Method and system for improving fuel economy and reducing emissions of internal combustion engines
10494993 ยท 2019-12-03
Assignee
Inventors
Cpc classification
Y02T10/30
GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
F02B2043/106
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F02D41/0027
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F02B43/00
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F02B43/12
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F02D19/08
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F02M21/02
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F02M25/12
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F02D41/30
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
International classification
F02B43/12
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F02D41/00
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F02M25/12
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F02M21/02
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F02D19/08
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
Abstract
A method and system for improving the fuel economy and lowering the emissions of internal combustion engines by injecting predetermined amounts and ratios of on-board or locally generated hydrogen and oxygen to the engine's air intake and varying the gas addition volume and hydrogen/oxygen ratio as a function of the operating conditions, e.g., in line with the instant engine load.
Claims
1. A system for improving fuel economy of an internal combustion engine which combusts a carbon based fuel with air supplied by an air intake, the system comprising: a first source for supplying hydrogen gas; a second source for supplying oxygen gas, the second source being separate from the first source; a third source for supplying the carbon based fuel; a control logic subsystem adapted to continuously monitor one or more engine operating parameters to determine, on an ongoing basis and in real-time, a pre-determined ratio of hydrogen gas to oxygen gas and a pre-determined total volume thereof to be injected into the air intake of the internal combustion engine to enhance the fuel economy thereof; and a metering subsystem coupled to the first source, the second source and the air intake of the internal combustion engine, the metering subsystem configured to independently select pre-determined volumes of hydrogen gas and oxygen gas in the pre-determined ratio from corresponding first and second sources, and provide the selected hydrogen and oxygen gases to the air intake of said internal combustion engine for combustion with the carbon based fuel such that a lag time between the determination of the pre-determined ratio and volume of hydrogen gas and oxygen gas by the control logic subsystem and provision of the selected hydrogen and oxygen gases by the metering subsystem to the air intake is maintained below a predetermined response threshold.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the control logic subsystem is configured to use regression analysis of at least one independent variable, selected from the one or more engine operating parameters, regressed against at least one dependent variable, selected from the one or more engine operating parameters, to determine the pre-determined ratio and total volume of the hydrogen gas and the oxygen gas.
3. The system of claim 1, further comprising: an on-board electrolysis system configured to generate hydrogen gas and oxygen gas in real-time, wherein the hydrogen gas is subsequently provided to the first source and the oxygen gas is subsequently provided to the second source.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first source and the second source are located on-board and in proximity to the internal combustion engine to respectively supply, via the metering subsystem, a rapidly changing determination of the pre-determined ratio and the volumes of the hydrogen and oxygen gases by the control logic subsystem.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein the metering subsystem, being controlled by the control logic subsystem, is automatically configured to select higher volumes of hydrogen gas and oxygen gas if the control logic subsystem detects an instant engine load lower than a threshold load than if the control logic subsystem detects an instant engine load higher than the threshold load.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein the metering subsystem, being controlled by the control logic subsystem, is automatically configured to select a lower ratio of hydrogen gas to oxygen gas if the control logic subsystem detects an instant engine load lower than a threshold load than if the control logic subsystem detects an instant engine load higher than the threshold load.
7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the system is installed on a vehicle and the hydrogen gas and oxygen gas are generated on-board the vehicle electrochemically from energy provided by the fuel.
8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the ratio between the hydrogen gas and the oxygen gas varies in the range of 10/1 to 1/1.0.
9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the total volume of the hydrogen gas and the oxygen gas is in the range of 0.01 to 5 liter per minute per liter of engine displacement.
10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the control logic subsystem and metering subsystem are automated and wherein the monitoring time interval is equal to or less than once a day.
11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the monitoring time interval is approximately 1 second or less.
12. The system according to claim 1, wherein the control logic subsystem is located at a central data hub remote from the internal combustion engine, and data between the control logic subsystem and the internal combustion engine is transmitted wirelessly.
13. The system according to claim 1, wherein the control logic subsystem is located proximate to the internal combustion engine.
14. The system according to claim 2, wherein the at least one independent variable is selected from the group consisting of: instantaneous drive engine load, average drive engine load, average percentage time at load, average overall engine load, instantaneous revolutions per minute, average revolutions per minute, average percentage time at revolutions per minute, instantaneous speed, average speed, vehicle speed limit, instantaneous trip miles traveled, average trip miles traveled, instantaneous odometer mileage, idle, average idle percentage, instantaneous percentage EGR, average percentage EGR, instantaneous oxygen levels, average oxygen levels, diesel particulate regeneration, instantaneous ambient air temperature, average ambient air temperature, fuel type, average load requirement, average gross vehicle weight, instantaneous GPS positioning, average GPS positioning, instantaneous wind data, average wind data, instantaneous accelerometer reading, average accelerometer reading, instantaneous calculated engine load, average calculated engine load, flat expected topography, hilly expected topography, mountainous expected topography, and combinations thereof, and wherein the at least one dependent variable is selected from the group consisting of instantaneous or average fuel economy, fuel consumption, brake specific fuel consumption, power generation per BTU, thermal efficiency, NOx, NMHC, CO, CO2, particulate matter concentrations, and combinations thereof.
