Embodiments of the invention relate to combustion engine technology and, more specifically, to improved thermal management in reciprocating internal combustion engines.
The cylinder head of modern reciprocating engines is subjected to extremes of loading, both in terms of high forces (imposed by gas pressures) and high thermal loads. Aluminum alloys are the favored material for many such engines, due to their combination of strength and light weight, plus casting ability.
A major problem within aluminum alloy cylinder heads is control of material temperature. Most suitable alloys have sharply decreasing resistance to yield above temperatures of approximately 260° C. The exhaust gases of such engines may reach 900° C. or more. These exhaust gases generally pass from the exhaust valve(s) through passages in the cylinder head (generally referred to as the exhaust ports) to the exhaust manifold or header pipes. Thus much effort is expended in designing the cylinder head, such that the material forming the ports is adequately cooled. The problem is particularly severe in air-cooled cylinder head designs.
In view of these problems, it is common practice to provide some form of thermal insulation or shield between the exhaust gases and the aluminum alloy which forms the exhaust port. Such so-called port liners are generally formed of ceramic material, which has very low thermal conductivity and hence prevents much of the heat flow from exhaust gas to the aluminum alloy. Such liners are generally placed into the mold prior to casting of the cylinder head. However, ceramic liners suffer from two major problems:
Embodiments of the present invention circumvent both of the above problems by providing a port liner manufactured from a high strength superalloy (typically nickel- or cobalt-based, e.g., Inconel®).
In an aspect, embodiments of the invention relate to an exhaust port liner for a cylinder head of an internal combustion engine. The exhaust port liner includes a monolithic structure including an inlet, an outlet disposed at an angle relative to the inlet, and a sidewall including a metal disposed between the inlet and the outlet defining an exhaust gas flow passage through the monolithic structure, the sidewall including an inner wall and an outer wall defining a cavity therebetween.
One or more of the following features may be included in any combination. The metal may include a superalloy. The superalloy may be or include a nickel-based superalloy and/or a cobalt-based superalloy.
The cavity may include air and/or an inert gas. The cavity may be sealed. The sealed cavity may further include a partial vacuum.
The metal may include a laser-sintered material.
The sidewall may define at least one aperture extending therethrough. The aperture may be aligned with an exhaust valve seat proximate the inlet when the exhaust port liner is installed in the cylinder head. The aperture may be sized and oriented to receive a valve guide.
The monolithic structure may include at least one filled opening forming a boundary of the cavity. The filled opening may be filled with the metal.
The angle may be in a range of 30° to 135°.
A pillar may be disposed in the cavity, spanning from the inner wall to the outer wall. A plurality of pillars may be in the cavity.
The port liner may include a second inlet adjacent to the inlet, with the inlet and the second inlet being in flow communication with the outlet. The sidewall may define a first aperture extending therethrough, sized and oriented to receive a valve guide. The sidewall may define a second aperture extending therethrough, sized and oriented to receive a second valve guide. The first aperture and the second aperture may be aligned with respective exhaust valve seats proximate the inlet and second inlet when the exhaust port liner is installed in the cylinder head.
In another aspect, embodiments of the invention relate to a method for fabricating an exhaust port liner. The method includes receiving by an additive manufacturing system control instructions for fabricating the exhaust port liner. The exhaust port liner includes a monolithic structure including an inlet, an outlet disposed at an angle relative to the inlet, and a sidewall including a metal disposed between the inlet and the outlet defining an exhaust gas flow passage through the monolithic structure. The sidewall includes an inner wall and an outer wall defining a cavity therebetween. The additive manufacturing system executes the control instructions to fabricate the exhaust port liner.
One or more of the following features may be included in any combination. The additive manufacturing system may employ at least in part vat polymerization, powder bed fusion, material extrusion, and/or direct energy deposition.
The metal may include a superalloy. The superalloy may be or include a nickel-based superalloy and/or a cobalt-based superalloy.
The cavity may be sealed by, e.g., filling an opening forming a boundary of the cavity. The opening may be filled with the metal. Sealing the cavity may include welding with an electron beam.
