Appeal No. 1997-2964
Application No. 08/531,103
The appellant’s invention is directed to the control of
the intake air that is supplied to an internal combustion
engine. As explained in the opening pages of the
specification, at engine idle a minimum amount of combustion
air is needed, which must increase as the engine is throttled
up to higher speeds. As the appellant points out,
conventional butterfly throttle valves are essentially closed
at idle, and during the first portion of the rotative opening
of the valve incremental changes in the angular position
result in a nonlinear increase in air flow, which is
disadvantageous. The appellant’s invention solves the problem
of precisely controlling the flow of air through a butterfly
throttle valve during the initial portion of its opening
movement.
As manifested in claim 1, the invention comprises a
throttle valve having a peripheral configuration that prevents
flow through the induction passage when the valve is in the
closed position at an angle in the range of two to twelve
degrees to the flow through the induction passage, and means
for providing bypass air flow past the throttle valve for at
least engine idle air flow when the throttle valve is in the
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