Multi-Fuel Engine Ratio Control for Emissions and Fuel Depletion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems for mobile assets operating on multiple fuels face challenges in optimizing fuel usage while meeting emission standards, particularly in determining the right fuel combustion ratio to avoid fuel exhaustion and ensure emission compliance, especially when fuels have varying costs and availability along a route.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that determine a fuel combustion ratio based on route information and fuel market data to ensure that the first fuel does not exhaust before the second fuel, using a fuel controller to adjust the amounts of each fuel delivered to the engine, and a fuel optimizing unit to optimize fuel utilization while maintaining emission compliance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If a multi-fuel engine operates with varying fuel combinations to optimize cost and availability, then fuel cost efficiency is improved, but determining the correct fuel combustion ratio becomes complex to avoid fuel exhaustion and meet emission standards
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary calculations of projected fuel exhaustion for multiple fuel types before operation begins. The fuel optimizing unit determines fuel combustion ratios in advance based on route information, fuel availability, and engine characteristics, allowing the engine to operate efficiently without complex real-time decision-making.
Solution Approach 2:
The fuel optimizing unit acts as an intermediary between the fuel supply system and engine operation. It receives fuel level information and route data, processes this information to determine optimal fuel combustion ratios, and outputs control signals to the fuel injection system, simplifying the overall control architecture.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If the engine uses a higher proportion of premixed fuel to reduce NOx and PM emissions, then emission levels are improved, but the fuel-air mixture and injection timing must be precisely adjusted
Solution Approach 1:
The fuel injection system dynamically adjusts injection timing and fuel-air mixture ratios based on the selected fuel combustion ratio. The system can switch between different injection strategies (direct injection for diesel, port injection for natural gas) and adjust parameters in real-time to maintain optimal combustion while meeting emission targets.
3Reliability
If the system monitors fuel levels and adjusts combustion ratios in real-time to prevent fuel exhaustion, then operational reliability is improved, but the control system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback control by continuously monitoring fuel levels in multiple fuel tanks and adjusting the fuel combustion ratio accordingly. The fuel optimizing unit receives feedback on fuel consumption rates and remaining fuel quantities, and modifies injection parameters to ensure neither fuel type is exhausted before the other, maintaining reliable continuous operation.
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 that mobile assets operate efficiently by preventing fuel exhaustion and maintaining emission levels within predefined thresholds, optimizing fuel costs, and ensuring continuous operation by managing fuel usage based on real-time data and market conditions.
Implementation Method 1
compression-ignition engines, operate by directly injecting a fuel (e.g., diesel fuel) into compressed air in one or more piston-cylinder assemblies, such that the heat of the compressed air ignites the fuel-air mixture
Implementation Method 2
The direct fuel injection atomizes the fuel into droplets, which evaporate and mix with the compressed air in the combustion chambers of the piston-cylinder assemblies
Implementation Method 3
combusting the first fuel and the second fuel at a fuel combustion ratio in at least one cylinder of the engine
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments of methods and systems related to operating a mobile asset are provided. In one example, a method for operating a mobile asset includes adjusting a fuel combustion ratio of a plurality of mobile assets based on an emission type exceeding a corresponding threshold, wherein the fuel combustion ratio includes a plurality of fuel types.