Propulsion device

By integrating a supercharger to compress air flow and utilizing internal engine-generated water flow for combustion, the propulsion system addresses inefficiencies in air and water supply, enhancing efficiency and reducing environmental impact.

JP7622982B2Active Publication Date: 2025-01-28CURRENT DYNAMICS CO LTD
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Patent Information

Application Number
JP2020185429
Authority / Receiving Office
JP · JP
Patent Type
Patents
Current Assignee / Owner
Filing Date
2020-10-19
Publication Date
2025-01-28
Estimated Expiration
2040-10-19

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

Existing ship propulsion systems using internal combustion engines face challenges in efficiently supplying air and water for combustion at varying ship speeds, requiring external equipment and large valves that can lead to power loss and inefficiencies.

Method used

The system integrates a supercharger or turbocharger to compress air flow and supply it to the propulsion device, using internal combustion engine-generated water flow for combustion, eliminating the need for external air and water supply systems and optimizing water flow at any ship speed.

Benefits of technology

This approach enhances propulsion efficiency by reducing power loss and equipment complexity, enabling efficient combustion at all speeds while minimizing environmental impact.

✦ Generated by Eureka AI based on patent content.

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Abstract

To provide a high-performance ship propulsion system by combining a combustion propulsion device with a jet propulsion ship, where the combustion propulsion device propels a ship with the pressure generated by intermittently burning mixed combustible fuels such as hydrogen with air.SOLUTION: A new ship propulsion system uses an air flow generated by a supercharger and a turbocharger in a jet propulsion ship, and uses a water flow generated by jet propulsion and propeller propulsion as air and water needed to be introduced into the combustion chamber of a combustible gas. The new ship propulsion system with high practicality and environmental performance taking advantage of each feature is configured by introducing this water and air into a combustible fuel combustion chamber and igniting it intermittently, and does not necessarily require the compressed air and a water intake from outside of the ship separately for the ship.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1
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Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a propulsion device, and more particularly to a marine jet propulsion system or a propeller-propelled ship propelled by an internal combustion engine, which is equipped with an air flow supply section generated by a supercharger or turbo pump equipped to the internal combustion engine, and a propulsion device (hereinafter also referred to as a "combustion injection device") that uses pulsed combustion of combustible gas and air or oxygen to displace surrounding water and propel the vessel as a jet, and is driven by supplying air from the air flow supply section to the combustion injection device.

[0002] This invention relates to a ship propulsion system for a marine jet propulsion vessel propelled by an internal combustion engine, which comprises a water flow supply unit capable of using part or all of the generated water flow, and a combustion injection device that propels the vessel as a jet flow by pulsating combustion of combustible gas and air or oxygen, and which drives the combustion injection device by receiving water supply from the water supply unit piping. Also relates to a ship propulsion system for a marine jet propulsion vessel propelled by an internal combustion engine, which comprises an air supply unit capable of using part or all of the air flow generated in an air flow supply unit generated by a supercharger or turbo pump equipped on the internal combustion engine, and a combustion injection device that propels the vessel as a jet flow by pulsating combustion of combustible gas and air or oxygen, and which drives the combustion injection device by receiving air supply from the air supply unit piping. [Background technology]

