Internal-combustion engines – Engine speed regulator – Responsive to deceleration mode
Patent
1988-01-19
1990-03-27
Dolinar, Andrew M.
Internal-combustion engines
Engine speed regulator
Responsive to deceleration mode
123345, 123347, 123 9016, 123 904, 123 9061, 60323, F02D 1304
Patent
active
049111248
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention concerns means by which piston internal combustion engines, in particular those made for diesel fuel operation, may be converted to operate upon gaseous fuels.
Gaseous fuels have been used in the piston internal combustion engine in a minor way from the earliest days of its development. Until the Oil Shock of 1973, liquid fuels were, except in times of war, in ample supply at a relatively low price. Where gaseous fuels were employed, they were either a readily-available by-product of an industrial process such as sewer gas, or an alternative fuel available in a remote location such as producer gas used in mining operations.
Considerable experimentation has been undertaken into the use of gaseous fuels in the piston internal combustion engine and their use is well-known in the art. Generally speaking, however, the lower cost of gaseous fuels has not proved sufficiently attractive to enable them to supplant the more conveniently-handled and stored liquid fuels. As a result of the substantial increase in the price of petroleum products since 1973, this has now changed.
The price increase has stimulated considerable experimentation into the use of alternative fuels. Those most freely available for automotive use, and which have attracted considerable interest from the road transport industry, are natural gas and the group of fuels known generally as liquefied petroleum gas. The principal constituent of natural gas is methane and the most suitable for automotive use of the liquefied petroleum gas group is propane.
Both gasoline and diesel-powered engines are currently being converted to operate on gaseous fuels. However, it is widely accepted that, because of the lower calorific value of the gaseous fuel, the converted engine will suffer a decrement in power output. The principal cause of this power decrement is the fact that the gaseous fuel constitutes some ten percent by volume of the total charge inducted into the engine. In contrast, the atomised fuel droplets carried in the inducted airstream of a conventionally-carburetted gasoline-powered engine constitute, by volume, only a very small percentage of the total charge volume. The displacement of charge air by the gaseous fuel reduces the amount of oxygen available for combustion and thus, by reducing the amount of fuel which can be burned, reduces the power output of the engine. The provision of a so-called free-flow exhaust system may compensate for the power loss in a minor way by improving volumetric efficiency.
Diesel-powered engines are currently being converted to gaseous fuel operation in two ways. In the first method, the diesel operating principle is retained in an engine, gaseous fuel being fed into the induction system at an increasing rate as an increase in engine power is required. Diesel fuel flow is held to a minimum of approximately fifteen percent of normal, to ensure adequate injector cooling. Gaseous fuel flow is controlled simply by valves mechanically linked to the throttle, or by a more complex micro processor-controlled system. The basic shortcoming of this supplementary fuel system is the fact that the complicated, expensive and fuel quality-sensitive diesel fuel system must be retained and further complicated by the requirement for an additional fuel storage, supply and metering system. Although this arrangement fails to realise the energy potential of the fuel, fuel cost savings have been sufficient to make conversion attractive.
A more effective conversion of diesel-powered engines is achieved by the complete replacement of the diesel fuel system with a gaseous fuel system and the provision of a spark ignition system. In some cases, the camshaft is modified or replaced and the compression ratio of the engine is altered to suit the octane rating of the new fuel.
Although both of the diesel engine conversion methods outlined have been employed in automotive engines, they have been most successfully applied to engines employed in stationary, sustained-load type operations such as water pumping, well-head natural gas p
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Bennett Automotive Technology Pty. Ltd.
Dolinar Andrew M.
LandOfFree
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