WO1997020139A1 - Engine modifier - Google Patents
Engine modifier Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO1997020139A1 WO1997020139A1 PCT/GB1996/002952 GB9602952W WO9720139A1 WO 1997020139 A1 WO1997020139 A1 WO 1997020139A1 GB 9602952 W GB9602952 W GB 9602952W WO 9720139 A1 WO9720139 A1 WO 9720139A1
- Authority
- WO
- WIPO (PCT)
- Prior art keywords
- vessel
- fuel
- conduit
- liquid
- pressure
- Prior art date
Links
Classifications
-
- F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
- F02—COMBUSTION ENGINES; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS
- F02M—SUPPLYING COMBUSTION ENGINES IN GENERAL WITH COMBUSTIBLE MIXTURES OR CONSTITUENTS THEREOF
- F02M31/00—Apparatus for thermally treating combustion-air, fuel, or fuel-air mixture
- F02M31/02—Apparatus for thermally treating combustion-air, fuel, or fuel-air mixture for heating
- F02M31/16—Other apparatus for heating fuel
- F02M31/18—Other apparatus for heating fuel to vaporise fuel
-
- F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
- F02—COMBUSTION ENGINES; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS
- F02M—SUPPLYING COMBUSTION ENGINES IN GENERAL WITH COMBUSTIBLE MIXTURES OR CONSTITUENTS THEREOF
- F02M31/00—Apparatus for thermally treating combustion-air, fuel, or fuel-air mixture
- F02M31/02—Apparatus for thermally treating combustion-air, fuel, or fuel-air mixture for heating
- F02M31/04—Apparatus for thermally treating combustion-air, fuel, or fuel-air mixture for heating combustion-air or fuel-air mixture
- F02M31/06—Apparatus for thermally treating combustion-air, fuel, or fuel-air mixture for heating combustion-air or fuel-air mixture by hot gases, e.g. by mixing cold and hot air
- F02M31/08—Apparatus for thermally treating combustion-air, fuel, or fuel-air mixture for heating combustion-air or fuel-air mixture by hot gases, e.g. by mixing cold and hot air the gases being exhaust gases
-
- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
- Y02T—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION
- Y02T10/00—Road transport of goods or passengers
- Y02T10/10—Internal combustion engine [ICE] based vehicles
- Y02T10/12—Improving ICE efficiencies
Definitions
- This invention relates to the conditioning of petrol- based fuel prior to consumption by a fuel-consumption unit.
- Petrol-based fuels are light hydrocarbon liquids characterised by being highly inflammable and readily vaporisable eg at temperatures above 70°C but not explosive when heated and their handling characteristics are substantially different from other fuels, for example paraffin and diesel oil.
- the present invention provides a system for conditioning petrol-based fuel prior to consumption by a fuel-consumption unit, which system comprises : an unheated pressure vessel having a closable inlet for enabling liquid fuel in bulk to be delivered to the vessel, and an outlet with a control valve for delivering controlled quantities of conditioned fuel to the fuel- consumption unit; a treatment conduit which is close-coupled to the vessel, extends externally of the vessel, and is connected at both ends to the interior of the vessel; and means for heating a zone of the conduit; the arrangement being such that prior to the heating means being effective the volume of liquid fuel stored within the vessel is within a pre-determined range such that the vessel is only part filled with fuel in liquid form to a level which is below said outlet, part of said conduit is filled with fuel in liquid form, said conduit part including said conduit zone and the remainder of the conduit is vapour or gas filled, and the interface between the liquid and vapour phases within the vessel is of large surface area; whereby when the heating means is rendered effective the liquid fuel in said conduit
- the present invention provides a method of conditioning petrol-based fuel prior to consumption by a fuel-consumption unit, comprising the steps of : delivering an initial bulk volume of liquid fuel to the interior of a pressure vessel such that the vessel is only initially part filled with fuel in liquid form; extracting a proportion of the liquid from the vessel,* heating the extracted proportion to achieve at least partial expansion and vaporisation thereof; circulating at least some of the heated and vaporised extracted proportion back into the pressure vessel whilst maintaining the pressure vessel essentially unheated; substantially instantaneously condensing at least some of the extracted portion in the pressure vessel and continuously continuing the aforesaid heating and circulatory steps to establish a pressure within the vessel with the co-existence therein of expanded liquid and vapour phases of the fuel; and delivering a controlled quantity of conditioned fuel from the vessel to the fuel consumption unit, the conditioned fuel being essentially a portion of the vapour phase of the fuel in the circulation and the delivery being provided by the pressure within the vessel .