In still another aspect, embodiments of the invention relate to a cylinder head of an internal combustion engine including a cylinder head frame defining an inner mounting surface, and an exhaust port liner disposed proximate the frame's inner mounting surface. The exhaust port liner includes a monolithic structure that includes an inlet, an outlet disposed at an angle relative to the inlet, and a sidewall including a metal disposed between the inlet and the outlet defining an exhaust gas flow passage through the monolithic structure. The sidewall includes an inner wall and an outer wall defining a sealed cavity therebetween. An outer surface of the exhaust port liner conforms to the inner surface of the exhaust port.
One or more of the following features may be included in any combination. The metal may include a superalloy. The superalloy may be or include a nickel-based superalloy and/or a cobalt-based superalloy.
The sealed cavity may include at least one of air and/or an inert gas. The sealed cavity may include a partial vacuum.
The metal may include a laser-sintered material.
The sidewall may define at least one aperture extending therethrough. The aperture may be aligned with an exhaust valve seat of the cylinder head. The sidewall aperture may be sized and oriented to receive a valve guide.
The cylinder head frame may define a single mounting surface with a single exhaust port liner disposed proximate thereto and the sidewall may define a plurality of apertures, each sized and oriented to receive a valve guide.
At least one filled opening may form a boundary of the cavity. The filled opening may be filled with the metal.
The angle may be in a range of 30° to 135°.
A pillar may be disposed in the sealed cavity, spanning from the inner wall to the outer wall. A plurality of pillars may be in the cavity.
The cylinder head frame may include a second metal. The second metal may include or consist entirely of an aluminum alloy.
The exhaust port liner may be fabricated by additive manufacturing and the cylinder head frame may be fabricated by casting a second metal around the exhaust port liner. Alternatively, both the exhaust port liner and the cylinder head frame may be formed by additive manufacturing.
The cylinder head frame may define a plurality of inner mounting surfaces.
A plurality of the exhaust port liners may be included, with one of the plurality of exhaust port liners being disposed proximate each of the inner mounting surfaces.
The cylinder head frame may define eight inner mounting surfaces and the cylinder head may include eight exhaust port liners.
The cylinder head frame may include external cooling fins adapted for air cooling the cylinder head.
The cylinder head may have an absence of internal water coolant passages.
In still another aspect, embodiments of the invention relate to a method for fabricating a cylinder head of an internal combustion engine. The method includes fabricating an exhaust port liner by receiving by an additive manufacturing system control instructions for fabricating the exhaust port liner that includes a monolithic structure. The monolithic structure includes an inlet, an outlet disposed at an angle relative to the inlet, and a sidewall including a metal disposed between the inlet and the outlet defining an exhaust gas flow passage through the monolithic structure, the sidewall including an inner wall and an outer wall defining a cavity therebetween. The additive manufacturing system executes the control instructions to fabricate the exhaust port liner. A cylinder head frame is fabricated around the exhaust port liner to fabricate the cylinder head.
One or more of the following features may be included in any combination. The additive manufacturing system may employ at least in part vat polymerization, powder bed fusion, material extrusion, and/or direct energy deposition.
The metal may include a superalloy. The superalloy may be or include a nickel-based superalloy and/or a cobalt-based superalloy.
Fabricating the cylinder head frame may include casting molten metal. The molten metal may include or consist entirely of an aluminum alloy.
Fabricating the cylinder head frame may include a second additive manufacturing system receiving and executing control instructions to fabricate the cylinder head frame. The second additive manufacturing system may employ at least in part a vat polymerization, powder bed fusion, material extrusion, and/or direct energy deposition. The additive manufacturing system and the second additive manufacturing system may be a single additive manufacturing system.
The cavity may be sealed prior to the fabrication of the cylinder head frame. Sealing the cavity may include filling an opening forming a boundary of the cavity. The opening may be filled with the metal.
Sealing the cavity may include welding with an electron beam.
The foregoing features and advantages of embodiments of the invention will become more apparent from a reading of the following description in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
As used herein, “cylinder head frame” denotes a cylinder head component conventionally called a cylinder head casting; in this disclosure, this component may be formed by casting or by additive manufacturing.
