CYLINDER HEAD FOR AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE

Abstract

A cylinder head for an internal combustion engine, wherein the cylinder head (1) comprises at least one first component part (12) and at least one second component part (13) joined to the at least one first component part (12), wherein the at least one first component part (12) is manufactured with the use of at least one of the group consisting of primary shaping, forming and cutting, wherein the at least one second component part (13) is manufactured with the use of an additive manufacturing method.

Claims

1. A system, comprising: a cylinder head for an internal combustion engine, wherein the cylinder head comprises at least one first component part and at least one second component part joined to the at least one first component part, wherein the at least one first component part is a non-additively manufactured part, wherein the at least one second component part is an additively manufactured part.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one first component part and the at least one second component part are joined together by at least one of an interference fit, a welded connection, a brazed connection, a positive lock, positive substance jointing, a threaded connection, and an axial mechanical load.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one second component part is additively manufactured directly onto the at least one first component part.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one seal is mounted between the at least one first component part and the at least one second component part.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one tempering conduit is disposed in the cylinder head for tempering the cylinder head using a tempering medium.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the at least one tempering conduit is disposed inside the second component part.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein a cross section of the at least one tempering conduit tapers in a direction of flow of the tempering medium.

8. (canceled)

9. (canceled)

10. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one supply conduit is provided for supplying the tempering medium to the at least one tempering conduit, wherein the at least one tempering conduit and/or the at least one supply conduit is configured to at least partially surround at least one pre-combustion chamber.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one supply conduit is provided for supplying the tempering medium to the at least one tempering conduit, wherein the at least one supply conduit is configured to surround at least one pre-combustion chamber in a helical manner.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one tempering conduit is arranged in a vicinity of a flame deck for cooling the flame deck of the cylinder head.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the cylinder head comprises: at least one inlet conduit for air and/or fuel having an inlet valve seat, and/or at least one exhaust conduit for combustion products having an exhaust valve seat.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the second component part comprises all inlet valve seats and/or all exhaust valve seats of the cylinder head.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein separate additively manufactured component parts are provided for each inlet valve seat and/or exhaust valve seat or for groups of inlet valve seats and/or exhaust valve seats.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one tempering conduit is configured to at least partially surround an inlet valve seat and/or an exhaust valve seat in a helical manner.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the tempering conduit comprises at least two of the following branches: at least one branch for tempering at least one inlet valve seat and/or at least one exhaust valve seat, and/or at least one branch for tempering at least one pre-combustion chamber, and/or at least one branch for tempering a flame deck of the cylinder head.

18. (canceled)

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least two branches and/or a supply conduit have different cross sections.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the tempering conduit comprises a tapering region between the at least two branches and/or a supply conduit.

21. The system of claim 1, comprising a reciprocating internal combustion engine having the cylinder head.

22. A method, comprising: forming at least one first component part of a cylinder head for an internal combustion engine via a non-additive manufacturing process; and forming at least one second component part of the cylinder head via an additive manufacturing process.

23. A method, comprising: coupling together at least one first component part and at least one second component part of a cylinder head of an internal combustion engine, wherein the at least one first component part is not additively manufactured, and the at least one second component part is additively manufactured.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0052] Further details and advantages of the invention are apparent from the accompanying figures and the following description of the drawings. The figures show:

[0053] FIG. 1 is a cross-section view of part of a cylinder head according to a first embodiment of the invention,

[0054] FIG. 2 is a 3D view of a tempering and supply conduit arranged according a further embodiment according to the invention,

[0055] FIG. 3 is a 3D view of a tempering and supply conduit arranged according a further embodiment according to the invention,

[0056] FIG. 4 illustrates a first embodiment of a cylinder head according to the invention,

[0057] FIG. 5 illustrates a second embodiment of a cylinder head according to the invention, and

[0058] FIG. 6 illustrates a third embodiment of a cylinder head according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0059] FIG. 1 shows a cross-section through part of a cylinder head 1 according to a first embodiment of the invention. The cylinder head 1 comprises an inlet conduit 2 or exhaust conduit 3 having an inlet valve seat 4 or exhaust valve seat 5. For guiding a valve in a linear way a valve guide 7 is arranged in the cylinder head 1. A tempering conduit 6 is provided in the cylinder head 1 surrounding the inlet valve seat 4 and/or the exhaust valve seat 5. This tempering conduit 6 is configured for tempering the cylinder head 1 using a tempering medium of the tempering circuit. In this embodiment of the invention, the whole cylinder head 1 is a single monolithic additively manufactured component part.

