Fuel Burner Ignition Timing for Hydrocarbon Emission Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional burner operations in the exhaust gas tract of engines lead to high emissions of hydrocarbons due to fuel deposition on spark plugs and housing walls, particularly during startup, as the fuel does not ignite immediately upon arrival, resulting in inefficient combustion and increased emissions.
Innovation Solution
Synchronizing fuel metering and ignition in the burner to ensure that fuel reaches the ignition apparatus at the correct time, with preheating measures to facilitate quicker vaporization and formation of an ignitable mixture, and adjusting the ignition duration to prevent fuel deposition and ensure efficient combustion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-generated harmful factors
If fuel is delivered to the burner without synchronized ignition, then the catalytic converter can be heated, but fuel deposits on the spark plug and housing walls causing high hydrocarbon emissions
Solution Approach 1:
The ignition apparatus is activated before fuel delivery begins, pre-heating the spark plug and surrounding housing walls. This preliminary thermal preparation ensures that fuel vaporizes and ignites immediately upon contact with hot surfaces, preventing liquid fuel deposition and subsequent incomplete combustion that would generate hydrocarbon emissions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs periodic cycles of ignition activation followed by fuel delivery, with precise timing control. The ignition apparatus operates in synchronized periods that match the fuel injection duration, creating a rhythmic pattern of heating and combustion that maintains stable burning while minimizing unburned fuel accumulation on surfaces.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If fuel is ignited immediately upon arrival at the spark plug, then wall deposition of fuel is minimized, but precise synchronization of fuel metering and ignition is required
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit monitors the actual ignition timing and fuel delivery rate, adjusting the ignition apparatus activation duration and timing based on feedback from temperature sensors and flow meters. This closed-loop control automatically compensates for variations in fuel properties and environmental conditions, achieving precise synchronization without complex manual calibration.
Solution Approach 2:
The ignition apparatus automatically adjusts its own operation based on the thermal state of the burner components. As the spark plug and housing walls heat up during operation, the ignition timing and duration are self-regulated to maintain optimal combustion conditions, reducing the need for external control intervention and simplifying the overall system architecture.
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 minimizes fuel deposition and emissions by ensuring timely ignition and preheating, leading to faster and more stable combustion, thereby reducing raw emissions and achieving better catalytic converter heating efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
the ignition apparatus, for example a spark plug, is operated in temporal synchronization with the fuel metering into the burner in order to ignite fuel upon reaching the ignition apparatus
Implementation Method 2
In order to generate an ignition spark, an ignition coil or its primary winding can be recharged (in the case of classical coil ignition) up to a predetermined minimum energy or a current value. The current increases during the charging time starting from zero. At a desired ignition time, the current flow through the primary winding is then interrupted, thereby inducing a voltage and raising it in a secondary winding.
Implementation Method 3
with preheating measures to facilitate quicker vaporization and formation of an ignitable mixture
Data Source
AI summary
A method for operating a fuel-operated burner (3) downstream of an engine (1) and upstream of a catalytic converter (4), comprising an actuation of an ignition apparatus (12) of the burner (3) during a pre-definable preheating phase, without delivering fuel (11) to the burner (3) during the preheating phase, and, after the end of the preheating phase, a timely delivery of fuel (11) to the burner (3) and combustion of the delivered fuel (11) in the burner (3). Further, a computing unit and a computer program product for carrying out such a method are proposed.