Patents Examined by Charles Brauch
  • Patent number: 10294886
    Abstract: A lower water jacket of a cylinder head includes a lower/upper exhaust collecting portion cooling portion configured between a lower exhaust collecting portion and an upper exhaust collecting portion by bypassing a lower exhaust collecting portion cooling portion. Besides, cooling water flowing through the lower/upper exhaust collecting portion cooling portion is merely cooling water of the lower water jacket, and cooling water of an upper water jacket does not flow through the lower/upper exhaust collecting portion cooling portion. Therefore, in the lower/upper exhaust collecting portion cooling portion, interference may not occur in cooling water of the two water jackets to restrain smooth flowing, and cooling effects of an area sandwiched by the lower exhaust collecting portion and the upper exhaust collecting portion are further improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masahiro Nakajima, Yoshiki Matsushiro, Koji Nakano
  • Patent number: 10294858
    Abstract: A portable engine-generator is described having an engine and a generator coupled to the engine. An engine mount has a mounting plate coupled to the engine and also includes a frame. An outer housing surrounds the engine, generator and frame. At least one handle is coupled to the outer housing. The housing is defined in three sections; a lower section, a middle section and an upper section. The three housing sections are coupled to the frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: Polaris Industries Inc.
    Inventors: Chun Lan, Paul J. Johnson, Kevin A. McNutt, Michael J. Dresen
  • Patent number: 10287974
    Abstract: An internal combustion engine, includes a cylinder; a piston supported in the cylinder for linear displacement, wherein the piston is operatively connected with a crankshaft of the internal combustion engine via a piston rod; a linear motor including a stator and a rotor, wherein the stator has an independently operable stator element assigned to the cylinder and partially surrounding the piston in circumferential direction with respect to a longitudinal center axis of the cylinder, wherein the rotor is assigned to or forms a part of the piston, and wherein the linear motor being operable for exerting on the piston a compensation force directed in radial direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Assignee: Audi AG
    Inventor: Albrecht Rothe
  • Patent number: 10287933
    Abstract: In an assembly of a hollow poppet valve and a valve seat insert, the hollow poppet valve's head is integrally formed with a stem end, a hollow part is formed from the head to a stem, and coolant is filled into the hollow part along with an inert gas. The valve seat insert is formed of iron base sintered alloy and obtained by integrating two layers of a supporting material side layer and a valve contact face side layer. The hollow poppet valve is formed of a material having thermal conductivity of 5-45 (W/m·K) at 20-1000° C. The valve seat insert includes the supporting material side layer having thermal conductivity of 23-50 (W/m·K) at 20-300° C. and a valve contact face side layer having thermal conductivity of 10-22 (W/m·K) at 20-300° C. This enables a valve temperature decrease throughout an engine's entire RPM range compared with the prior art.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Assignees: NIPPON PISTON RING CO., LTD., NITTAN VALVE CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Satoshi Ikemi, Hiroshi Oshige, Kiyoshi Suwa, Kenichi Sato, Kouji Kunitake, Ryouichi Yoshino
  • Patent number: 10266780
    Abstract: A method is described for integrating a plurality of micro-gasifiers comprising gasifiers, filters, and engine sets or turbine gensets or combined cycle gensets by linking them via a common bus wherein air flow and engine fuel flow is regulated by valves controlling gas flow between the bus and engine genset or turbine genset or combined cycle genset.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: V-GRID ENERGY SYSTEMS
    Inventor: Michael Cheiky
  • Patent number: 10267190
    Abstract: An engine oil supply apparatus includes: an oil pump; an oil supply path which supplies oil to a hydraulic operating section of an engine; an oil cooler which is provided on the oil supply path and which cools oil discharged from the oil pump; and a control apparatus which sets a required oil pressure required from the hydraulic operating section in accordance with an operation state of the engine, as a target oil pressure, and controls the discharge amount of the oil pump so that an oil pressure inside the oil supply path equals the target oil pressure. The control apparatus controls the oil pump so that, during an operation state of the engine where the oil enters a prescribed high oil temperature state, the oil is discharged in an amount exceeding a discharge amount corresponding to the required oil pressure of the hydraulic operating section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomohiro Koguchi, Kenta Honda
  • Patent number: 10267260