[0060] FIG. 2 shows a 3D view of a further embodiment according to the invention. For reasons of simplicity, this Figure only shows the conduits arranged in the cylinder head 1. A single inlet conduit 2 is splitting up into two inlet valves (not shown), each having an inlet valve seat 4. A tempering conduit 6 is provided surrounding each valve seat 4. The tempering conduit 6 respectively begins near the inlet valve seat 4 and surrounds the inlet conduit 2 in a helical manner in direction of the valve guides 7. In this embodiment, the helical tempering conduit 6 comprises one and a half convolutions.

[0061] FIG. 3 shows a 3D view of a third embodiment according to the invention. For reasons of simplicity, this Figure only shows the conduits arranged in the cylinder head 1. Similar to the previous Figure, a single inlet conduit 2 is splitting up into two inlet valves (not shown), each having an inlet valve seat 4. The inlet valve seats 4 are surrounded by tempering conduits 6, surrounding the inlet valve seats 4 and the ensuring portion of the inlet conduit 2 in a helical manner. With the help of a supply conduit 8, the tempering conduits 6 are supplied with a tempering medium. The supply conduit 8 is provided with a helical portion 9, which surrounds a pre-combustion chamber arranged in the cylinder head 1 in a helical manner. Parallel to the tempering conduits 6, further tempering conduits 11 are arranged for tempering the remaining cylinder head 1. After passing through the tempering conduits 6 and the further tempering conduits 11, the tempering medium is lead to an outflow conduit 10, which outflow conduit 10 leads the tempering medium to an exit point of the cylinder head 1. The outflow conduit 10 tapers in this embodiment in a flow direction of the tempering medium to keep a constant flow speed of the tempering medium.

[0062] FIG. 4 represents a cylinder head 1 comprising a first component part 12 and a second component part 13, wherein the first component part 12 forms the base body of the cylinder head 1 and the second component part 13 comprises the flame deck 14 of the cylinder head 1.

[0063] The first component part 12 of the cylinder head 1 is manufactured by use of primary shaping, wherein the first component part 12—as known in the prior art—is formed by aluminium casting and is afterwards processed by a cutting process (e.g., by a milling process and/or turning process).

[0064] In the first component part 12, valve guides 7 are provided for guiding the inlet valves 15 and the outlet valves 16. On top (at the side of the first component part 12 facing away from the combustion chamber) of the first component part 12, the valve springs 17 and the valve actuation are arranged. The valve actuation (e.g., cams and camshaft) are not shown.

[0065] The second component part 13 of the cylinder head 1 is manufactured with the use of an additive manufacturing method.

[0066] The inlet valve seat 4 is formed in this embodiment by a separate inlet valve seat insert 18. Also, the exhaust valve seat 5 is formed by a separate exhaust valve seat insert 19. The valve seat inserts 18, 19 can be formed by separate additively manufactured component parts.

[0067] Furthermore, the first component part 12 comprises a part of the inlet conduit 2 and a part of the exhaust conduit 3 (namely the main part of the inlet conduit 2 and the exhaust conduit 3 except the respective end portions in the region of the valve seats 4, 5).

[0068] A main supply conduit 20 is arranged in the first component part 12 of the cylinder head 1 supplying a tempering medium to the regions of the cylinder head 1 and the cylinder liner, which have to be tempered (in the sense that the temperature of the same needs to be managed using the cooling medium).

[0069] The main supply conduit 20 further delivers tempering medium for tempering the cylinder liner, wherein the main supply line 20 starting from the first component part 12 leads through the second component part 13 and passes over to the engine block and/or the cylinder liner. The main supply conduit 20 supplies cooling medium to the cylinder head 1 and to further components of the internal combustion engine. Therefore, the main supply conduit 20 serves as the supply conduit 8 for the cylinder head 1 according to certain embodiments of the invention.

