In a combustion cycle in which fuel for forming a homogenized air-fuel mixture in the combustion chamber is injected from the first fuel injector, ignition-use fuel for forming an ignition-use air-fuel mixture in the vicinity of the electrode part is injected from the second fuel injector, and lean combustion is performed by an excess air rate of 2.0 or more, the ignition-use fuel is injected by at least an injection rate of 1.0 mm.sup.3/ms or more for a duration of 250 μs or more in an interval from a crank angle advanced by exactly 20 degrees from an ignition timing of the spark plug to the ignition timing, and the quantity of the ignition-use fuel is 2.0 mm.sup.3/st or less.

A combustion chamber structure in which an installation hole of the injector is improved to realize a rapid combustion and to reduce an unburned hydrocarbon. In the combustion chamber, a leading end of an injector is withdrawn from an upper end of an opening of an installation hole, and an additionally expanded surface area is formed on an upper inner surface of the installation hole from a portion to which the leading end of the injector is situated. to an opening end of the installation hole. An angle between the additionally expanded surface area and a joint surface of a cylinder head is narrower than an angle between a center axis of the installation hole and the joint surface.

In an internal combustion engine provided with an electro-hydraulic system for variable actuation of the intake valves of the engine, each cylinder has two intake valves, which are associated with two intake conduits and are controlled by a single cam of a camshaft through a single hydraulic circuit. The communication of the hydraulic actuators of the two intake valves with a discharge channel is controlled by two electrically-actuated control valves, both of an on/off two-position type, arranged in series with each other along a hydraulic line for communication between the a pressure volume and the discharge channel.

In an internal combustion engine provided with an electro-hydraulic system for variable actuation of the intake valves of the engine, each cylinder has two intake valves, which are associated with two intake conduits and are controlled by a single cam of a camshaft through a single hydraulic circuit. The communication of the hydraulic actuators of the two intake valves with a discharge channel is controlled by two electrically-actuated control valves, both of an on/off two-position type, arranged in series with each other along a hydraulic line for communication between the a pressure volume and the discharge channel.

An engine is provided, which includes a combustion chamber defined by a crown surface of a piston, an inner wall surface of a cylinder in which the piston is slidably accommodated, and a pentroof-type ceiling surface formed in a cylinder head and formed with an intake port and an exhaust port. The crown surface includes an exhaust-side bottom part, an intake-side bottom part, an exhaust-side sloped surface rising toward a center part of the crown surface from the exhaust-side bottom part, an intake-side sloped surface rising toward the center part from the intake-side bottom part, and a flat surface provided continuously between upper ends of the exhaust-side and intake-side sloped surfaces, and extending perpendicularly to a cylinder axial direction in the center part of the crown surface. A surface area of the flat surface is larger than a surface area of the exhaust-side sloped surface.

An engine is provided, which includes a combustion chamber defined by a crown surface of a piston, an inner wall surface of a cylinder in which the piston is slidably accommodated, and a pentroof-type ceiling surface formed in a cylinder head and formed with an intake port and an exhaust port. The crown surface includes an exhaust-side bottom part, an intake-side bottom part, an exhaust-side sloped surface rising toward a center part of the crown surface from the exhaust-side bottom part, an intake-side sloped surface rising toward the center part from the intake-side bottom part, and a flat surface provided continuously between upper ends of the exhaust-side and intake-side sloped surfaces, and extending perpendicularly to a cylinder axial direction in the center part of the crown surface. A surface area of the flat surface is larger than a surface area of the exhaust-side sloped surface.

An internal combustion engine for gaseous fuel includes a cylinder and a piston for reciprocal movement in the cylinder along a reciprocal axis, whereby a combustion chamber is at least partially delimited by the cylinder and the piston. The piston includes a piston crown facing the combustion chamber, a piston crown projection of the piston crown in a direction parallel to the reciprocal axis and onto a piston crown plane extending transversally to the reciprocal axis having a piston crown center point, the piston crown comprising a piston bowl surface defining a piston bowl and a piston rim portion enclosing the piston bowl surface. A piston bowl opening is the intersection between the piston rim portion and the piston bowl surface. The piston bowl opening has an opening center of gravity in the piston crown plane. The opening center of gravity is offset from the piston crown center point.

A fuel injection valve is provided for a ceiling portion of a cylinder head. A tip of an ignition electrode is arranged in the vicinity of an injection tip of the fuel injection valve. A recess is provided for the ceiling portion. A center of a cavity is shifted with respect to a bore center of the cylinder. In a vertical cross-section of the inside of a combustion chamber taken along a plane passing through the injection tip of the fuel injection valve and the tip of the ignition electrode, a distance from the injection tip to a wall surface of the cavity at a side at which the ignition electrode is provided is longer than a distance from the injection tip to a wall surface of the cavity at an opposite side.

A fuel injection valve is provided for a ceiling portion of a cylinder head. A tip of an ignition electrode is arranged in the vicinity of an injection tip of the fuel injection valve. A recess is provided for the ceiling portion. A center of a cavity is shifted with respect to a bore center of the cylinder. In a vertical cross-section of the inside of a combustion chamber taken along a plane passing through the injection tip of the fuel injection valve and the tip of the ignition electrode, a distance from the injection tip to a wall surface of the cavity at a side at which the ignition electrode is provided is longer than a distance from the injection tip to a wall surface of the cavity at an opposite side.

This liquid injection nozzle atomizes and sprays liquid, while reducing loss of kinetic energy, thereby promoting mixing between the liquid and a gas and thus promoting the reaction between the liquid and the gas. In the liquid injection nozzle, a plurality of distal end tips each having an injection hole are provided on a distal end portion of a nozzle body. Each distal end tip has a conical swirling flow chamber. A communication thin hole is formed in the distal end portion. The communication thin hole extends from a hollow chamber to the conical swirling flow chamber of the distal end tip. When the valve needle is lifted, liquid flows through the communication thin hole into the swirling flow chamber in a tangential direction and generates a vortex flow, and the vortex flow is sprayed from the injection hole.