Prosper L'Orange
Encyclopedia
Prosper L'Orange was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...

 and inventor who pioneered the precombustion chamber (or prechamber), which made possible high-speed diesel engine
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...

s that did not require an air compressor, and enabled them to be built small enough for use in road vehicles.

Career

L'Orange moved to Germany and studied engineering at the Technical University of Berlin
Technical University of Berlin
The Technische Universität Berlin is a research university located in Berlin, Germany. Translating the name into English is discouraged by the university, however paraphrasing as Berlin Institute of Technology is recommended by the university if necessary .The TU Berlin was founded...

 in Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, named after Queen consort Sophia Charlotte...

, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. After his studies he worked for Gasmotoren-Fabrik Deutz AG
Deutz AG
Deutz AG is an engine manufacturer, based in Cologne, Germany.-History:The company was founded by Nikolaus Otto, inventor of the four-stroke internal combustion engine, in 1864 as N. A...

 as a research engineer from 1904, and from 1906 as research director. In October 1908, L'Orange moved from Deutz to Benz & Cie. in Mannheim
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....

, where be became head of Stationary Engine Construction. From 1912, on he was also a member of the Board of Directors.

In 1909, while working at Benz, he patented a precombustion chamber (DRP 230517, 14 March 1909) which made possible compact, lightweight diesel engines.

L'Orange was director of the Motoren Werke Mannheim AG (MWM) from 1922, which was formed that year when Carl Benz split up the engine division of his company.

Precombustion chamber

The precombustion chamber patented in 1909 by L'Orange connects to the engine cylinder via a restricted passage, or burner. In operation, a narrow cone of fuel is sprayed down towards the burner by the single orifice injector
Injector
ʎ̩An injector, ejector, steam ejector, steam injector, eductor-jet pump or thermocompressor is a pump-like device that uses the Venturi effect of a converging-diverging nozzle to convert the pressure energy of a motive fluid to velocity energy which creates a low pressure zone that dɯaws in and...

 nozzle. At this time the technology did not exist to manufacture nozzles with multiple orifices and diesels used high pressure air to spray the fuel directly into the cylinder. L'Orange also discovered that indirect injection
Indirect injection
In an internal combustion engine, the term indirect injection refers to a fuel injection where fuel is not directly injected into the combustion chamber...

 diesel engines ran more smoothly and quietly than direct injection
Direct injection
Direct injection may refer to:*A music recording technique more commonly referred to as Direct Input*A method of fuel injection for an internal combustion engine, as in a gasoline direct injection petrol engines and most diesel engines...

 engines. Use of a precombustion chamber also reduced stress on the engine's structure, so that it could be made less heavy than a direct injection engine. However, indirect injection engines require higher compression ratios, about 20:1, to compensate for the greater surface to volume ratio causing more heat loss from the cylinder charge. They are also more difficult to start when cold, therefore the precombustion chambers are fitted with electrically heated glowplugs.

Legacy

In September 1933, L'Orange's son Rudolf (1902–1958) founded Gebrüder L'Orange Motorzubehör GmbH, whose modern-day successor is L'Orange GmbH
L'Orange GmbH
L'Orange GmbH is a German company specializing in the design and creation of injection solutions for medium and high speed off-highway diesel engines. It became a member of the Tognum group in 2006. Founded by Rudolf L'Orange in 1933 in the town of Feuerbach, L'Orange designs and manufactures...

. The company's shares were bought from the L'Orange family in 1979 by ITT Automotive, and it was later bought by MTU München in 1985, and MTU Friedrichshafen
MTU Friedrichshafen
MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH is a manufacturer of commercial internal combustion engines founded by Wilhelm Maybach and his son Karl Maybach in 1909...

 in 1995, until finally becoming a member of the Tognum
Tognum
Tognum AG is the name of a German industrial concern, formed when private equity fund EQT IV acquired several divisions of DaimlerChrysler. All units are to assume the corporate brand, but will otherwise operate independently....

 group in 2006. The company is still prominent in injection technology for large four-stroke-cycle engines. Besides diesel direct injection, it also supplies gasoline direct injection
Gasoline direct injection
In internal combustion engines, gasoline direct injection , also known as petrol direct injection or direct petrol injection, is a variant of fuel injection employed in modern two-stroke and four-stroke gasoline engines...

 systems.

The fuel injection systems of the Daimler-Benz DB 605
Daimler-Benz DB 605
|-See also:-Bibliography:* Gunston, Bill. World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines. Cambridge, England. Patrick Stephens Limited, 1989. ISBN 1-85260-163-9* Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II. London. Studio Editions Ltd, 1989. ISBN 0-517-67964-7...

 aircraft engine (as used in the Messerschmitt Bf 109
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid 1930s...

 WW2 fighter and manufactured postwar under licence by Svenska Flygmotor) were equipped with L'Orange fuel injectors fed by a Bosch
Robert Bosch GmbH
Robert Bosch GmbH is a multinational engineering and electronics company headquartered in Gerlingen, near Stuttgart, Germany. It is the world's largest supplier of automotive components...

 injection pump.

External links

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