Internal combustion engines

Details Internal combustion engines Internal combustion engines

1993-03-17

1994-12-20

Argenbright, Tony M.

Internal-combustion engines

Charge forming device

Heating of combustible mixture

123525, 123557, F02G 500, F02M 3100

Patent

active

053738250

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to internal combustion engines and to add-on devices adapted to be used in conjunction with them to improve their performance, and also to vehicles incorporating such engines.
There have been very many proposals to provide an add-on device to an internal combustion engine to improve its power, fuel economy, or reduce emissions. One of the known proposals is that of French patent No. 576 434 which discloses a device which takes carburetted fuel and passes it into an electrically heated pipe so as to vaporise the droplets of fuel before delivering it to the engine. The engine can be run on light or heavy fuel, the electrical heater being disconnected when light fuel is used. The proposed device suffers from the problem of coking up due to the deposition of unburned solid residue.
It is also known from GB 2 169 654 to provide a complex system to add mineral oil vapour to the air inlet to an internal combustion engine, the mineral oil vapour being produced at a relatively low temperature in a multiple turn helical coil. The mineral oil preferred by the proprietors of GB 2 169 654 is paraffin. This too is liable to suffer from problems of coking up.
The present invention provides a relatively simple add-on device to improve the performance of an internal combustion engine.
According to a first aspect of the invention we provide a device for attachment to the air supply of an internal combustion engine, the device comprising chamber means defining a volatising chamber, an energy source provided in the chamber, fluid inlet means to the chamber, and a gas/vapour outlet from the chamber, the fluid inlet means comprising air inlet means for admitting air to the chamber and delivery means for delivering hydrocarbons, hereinafter referred to as oil, to the chamber, the arrangement being such that oil entering the chamber is gasified in the chamber and the air/gasified oil mixture leaves the chamber via the gas/vapour outlet, the gas/vapour outlet being adapted for connection to the air supply of an internal combustion engine.
Preferably the energy source is an electrical heater or glow plug.
It has been found that adding gasified oil to the air drawn into an engine improves the burning of the conventional petrol or diesel fuel in the engine. In many engines the conventional fuel can be more completely burned when the gasified oil is added.
Preferably the oil which is added is diesel fuel oil, but a range of hydrocarbons can be totally gasified by appropriate selection of the power of the electrical heater.
In a preferred embodiment the delivery means delivers the oil in droplets to the chamber. The delivery means preferably adds the oil to the air before it enters the chamber.
An outer chamber containing the oil may surround the volatilising chamber.
The fluid inlet may comprise a venturi or the like which creates suction adjacent an oil inlet orifice of the venturi thereby drawing oil into a stream of air entering the chamber. The oil inlet may be at about the mid-point of a venturi restriction. The oil may be pre-heated before it enters the venturi.
The heater may be surrounded by a metal sleeve. The sleeve may serve to create a large area of metal at substantially the same high temperature so that the oil droplets entrained in the incoming air stream are gasified at substantially the same temperature, no matter where they hit the sleeve. A portion of the oil (b.r 163.degree.-390.degree. C. for some European diesel fuel) entering the chamber (annular space temperature substantially 250.degree. C.) will be vaporised before reaching the surface of the sleeve.
The chamber may be generally annular in a cross-section and may be defined between the outer surface of the sleeve and the inner surface of a surrounding wall.
The oil may be drawn from the vehicle's diesel fuel tank, or from a reservoir of oil, and an oil return passageway may be provided from the chamber to the reservoir so that oil which condenses in the chamber, or which is not gasified, can be returned to the reservoir. This should not

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