Fuel Additive Dispensing Device with Float Valve Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Internal combustion engines, particularly those with diesel common rail systems, are sensitive to fuel quality and require additives for optimal performance and particle filter regeneration, but existing dispensing systems are costly, intrusive, and fail to adapt to varying conditions, leading to excessive additive concentration and reduced autonomy.
Innovation Solution
A dispensing device that analyzes vehicle usage, travel conditions, fuel quality, and emissions to control additive injection, ensuring optimal additive concentration and extending tank autonomy by injecting additives only when needed, using sensors and control mechanisms to adjust dispensing frequency and duration based on real-time parameters.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If high-precision metering pumps and ECU management are used to control additive dispensing, then additive concentration can be maintained at optimal levels, but device complexity and cost significantly increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complex ECU management and high-precision metering pump system from the additive dispensing device. Instead of using complex electronic control, the invention uses a simple mechanical float valve system that automatically regulates additive flow based on fuel level, eliminating the need for complex electronics while maintaining effective additive concentration control
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces expensive, complex, and maintenance-intensive high-precision metering pumps with a simple, inexpensive, mechanically-based float valve system. This simpler mechanism is easier to manufacture, cheaper to replace, and requires minimal maintenance while achieving the same functional goal of additive concentration control
2Reliability
If continuous additive dispensing is implemented to maintain optimal concentration, then engine performance is improved, but additive tank autonomy is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic additive dispensing controlled by a float valve mechanism that activates only when fuel level drops below a threshold. This periodic action based on actual fuel consumption patterns maintains adequate additive concentration for engine performance while preventing excessive additive usage that would deplete the tank too quickly
Solution Approach 2:
The float valve system provides feedback based on fuel level detection. When fuel is consumed and the level drops, the float valve automatically opens to dispense additive, then closes when the fuel level rises again. This feedback mechanism ensures additive is supplied only when needed, maintaining engine performance while preserving tank autonomy
3Object-affected harmful factors
If additive is added to improve particle filter regeneration, then emission control is improved, but excessive concentration causes premature filter dirtying
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by using a float valve system that dispenses additive only to the extent needed to maintain adequate concentration for particle filter regeneration. The system avoids excessive additive dispensing by automatically closing when fuel level rises, preventing the formation of mineral residues that would prematurely dirty the filter
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a device for dispensing a liquid additive into a fuel circulation circuit (2) for an internal combustion engine, in particular for an engine equipping a vehicle, said device comprising:a tank (26) containing the additive,an enclosure (24) communicating with the fuel circulation circuit (2) and inside which the tank (26) containing the additive is inserted,means for injecting additive connected to the tank (26) and the fuel circulation circuit (2) and making it possible to dispense the additive in the fuel circulation circuit (2), andcontrol means for controlling the injection means.