An important feature of the described port liner is an integral inner sidewall cavity, which may be sealed and contain either a low-conductivity gas (e.g., air) or be at a partial vacuum. This cavity provides the thermal insulation between the exhaust gases and the parent material of the cylinder head.
The superalloy liner described herein may be smoother than ceramic liners along exhaust gas flowpath surfaces, providing better exhaust gas flow. The superalloy liners can be manufactured by 3D printing, for example using a selective laser sintering (SLS) process. The liners can be printed with holes at either end, such that excess loose alloy powder can be removed from the sidewall cavity. Once the powder is out of the cavity, the holes can be sealed, for example using an electron beam (EB) welding technique under partial vacuum.
The fabrication of the cylinder head frame around the superalloy liners by (for example) casting-in-place or additive manufacturing enables the outer surfaces of the superalloy liners to be in direct contact with the cylinder head aluminum. Another advantage of the 3D printed liners over ceramic liners is that structural features of different configurations may be readily incorporated into the external superalloy wall, for example to improve precise location and retention of the liners within the cylinder head during the fabrication of the cylinder head frame.
Referring to
Referring again to
Moreover, superalloys are not subject to degradation or chemical attack by the exhaust gases. For example, superalloys are used for certain high performance exhaust system components, such as some Formula One (F1) car exhaust manifolds.
Superalloys have not been previously used for port liners due to the difficulty of manufacturing a suitable part, with inclusion of an internal cavity, in such materials. However, such complex structural features may be fabricated from superalloys using additive manufacturing technology. For example, the metal may be a laser-sintered material.
Referring also to
A thickness two, thio of each of the inner wall 600 and outer wall 610 is selected such that adequate strength is achieved to resist undue deflections in the presence of high exhaust gas pressure loads. Accordingly, for a superalloy material, a preferred thickness of each of the inner and outer walls is selected from a range of 0.5 mm to 4 mm, e.g., 0.5 mm to 2.5 mm. A preferred distance between the inner surfaces of the inner and outer walls, i.e., a cavity 620 height h620, is, e.g., 1 mm to 10 mm, such as 1 mm to 5 mm. For example, in an embodiment, a cavity height may be 1.5 mm and a thickness of each of the inner and outer walls may be 1 mm. The cavity height is selected such that an acceptable trade-off is achieved between the conflicting requirements of packaging, insulation, and manufacturing.
The sidewall may include at least one aperture 630 extending therethrough. The aperture may be sized and oriented to receive a valve guide and is aligned with an exhaust valve seat. For example, the aperture may have a diameter D630 selected from a range of 7 to 15 mm, e.g., 8 mm.
Referring to
In some embodiments, the opening 700 may be left open. During a subsequent casting or additive manufacturing process, the unfilled opening is disposed flush with a mold wall such that the casting or additive manufacturing material does not enter the cavity. This procedure allows the cavity to be open in the final product. Air is a reasonably good insulator, so leaving the cavity open to external air still has insulation benefits, and also is cheaper to make, as one does not need to fill the opening. An opening also helps mitigate any stresses which may occur due to vacuum in the cavity.
Referring to
Referring to
Any of the exhaust port liners discussed above may be fabricated by additive manufacturing by a method suitable for fabricating metal articles, e.g., by vat polymerization, powder bed fusion, material extrusion, and/or direct energy deposition. A suitable additive manufacturing system is a selective laser sintering (SLS) system. For manufacturing Inconel® exhaust port liners, the additive manufacturing system needs to be capable of fabricating articles from a superalloy, such as a nickel-based superalloy or a cobalt-based superalloy.
The additive manufacturing system may receive control instructions for fabricating an exhaust port liner in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, i.e., including an article having monolithic structure with an inlet, an outlet disposed at an angle relative to the inlet, and a sidewall including a metal (e.g., a superalloy) disposed between the inlet and the outlet defining an exhaust gas flow passage through the monolithic structure, the sidewall having an inner wall and an outer wall defining a cavity therebetween. The additive manufacturing system may execute the control instructions to fabricate the exhaust port liner.