[0003] Jet propulsion ships and propeller propulsion ships propelled by internal combustion engines have been developed and have supported marine transportation for many years. In recent years, interest has been focused on purifying exhaust gas, and on developing environmentally friendly ship propulsion systems while reducing costs. In the propulsion devices described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, a device has been developed in which fuel, which is mainly gaseous, is mixed with air and ignited, and the high temperature expansion pressure is used to accelerate water and use it as a jet to accelerate the ship, reducing exhaust gas and enabling high-speed navigation through powerful injection. This method eliminates the disadvantages of power loss, such as contact resistance between the piston and cylinder and rotational resistance of each part, associated with reciprocating engines. There are also propulsion devices known that have few friction points in the main drive mechanism, have a simple structure, cause little water pollution and noise, and are easy to handle. Specifically, according to Patent Document 1, the propulsion device generates thrust by the reaction of water sprayed from a nozzle, and is equipped with a combustion chamber consisting of a cylindrical container arranged below the waterline of the hull, an exhaust port opening at the rear end of the combustion chamber, a check valve arranged at the front end of the combustion chamber and allowing only inflow, a combustible gas injection valve that presses in combustible gas containing oxygen and fuel so that at least the ignition position of the combustion chamber is covered after the combustion chamber is filled to a specified amount with fluid injected through the check valve, an ignition plug that can ignite the combustible gas covering the ignition position, and a control unit that causes the combustible gas injection valve and the ignition plug to function in a specified sequence.

[0004] Furthermore, Patent Document 2 discloses a method in which the propulsion device does not use an ignition plug, but instead installs a glow plug that ignites continuously in the combustion chamber, thereby further simplifying the electrical control system.

[0005] Reciprocating engines that use fossil fuels cause not only air pollution from exhaust but also water pollution from the oil they emit. Moreover, the reality is that they have no choice but to use large amounts of fossil fuels, even though they are scarce and expensive.

[0006] An invention that uses the above-mentioned reciprocating engine in a ship hull is found in Patent Document 3. Paragraph

[0002] of this Patent Document 3 states that "conventional ship hulls generate driving force by burning combustible gas, which is a mixture of air and fuel, inside a cylinder."

[0007] On the other hand, a ship engine is known as a propulsion device that generates thrust without the need for a screw, which eliminates contact resistance and rotational resistance to reduce power loss, and also reduces carbon dioxide emissions and the use of scarce fossil fuels.Specifically, a water bottle is placed in the center, an explosion chamber is provided at the front upper part via a check valve, an injection port is provided at the front lower part via a check valve, a leakage detector is attached to the water bottle, and an ignition chamber with a mixed gas injection port is attached to the explosion chamber (Patent Document 4).

[0008] Also known is a ship propulsion engine that can navigate a ship in shallow waters, is less prone to breakdowns, and can be made smaller.Specifically, this engine is equipped with a combustor that injects liquid hydrogen from a liquid hydrogen injection tube into a combustion chamber and liquid oxygen from a liquid oxygen injection tube into the combustion chamber, bringing the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into contact with each other in the combustion chamber to ignite and burn them, and a propellant supply system that supplies liquid hydrogen to the liquid hydrogen injection tube of the combustor and liquid oxygen to the liquid oxygen injection tube (Patent Document 5). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0009] [Patent Document 1] JP 2016-107665 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2016-103948 A [Patent Document 3] JP 2007-69791 A [Patent Document 4] JP 2010-52503 A [Patent Document 5] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 8-150998 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0010] However, in the jet propulsion systems described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, the air required for burning the combustible gas for propulsion had to be obtained from a compressed air tank or a compressor installed on the ship, and the necessary equipment had to be installed.

[0011] In addition, in the jet propulsion described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, water for propulsion had to be obtained from outside the ship through a valve. In this case, water had to be supplied to the combustion chamber at high speed in response to the injection of water by pulsed combustion, and therefore a large amount of water had to be injected into the combustion chamber through a check valve at a high speed corresponding to the ship's speed. In particular, when the ship's speed was low, the natural flow of water from outside the ship was slow, and it took time to supply a large amount of water to the combustion propulsion device. In addition, for high-speed repeated injection, the response speed of the large-diameter check valve into which the water flowed also had to be improved. [Means for solving the problem]

[0012] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to use a jet propulsion or propeller propulsion ship driven by an internal combustion engine, and to use all or a part of the airflow generated by a supercharger or turbocharger pump by the rotation of the internal combustion engine and supply it to the propulsion device. In this case, the internal combustion engine may simply be a device for supplying air and water, or it may be a composite ship propulsion device that also uses propulsion by the internal combustion engine.

