FIG. 1  and the left hand cylinder in  FIG. 2 , when the pistons  16 ,  18  are at top dead centre, the nozzle  38  of the fuel injector  34  is directly within the toroidal combustion chamber  28  and fuel can be injected laterally from the nozzle  38  into the combustion chamber  28 . 
         [0033]    In the central injector arrangement described here the injector  34  is fixed in position and, during operation of the engine  10 , the outer piston  18  travels along the outside of the injector housing  36 . Appropriate seals  44  are provided around the periphery of the opening  42  in the outer piston crown  22  to maintain a seal between the piston crown  22  and the injector housing  36  as the piston  18  reciprocates back and forth along the injector housing  36 , to avoid or at least minimise leakage of pressurised gases from within the cylinder and to prevent ingress of oil to the combustion chamber. 
         [0034]    The fuel injectors  34  themselves can be of conventional construction, save that the outer surface of the injector housing is configured to allow sliding contact with the piston  18 . Typically the fuel spray will take the form of a plurality of radial jets spaced around a nozzle of the injector and controlled by a single valve arrangement (e.g. a needle valve arrangement comprising a needle and seat that the needle engages to close the valve). 
         [0035]    In this example, the pistons  16 ,  18  drive the crankshaft  14  through four scotch yoke arrangements  50 ,  52 ,  54 ,  56 , mounted on respective eccentrics  58  on the crankshaft  14 . The connections between the pistons  16 ,  18  and the scotch yokes  50 ,  52 ,  54 ,  56 , especially those for the outer pistons  18 , are best seen in  FIGS. 5 and 6 . In this example, the scotch yokes are shared by multiple pistons, as explained in more detail below, to minimise the number of scotch yokes that and hence to minimise a required length of the crankshaft providing a more compact design. 
         [0036]    The directions/relative positions (“upper”, “lower”, “left”, “right”, etc) used below and elsewhere herein refer to the relative positions of components as drawn and should not be taken to imply any particular orientation of the engine, or positions on the engine components in space. 
         [0037]    Looking at  FIG. 5 , the four scotch yokes  50 ,  52 ,  54 ,  56  can be seen connected to the crankshaft  14  extending vertically through the middle of the figure. 
         [0038]    A first scotch yoke  50  (at the top of  FIG. 5 ) is connected adjacent one end of the crankshaft  14 . Drive rods  60  connect this yoke  50  to the outer pistons  18   a,    18   b  of the two upper cylinders  12   a,    12   b  (as seen in  FIG. 5 ). As best seen in  FIG. 6 , there are two drive rods  60  per outer piston  18   a,    18   b,  secured to adjacent corners (the uppermost corners in  FIG. 1 , towards the top end of the crankshaft) of a connection plate  72   a,    72   b  that is itself secured to the piston  18   a,    18   b.  The connection plate  72   a,    72   b  extends beyond the outer circumference of the cylinder  12  so that the drive rods  60  extend from the corners of the plate  72   a,    72   b  along the outside of the cylinders (i.e. externally). 
         [0039]    A second scotch yoke  52  is positioned between the two upper cylinders  12   a,    12   b  and is connected to the inner pistons  16   a,    16   b  of these two cylinders by respective drive rods  62  (most clearly seen in  FIG. 1 ). Drive rods  62  extend from the centres of the inner pistons  16   a ,  16   b  to their connections with the scotch yoke  52 . Advantageously, the second scotch yoke  52  is also connected to the lower pair of outer pistons  18   c,    18   d  by drive rods  64 . Similarly to drive rods  60  discussed above, there are two of these rods  64  per piston that extend from adjacent corners of respective connection plates  72   c,    72   d  (in this case the two corners that are closest to the mid-point of the crankshaft) that are secured to the outer ends of the outer pistons  18   c,    18   d.    
         [0040]    A third scotch yoke  54  is positioned between the two lower cylinders  12   c,    12   d  and is connected to the inner pistons  16   a,    16   b  of these two cylinders by respective drive rods  66  (again, most clearly seen in  FIG. 1 ). Drive rods  66  extend from the centres of the inner pistons  16   c,    16   d  to their connections with the scotch yoke  54 . Similarly to the second scotch yoke  52 , this third scotch yoke is additionally connected to the upper pair of outer pistons  18   a,    18   b  by drive rods  68 . There are two of these rods  68  per piston and they extend from the other two adjacent corners of connection plates  72   a,    72   b  (opposite the corners from which the drive rods  60  extend, i.e. the two corners that are closest to the mid-point of the crankshaft). 
         [0041]    The fourth scotch yoke  56  is shown at the lower end of the crankshaft  14  in  FIG. 5 . This yoke  56  is connected to the lower pair of outer pistons  18   c,    18   d  by another pair of drive rods  70  for each piston  18   c,    18   d.  These rods are connected to respective lower corners (i.e. the corners opposite those to which the drive rods  64  are connected) of the connection plates  72   c,    72   d  fixed to the lower pair of outer pistons  18   c,    18   d.    
         [0042]    The connection plates  72  are shaped so that the drive rods connected to their corners closest to the mid-point of the crankshaft lie parallel and alongside one another without interfering with one another during motion of the pistons. 
         [0043]    Thus, each of the upper outer pistons  18   a,    18   d  is connected to the first scotch yoke  50  by a first pair of drive rods  60  and to the third scotch yoke  54  by a second pair of drive rods  68 . Each of the lower outer pistons  18   c,    18   d  are connected to the fourth scotch yoke  56  by a first pair of drive rods  70  and to the second scotch yoke  52  by a second pair of drive rods  64 . The upper inner pistons  16   a,    16   b  are connected to the second scotch yoke  52  by respective central drive rods  62  and the lower inner pistons  16   c,    16   d  are connected to the third scotch yoke  54  by respective central drive rods  66 . 