- the system conditions the fuel by expanding the liquid and vapour phases to an extent dependent upon the heat supplied by the heating means and the substantially instantaneous condensation which occurs at the interface surface area, as a result of which the conditioned fuel delivered to the fuel-consumption unit is of enhanced combustion efficiency and is capable of being combusted essentially in its entirety with minimal production of toxic by-products.
- the conditioned fuel delivered to the fuel-consumption unit is of enhanced combustion efficiency and is capable of being combusted essentially in its entirety with minimal production of toxic by-products.
- the present invention conditions bulk quantities of petrol-based liquors, of the order of litres, as distinct from minute or droplet quantities.
- the pressure vessel may take any convenient shape which relative to the bore of the treatment conduit provides the required magnitude of interface surface area to achieve the required substantially instantaneous condensation.
- the interface surface area is, of course, essentially a horizontal surface area.
- the vessel may be elongate with either a circular or elliptical cross-section; it may be rectilinear, spherical or ovoid. Typically it requires to contain relative pressures in the range 2-20 psi or even up to 3000 psi, to withstand fuel from the conduit arriving at temperatures of from ambient up to about 250°C or even to superheated temperatures, for most consumption units and yet to remain essentially unheated.
- the outlet is essentially a port or pipe located in an upper part of the pressure vessel above the initial level of liquid therein.
- the control valve may take any convenient form which permits a pressure tight seal to be established during initial heating of the system and the attendant pressure build-up in the vessel. Thereafter, when the valve is opened, it requires to regulate the quantity of conditioned fuel expelled from the vessel.
- the treatment conduit may take any one of a wide variety of forms provided it is suitably connected at each end to the vessel.
- one end may connect below the initial level of liquid in the vessel and the other end is connected at or above the initial level of liquid so that only part of the conduit is itself completely filled with the liquid, this part being heated.
- the conduit requires to be of a bore size larger than a minimum size at which circulation blockage occurs within the conduit.
- the cross-sectional shape of the conduit may be any convenient shape which is substantially continuous and free of significant discontinuities.
- the conduit requires to withstand the same pressure range as the vessel and essentially the same temperature range but that zone of the conduit to which heat is applied is subjected to an elevated temperature.
- both ends of the conduit connect at the initial liquid level of liquid in the vessel and the conduit lies in the horizontal plane such that the entire length of the conduit is part filled with liquid.
- the bore size of the conduit requires to be larger than the aforesaid minimum size and the initial liquid level requires to be maintained throughout consumption of fuel by the controlled addition of fresh unconditioned fuel.
- the treatment conduit may lie in the horizontal plane or in the vertical plane or in any intermediate plane. It may also have parts which lie in any combination of these planes.
- the heating means may take any form and may provide heat to the zone of the conduit either directly or indirectly.
- the heating means may be an electrical heater or a burner having a flame directly incident on the conduit.
- the burner may be powered with fuel such as a small portion of the conditioned fuel expelled from the pressure vessel.
- the heating means may be a heat exchanger carrying a heated fluid in contact with the conduit.
- the heated fluid of the heat exchanger may be a liquid such as water or a gas such as the exhaust gas from the fuel-consumption unit. Any combination of the aforesaid or other heating arrangements may be utilised either simultaneously or consecutively to provide any desired amount of heat to the conduit.
- the heating means is effective upon the specified zone of the conduit which is a portion of the conduit containing fuel in liquid form in the first instance.
- the zone may therefore be of any length, from only a small proportion of the total length of the conduit to a very large proportion of the total length of the conduit.
- the zone of the conduit may be entirely filled with liquid or may only be partly filled with liquid.
- the total length of the conduit however requires to be limited in relation to the size of the vessel so that the two are ' close- coupled' by which is meant that the condensing function undertaken in the vessel is confined to the vessel by virtue of the conduit not being of excess length which would lead to cooling and condensing of the vapours in the conduit .
- the petrol-based fuel may also take any form which has a liquid phase at ambient temperatures.
- liquid is intended to encompass a very wide range of viscosities provided that when the fuel is initially delivered in bulk to the pressure vessel it is capable of flowing within a suitably short time to establish the required initial liquid levels. Clearly this is achieved when the fuel is in the form of petrol.