[0013] In the present invention, in a jet propulsion vessel driven by an internal combustion engine, all or part of the large amount of jet stream generated during propulsion is used as water for propulsion of the combustion propulsion device, making it possible to input a large amount of water as water for generating a high-speed water stream in the combustion propulsion device regardless of the vessel speed. In this case, the water stream generated by the electric jet propulsion vessel may be used instead of the internal combustion engine.

[0014] The inventions described in claims 1 and 2 show that in the ship propulsion system 100 of FIG. 1, a large amount of compressed air produced by a supercharger or turbocharger provided on the internal combustion engine of a jet propulsion ship 101 including a personal watercraft is mixed with fuel gas 103 and intermittently combusted to generate high-temperature, high-pressure gas, which is ejected from water ejection pipes 105, 106 by pushing water in a combustion tube 301. It goes without saying that one or more combustion propulsion devices may be installed on a ship. FIG. 1 shows an example in which two combustion propulsion devices are installed. The jet propulsion ship itself may also be equipped with a water discharge pipe 107 alone, and may be propelled by discharging water outside the ship by rotating an impeller driven by the internal combustion engine. By supplying water and air flows from the jet propulsion ship to the jet propulsion ship combustion tube 301, the ship can also be propelled by the jet water flow of the combustion propulsion device alone. The valve control unit 104 is a control unit that controls the injection amount of the combustible gas injection valve and the timing of intermittent injection. In addition, electromagnetic valves (not shown) are installed between the water supply unit and the propulsion pipe, and between the water supply unit of the jet propulsion vessel and the nozzles of the water ejection pipes 104, 105. Figure 2 shows an example of the connection relationship of each component of this system. Figure 3 shows the combustion unit of a combustion propulsion device, and combustion unit 300 is an embodiment of this embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS EXAMPLES [Brief description of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing an overview of a marine vessel propulsion system (hereinafter, also referred to as "this system") according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

[0016] [Diagram 2] 1 is a schematic diagram showing the arrangement and interrelationships of devices in a marine vessel propulsion system (hereinafter referred to as "the system") according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3]1 illustrates a combustion section of a combustion propulsion device in a ship propulsion system (hereinafter referred to as "this system") according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

[0017] Hereinafter, the combustion propulsion system (this system) according to the embodiment will be described with reference to Figs. 1 to 3. Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the outline of this system. Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the arrangement and interrelationships of the devices in the marine propulsion system (hereinafter also referred to as "this system"). Fig. 3 shows the combustion section of the combustion propulsion device. The valve control unit 104 is a control unit that controls the injection amount of the combustible gas injection valve (5) and the timing of intermittent injection. It is also connected to each valve attached to ports 302, 303, and 304 attached to the combustion section 301 shown in Fig. 3, and is attached between the water supply unit and the propulsion pipe of the jet propulsion ship, and on the opposite side to the water supply unit and the water ejection pipes 104 and 105 of the jet propulsion ship. Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the arrangement and interrelationships of the devices. This figure shows an embodiment in which two combustion propulsion devices are mounted on a ship. In the marine propulsion system 200, 201 is a jet propulsion ship, and in this figure, the case of a personal watercraft is illustrated as an example. This jet propulsion vessel 201 is equipped with an internal combustion engine 202. A supercharger or turbocharger 205 is installed in the internal combustion engine 202 for the purpose of compressing engine intake air and supplying it to the engine cylinder, and a part or all of the generated pressurized air is supplied to the combustion section of the combustion propulsion device by air supply piping sections 208, 209 via electromagnetic valves (not shown).

[0018] The jet propulsion vessel 201 propels itself by spraying water overboard through a water discharge pipe 212, and the water, accompanied by the regenerated pressure, is supplied from the water discharge pipe 212 to the combustion section of the combustion propulsion device through water supply piping sections 208 and 209 via a valve (not shown) to the combustion section 301 of the combustion propulsion device.