         [0044]    Put another way, the first scotch yoke  50  is driven by the upper outer pistons  18   a ,  18   b,  the second scotch yoke  52  is driven by the upper inner pistons  16   a,    16   b  and the lower outer pistons  18   c,    18   d,  the third scotch yoke  54  is driven by the lower inner pistons  16   c,    16   d  and the upper outer pistons  18   a,    18   b  and the fourth scotch yoke  56  is driven by the lower outer pistons  18   c,    18   d.    
         [0045]    As noted above, this sharing of scotch yokes between inner and outer pistons reduces the number of scotch yokes that would otherwise be required, minimising the required length of the crankshaft. 
         [0046]    The cross-linking, via the scotch yokes, of inner pistons in one opposed pair of cylinders with outer pistons in the other opposed pair of cylinders also helps to stabilise the pistons within the cylinders, resisting unwanted rotation of the pistons about axes perpendicular to the central axis of the cylinder. This arrangement in also serves to locate the yoke sliders, avoiding a requirement for other features (such as tracks or cylindrical running surfaces) to locate them. 
       Operation of the Engine 
       [0047]      FIG. 7  illustrates the operation of the engine over one complete crankshaft rotation. Specifically,  FIGS. 7(   a ) to  7 ( m ) illustrate the piston positions at 30° increments. 
         [0048]      FIG. 7(   a ) at 0° ADC shows the engine at a crankshaft position of 0° (arbitrarily defined as TDC in the bottom left cylinder  12   c  of  FIG. 5) . At this position, the bottom left outer piston  18   c  and the bottom left inner piston  16   c  are at their point of closest approach. At approximately this angle of crankshaft rotation, in the exemplified direct-injection engine, a fuel charge would be injected into the bottom left cylinder and combustion would begin. At this point, the exhaust and intake ports  32 ,  30  of the bottom left cylinder are completely closed by outer and inner pistons respectively. 
         [0049]    In  FIG. 7(   b ) at 30° ADC, the inner and outer pistons of the bottom left cylinder are moving apart at the beginning of the power stroke. 
         [0050]    In  FIG. 7(   c ) at 60° ADC, the bottom left cylinder continues its power stroke, with the two pistons equal but opposite velocities. 
         [0051]    In  FIG. 7(   d ) at 90° ADC, the bottom left cylinder continues its power stroke. 
         [0052]    In  FIG. 7(   e ) at 120° ADC, the outer piston of the bottom left cylinder has opened exhaust ports  32 , while the intake ports remain closed. In this “blowdown” condition, some of the kinetic energy of the expanding gases from the combustion chamber can be recovered externally if desired by a turbocharger (“pulse” turbocharging) e.g. for compressing the next. 
         [0053]    In  FIG. 7(   f ) at 150° ADC, the inner piston of the bottom left cylinder has opened the intake ports  30  and the cylinder is being uniflow scavenged. 
         [0054]    In  FIG. 7(   g ) at  180 ° ADC, the inner and outer pistons of the bottom left cylinder are causing both intake and exhaust ports  30 ,  32  to remain open and uniflow scavenging continues. The pistons are at bottom dead centre. 
         [0055]    In  FIG. 7(   h ) at 210° ADC, in the bottom left cylinder, both sets of ports  30 ,  32  remain open and uniflow scavenging continue. 
         [0056]    In  FIG. 7(   i ) at 240° ADC, in the bottom left cylinder, the inner piston has closed the intake ports  30 , while the exhaust ports  32  remain partially open. In other embodiments the exhaust port may open after and/or close before the inlet port opens/closes. It may also be desirable in some applications for the port timing to be asymmetric, for example by using a sleeve valve to control the opening and closing of the ports. 
         [0057]    In  FIG. 7(   j ) at 270° ADC, in the bottom left cylinder, the outer piston has closed the exhaust ports  32  and the two pistons are moving towards each other, compressing the air between them. 
         [0058]    In  FIG. 7(   k ) at 300° ADC, in the bottom left cylinder, the pistons continue the compression stroke. 
         [0059]    In  FIG. 7(   l ) at 330° ADC, the bottom left cylinder is nearing the end of the compression stroke and the “squish” phase is beginning. This is where the outer, annular, opposite faces of the inner and outer pistons begin to expel air from between them. 
         [0060]    In  FIG. 7(   m ) at 360° ADC, the position is the same as in  FIG. 3(   a ). The bottom left cylinder has reached the TDC position, where the pistons are at their position of closest approach. The “squish” phase continues, causing an intensifying “smoke ring” effect to be superimposed on the already existing cylinder axis swirl caused by partially tangential intake ports. These compound gas motions will be at their most intense at TDC when the combustion chamber most nearly resembles a toroid and is of minimum volume. At this point, multiple radial fuel sprays emanate from the central fuel injector, reaching almost all of the available air and causing very efficient combustion. Injection need not commence exactly at minimum volume and in some embodiments injection timing may change as a function of speed and/or load. 
         [0061]    The specific angles and timings depend on the crankshaft geometries and port sizes and locations; the above description is intended solely to illustrate the concepts of the invention. 
         [0062]    The skilled person will appreciate that various modification to the specifically described embodiment are possible without departing from the invention. The skilled person will appreciate that embodiments of the invention may be 2-stroke or 4-stroke and may be compression ignition or spark ignition.