A method for starting an internal combustion engine comprises the steps of: providing an internal combustion engine having at least one cylinder and a piston supported at a crankshaft for repeated reciprocal movement in the cylinder so as to define a main combustion chamber, the internal combustion engine further having an ignition device arranged in said cylinder with an igniter portion and a fuel injector which are both arranged at a pre-chamber, wherein the pre-chamber has a plurality of orifices for providing fluid communication between said pre-chamber and the main combustion chamber, injecting fuel in the pre-chamber, and igniting the injected fuel in the pre-chamber for pre-heating of the pre-chamber prior to injecting fuel in the main combustion chamber for combusting the injected fuel in the main combustion chamber.

A powertrain system includes a port injection internal combustion engine. A first start process is a process in which fuel is enclosed in a compression stroke cylinder when the engine is stopped, and based on a stored crank stop position, ignition is performed in a first cycle of the compression stroke cylinder upon engine start. A second start process is a process in which, based on the stored crank stop position, fuel injection is performed for an intake stroke cylinder while the engine is stopped, and based on the stored crank stop position, ignition is performed in the first cycle of the intake stroke cylinder upon engine start. When a catalyst temperature at the time engine start is requested is equal to or higher than a first threshold, a control device starts the internal combustion engine by at least one of the first start process and the second start process.

A multiple fuel tank purge system and method includes providing a pair of fuel tanks, including a main fuel tank for containing impure fuel and a separate, auxiliary fuel tank that contains commercial canned fuel. The engine runs on the impure fuel from the main fuel tank while the engine is in normal use, and then employs a shutdown cycle that switches to the commercial canned fuel from the auxiliary fuel tank for some pre-set time period. This arrangement allows the engine to be purged of the impure fuel (by burning the impure fuel during the shutdown cycle) and replaced by the commercial pre-mixed fuel before the engine is finally shut down. The system may further include a novel fuel cap with a fuel line, a tank within a tank fuel container, and/or an electronically actuated shutdown cycle mechanism.

A method for managing the mass of fuel injected into the cylinder of an internal combustion engine fed by direct injection. The pressure and the pressure drop per unit of time are monitored (13) during the starting phase. If the pressure becomes too low (7), or if it drops too quickly (9), the mass of fuel injected on each cycle is adjusted (15) in order to maintain a high fuel pressure in the injector (37). The method can be applied, for example, in the event of low-temperature starting using any type of fuel, for example pure or mixed ethanol.

A fuel heater including an engine that is driven by combustion of air-fuel mixture including air and fuel supplied to a combustion chamber within a cylinder, a battery that stores electricity, and a motor that drives the engine by the electricity supplied from the battery, the fuel heater includes a fuel heating portion heating the fuel with the electricity supplied from the battery, and a controller performing one of a first control by increasing the amount of electricity supplied from the battery to the fuel heating portion and a second control by increasing heating time of the fuel by the fuel heating portion for a time period until the engine starts in a case where a battery charge remaining of the battery is equal to or smaller than a remaining threshold value at a start of the engine.

A starting control device for an internal combustion engine is provided with a hard cranking device and a soft cranking device that are respectively capable of and incapable of cranking the internal combustion engine to a target idle rotation speed. The starting control device includes: a starting mode determination unit determining whether to carry out starting in a non-combustion pressure mode whereby starting is carried out with the hard cranking device, or in a combustion pressure combination mode whereby starting is carried out through cranking with the soft cranking device while using a combustion pressure generated by supplying fuel to the internal combustion engine in combination; and an intake air amount control unit making an amount of intake air during cranking differ between a case where starting is carried out in the non-combustion pressure mode and a case where starting is carried out in the combustion pressure combination mode.

A controller for a hybrid vehicle restarts an engine in a start mode selected from multiple start modes. The multiple start modes include a first start mode of starting combustion in the engine when a clutch starts transmitting torque and a second start mode of starting combustion in the engine after the clutch starts transmitting torque. The controller is configured to, in a case in which the engine is restarted in the second start mode, measure a cranking start time from when engagement of the clutch is commanded to when transmission of the torque through the clutch is started, and only when measurement of the cranking start time has been completed after the vehicle is activated, restart the engine in the first start mode.

A silicate mixture and a combustion accelerator increase combustion efficiency in a combustion engine. The silicate mixture is formed by mixing a first component including one or two or more materials selected from silicon compounds including silicon, glass, and quartz, and a second component including one or two or more materials selected from materials formed by sintering a silicate mineral at a temperature of 1300° C. or higher and 2000° C. or lower and ores emitting a terahertz wave.

Provided is a starting-fuel supply device, including: a starting-fuel supply valve configured to automatically add a starting fuel to an air-fuel mixture generated by a carburetor; and a valve chamber for the starting-fuel supply valve, wherein a fuel in a fuel tank is allowed to move to an intake passage through the valve chamber for the starting-fuel supply valve with use of a manual pump configured to suck up the fuel in the fuel tank into a carburetor before start of an engine, and wherein the valve chamber is disposed at a position below the intake passage when the engine is in a stored state.

An automobile power system in a vehicle may include an intake pipe supplying external air to an engine supplying power to driving wheels, a canister connected with a fuel tank to absorb evaporation gas produced in the fuel tank, an active purging system compressing and supplying the evaporation gas absorbed in the canister to the intake pipe, a diverging line extending from the active purging system to the engine, a diverging valve mounted on the diverging line, and a starting motor rotating a crankshaft when the engine is started. In addition, the evaporation gas absorbed in the canister is supplied to the engine through the diverging line before the engine is restarted, and then the starting motor is operated.