15. The system according to claim 1, wherein the control logic subsystem uses a statistical method on the one or more engine operating parameters to determine the optimal gas ratio and volume settings for improved combustion, fuel economy or thermal efficiency.
16. The system according to claim 1, further comprising an auxiliary power system which converts excess hydrogen into electrical power.
17. A method for improving the fuel economy of an internal combustion engine which combusts a carbon based fuel with air supplied by an air intake, the method comprising: continuously monitoring, by a control logic subsystem, one or more engine operating parameters of the internal combustion engine; determining, by the control logic subsystem, in real-time, a ratio of hydrogen gas to oxygen gas to be added to the air intake of the internal combustion engine based on the engine operating parameters; determining, by the control logic subsystem, in real-time, a total hydrogen gas and oxygen gas volume to be added to the air intake based on the engine operating parameters; and independently selecting, by a metering subsystem coupled to the control logic subsystem, the determined ratios and total volume of hydrogen gas and oxygen gas from respective separate sources and providing the selected hydrogen and oxygen gases to the air intake of said internal combustion engine for combustion with the carbon based fuel such that a lag time between the determination of the ratio and total volume of hydrogen gas and oxygen gas by the control logic subsystem and provision of the selected hydrogen and oxygen gases by the metering subsystem to the air intake is maintained below a predetermined response threshold.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein respective sources of the hydrogen gas and oxygen gas are located on-board and in proximity to the internal combustion engine to respectively supply, via the metering subsystem, a rapidly changing determination of the determined ratio and the total volume of the hydrogen and oxygen gases by the control logic subsystem.
19. The method of claim 17 further comprising: determining, by the control logic subsystem, an instant engine load based on the engine operating parameters, wherein if the instant engine load is detected to be lower than a threshold load, higher volumes of hydrogen gas and oxygen gas, and a lower ratio of hydrogen gas to oxygen gas is provided to the air intake than if the instant engine load is detected to be higher than the threshold load.
20. The method of claim 17, further comprising: generating at least a part of the hydrogen gas and the oxygen gas by means of water electrolysis.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) The invention will be better understood with reference to the attached drawings, in which:
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION
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(9) The control logic subsystem and/or the metering subsystem can be a manual system, requiring human intervention to perform either or both of the monitoring and control functions, alternatively, in a preferred embodiment, the decision logic, or metering functions can be fully automated. Moreover, these programs can be executed either locally (i.e. in the case of a truck, in a stand alone control system), or remotely by transmitting data to a central data hub, or a combination of the two.
(10) The monitoring and control system 10 can use logic regression analysis of at least one engine operating condition or parameter (e.g. average trip engine load) or other statistical methods to determine optimal gas ratio and volume settings.
(11) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Suitable Monitoring and Control Data Inputs and Outputs Independent Variables Input Dependent Variables Input Drive engine load I/A Fuel economy I/A Percentage time at load A Fuel consumption I/A Overall engine load A BSFC (if available) I/A RPM I/A Power generation per BTU I/A Percentage time at RPM A Non ECM data Speed I/A (emissions primarily) Vehicle Speed Limit Y/N NO.sub.x levels I/A Trip Miles travelled I/A NMHC levels I/A Odometer mileage I CO levels I/A Idle Y/N CO2 levels I/A Idle Percentage A PM levels I/A % EGR I/A Brake Specific Fuel I/A Oxygen levels I/A Consumption (BSFC) Diesel Particulate Y/N Thermal efficiency I/A Regeneration Ambient Air I/A Temperature Non ECM inputs Fuel Type S/W Load requirement A Gross vehicle weight A GPS positioning I/A Wind data I/A Accelerometer reading I/A Calculated engine load I/A Expected topography F/H/M Key I = Instantaneous A = Average or trip Y = Yes M = Mountainous S = Summer fuel W = Winter fuel F = Flat H = Hilly N = No
(12) In another preferred embodiment, one of the means of determining the instant ideal gas ratio and volume is to use regression analysis comparing the fuel economy at various instant or time-averaged engine loads or according to other independent variables listed above. Care must be taken to ensure that the independent variable is in fact independent of the dependent variable (i.e. not 100% correlated or derived from the same sensor data as the dependant variable). Not surprisingly, fuel economy and engine loads are very well correlated, that is, as the engine load increases, the fuel economy (e.g., measured in miles per gallon of diesel fuel) declines. Surprisingly, however, the ideal hydrogen and oxygen ratios and the total gas volume are typically very distinctive and require hydrogen/oxygen ratios which are low at low loads and are trending higher towards high loads and total gas volumes which are high at low loads and trending lower towards high loads. Over much of the practical load operating range the hydrogen/oxygen ratios do not conform to stoichiometric ratios of hydrogen and oxygen as generated by water electrolysis, as used in the prior art, nor under other practical load situations, do the ratios conform to non-elemental ratios as used in the prior art.