[0019] A fuel gas container 203 installed on the hull stores a flammable liquid fuel such as hydrogen gas, LPG, natural gas, or alcohol, and air from air supply pipes 208, 209 and water from a water discharge pipe 212 are supplied to a combustion section 300 shown in Fig. 3 at an appropriate timing through combustion gas pipes 210, 211. Water from the water discharge pipe 212 is supplied from port 304, air from air supply pipes 208, 209 is supplied from port 302, and combustion gas is supplied to 303 through pipes 210, 211, and then ignited by ignition unit 305 in the combustion section, and the water pushed out from inside the combustion section 300 is discharged from a water ejection pipe 212 of the combustion injection device to provide propulsive force for the ship. The positions and shapes of the ports shown in Fig. 3 are merely examples, and needless to say, may be modified depending on the size of the entire propulsion system, the required output, etc. [Explanation of symbols]

[0020] 100 Ship propulsion system, 101 Jet propulsion ship, 102 Supercharger, 103 Fuel gas container, 104, Valve control unit, 105 106 Water ejection pipe of combustion injection device, 107 Water ejection pipe of jet propulsion ship, 200 Ship propulsion system, 201 Jet propulsion ship, 202 Jet propulsion ship internal combustion engine, 203 203a 204 Fuel gas (hydrogen, natural gas, LPG, etc. combustible gas) container, 205 Supercharger or turbocharger, 206, 207 Water supply piping, 208 209 Air supply piping, 210, 211 Fuel gas supply piping, 212 Water ejection pipe of jet propulsion ship, 213, 214 Water ejection pipe of combustion injection device, 215 Valve control unit, 216 Water ejected by jet propulsion ship, 217, 218 Water ejected by combustion injection device, 300 Combustion section, 301 combustion tube, 302 combustion input section, 303 air input section, 304 water input section, 305 ignition electric input section

Claims

1. A ship propulsion system for a marine jet propulsion vessel or propeller propulsion vessel propelled by an internal combustion engine, comprising: an air flow supply section generated by a supercharger or turbo pump equipped on the internal combustion engine of the vessel; a combustion injection device which is a propulsion device which propels the vessel as a jet flow by pulsed combustion of combustible gas and air or oxygen, displacing surrounding water; and a water flow supply section which supplies part or all of the jet flow or propeller jet flow obtained when the vessel is propelled as water for propulsion to the combustion injection device, and which is driven by intermittent combustion and water injection by supplying air from the air flow supply section to the combustion injection device and supplying propulsion water from the water flow supply section to the combustion injection device.

2. A ship propulsion system for a marine jet propulsion vessel propelled by an internal combustion engine, comprising a water flow supply unit that enables part or all of the jet stream generated when the vessel is propelled to be used as propulsion water for a combustion injection device, and a combustion injection device that uses pulsed combustion of combustible gas and air or oxygen to displace surrounding water and propel the water as a jet stream, and drives the combustion injection device by supplying water from the water flow supply unit.

3. 2. A ship propulsion system as described in claim 1, in which the combustion injection device, which uses pulsed combustion of combustible gas and air or oxygen to displace surrounding water and propel the ship as a jet, is used in a jet-propelled ship or a propeller-propelled ship as a simple air and water supply device, and the ship can travel without necessarily requiring a separate compressed air supply on the ship.

4. 2. A ship propulsion system as described in claim 1, comprising a combustion injection device which uses pulsed combustion of combustible gas and air or oxygen to displace surrounding water and propel the ship as a jet, and a jet propulsion system or a propeller propulsion system using an internal combustion engine, wherein the ship does not necessarily require a separate compressed air or overboard water intake section, but rather uses a jet propulsion ship or a propeller propulsion ship as an air and water supply device for the combustion injection device, and can also use the propulsive force of the jet propulsion ship or the propeller propulsion ship itself to navigate.

Citation Information

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