Parametric Design of Helical Intake Ports

The design of helical Intake ports for swirl generation is a process that has been developed over a number of years through primarily empirical methods. A number of design rules have been established that enable designers to develop ports that approach the state-of-the-art for maximum swirl generation with minimum pressure loss. More recently, computer-aided design (CAD) tools have been introduced that permit geometry and features to be accurately defined by mathematical surface descriptions, and to be parameterized such that derived geometry is updated automatically along with parent features. The author has developed a parametric design approach for helical ports that incorporates the lessons learned from experience into a systematic design procedure. This procedure takes advantage of the current CAD capabilities to expedite the design process and improve the result. The finished design is easily transferred to rapid prototyping processes for flow box production or CNC machining for casting patterns, assuring faithful reproduction of the design in hardware. This paper outlines the design process, including the key steps in implementing and developing a parameterized design.