The exhaust port liner, as formed by the additive manufacturing process, may initially have an unsealed cavity, i.e., an aperture may be defined in the inner wall, end walls, and/or outer wall to facilitate removal of excess material from the cavity. For example, if the exhaust port liner is fabricated by powder bed fusion, unbound powder may be removed from the cavity through one or more apertures by forcing compressed air through the port liner to blow out the unbound powder, vacuuming out the unbound powder, and/or vibrating or shaking out the unbound powder. Subsequently, the cavity may be filled with air or an inert gas, such as argon to thermally insulate from ambient, during use, exhaust gas traveling through the liner to prevent heat loss from the hot exhaust gas.
After fabrication of the exhaust port liner, the cavity may be sealed. For example, after excess material is removed from the cavity through one or more apertures and the cavity filled with the desired gas or set at a partial vacuum, the cavity may be sealed by filling the aperture. For example, the aperture may be filled with the same metal as the metal used to form the inner and outer walls by, e.g., electron beam welding. The filled aperture thus forms part of the boundary of the cavity.
In some embodiments, an at least partial vacuum may be formed in the cavity before it is sealed, e.g., during electron beam welding.
Referring to
The cylinder head frame may define a plurality of exhaust ports, each with a single exhaust port liner disposed therein, with the sidewall defining apertures sized and oriented to receive a valve guide. Each aperture may be aligned with an exhaust valve seat 1030 of the cylinder head.
The cylinder head frame may be made from a second metal, such as an aluminum alloy.
The exhaust port liners may be formed by additive manufacturing and the cylinder head frame may be formed by casting a second metal around the exhaust port liners. Alternatively, the cylinder head frame may be fabricated by a second additive manufacturing system that receives and executes control instructions to fabricate the cylinder head frame. The second additive manufacturing system may employ at least in part vat polymerization, powder bed fusion, material extrusion, and/or direct energy deposition. In some embodiments, the additive manufacturing system used to form the exhaust port liners and the second additive manufacturing system used to form the cylinder head frame may be a single additive manufacturing system.
In the depicted embodiment, the cylinder head frame 1010 may define a plurality of inner mounting surfaces 1020 and a separate exhaust port liner 100 (two shown) may be disposed proximate the inner mounting surface for each exhaust port outlet. For example, the cylinder head frame may define eight inner mounting surfaces and the cylinder head may include eight exhaust port liners.
The cylinder head frame may include external cooling fins 1040 adapted for air cooling the cylinder head. The cylinder head may lack internal water coolant passages.
A cylinder head of an internal combustion engine may be fabricated as follows. A plurality of exhaust port liners may be fabricated from a metal such as a superalloy by use of an additive manufacturing system, as discussed above. Then, a cylinder head frame may be fabricated around the exhaust port liners to fabricate the cylinder head. The cylinder head frame may be cast by casting molten metal around the exhaust port liners. The molten metal may be, e.g., aluminum alloy. Alternatively, the cylinder head frame may be formed by a second additive manufacturing system, as discussed above.
The parameter chart below provides exemplary parameter values relevant to embodiments of the invention, with the low parameters indicating possible values that are lower than typical and the high parameters indicating possible values that are higher than typical. These are not to be construed as minimum or maximum values; values that are lower than the low values and higher than the high values fall within the scope of the invention.
Referring to
While the present invention has been described herein in detail in relation to one or more preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that this disclosure is only illustrative and exemplary of the present invention and is made merely for the purpose of providing a full and enabling disclosure of the invention. The foregoing disclosure is not intended to be construed to limit the present invention or otherwise exclude any such other embodiments, adaptations, variations, modifications or equivalent arrangements; the present invention being limited only by the claims appended hereto and the equivalents thereof.
