1. A fuel injector for an internal combustion engine comprising:
an injector body having a fuel outlet; and
a spray hole formed in the fuel outlet, said spray hole being geometrically designed to produce a spray of fuel in a predetermined pattern so that substantially 70% or more of an amount of the spray hits a preselected area on a surface of a head of an intake valve of an engine when the intake valve is closed, the preselected area being one of a first and a second area on the surface of the head of the intake valve which are defined on respective sides of a reference boundary line extending through a joint of the head of the intake valve with a stem of the intake valve, the first area being closer to an intake manifold of the engine, the second area being closer to an exhaust valve of the engine, the preselected area being the first area,
wherein a pattern defined on the surface of the head of the intake valve by the spray of fuel emitted from said spray hole has a first length and a second length, the first length extending in a forward advancing direction in which the spray of fuel is emitted from the spray hole on the surface of the head of the intake valve, the second length extending perpendicular to the direction of the first length and being longer than the first length.
2. A fuel injector as set forth in claim 1, wherein a plurality of spray holes are formed in the fuel outlet, and wherein the predetermined pattern of the spray of fuel is established by setting at least one of layout of the spray holes at the fuel outlet, an angular direction in which a jet of the fuel is outputted from each of the spray holes, a diameter of each of the spray holes, and a pitch between adjacent two of target spots on the preselected area of the head of the intake valve each of which one of the spray holes aims at directing a central portion of the jet of fuel which is the greatest in flow rate of fuel.
3. A fuel injector as set forth in claim 2, wherein if the surface of the head of the intake valve is broken down into an inner peripheral area and an outer peripheral area demarcated by a reference circle which is defined around a center of the head of the intake valves and has a diameter that is half a diameter of a circular area derived by omitting, from an entire surface area of the head of the intake valve, an outermost annular area that is an area on the head of the intake valve which works as a seat that is to abut an open end of an inner wall of the intake manifold defining the intake port when the intake valve is closed, at least one of said spray holes are designed to aim at producing and directing a jet of fuel to the inner peripheral area, while more than half all said spray holes are provided to aim at directing jets of fuel to the outer peripheral area.
4. A fuel injector as set forth in claim 2, wherein all said spray holes are geometrically designed to produce and orient jets of fuel to inside ranges between the reference boundary line and a reference line which extends parallel to the reference boundary line and tangent to a perimeter of an area on the surface of the head of the intake valves which is interrupted by an inner wall of the intake port so that the area is invisible from a center of a fuel jetting from the fuel outlet.
5. A fuel injector as set forth in claim 2, wherein said spray holes are geometrically designed to produce two sprays of fuel, one for each of two inlet ports of a combustion chamber in a cylinder of the engine which are selectively closed by heads of intake valves, respectively.
6. A fuel injector as set forth in claim 5, wherein each of the head of the intake valves has the preselected area, the preselected area of a left one of the heads of the intake valves, as viewed from the fuel outlet of said injector body, being delimited by said reference boundary line that is located at an angular interval 10\xb0 to 30 \xb0 away from a reference line in a clockwise direction, as viewed from the fuel outlet, the preselected area of a right one of the heads of the intake valves, as viewed from the fuel outlet of said injector body, being delimited by said reference boundary line that is located at an angular interval 10\xb0 to 30\xb0 away from a reference line in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed from the fuel outlet.
7. A fuel injector as set forth in claim 6, wherein the spray holes are broken down into a first group and a second group, each of the first and second groups being so designed to produce the spray of fuel for one of the intake ports of the combustion chamber of the engine that a portion of the spray has a maximum flow rate within a range defined around a line extending between the joint of the head of the intake valve with the stem of the intake valve and a center of a fuel jetting of a corresponding one of the first and second groups.
