AIR INTAKE APPARATUS OF INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE
An air intake apparatus of an internal combustion engine includes a port portion into which fuel injected form an injection opening of an injector is introduced, an intake passage provided at an inner side of the port portion to flow an air-fuel mixture including the fuel and air, the air-fuel mixture being supplied to a cylinder provided at the internal combustion engine, and a port heater provided along an inner surface of the port portion to vaporize the fuel introduced into the intake passage. The port heater includes regions with different heat generation amounts from each other in accordance with a distribution of an adhesion amount of the fuel injected from the injection opening of the injector to the inner surface of the port portion.
1 . An air intake apparatus of an internal combustion engine, the air intake apparatus comprising:
a port portion into which fuel injected form an injection opening of an injector is introduced;
an intake passage provided at an inner side of the port portion to flow an air-fuel mixture including the fuel and air, the air-fuel mixture being supplied to a cylinder provided at the internal combustion engine; and
a port heater provided along an inner surface of the port portion to vaporize the fuel introduced into the intake passage,
the port heater including regions with different heat generation amounts from each other in accordance with a distribution of an adhesion amount of the fuel injected from the injection opening of the injector to the inner surface of the port portion.
2 . The air intake apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the port heater includes a first heat generation region and a second heat generation region, the first heat generation region generating greater heat than the second heat generation region, the first heat generation region to which greater fuel adheres than the second heat generation region.
3 . The air intake apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the port heater includes a heating wire including a plurality of folding-back portions,
the heating wire defines a first distance at the first heat generation region by folding-back at each of the plurality of folding-back portions and a second distance at the second heat generation region by folding-back at each of the plurality of folding-back portions, the first distance and the second distance being different from each other.
4 . The air intake apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein
the heating wire includes a plurality of linear portions extending in a circumferential direction of a center axis line of the port portion, the center axis line extending in a direction where the port portion extends,
the first distance in the extending direction of the port portion between the adjacent linear portions of the heating wire at the first heat generation portion is smaller than the second distance in the extending direction of the port portion between the adjacent linear portions of the heating wire at the second heat generation portion.
5 . The air intake apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the port heater includes a heat generator constituted by the single heating wire that includes a configuration conforming to configurations of the first heat generation region and the second heat generation region.
6 . The air intake apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the number of folding-back portions of the port heater where the first distance and the second distance are different from each other is smaller than the number of folding-back portions of the port heater obtained in a case where the first distance and the second distance are the same as each other.