This application claims priority to and the benefit of, and incorporates herein by reference in its entirety, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/751,914, which was filed Oct. 29, 2018.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4089163 | Yamazaki et al. | May 1978 | A |
4123902 | Lida | Nov 1978 | A |
5107649 | Benson et al. | Apr 1992 | A |
5239956 | Keelan | Aug 1993 | A |
5260116 | Hamanaka | Nov 1993 | A |
5414993 | Kon | May 1995 | A |
6199371 | Brewer et al. | Mar 2001 | B1 |
6390051 | Hilpert et al. | May 2002 | B2 |
6866478 | Fabian et al. | Mar 2005 | B2 |
7654240 | Jarrett et al. | Feb 2010 | B2 |
8226362 | Schmitz et al. | Jul 2012 | B2 |
9657682 | Graham et al. | May 2017 | B2 |
9776282 | Subramanian et al. | Oct 2017 | B2 |
9816388 | Kirtley et al. | Nov 2017 | B1 |
9822728 | Hiratsuka et al. | Nov 2017 | B2 |
9945318 | Park et al. | Apr 2018 | B2 |
20040137175 | Dillon et al. | Jul 2004 | A1 |
20070275210 | Heselhaus | Nov 2007 | A1 |
20120251777 | Duval et al. | Oct 2012 | A1 |
20130149477 | Minelli | Jun 2013 | A1 |
20130156555 | Budinger | Jun 2013 | A1 |
20130220265 | Hironaka | Aug 2013 | A1 |
20140260282 | Pinnick et al. | Sep 2014 | A1 |
20150027390 | Garrison | Jan 2015 | A1 |
20150033559 | Bruck et al. | Feb 2015 | A1 |
20150132601 | Bruck et al. | May 2015 | A1 |
20150201500 | Shinar et al. | Jul 2015 | A1 |
20150224607 | Bruck et al. | Aug 2015 | A1 |
20150239046 | McMahan et al. | Aug 2015 | A1 |
20160003156 | Hanson | Jan 2016 | A1 |
20160023272 | Mongillo, Jr. et al. | Jan 2016 | A1 |
20160025035 | Kadoshima et al. | Jan 2016 | A1 |
20160194762 | Schaedler et al. | Jul 2016 | A1 |
20160215646 | Gonyou et al. | Jul 2016 | A1 |
20160230993 | Dai et al. | Aug 2016 | A1 |
20160319767 | Deschauer Rejowski et al. | Nov 2016 | A1 |
20160332229 | Snyder et al. | Nov 2016 | A1 |
20170058685 | Tucker | Mar 2017 | A1 |
20170081250 | Kamel et al. | Mar 2017 | A1 |
20170089260 | Bookbinder et al. | Mar 2017 | A1 |
20170101871 | Tiedemann et al. | Apr 2017 | A1 |
20170114667 | Sabo et al. | Apr 2017 | A1 |
20170254298 | Beyer et al. | Sep 2017 | A1 |
20170274456 | Walker et al. | Sep 2017 | A1 |
20170306766 | Munzer | Oct 2017 | A1 |
20180149039 | Loeffel et al. | May 2018 | A1 |
20180178327 | Smith et al. | Jun 2018 | A1 |
20180187569 | Ucok et al. | Jul 2018 | A1 |
20190080679 | Alstad | Mar 2019 | A1 |
20190291346 | Rudolph | Sep 2019 | A1 |
20190329355 | Gradl | Oct 2019 | A1 |
20190376465 | Bilancia | Dec 2019 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
1298207 | Mar 1992 | CA |
105142852 | Dec 2015 | CN |
106001573 | Oct 2016 | CN |
106191709 | Dec 2016 | CN |
3815408 | Dec 1988 | DE |
3915988 | Dec 1989 | DE |
102017112216 | Oct 2017 | DE |
102018106341 | May 2018 | DE |
1507072 | Feb 2005 | EP |
2025776 | Feb 2009 | EP |
2584150 | Apr 2013 | EP |
3010671 | Apr 2016 | EP |
3141321 | Mar 2017 | EP |
2941964 | Aug 2010 | FR |
1550737 | Aug 1979 | GB |
2452476 | Mar 2009 | GB |
S5290720 | Jul 1977 | JP |
S5877141 | May 1983 | JP |
H10318486 | Dec 1998 | JP |
2008169720 | Jul 2008 | JP |
WO-2014180870 | Nov 2014 | WO |
WO-2015196149 | Dec 2015 | WO |
Entry |
---|
International Search Report and Written Opinion of the International Search Authority for International Application No. PCT/US2019/058639, dated Mar. 18, 2020 (14 pages). |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20200132014 A1 | Apr 2020 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
62751914 | Oct 2018 | US |