Liquefied Fuel Heat Exchanger Boiling Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fuel supply systems for internal combustion engines face inefficiencies in vaporizing liquefied fuel when engine coolant temperatures are low, leading to inadequate heat flux and incomplete vaporization.
Innovation Solution
A fuel supply system with a heat exchanger having a heat exchanging wall between liquefied fuel and engine coolant passages, where the flow rate of liquefied fuel and engine coolant are adjusted to optimize nucleate or transition boiling, ensuring a heat flux near its local maximum, thereby ensuring complete vaporization of liquefied fuel.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If the temperature of engine coolant is low, then the fuel supply system can operate, but the heat flux from engine coolant to liquefied fuel decreases and vaporization becomes insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the flow rate parameters of both engine coolant and liquefied fuel to optimize the heat transfer process. By controlling the flow rates to achieve nucleate or transition boiling in the liquefied fuel passage, the system maintains effective heat flux even when engine coolant temperature is low, ensuring complete vaporization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes phase transition (boiling) of the liquefied fuel in the heat exchanger. By controlling the boiling process to occur in nucleate or transition boiling regime near the boundary between nucleate and transition boiling, the system achieves efficient heat transfer and complete vaporization of the fuel.
2Productivity
If the flow rate of engine coolant is increased to improve heat flux, then vaporization efficiency improves, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the flow rate parameters by controlling them to achieve the optimal boiling regime (nucleate or transition boiling) in the liquefied fuel passage. This parameter optimization ensures maximum vaporization efficiency with minimum energy consumption, avoiding excessive coolant flow that would waste energy.
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 ensures efficient vaporization of liquefied fuel, even at low engine coolant temperatures, by maintaining a heat flux near its local maximum, effectively supplying heated and vaporized fuel to the internal combustion engine.
Implementation Method 1
a heat exchanger that has a heat exchanging wall between a liquefied fuel passage and an engine coolant passage
Implementation Method 2
Heat of engine coolant is generally utilized to heat and vaporize liquefied fuel
Implementation Method 3
nucleate boiling or transition boiling of the liquefied fuel in the set flow rate occurs near a boundary between nucleate boiling and transition boiling in the liquefied fuel passage
Implementation Method 4
vaporize liquefied fuel and supply the liquefied fuel to the internal combustion engine
Data Source
AI summary
A fuel supply system for an internal combustion engine includes a heat exchanger that has a heat exchanging wall between a liquefied fuel passage and an engine coolant passage. Heated and vaporized fuel flowing out from the liquefied fuel passage of the heat exchanger is supplied to the internal combustion engine. A flow rate of liquefied fuel supplied to the liquefied fuel passage of the heat exchanger is set. A flow rate of engine coolant supplied to the engine coolant passage of the heat exchanger is determined on the basis of a temperature of the engine coolant supplied to the engine coolant passage of the heat exchanger such that nucleate boiling or transition boiling of the liquefied fuel in the set flow rate occurs near a boundary between nucleate boiling and transition boiling in the liquefied fuel passage.