8. A fuel injector as set forth in claim 7, wherein the first group of the spray holes is designed to produce and orient the spray of fuel to the head of a left one of the intake valves, as viewed from the fuel outlet, and the second group of the spray holes is designed to produce and orient the spray of fuel to the head of a right one of the intake valves, and wherein the first group has ones of the spray holes which are provided to aim at a right side of the preselected area, as viewed from the fuel outlet, and greater in number than remaining ones of the spray holes, and the second group has ones of the spray holes which is provided to aim at a left side of the preselected area, as viewed from the fuel outlet, and greater in number than remaining ones of the spray holes.
9. A fuel injector as set forth in claim 7, wherein the first group of the spray holes is designed to produce and orient the spray of fuel to the head of a left one of the intake valves, as viewed from the fuel outlet, and the second group of the spray holes being designed to produce and orient the spray of fuel to the head of a right one of the intake valves, and wherein the first group has ones of the spray holes which are provided to aim at producing and directing jets of the fuel to target spots defined on a right side of the preselected area, as viewed from the fuel outlet, at a spot-to-spot pitch shorter than that in remaining one of the spray holes, and the second group has ones of the spray holes which are provided to aim at producing and directing jets of the fuel to target spots defined on a left side of the preselected area, as viewed from the fuel outlet, at a spot-to-spot pitch shorter than that in remaining one of the spray holes.
10. A fuel injector as set forth in claim 7, wherein the first group of the spray holes is designed to produce and orient the spray of fuel to the head of a left one of the intake valves, as viewed from the fuel outlet, and the second group of the spray holes being designed to produce and orient the spray of fuel to the head of a right one of the intake valves, and wherein the first group has ones of the spray holes which are provided to aim at producing and directing jets of the fuel to a right side of the preselected area, as viewed from the fuel outlet, and greater in diameter than remaining one of the spray holes, and the second group has ones of the spray holes which are provided to aim at producing and directing jets of the fuel to a left side of the preselected area, as viewed from the fuel outlet, and greater in diameter than remaining one of the spray holes.
11. A fuel injector as set forth in claim 5, wherein the spray holes are broken down into a first group and a second group, each of the first and second groups being so designed to produce the spray of fuel for one of the intake ports of the combustion chamber of the engine that a portion of the spray has a maximum flow rate within a range defined around a line extending between the joint of the head of the intake valve with the stem of the intake valve and a center of a fuel jetting of a corresponding one of the first and second groups.
12. A fuel injector as set forth in claim 11, wherein the first group of the spray holes is designed to produce and orient the spray of fuel to the head of a left one of the intake valves, as viewed from the fuel outlet, and the second group of the spray holes is designed to produce and orient the spray of fuel to the head of a right one of the intake valves, and wherein the first group has ones of the spray holes which are provided to aim at a right side of the preselected area, as viewed from the fuel outlet, and greater in number than remaining ones of the spray holes, and the second group has ones of the spray holes which is provided to aim at a left side of the preselected area, as viewed from the fuel outlet, and greater in number than remaining ones of the spray holes.
13. A fuel injector as set forth in claim 11, wherein the first group of the spray holes is designed to produce and orient the spray of fuel to the head of a left one of the intake valves, as viewed from the fuel outlet, and the second group of the spray holes is designed to produce and orient the spray of fuel to the head of a right one of the intake valves, and wherein the first group has ones of the spray holes which are provided to aim at producing and directing jets of the fuel to target spots defined on a right side of the preselected area, as viewed from the fuel outlet, at a spot-to-spot pitch shorter than that in remaining one of the spray holes, and the second group has ones of the spray holes which are provided to aim at producing and directing jets of the fuel to target spots defined on a left side of the preselected area, as viewed from the fuel outlet, at a spot-to-spot pitch shorter than that in remaining one of the spray holes.
14. A fuel injector as set forth in claim 11, wherein the first group of the spray holes is designed to produce and orient the spray of fuel to the head of a left one of the intake valves, as viewed from the fuel outlet, and the second group of the spray holes being designed to produce and orient the spray of fuel to the head of a right one of the intake valves, and wherein the first group has ones of the spray holes which are provided to aim at producing and directing jets of the fuel to a right side of the preselected area, as viewed from the fuel outlet, and greater in diameter than remaining one of the spray holes, and the second group has ones of the spray holes which are provided to aim at producing and directing jets of the fuel to a left side of the preselected area, as viewed from the fuel outlet, and greater in diameter than remaining one of the spray holes.