[0070] Within the first component part 12, the supply conduit 8/main supply conduit 20 branches for tempering the spark plug sleeve 21, wherein the spark plug sleeve tempering cavity 24 between the first component part 12 and the spark plug sleeve 21 is provided with tempering medium (e.g., water as main component).

[0071] The spark plug sleeve 21 is adapted to receive the spark plug, which is not shown. Alternatively or additionally a pre-chamber is provided, wherein the supply conduit 8/main supply conduit 20 would provide tempering medium for tempering the pre-chamber and/or the pre-chamber gas valve and/or the spark plug and/or the spark plug sleeve 21.

[0072] The second component part 13 comprises a further supply conduit 22, which branches off the main supply conduit 20 and feeds the tempering system of the second component part 13.

[0073] Starting from the main supply conduit 20, the further supply conduit 22 channels tempering medium across or around (i.e., around a central axis of the cylinder/cylinder head 1) the second component part 13, wherein the second component part 13, in particular the flame deck 14, can be tempered, preferably cooled.

[0074] The further supply conduit 22 also provides the further tempering conduits 11 with tempering medium. The further tempering conduits 11 can be provided—as already disclosed by FIG. 3—for supplying tempering medium to the tempering conduit 6, which is arranged in a spiral manner around the exhaust valve seat 5.

[0075] In this specific embodiment of FIG. 4, only tempering conduits 6 are provided around the exhaust valve 16, the exhaust valve seat 5 and at least a part of the exhaust conduit 3. Alternatively or additionally, such tempering conduits 6 can also be provided around the inlet valve 15, the inlet valve seat 4 and at least a part of the inlet conduit 2 (as shown, e.g., by FIG. 6).

[0076] After passing through the tempering conduits 6 and the further tempering conduits 11, the tempering medium is lead to an outflow conduit 10, which outflow conduit 10 leads the tempering medium to an exit point of the cylinder head 1.

[0077] The first component part 12 and the second component part 13 are joined together by at least one of the group consisting of an interference fit, a welded connection, a brazed connection, a positive lock, positive substance jointing, a threaded connection, and an axial mechanical load.

[0078] FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of a cylinder head 1 having a first component part 12 and a second component part 13 similar to the embodiment of FIG. 4.

[0079] By comparison to FIG. 4, the tempering conduits 6 of the embodiment shown by FIG. 6 do not surround the valves or the valve seats. The tempering conduits 6 are arranged in this embodiment across the second component part 13 for tempering—preferably cooling—the whole flame deck 14.

[0080] The second component part 13 of this embodiment is fixed to the first component part 12 by use of screws 23, wherein the screws 23 are screwed in in the periphery of the cylinder from a side facing the combustion chamber in a mounted state of the cylinder head 1 at the internal combustion engine.

[0081] FIG. 6 shows a third embodiment of a cylinder head 1 having a first component part 12 and a second component part 13 similar to the embodiment of FIG. 4.

[0082] By comparison to FIG. 4, the tempering conduits 6 of the embodiment shown by FIG. 6 surround the inlet valve 15, the inlet valve seat 4 and at least a part of the inlet conduit 2.

[0083] The second component part 13 of this embodiment is fixed to the first component part 12 by use of screws 23, wherein the screws 23 are screwed in in the periphery of the cylinder from a side facing away from the combustion chamber in a mounted state of the cylinder head 1 at the internal combustion engine.

REFERENCE SIGNS

[0084] 1 cylinder head [0085] 2 inlet conduit [0086] 3 exhaust conduit [0087] 4 inlet valve seat [0088] 5 exhaust valve seat [0089] 6 tempering conduit [0090] 7 valve guide [0091] 8 supply conduit [0092] 9 helical portion [0093] 10 outflow conduit [0094] 11 further tempering conduits [0095] 12 first component part [0096] 13 second component part [0097] 14 flame deck [0098] 15 inlet vale [0099] 16 exhaust valve [0100] 17 valve spring [0101] 18 inlet valve seat insert [0102] 19 exhaust valve seat insert [0103] 20 main supply conduit [0104] 21 spark plug sleeve [0105] 22 further supply conduit [0106] 23 screw [0107] 24 spark plug sleeve tempering cavity