- the fuel-consumption unit may take a wide variety of forms.
- it may be an internal combustion engine in which case the conditioned fuel from the system is fed essentially directly to the engine as is a supply of combustion air.
- the latter need not be regulated in volume and engine speed is controlled by the control valve of the system. If the air intake to the engine is regulated in volume the regulator is preferably ganged to the system control valve, for example by a mechanical linkage.
- the fuel-consumption unit may be a furnace.
- the furnace may for example be a central- heating furnace.
- Fig. 1 schematically illustrates a first view of the system
- Fig. 2 schematically illustrates a second view of the system
- Fig. 3 illustrates a modification to the Fig 1 system.
- the drawing shows a system 10 for conditioning petrol- based fuel (which may be petrol) prior to consumption by a fuel-consumption unit 11 (which may be in the form of an internal combustion engine) .
- Fuel to be treated is delivered to the system 10 from a source 12 (which may be a bulk tank) and prior to operation of the system is held, in bulk, in an unheated pressure vessel 13 which has a closable inlet 14, and an outlet 15 provided with a control valve 16 for delivering controlled quantities of conditioned fuel to the unit 11.
- a treatment conduit 18 extends externally of the vessel 13 but is close-coupled thereto and is connected at each end to the interior of the vessel 13.
- Conduit 18 is of substantially uniform bore and includes along its length a zone 19 which is associated with a heat source 20.
- source 20 is conveniently a heat exchanger fed with the exhaust gases of the engine, for example delivered at various ports 20A and exiting from port 20B.
- inlet 14 provides a level control for the fuel initially delivered to the vessel 13 and achieves a liquid level 22 such that the vessel 13 is only part filled with fuel in liquid form, this being below the level of the outlet 15 and, in this case, half flooding the conduit 18 throughout its length.
- Conduit zone 19 is therefore part filled with liquid fuel.
- Conduit 18 is essentially horizontal as shown in Fig. 2.
- the circulation is continuous and entrains the liquid fuel within the vessel 13 below the interface surface and at a location remote from the incoming heated circulation to the vessel so that essentially all of the fuel is expanded and in co-existing liquid and vapour phases travelling in the circulation.
- the net effect of the continuous circulation and the condensation occurring within the vessel 13 is to establish a positive pressure within vessel 13 and when valve 16 is opened, in a regulatory manner, a portion of the circulation is expelled due to the pressure in the vessel 13 and is delivered to the unit 11 to be consumed in the pressure of air which may be delivered thereto in any convenient manner and without requiring regulation.
- the resulting combustion within the unit 11 is essentially achieved completely and with minimal production of toxic by-products .
- a further charge of fuel may be delivered to the vessel 13 from the fuel source 12 which for this purpose requires to deliver at a pressure greater than that prevailing in the vessel 13.
- the heat source 20 is a heat exchanger utilising heat from the exhaust gases of the consumption unit 11, there would need to be a start-up facility for unit 11, for example using a conventional fuel supply system in order to generate initial heat for initiating the conditioning of the fuel in the vessel 13.
- This start-up facility could be shut down on a manual or on an automatic basis after a period of time to permit control valve 16 to be operated thereafter for delivery of the conditioned fuel directly to the consumption unit 11.
- an alternative heat source 20 could be used.
- the vessel 13 may be about 9 inches in length and having a diameter of about 3 inches as a result of which the interface surface area of the liquid phase in the vessel is about 27 square inches.
- the conduit 18 may have a diameter of about 1 inch throughout its length. The length of conduit 18 is about 15 inches.
- the two ends of the conduit 18 connect with the vessel 13 at the same level (but not directly opposite) whereas in the Fig 3 embodiment one end of the conduit 18 connects to the top of vessel 13 and the other end connects to the bottom of the vessel 13.
- the Fig 3 embodiment provides improved controllability of the fuel consumption unit 11.
