Internal-combustion engines – Charge forming device – Crankcase vapor used with combustible mixture
Patent
1986-09-17
1987-06-23
Cross, E. Rollins
Internal-combustion engines
Charge forming device
Crankcase vapor used with combustible mixture
123568, 60278, 60320, F02B 4708
Patent
active
046744630
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to internal combustion engines comprising a combustion chamber, delivery means to deliver inert carrier gas, combustion supporting gas and fuel into the combustion chamber, means to cause the fuel to combust in the combustion chamber and means to exhaust exhaust gas from the combustion chamber. More particularly, the invention relates to engines which are capable of operating efficiently where free-atmospheric air is not available, for example under water or where communication/connection with the atmosphere is undesirable such as in certain types of mine.
For example, in the operation of a diesel engine, a mixture of an inert carrier gas and a combustion supporting gas such as oxygen is delivered through an inlet valve to a combustion chamber in a cylinder of the engine and the mixture within the cylinder is compressed, producing a rise in temperature of the mixture which is sufficient to cause the fuel to combust, the fuel is then injected into the cylinder whereupon it combusts. Thereafter products of combustion of the fuel comprising, mainly, carbon dioxide and water vapour, are exhausted from the cylinder with the inert carrier gas and residual combustion supporting gas. The rise in temperature produced is dependent upon the compression ratio of the engine and on gamma, the ratio of specific heat at constant pressure (C.sub.p) to the specific heat at constant volume (C.sub.V). A normal diesel engine uses air, the nitrogen of the air constituting a majority of the inert carrier gas and the oxygen of the air constituting the combustion supporting gas and gamma is approximately 1.4.
Difficulty is encountered where atmospheric air is not freely available. In such circumstances the delivery of combustion supporting gas must be provided for from a contained supply thereof, such as oxygen from a bottle. It is also necessary to provide for delivery of the inert carrier gas but the delivery of carrier gas by such a means is preferably dispensed with.
DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART
Suggestions have been made (R. Thompson and A. Fowler of Newcastle Uviversity) initially to introduce air into the combustion chamber and then to remove from the exhaust gas the excess carbon dioxide produced by combustion of the fuel by the use of potassium hydroxide and to use the thus treated exhaust gases comprising essentially nitrogen, as the inert carrier gas with oxygen added thereto to provide the required proportion of combustion supporting gas, which is introduced into the combustion chamber in a subsequent cycle(s) of the engine.
However, the quantity of potassium hydroxide required to treat the exhaust gas to achieve a sufficiently high carbon dioxide removal rate can, under certain operating conditions, present a serious problem.
An object of the invention is to overcome this problem.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of operating an internal combustion engine in which there is introduced into a combustion chamber, inert carrier gas, combustion supporting gas and fuel, the fuel is caused to combust in the combustion chamber and exhaust gas is exhausted from the combustion chamber wherein the exhaust gas is treated with water to remove from the exhaust gas and absorb in the water an amount of carbon dioxide generally equal to the quantity of carbon dioxide added by said combustion, and the thus treated exhaust gas is returned to the combustion chamber to provide the carrier gas.
The invention solves the problem mentioned above (which arises by using potassium hydroxide to treat the exhaust gas) by treating with water.
Preferably, the carrier gas comprises a significant proportion of carbon dioxide.
One of the criteria governing the quantity of carbon dioxide soluble in water is not the total pressure at which the exhaust gas is treated but the partial pressure of each gas in the mixture. For example, in the case of a normal diesel engine, the partial pressure of the carbon dioxide content is about 10% of the total pressure, and it has
REFERENCES:
patent: 3559402 (1971-02-01), Stone
patent: 3618576 (1971-11-01), Dixon
Duckworth David K.
Morley Frederick W.
Cosworth Engineering Limited
Cross E. Rollins
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