Internal Combustion Engine Exhaust Gas Recirculation Mixing Chamber
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing internal combustion engines face challenges in further reducing fuel consumption and emissions while maintaining efficient operation.
Innovation Solution
The exhaust gas recirculation line opens into a mixing chamber with a tapered inlet funnel and nozzle, injecting recirculated exhaust gas into a liquid dispersion medium containing water and fuel, creating a fuel-in-water emulsion, which is then heated and used for combustion, with a control valve for air metering to optimize engine operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-generated harmful factors
If a water/fuel mixture is used to reduce fuel consumption and emissions, then emissions and fuel consumption are reduced, but the complexity of the fuel delivery system increases due to additional valves and mixing mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the water injection system and fuel injection system into a single common rail delivery system. The common rail (23) serves as a shared pressure vessel for both water and fuel, with separate injection nozzles (19, 20) that can be controlled independently. This merging approach reduces the number of separate high-pressure pumps and control valves needed, thereby reducing system complexity while maintaining the ability to deliver water/fuel mixtures for emission reduction.
2Productivity
If exhaust gas is recirculated through a heat exchanger to vaporize fuel, then combustion efficiency is improved, but the thermal energy available for vaporization is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a pre-vaporization chamber (15) where fuel is vaporized before entering the main combustion chamber. This preliminary vaporization action ensures that fuel is already in gaseous form when it enters the combustion zone, improving combustion efficiency. The pre-vaporization chamber is heated by a separate heating element rather than relying solely on exhaust gas heat exchange, thereby preserving thermal energy in the exhaust stream for other purposes.
3Manufacturing precision
If multiple injection nozzles are used to deliver water and fuel separately, then precise control of the water/fuel ratio is achieved, but the device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates sensors (28) that monitor the water/fuel mixture composition and provide feedback to the control unit (26). The control unit adjusts the operation of injection nozzles (19, 20) and the common rail (23) pressure based on this feedback to maintain the desired water/fuel ratio. This closed-loop feedback control achieves precise ratio control while using a relatively simple injection architecture, avoiding the need for complex mechanical mixing devices or multiple independently controlled high-pressure systems.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables low-emission, efficient operation with reduced fuel consumption, suitable for both Otto and diesel engines, achieving high thermal efficiency and low emissions while minimizing construction volume and cooling requirements.
Implementation Method 1
downstream of the mixing chamber the inlet tract is thermally connected to the outlet tract via a heat exchanger, which heat exchanger is preferably designed as a counterflow heat exchanger, wherein the gaseous dispersion medium absorbs thermal energy from the exhaust gas in the heat exchanger
Implementation Method 2
an exhaust gas recirculation line connecting the outlet tract and the inlet tract for recirculating at least a portion of the exhaust gas produced during the combustion of the fuel into the inlet tract
Implementation Method 3
A mixing chamber (13) arranged in the inlet tract (7) for forming a dispersion of recirculated exhaust gas and a liquid dispersion medium containing water and fuel
Implementation Method 4
the combustion of the fuel
Data Source
Figure 1~2
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for operating an internal combustion engine (1) with a liquid or gaseous fuel, wherein at least a portion of the exhaust gas produced during combustion of the fuel is recirculated into an intake tract (7), wherein a fuel-containing liquid medium is provided in a mixing chamber (13) of the intake tract (7) and recirculated exhaust gas is introduced into said liquid medium contained in the mixing chamber (13), the medium is at least partially converted to a gaseous state and this gas mixture is passed through a heat exchanger (10) which is thermally connected to an outlet tract (8), and wherein, in the heat exchanger (10), the gaseous medium absorbs thermal energy from the exhaust gas. In order to provide a further reduction of the emissions and the fuel consumption in the simplest manner possible, the liquid medium contained in the mixing chamber (13) is formed by a dispersion medium (16), the dispersion medium (16) being formed by a mixture of water and fuel, and the gaseous dispersion medium absorbs thermal energy from the exhaust gas in the heat exchanger (10) arranged in the intake tract (7).