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
- Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
- Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
- General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Feeding And Controlling Fuel (AREA)
- Production Of Liquid Hydrocarbon Mixture For Refining Petroleum (AREA)
Abstract
Description
Claims
Priority Applications (6)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
NZ322986A NZ322986A (en) | 1995-11-29 | 1996-11-29 | Engine modifier in the form of a petrol-based fuel conditioner |
EP96940026A EP0864041A1 (en) | 1995-11-29 | 1996-11-29 | Engine modifier |
JP9520291A JP2000503090A (en) | 1995-11-29 | 1996-11-29 | Engine improver |
KR1019980704025A KR19990071747A (en) | 1995-11-29 | 1996-11-29 | Engine Controls and Methods |
AU77032/96A AU7703296A (en) | 1995-11-29 | 1996-11-29 | Engine modifier |
NO982437A NO982437L (en) | 1995-11-29 | 1998-05-28 | Conditioning of benzene based fuel |
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
GB9524360.6 | 1995-11-29 | ||
GBGB9524360.6A GB9524360D0 (en) | 1995-11-29 | 1995-11-29 | Engine modifier |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
WO1997020139A1 true WO1997020139A1 (en) | 1997-06-05 |
Family
ID=10784610
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/GB1996/002952 WO1997020139A1 (en) | 1995-11-29 | 1996-11-29 | Engine modifier |
Country Status (10)
Country | Link |
---|---|
EP (1) | EP0864041A1 (en) |
JP (1) | JP2000503090A (en) |
KR (1) | KR19990071747A (en) |
AU (1) | AU7703296A (en) |
CA (1) | CA2239098A1 (en) |
GB (1) | GB9524360D0 (en) |
NO (1) | NO982437L (en) |
NZ (1) | NZ322986A (en) |
WO (1) | WO1997020139A1 (en) |
ZA (1) | ZA9610010B (en) |
Citations (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
GB1198841A (en) * | 1967-02-21 | 1970-07-15 | Henry James Boswell | Apparatus for Introducing Petrol in a Gaseous Form into an Internal Combustion Engine |
DE2826976A1 (en) * | 1978-06-20 | 1980-01-03 | Gerhard Waschkuttis | Medium heavy fuel mixture combustion system - with mixt. heater above boiling point for delivery of vapour and air to engine |
US4306531A (en) * | 1979-11-06 | 1981-12-22 | William Mouradian | Device for improving gasoline fuel consumption |
WO1986004116A1 (en) * | 1985-01-12 | 1986-07-17 | Genie Economy Components Limited | Additional liquid fuel vaporizer for internal combustion engine |
-
1995
- 1995-11-29 GB GBGB9524360.6A patent/GB9524360D0/en active Pending
-
1996
- 1996-11-28 ZA ZA9610010A patent/ZA9610010B/en unknown
- 1996-11-29 JP JP9520291A patent/JP2000503090A/en active Pending
- 1996-11-29 AU AU77032/96A patent/AU7703296A/en not_active Abandoned
- 1996-11-29 CA CA002239098A patent/CA2239098A1/en not_active Abandoned
- 1996-11-29 KR KR1019980704025A patent/KR19990071747A/en not_active Application Discontinuation
- 1996-11-29 NZ NZ322986A patent/NZ322986A/en unknown
- 1996-11-29 WO PCT/GB1996/002952 patent/WO1997020139A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
- 1996-11-29 EP EP96940026A patent/EP0864041A1/en not_active Withdrawn
-
1998
- 1998-05-28 NO NO982437A patent/NO982437L/en not_active Application Discontinuation
Patent Citations (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
GB1198841A (en) * | 1967-02-21 | 1970-07-15 | Henry James Boswell | Apparatus for Introducing Petrol in a Gaseous Form into an Internal Combustion Engine |
DE2826976A1 (en) * | 1978-06-20 | 1980-01-03 | Gerhard Waschkuttis | Medium heavy fuel mixture combustion system - with mixt. heater above boiling point for delivery of vapour and air to engine |
US4306531A (en) * | 1979-11-06 | 1981-12-22 | William Mouradian | Device for improving gasoline fuel consumption |
WO1986004116A1 (en) * | 1985-01-12 | 1986-07-17 | Genie Economy Components Limited | Additional liquid fuel vaporizer for internal combustion engine |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
JP2000503090A (en) | 2000-03-14 |
NO982437D0 (en) | 1998-05-28 |
KR19990071747A (en) | 1999-09-27 |
NZ322986A (en) | 1998-11-25 |
EP0864041A1 (en) | 1998-09-16 |
ZA9610010B (en) | 1997-07-31 |
CA2239098A1 (en) | 1997-06-05 |
AU7703296A (en) | 1997-06-19 |
GB9524360D0 (en) | 1996-01-31 |
NO982437L (en) | 1998-07-29 |
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