15. A fuel injector as set forth in claim 1, wherein a plurality of spray holes are formed in the fuel outlet and broken down into a plurality of spray hole groups which work to produce a plurality of sprays of fuel, one for each of a plurality of inlet ports of a combustion chamber in a cylinder of the engine, and wherein the sprays of fuel are different in flow rate from each other.
16. A fuel injector as set forth in claim 15, wherein one of the spray hole groups, which is so selected as to produce one of the sprays of fuel greater in the flow rate, has at least one of the spray holes which is greater in diameter than that in one of the other spray holes groups which is so selected as to produce the spray of fuel smaller in the flow rate.
17. A fuel injector as set forth in claim 15, wherein one of the spray hole groups, which is so selected as to produce one of the sprays of fuel greater in the flow rate, has ones of the spray holes which are greater in number than that in one of the other spray holes groups which is so selected as to produce the spray of fuel smaller in the flow rate.
18. A fuel injector as set forth in claim 1, wherein the second length is generally parallel to said reference boundary line.
19. A fuel injector for an internal combustion engine comprising:
an injector body having a fuel outlet; and
a spray hole formed in the fuel outlet, said spray hole being geometrically designed to be controlled to emit a spray of fuel in a selected one of an intake synchronous injection mode in which the fuel is jetted into a cylinder of an engine in synchronization with an intake stroke of a piston of the cylinder and an intake asynchronous injection mode in which the fuel is jetted into the cylinder during closing of an intake valve regardless of stroke of the piston, in the intake asynchronous injection mode, the spray of fuel being emitted in a predetermined pattern so that substantially 70% or more of an amount of the spray hits a preselected area on a surface of a head of an intake valve of the engine when the intake valve is closed, the preselected area being one of a first and a second area on the surface of the head of the intake valve which are defined on respective sides of a reference boundary line extending through a joint of the head of the intake valve with a stem of the intake valve, the first area being closer to an intake manifold of the engine, the second area being closer to an exhaust valve of the engine, the preselected area being the first area,
wherein a pattern defined on the surface of the head of the intake valve by the spray of fuel emitted from said spray hole in the intake asynchronous injection mode has a first length and a second length, the first length extending in a forward advancing direction in which the spray of fuel is emitted from the spray hole on the surface of the head of the intake valve, the second length extending perpendicular to the direction of the first length and being longer than the first length.
20. A fuel injector as set forth in claim 19, wherein the second length is generally parallel to said reference boundary line.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A branched reactive polymer having the structure:
Y\u2014(X)p-R(\u2014X\u2032-POLY)q
wherein:
R is an aliphatic hydrocarbon having a length of at least three carbon atoms;
each POLY is a water soluble and non-peptide polymer, wherein the molecular weight of each POLY is selected such that the total molecular weight or the branched reactive polymer is independently selected from the group consisting of poly(alkylene glycol), poly(oxyethylated polyol), poly(olefinic alcohol), poly(vinylpyrrolidone), poly(hydroxyalkylmethacrylamide), poly(hydroxyalkylmethacrylate), polysaccharides, poly(\u03b1-hydroxy acid), poly(vinyl alcohol), plyphosphazene, polyoxazoline, poly(N-acryloylmorpholine), and copolymers, terpolymers, and mixtures thereof is at least about 5,000 Da;
X\u2032 is a heteroatom linkage;
X is a linker;
p is 0 or 1;
q is 2 to about 10; and
Y is a functional group reactive with an electrophilic or nucleophilic group.
2. The branched polymer of claim 1, wherein X\u2032 is \u2014NH\u2014, \u2014O\u2014 or \u2014S\u2014.
3. The branched polymer of claim 1, wherein q is 2 to about 5.
4. The branched polymer of claim 1, wherein each POLY is symmetrically located on the aliphatic hydrocarbon.
5. The branched polymer of claim 1, wherein R comprises from 3 to about 7 carbon atoms.
6. The branched polymer of claim 1, wherein R comprises three carbon atoms.
7. The branched polymer of claim 1, wherein each POLY and the Y functional group are attached to different carbon atoms of R.
