Patent Grant
8307809
The present disclosure relates to engine fuel rails, and more specifically to engine fuel rail mounting.
This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Engine assemblies may include central direct fuel injection arrangements where fuel injectors extend into the combustion chamber at a central region. However, in smaller engines the fuel rail may not fit within a central region of a cylinder head due to other components occupying the space, such as spark plug assemblies. In these arrangements, the fuel rail may be mounted to a side of the cylinder head and long fuel lines may extend between the fuel rail and the fuel injectors. The location of the fuel rail and mounting arrangement may result in excessive stresses on the fuel lines resulting from vibration and hydraulic load.
This section provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features.
An engine assembly may include a cylinder head, a cam cover and a fuel rail assembly. The cylinder head may define intake and exhaust ports and the cam cover may be fixed to the cylinder head. The fuel rail assembly may include a fuel rail, a bracket assembly and a fuel injector. The bracket assembly may be fixed to the fuel rail and may include a fastener and an isolation member. The fastener may be engaged with the cam cover and may secure the fuel rail thereto. The isolation member may be located between the fuel rail and the cam cover to isolate vibration therebetween. The fuel injector may be in communication with the fuel rail and may extend into a combustion chamber defined by the cylinder head at a location between the intake and exhaust ports.
In one arrangement, the isolation member may be located axially on the fastener between the bracket and the cam cover. In another arrangement, the isolation member may be located between the bracket and the fuel rail.
Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. The description and specific examples in this summary are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.
Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
Examples of the present disclosure will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses.
As seen in
The cylinder head 14 may be a cast part including an intake region 28 extending longitudinally along the cylinder head 14 on a first lateral end thereof, an exhaust region 30 extending longitudinally along the cylinder head 14 on a second lateral end thereof generally opposite the first lateral end, and a central region 32 extending longitudinally along the cylinder head 14 and located laterally between the intake and exhaust regions 28, 30.
The intake region 28 may include intake ports 34 and the exhaust region 30 may include exhaust ports 36. The central region 32 may form a recessed region defined by first and second longitudinally extending walls 38, 40 and a base 46. The first and second longitudinally extending walls 38, 40 may extend upward from the base 46 and the base 46 may include fuel injector openings 48 (
The valvetrain assembly 20 may be supported by the cylinder head 14 and may include intake and exhaust camshafts 52, 54 and intake and exhaust valve assemblies 56, 58. The intake camshaft 52 may be rotatably supported on the intake region 28 of the cylinder head 14 and may be engaged with the intake valve assembly 56. The exhaust camshaft 54 may be engaged with the exhaust valve assembly 58.
The cam cover 22 may be fixed to the cylinder head 14. More specifically, the cam cover 22 may be formed from a metal and may be rigidly secured to the cylinder head 14. By way of non-limiting example, the cam cover 22 may be formed from aluminum and may be in direct engagement with the cylinder head (i.e., directly abutting with metal-to-metal contact) forming a hard mount arrangement. As seen in
With reference to
The fuel rail assembly 68 may include a fuel rail 74, brackets 76 and a mounting assembly 78. The fuel rail 74 may include a longitudinally extending body located above the central region 32 of the cylinder head 14 between the intake and exhaust regions 28, 30. The brackets 76 may each include a rail engagement portion 80 and a fastener engagement portion 82. The rail engagement portion 80 may extend around an outer circumference of the fuel rail 74 and may be fixed to the fuel rail 74. The fastener engagement portion 82 may extend radially from the rail engagement portion 80 and fuel rail 74 and may define apertures 84.
With additional reference to
The first isolation member 90 may be located axially between a first side 100 of the bracket 76 and the cam cover 22. More specifically, the first isolation member 90 may abut a stepped region 104 on the sleeve 89 and the first side 100 of the bracket 76. The second isolation member 92 may be located axially between a second side 102 of the bracket 76 and the head 94 of the fastener 86. More specifically, the spacer 88 may be located axially between the head 94 and the second isolation member 92 and the second isolation member 92 may abut the second side 102 of the bracket 76 and the spacer 88. By way of non-limiting example, the first and second isolation members 90, 92 may be formed from an elastomeric material providing damping.
When assembled, the first isolation member 90 may be compressed between the first side 100 of the bracket 76 and the stepped region 104 of the sleeve 89 and the second isolation member 92 may be compressed between the second side 102 of the bracket 76 and the spacer 88, isolating the fuel rail 74 from vibration of the cam cover 22. The head 94 of the fastener 86 may abut the sleeve 89 and the sleeve 89 may abut the cam cover 22, forming an axial stop for the fastener 86. A similar mounting assembly may be used to couple the fuel injectors 66 to the cylinder head 14.
In an alternate arrangement shown in
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/246,632, filed on Sep. 29, 2009. The entire disclosure of the above application is incorporated herein by reference.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20110073074 A1 | Mar 2011 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61246632 | Sep 2009 | US |
