Compression Ignition by Air Injection (CIBAI) Cycle and Engine

The internal combustion engine relies on air injection for ignition instead of Otto cycle spark or Diesel cycle fuel injection. Cylinder pairs are connected by a cylinder-connecting valve, which opens near top-dead-center on the compression stroke injecting high-pressure air from one cylinder into a second cylinder containing an air-fuel mixture thereby inducing detonation ignition at top-dead-center. During the expansion stroke, the cylinder-connecting valve remains open and provides equal pressure on both cylinders, which is substantially higher than possible in an Otto cycle. Constant volume heat addition makes this engine more efficient than the Diesel cycle. Compared to conventional engines, the absence of spark ignition or high pressure fuel injectors makes this engine more economical, more reliable, and scalable down to small sizes where fuel metering limitations of Diesel fuel injectors become problematic. The engine can serve as a reactor for generating high temperature hydrogen to power high temperature fuel cells.

Intellectual Property Status
Disclosure 402. US Patent #6,994,057 issued 2/7/2006 from application 10/793,583 filed 3/4/2004. US Patent #6,899,061 issued 5/31/2005 from application 10/755,134 filed 1/9/2004.

Inventors
John L. Loth, Gary Morris