A vehicular propulsion system, a vehicular fuel system and a method of operating an internal combustion engine. A separation unit that makes up a part of the fuel system may selectively receive and separate at least a portion of onboard fuel and a flowable adsorbent in order to separate the fuel into octane-enhanced and cetane-enhanced fuel components. A controller may be used to determine a particular operating condition of the internal combustion engine such that the onboard fuel can be sent to one or more combustion chambers within the internal combustion engine without first passing through the separation unit during one operating condition, or instead to the separation unit in situations where the internal combustion engine may require an octane-rich or cetane-rich mixture in another operating condition.

A pump module is disposed on a bottom portion of a fuel tank in the fuel tank. The pump module includes a suck-up unit for sucking up a fuel and a plurality of engaged portions. A bracket includes a base portion, a plurality of engaging portions, and a flow path. The base portion is a frame member fixed to the bottom portion and surrounding the pump module in a state where a lower end portion is in contact with the bottom portion. The engaging portions protrude from the base portion toward an upper side of the fuel tank and are respectively engaged with the engaged portions of the pump module. The flow path is disposed in the base portion and allows an inside of a frame of the base portion and an outside of the frame of the base portion to communicate with each other.

A vehicular propulsion system, a vehicular fuel system and a method of operating an internal combustion engine. A separation unit that makes up a part of the fuel system may selectively receive and separate at least a portion of onboard fuel and a flowable adsorbent in order to separate the fuel into octane-enhanced and cetane-enhanced fuel components. A controller may be used to determine a particular operating condition of the internal combustion engine such that the onboard fuel can be sent to one or more combustion chambers within the internal combustion engine without first passing through the separation unit during one operating condition, or instead to the separation unit in situations where the internal combustion engine may require an octane-rich or cetane-rich mixture in another operating condition.

A fuel system for a motor vehicle includes a fuel pump having a first pump outlet connectable to an engine fuel inlet and a second pump outlet, a fuel pump module including an internal volume, a fuel pump module outlet is arranged in the internal volume fluidically connected to the second pump outlet, and a fuel valve is fluidically connected to the second pump outlet. The fuel valve is operable to fluidically isolate the fuel pump from the fuel pump module when fuel in the internal volume reaches a selected fuel level.

A method for regulating a fuel delivery system of an internal combustion engine in a motor vehicle having a fuel delivery pump for supplying the internal combustion engine with fuel, the fuel delivery pump having a pump mechanism driveable by an electric motor actuable by a control signal, and a pressure-sensor-free pressure monitor being provided in the fuel delivery system, includes: predefining a target rotational speed for the electric motor based on the control signal; predefining an upper rotational speed limit and/or a lower rotational speed limit for the target rotational speed, wherein the upper rotational speed limit depends on the maximum fuel requirement of the internal combustion engine, and the lower rotational speed limit depends on the minimum fuel requirement of the internal combustion engine; and determining the target rotational speed by a pressure-sensor-free calculation method.

A power system including a variable volume combustion chamber for a two-stroke engine having a controlled exhaust port, a fuel injector to the combustion chamber and an oxygen injector to the combustion chamber. The oxygen injector provides repeated oxygen injection pulses to complete a charge. The controlled exhaust port includes an oscillating rotatably mounted valve. A source of pressurized concentrated oxygen to the oxygen injector is in a closed case having a ceramic fiber membrane. An air inlet and a waste outlet are in communication with a first side of the ceramic fiber membrane. An oxygen outlet is in communication with a second side of the ceramic fiber Ionic transport membrane. The case has a heat transfer surface in communication with the controlled exhaust port from the combustion chamber.

Methods and systems for evaluating whether or not a fuel amount that is greater than a threshold has been release to an engine via fuel injectors when the fuel injectors are commanded off are presented. In one example, an oxygen sensor is activated and engine cranking is prevented until a pumping current of the oxygen sensor is proportionate to a concentration of oxygen sensed via the oxygen sensor so that released fuel may be observed during engine starting.

A vehicle traveling control method includes detecting a remaining fuel amount in a fuel tank including a fuel chamber in which a suction port of a fuel pump is disposed for sucking fuel to be supplied to an engine, the fuel tank being configured to generate negative pressure for sucking fuel to the fuel chamber by ejecting a part of fuel sucked by the fuel pump into the fuel chamber via a fuel line, permitting, when a predetermined condition is satisfied, inertial traveling during which a vehicle travels, with the engine kept stopped, operating, when the detected remaining fuel amount is less than a first threshold, the fuel pump despite the engine stopped owing to the inertial traveling, and prohibiting stop of the engine when the detected remaining fuel amount is less than a second threshold smaller than the first threshold.

A method and system for predicting the occurrence of a knock which will have a predetermined intensity or higher (intense knock) in an engine that burns an air-fuel mixture of gasoline fuel. The pressure in a combustion chamber is detected during an initial stage of combustion. This pressure is compared with a preset reference value to determine whether or not the cylinder inner pressure exceeds the reference value during the combustion. When the cylinder inner pressure exceeds the reference value, it is predicted that the intense knock will occur before an end of the combustion. If the intense knock is predicted, additional fuel or other material can be injected into the combustion chamber to prevent the occurrence of the intense knock.

Methods and systems for evaluating whether or not a fuel amount that is greater than a threshold has been release to an engine via fuel injectors when the fuel injectors are commanded off are presented. In one example, an oxygen sensor is activated and engine cranking is prevented until a pumping current of the oxygen sensor is proportionate to a concentration of oxygen sensed via the oxygen sensor so that released fuel may be observed during engine starting.