    Abstract: Provided are a heat-resistant member provided with a heat-shielding coating suitable for stable manufacturing and excellent in heat-insulating, thermoresponsive and distortion accommodating properties, and a method for manufacturing the same. The heat-shielding coating includes a metallic portion formed of agglomerates of a plurality of metal particles, and inorganic compound particles dispersed in the metallic portion. The metal particles are diffusion-bonded each other, and the metallic portion and a base material of the heat-resistant member are diffusion-bonded each other. The manufacturing method includes the steps of depositing mixed particles of the metal particles and the inorganic compound particles on a surface of the base material in a film shape; resistance-heating the mixed particles by current-passing while pressurized in a thickness direction; diffusion-bonding the metal particles each other; and the metallic portion and the base material each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Hirotsugu Kawanaka, Ittou Sugimoto
  • Patent number: 10267210
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for preventing overheating of a power steering system. In one example, a method includes operating an engine cooling fan based on a steering wheel angle and an engine speed. The cooling fan may be operated for a duration based on the steering wheel angle and engine speed, thus eliminating the need for a dedicated power steering coolant temperature sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Roberto Villegas Muriel, Timothy Gerard Offerle, Dale Killins, Darin Charles Petrini
  • Patent number: 10260456
    Abstract: An engine-driven working machine capable of suppressing vibration, and further securing output power of an engine is provided. An engine-driven working machine 10 is a generator in which an outer case 12 is formed to be substantially rectangular in plan view that extends in a longitudinal direction, and an engine 15 is housed in an inside 13 of the outer case 12. In the generator 10, a crankshaft 41 is disposed to intersect the longitudinal direction of the outer case 12. Further, an intake port 44 and an exhaust port 45 are disposed in the longitudinal direction of the outer case 12. Furthermore, a carburetor 61 is disposed at a side of the intake port 44, and a muffler 67 is disposed at a side of the exhaust port 45.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2019
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Junji Hiranuma, Masashi Kai
  • Patent number: 10253733
    Abstract: A fuel system includes a cooling fuel supply line that conveys a flow of cooling fuel from a storage tank to a mixing device. An upstream fuel return line conveys a flow of heated fuel to the mixing device from an internal combustion engine. The flow of the heated fuel from the upstream fuel return line mixes with the flow of cooling fuel from the cooling fuel supply line in the mixing device to form a flow of mixed fuel. A downstream fuel return line conveys the flow of mixed fuel from the mixing device to the storage tank. The mixing device includes a flow restrictor operable to generate a low pressure zone relative to a fluid pressure of the flow of cooling fuel in the cooling fuel return line that draws the flow of the cooling fuel through the cooling fuel supply line and into the mixing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: William L. Villaire, Edward J. Strzelecki, Manoj R. Chaudhari, Peter Hubl
  • Patent number: 10253662
    Abstract: A pump device may include a side channel compressor that may include a housing having a conveying chamber and a fluid inlet and outlet. The compressor may include an impeller having blades radially on an outside and which may be mounted rotatably in the housing, the blades lying in the conveying chamber, and a shaft mounted rotatably about an axis of rotation and on which the impeller may be fastened. The conveying chamber may have at least one side channel running in a region of the blades and connecting the fluid inlet and outlet to one another in a circumferential direction. An intermediate region may be formed in the circumferential direction between the fluid inlet and outlet and in which a distance of the blades in an axial direction to the nearest wall may be such that no more than a predetermined amount of fluid flows in the intermediate region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: Mahle International GmbH
    Inventors: Alfred Elsaesser, Volker Kirschner, Thomas Riemay, Stefan Ruppel
  • Patent number: 10247133
    Abstract: A piston with a cooling gallery containing an open cell radiator is provided. The radiator has a large thermally conductive surface area that acts as a heat-sink to remove heat from the piston. Heat from the piston is transmitted from the radiator to cooling oil that enters the cooling gallery via an oil inlet formed in a floor of the cooling gallery and exits the cooling gallery via an oil outlet. The piston comprises a piston body including an upper part presenting an upper combustion surface and an undercrown surface. A ring belt depends from the upper combustion surface, and the cooling gallery extends around the piston body beneath the undercrown surface radially inwardly of the ring belt. The radiator includes a plurality of fins extending annularly around the cooling gallery. The fins of the radiator are spaced from one another by gaps extending annularly around the cooling gallery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: Tenneco Inc.