8. The branched polymer of claim 1, wherein each POLY is covalently attached to -Z wherein Z is a capping group or a functional group.
9. The branched polymer of claim 8, wherein each Z is a capping group independently selected from the group consisting of alkoxy, alkyl, benzyl, aryl, and aryloxy.
10. The branched polymer of claim 8, wherein each Z is methoxy.
11. The branched polymer of claim 8, wherein each Z is a functional group independently selected from the group consisting of hydroxyl, active ester, active carbonate, acetal, aldehyde, aldehyde hydrate, alkenyl, acrylate, methacrylate, acrylamide, active sulfone, amine, hydrazide, thiol, alkanoic acid, acid halide, isocyanate, isothiocyanate, maleimide, vinylsulfone, dithiopyridine, vinylpyridine, iodoacetamide, epoxide, glyoxal, dione, mesylate, tosylate, and tresylate.
12. The branched polymer of claim 1, wherein Y selected from the group consisting of hydroxyl, active ester, active carbonate, acetal, aldehyde, aldehyde hydrate, alkenyl, acrylate, methacrylate, acrylamide, active sulfone, amine, hydrazide, thiol, alkanoic acid, acid halide, isocyanate, isothiocyanate, maleimide, vinylsulfone, dithiopyridine, vinylpyridine, indoacetamide, epoxide, glyoxal, dione, mesylate, tosylate, and tresylate.
13. The branched polymer claim 1, wherein each POLY is poly(ethylene glycol).
14. The branched polymer of claim 1, wherein each POLY is linear or branched.
15. The branched polymer of claim 1, wherein p is 1 and X is selected from the group consisting of a heteroatom, -alkylene-, \u2014O-alkylene-O\u2014, -alkylene-O-alkylene-, -aryl-O\u2014, \u2014O-aryl-, (\u2014O-alkylene-)m, and (-alkylene-O\u2014)m, wherein m is 1\u201310.
16. The branched polymer of claim 1, wherein p is 0 and Y is hydroxyl.
17. The branched polymer of claim 1, wherein Y has the structure \u2014O-Gp, wherein Gp is a protecting group.
18. The branched polymer of claim 17, wherein Gp is selected from the group consisting of benzyl, acetal and dihydropyranyl.
19. The branched polymer of claim 1, having the structure:
20. A biologically active conjugate, comprising a biologically active molecule covalently attached to a branched reactive polymer of claim 1, wherein X\u2032 is \u2014NH\u2014, \u2014O\u2014, or \u2014S\u2014.
21. A method of preparing a branched poly(alkylene glycol) polymer, comprising:
providing an aliphatic hydrocarbon substituted with at least two nucleophilic groups and at least one protected functional group;
polymerizing alkylene oxide monomer units onto the aliphatic hydrocarbon at the site of the nucleophilic groups to form at least two poly(alkylene glycol) polymers attached to the aliphatic hydrocarbon via heteroatom linkages;
end-capping the poly(alkylene glycol) polymers with an alkyl group to form alkoxy-terminated polymers; and
deprotecting the protected hydroxyl group.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein the aliphatic hydrocarbon has the structure:
wherein:
X is a linker;
p is 0 or 1; and
Gp is a protecting group.
23. The method of claim 21, wherein the alkylene oxide monomer units are units of ethylene oxide.
24. The method of claim 21, wherein said deprotecing step comprises hydrolysis or hydrogenolysis of the protected hydroxyl group.
25. The method of claim 21, wherein said end-capping step comprises end-capping the polymers with methoxy.
26. The method of claim 21, wherein the aliphatic hydrocarbon is selected from the group consisting of 2-benzyloxy-1,3-propanediol, 2-benzyloxyethoxy-1,3-propanediol, and 2-benzyloxyethoxyethyl-1,3-propanediol.
