Cooling-means-equipped, liquid-cooled engine
A liquid-cooled engine provided with cooling means for cooling an area surrounding a combustion chamber using a cooling liquid cooled by a radiator and caused to flow through a cooling passage. The cooling passage is embedded inside a cylinder block and a cylinder head. The cooling passage is formed in a continuous fashion such that the cooling liquid is introduced from the radiator to cool an area surrounding the combustion chamber, and thereafter returns to the radiator by looping around an area surrounding an exhaust valve for opening and closing an exhaust port of the combustion chamber.
1. A cooling-means-equipped, liquid-cooled engine comprising:
an engine body including a cylinder block, a cylinder head, a piston movably disposed in the cylinder block to undergo reciprocating movement, a combustion chamber defined between the cylinder block, the cylinder head and the piston, an exhaust port formed in the cylinder head in communication with the combustion chamber, and an exhaust valve for opening and closing the exhaust port;
a radiator; and
a cooling passage connected to the radiator and configured to guide a cooling liquid cooled in the radiator to flow therethrough to thereby cool an area surrounding the combustion chamber of the engine body and an area surrounding the exhaust valve,
wherein the cooling passage comprises a single pipe embedded in the cylinder head and formed in a continuous fashion to constitute a single unbranching passage, the pipe having a combustion chamber cooling passage section embedded along an outer periphery of the combustion chamber, and an exhaust port cooling passage section continuous with the combustion chamber cooling passage section and embedded along the area surrounding the exhaust valve.
2. The engine of claim 1 , wherein the cylinder block and the cylinder head are integrally formed.
3. The engine of claim 1 , further comprising: a pump driven by the engine for circulating the cooling liquid through the cooling passage; a cam for driving an intake valve and the exhaust valve for opening and closing the combustion chamber; and a hollow cam shaft pivotally supporting the cam and serving as a portion of the cooling passage, the hollow cam shaft rotatably supporting thereon the pump.