    Inventor: Nicolae Muscas
  • Patent number: 10247128
    Abstract: A cylinder for a V-twin engine includes a section of steel tubing cut to a length. The section of steel tubing includes a first portion having a first wall thickness and a second portion having a second wall thickness less than the first wall thickness. The second wall thickness is less than 0.050 inch. The section of steel tubing includes a first ribbing pattern on an outer surface, within the first portion, and a second ribbing pattern including multiple ribs formed on individual ribs of the first ribbing pattern. A cast body is provided on the first portion of the section of steel tubing so that the section of steel tubing is fixedly secured within the body to form a cylinder sleeve defining a cylinder bore. The second portion having the second wall thickness extends from an end of the body to be received within a bore of a crankcase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: Harley-Davidson Motor Company Group, LLC
    Inventors: Tony Nicosia, Brad Bishop, Mark Dane
  • Patent number: 10247093
    Abstract: An assembly including a connecting rod, a bushing, and a locking pin capable of providing different compression ratios in an engine is provided. The bushing is disposed in a bore of the connecting rod. An outer surface of the bushing includes a pair of notches, and an inner surface of the connecting rod includes a corresponding notch for receiving the locking pin. The notches are spaced from one another by greater than 180° and by no more than 190°. The locking pin is movable in the notch, allowing the bushing to rotate from a low compression position to a high compression position, or vice versa. The bushing has a varying thickness, and thus a center axis of an opening of the bushing is closer to the shaft of the connecting rod body when the bushing is in the low compression orientation than in the high compression orientation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: Tenneco Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew J. Miller, Bruce C. Inwood
  • Patent number: 10247140
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for water injection at an intake port of an engine toward or away from intake valves in response to engine operating conditions. In one example, a method may include port injecting water away from an intake valve in response to engine knock and port injecting water towards an intake valve in response to engine dilution demand. Further, the method may include adjusting an amount of water injected based on one or more of a change in manifold temperature and a change in exhaust oxygen level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Michael McQuillen, Daniel A. Makled, Mohannad Hakeem, Gopichandra Surnilla, Joseph Norman Ulrey, Michael Howard Shelby
  • Patent number: 10233863
    Abstract: A system and method for fluidly sealing a cylinder head interface between an engine block and a cylinder head of an internal combustion engine. An example apparatus includes a perimeter seal disposed on an outer periphery of the cylinder head. The perimeter seal has a first surface to abut a cylinder head sealing surface and a second surface to abut an engine block sealing surface. The perimeter seal is configured to prevent fluid from an external environment from entering the cylinder head interface and to allow fluid within the cylinder head interface to vent to the external environment when the fluid is above a predetermined pressure. A first fluid transfer tube seal fluidly seals a first fluid transfer orifice extending between the engine block and the cylinder head. The perimeter seal and the first fluid transfer tube seal are formed as a unitary structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: Cummins Inc.
    Inventors: David P. Genter, Terrence M. Shaw, Timothy A. Solzak, Stephen Cox, Donald P. Leclerc
  • Patent number: 10233820
    Abstract: In a water-cooled inner combustion engine (1), in particular for equipping scooters and motorcycles, the arrangement of the outer cooling tubes connected to a radiator is simplified by arranging a by-pass valve (27), arranged directly on the engine block (2) at a discharge opening (18) obtained therein, which, when the cooling water is lower than a reference temperature, prevents the water circulation in the radiator (18) and it addresses it through a by-pass line (26) by implementing a cooling circuit wholly included in the engine block (2).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: PIAGGIO & C. S.P.A.
    Inventor: Stefano Doveri
  • Patent number: 10233829
    Abstract: A generator set for a transport refrigeration unit that is operable at a first frequency and a second frequency. The generator set includes a generator and a prime mover. The generator set is controlled by an electronic control unit (ECU) that is coupled to a controller. The ECU is configured to monitor the engine operation condition to obtain an engine operation condition value; whereas the controller is configured to receive the engine operation condition value and compare the value with an engine operation condition threshold. When the engine operation condition value, for example, exceeds the engine operation condition threshold, the controller instructs the ECU to operate the engine at a first speed; and when the engine operation condition value, for example, is below the engine operation condition threshold, the controller instructs the ECU to operate the engine at a second speed that is slower than the first speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: THERMO KING CORPORATION
    Inventors: Randall Scott Burnham, David Jon Renken, Erich Albert Lucht, Cullen Evan Hall, Alec Jeffery, Cesar Armengod Villalba
  • Patent number: 10233970
    Abstract: Disclosed are journal bearing assemblies, methods for making and methods for using journal bearing assemblies, and motor vehicles employing journal bearing assemblies. A disclosed friction-reducing journal bearing assembly includes a first (upper) bearing shell insert and a second (lower) bearing shell insert. Each insert mounts inside a bore, e.g., of an engine block or piston connecting rod, and has an arcuate inner-diameter (ID) surface. These ID surfaces are adjoined at opposing ends thereof to cooperatively define a cylindrical channel that receives therethrough a journal portion of a shaft (e.g., crankshaft or crank pin). The inner-diameter and/or outer-diameter (OD) surface of the second insert includes one or more axially elongated and/or one or more axially angled grooves, each of which extends only partially across the axial width of the shell insert. The lower insert may be fabricated with two axially elongated grooves extending generally orthogonally from respective edges of the insert.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Bo Yang, Fanghui Shi, John B. Fisher, Quintin A. Wilson, Massimiliano Sala
  • Patent number: 10234038
    Abstract: A valve, which is provided in an exhaust passage of an internal combustion engine to release exhaust, includes a valve seat having an opening opened to the exhaust passage, a valve body having a conical surface or a spherical surface configured to close the opening by coming into contact with the valve seat, a movement unit configured to move the valve body in a direction of intersecting the opening, and an urging unit configured to urge the valve body in the direction of intersecting the opening, and the urging unit controls urging force by the movement unit in a direction of suppressing vibration of the valve body caused by vibration of exhaust pulse frequency determined by a speed of the internal combustion engine and a number of cylinders of the internal combustion engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engine & Turbocharger, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yukihide Nagayo, Hiroyuki Hosoya, Masaki Tojo, Yusuke Furuta