27. The method of claim 21, further comprising converting the deprotected hydroxyl group to a second functional group.
28. The method of claim 27, wherein the second functional group is selected from the group consisting of active ester, active carbonate, acetal, aldehyde, aldehyde hydrate, alkenyl, acrylate, methacrylate, acrylamide, active sulfone, amine, hydrazide, thiol, alkanoic acid, acid halide, isocyanate, isothiocyanate, maleimide, vinylsulfone, dithiopyridine, vinylpyridine, iodoacetamide, epoxide, glyoxal, dione, mesylate, tosylate, and tresylate.
29. A branched reactive polymer having the structure:
Y\u2014(X)p-R(\u2014X\u2032-POLY)q
wherein:
R is an aliphatic hydrocarbon having a length of at least three carbon atoms;
each POLY is a water soluble and non-peptide polymer is independently selected from the group consisting of poly(alkylene glycol), poly(oxyethylated polyol), poly(olefinic alcohol), poly(vinylpyrrolidone), poly(hydroxyalkylmethacrylamide), poly(hydroxyalkylmethacrylate), polysaccharides, poly(\u03b1-hydroxy acid), poly(vinyl alcohol), plyphosphazene, polyoxazoline, poly(N-acryloylmorpholine), and copolymers, terpolymers, and mixtures thereof covalently attached to a methoxy capping group;
X\u2032 is \u2014NH\u2014, \u2014O\u2014, or \u2014S\u2014;
X is a linker;
p is 0 or 1;
q is 2 to about 10; and
Y is a functional group.
30. A branched reactive polymer having the structure:
\u2014HO\u2014R(\u2014X\u2032-POLY)q
wherein:
R is an aliphatic hydrocarbon having a length of at least three carbon atoms;
each POLY is a water soluble and non-peptide polymer is independently selected from the group consisting of poly(alkylene glycol), poly(oxyethylated polyol), poly(olefinic alcohol), poly(vinylpyrrolidone), poly(hydroxyalkylmethacrylamide), poly(hydroxyalkylmethacrylate), polysaccharides, poly(\u03b1-hydroxy acid), poly(vinyl alcohol), plyphosphazene, polyoxazoline, poly(N-acryloylmorpholine), and copolymers, terpolymers, and mixtures thereof;
X\u2032 is \u2014NH\u2014, \u2014O\u2014, or \u2014S\u2014; and
q is 2 to about 10.
31. A biologically active conjugate, comprising a biologically active molecule covalently attached to a branched reactive polymer having the structure:
Y\u2014(X)p-R(\u2014X\u2032-POLY)q
wherein:
R is an aliphatic hydrocarbon having a length of at least three carbon atoms;
each POLY is a water soluble and non-peptidic polymer is independently selected from the group consisting of poly(alkylene glycol), poly(oxyethylated polyol), poly(olefinic alcohol), poly(vinylpyrrolidone), poly(hydroxyalkylmethacrylamide), poly(hydroxyalkylmethacrylate), polysaccharides, poly(\u03b1-hydroxy acid), poly(vinyl alcohol), plyphosphazene, polyoxazoline, poly(N-acryloylmorpholine), and copolymers, terpolymers, and mixtures thereof;
X\u2032 is \u2014NH\u2014, \u2014O\u2014, or \u2014S\u2014;
X is linker ;
p is 0 or 1;
q is 2 to about 10; and
Y is a functional group.
32. The branched polymer of claim 1, wherein the molecular weight of each POLY is selected such that the total molecular weight of the branched reactive polymer is at least about 5,000 to about 100,000 Da.
33. The branched polymer of claim 1, wherein the molecular weight of each POLY is selected such that the total molecular weight of the branched reactive polymer is at least about 5,000 to about 60,000 Da.
34. The branched polymer of claim 1, wherein the molecular weight of each POLY is selected such that the total molecular weight or the branched reactive polymer is at least about 8,000 to about 40,000 Da.
35. The branched polymer of claim 1, wherein each POLY has a molecular weight of about 2,500 to about 30,000 Da.