Patent ID: 8215292

Claim:
A method of operating a four-stroke, internal combustion engine including at least one chamber with at least one intake port associated therewith, a piston partially defining said chamber and being movable in a reciprocating manner within a cylinder through a plurality of power cycles, each power cycle involving four strokes of the piston resulting from two rotations of a crankshaft and including an intake stroke, a compression stroke, an expansion stroke and an exhaust stroke, aided by combustion taking place within the chamber, said method comprising the steps of: compressing and cooling air outside the chamber; supplying the cooled, pressurized air to the at least one intake port associated with the chamber; and during each cycle of the plurality of power cycles, opening the at least one intake port, allowing cooled, pressurized air to flow through the at least one intake port and into the chamber during at least a portion of the intake stroke, maintaining open the at least one intake port during the portion of the intake stroke and beyond the end of the intake stroke and into the compression stroke and during a majority portion of the compression stroke, after the maintaining step, closing the at least one intake port at a point during travel of the piston to capture in the chamber a cooled compressed charge comprising the cooled, pressurized air, controllably delivering fuel into the chamber after the cooled compressed charge is captured within the chamber, and igniting a fuel and air mixture within the chamber.