Spark plugs/injectors

[TBK]

Chrysler actually made one of the first CVCC/Stratified charged engines out
of a hemi V8 in the 50's. Ford tried it in the 70's on a V8, but apparently
had idle problems.

Then there is the Volvo turbine....


-----Original Message-----
From: Raymond C Drouillard <cosmic.ray at juno.com>
To: diy_efi at efi332.eng.ohio-state.edu <diy_efi at efi332.eng.ohio-state.edu>
Date: Wednesday, May 13, 1998 9:13 PM
Subject: Re: Spark plugs/injectors


>
>On Sat, 9 May 1998 19:10:34 +1000 (EST) danny_tb at postoffice.utas.edu.au
>(Danny Barrett) writes:
>>Does anyone know if it is possible to get spark plugs with fuel
>injectors
>>built in? I have seen one of the list members write about keeping the
>intake
>>pressure as close to atmospherice as possible (and varying the
>power/speed
>>by the amount of fuel pumped in). There is one problem with this - It is
>>very hard to get a reliable combustion from mixtures leaner than 18:1.
>There
>>is a solution to this problem (from what my Thermodynamics textbook
>says).
>>This is by charging the cylinder with a non-uniform mixture. ie: around
>>14.5:1 around the spark plug, and virtually nothiing elsewhere (where
>>required). This, it has called "stratified charging." Apparently,
>engines
>>have been successfully developed and run in the laboratory, but not in
>>production cars (or at least, we've not seen them...).
>
>The origional Honda Civic CVCC (in the '70s) used a stratified charge
>engine It used a two barrel carburater that was set lean in one barrel
>and rich in the other.  The rich mixture was introduced near the spark
>plug.
>
>I saw the tech articles in Popular Mechanics (or something like that),
>and I poked at a junked one when I was in my early teens, but I never
>drove one or rode in one.
>
> The book was first
>>published in 1957, with the third edition (the edition that I have)
>>published in 1980. I think it is fair to say that our EFI technology has
>>advanced quite a long way since 1980. So... Why can't we build direct
>>injection petrol engines that vary the mixture instead of the amount of
>air
>>going in? Since we now have sequential fuel injection, knock sensors
>(even
>>the Trionic one that we seem to hear so much about on this list - go for
>it
>>gentlemen...), etc... Why can't we make a direct injection petrol engine
>>that uses a combined spark plug/fuel injector, so that we can use
>stratified
>>charging to our advantage? I reallise that there are problems associated
>>with NOx gases produced in excess when lean mixtures are used, but isn't
>>that what the catalytic converter is for? Also, wouldn't it be worth
>just a
>>little bit more NOx in the air (yes, I know NO2 is a poison), for the
>sake
>>of using far less fuel, and having less benzine rings (which can cause
>>cancer) floating around in the air??? Or is there something I've
>>missed?
>>
>>Danny Barrett.
>
>I had often thought of doing something like that.  A diesel uses direct
>injection, of course.
>
>How about this?  (I was thinking of patenting it but what the heck...)
>
>Instead of a spark, heat the fuel without air to a temperature suitable
>for combustion.  This, of course, will raise the pressure of the fuel.
>At the appropriate time, upen a valve and allow the hot fuel to squirt
>into the hot compressed air in the cylinder.  You can use just about
>anything you want (as long as it's flammable and liquid or gas) as a
>fuel.  You won't need a throttle plate, so there won't be any pumping
>losses.
>
>The trick is to make this "hot injecter" (I would line it with ceramic on
>the inside) and put it into the sparkplug hole.  To start with, you could
>use the regular distributer to control the timing.  Once you get it
>running farily well, try varying the timing to see what you get.
>
>Ray Drouillard
>
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