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(15) First a baseline was established showing the fuel economy of the tractor/trailer without the addition of any gases (Prior Art 1: No Gas). As expected fuel economy was inversely correlated with trip engine load and specifically conformed to a linear regression, where average trip engine load=x and trip fuel economy=y as described by the formula:
y=15.758x+12.741 with an R.sup.2=0.8947
(16) This is a strong correlation and this relationship is shown as a solid line in
(17) Another four trip segments (Prior Art 2: Fixed Brown's Gas) were done on the same route with a fixed quantity of Brown's gas (1.2 l/min, 2 parts hydrogen, 1 part oxygen). This data is represented by the square markers and dashed regression line. As described in the prior art, fuel economy improved appreciably approximately 0.2 mpg (2.5%) with an average trip load of 30%, and 0.45 mpg (6.25%) at an average trip engine load of 35%.
(18) Another four trip segments (Prior Art 3: Fixed Non-Elemental Gas) were done on the same route with a fixed quantity of gas (2.0 l/min) and a non-elemental mix of 2 parts hydrogen for every 3 parts oxygen. This data is represented by the diamond markers and dotted regression line. As described in the prior art, fuel economy improved appreciably at lower average engine loads, (0.35 mpg, 4.4% at 30% average engine load) but declined from the baseline at higher average engine loads (0.015 mpg, 2.1% at 35% engine load).
(19) The results indicate that prior art 2 provides for enhanced fuel economy at high engine loads over diesel fuel only operation while reducing the fuel economy at low engine loads whereas prior art 3 provides for an enhanced fuel economy at low engine loads while reducing the fuel economy towards higher engine loads. As
(20) The tables below demonstrate the invention and the consistent and substantial improvements obtained in fuel economy for a monitoring and control system according to this invention. In this example, the same tractor/truck described above was used to generate the data. First, Program 1 was executed, using solely the average trip engine load data and resulting fuel economy over a one week period. Regression analysis was used to isolate outliers, that is specific operating zones in which fuel economy improves appreciably for a given average trip engine load. Program 1 produced a data look-up table, an excerpt of which is shown below as Table 1 for those engine load that are most prevalent for this tractor/trailer in service. This table uses an independently supplied instantaneous engine load to determine the ideal gas ratio and volume. This is a value that was available on the international CAN protocol. Note that depending on the instantaneous engine load value, varying volumes and ratios of gas additions are determined.
(21) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Illustrative Partial Output of Program 1 Instantaneous Optimum Optimum Engine Load [%] Gas Volume Gas Ratio Min Max (lpm) (H2/O2) 26.0% 27.9% 3.0 0.67 28.0% 29.9% 2.1 0.75 30.0% 31.9% 1.8 0.90 32.0% 33.9% 1.2 1.50 34.0% 35.9% 1.5 1.50 36.0% 37.9% 1.2 2.00
(22) Table 3 shows a new data set of actual instantaneous engine load and fuel economy values using the gas volumes and ratios described in Table 2 for 20 specific segments of trips. This data is generated from the same truck running on a variety of different routes and loads. These segments were at least 10 miles in length and represented over 85% of fuel consumption for this specific truck configuration and operating profile. The table also shows the percentage improvement in fuel economy over the baseline performance (prior art 1: without any gas addition), prior art 2 (fixed quantity of Brown's gas), and prior 3 (fixed quantity of non-elemental gas) using the regression analysis described on
(23) TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Fuel Economy Results Using the Invention on the Same Truck with Different Routes and Loads Inst. Inc. Inc. Inc. Engine Gas Gas Fuel vs vs vs Seg- Load Volume Ratio Economy PA 1 PA 2 PA 3 ment [%] (lpm) (H2/O2) (mpg) [%] [%] [%] 1 27.6 3.00 0.67 9.27 10.7 9.6 3.4 2 36.0 1.50 1.50 7.57 7.3 0.3 11.1 3 36.4 1.20 2.00 7.75 10.9 3.3 15.5 4 36.9 1.20 2.00 7.76 12.2 4.2 17.9 5 33.7 1.20 1.50 8.21 10.7 5.3 10.9 6 35.8 1.50 1.50 8.08 14.0 6.8 17.7 7 33.5 1.20 1.50 8.37 12.4 7.1 12.3 8 28.9 2.10 0.75 9.07 11.0 9.0 5.1 9 36.0 1.50 1.50 7.78 10.3 3.2 14.3 10 37.8 1.20 2.00 7.59 12.1 3.3 19.6 11 34.9 1.50 1.50 8.20 13.4 6.9 15.6 12 37.2 1.20 2.00 7.45 8.6 0.5 14.6 13 36.5 1.20 2.00 7.89 13.1 5.3 18.0 14 32.4 1.20 1.50 8.65 13.5 8.9 11.8 15 31.9 1.80 0.90 8.84 14.8 10.6 12.4 16 27.6 3.00 0.67 9.17 9.4 8.3 2.2 17 27.2 3.00 0.67 9.68 14.6 13.8 6.7 18 33.8 1.20 1.50 8.26 11.6 6.1 11.9 19 31.2 1.80 0.90 8.96 14.7 11.0 11.4 20 30.1 1.80 0.90 8.77 9.9 7.1 5.4 Average 8.36 11.8 6.5 11.9
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(25) The data demonstrate the impact of this invention on fuel economy over the entire engine load range. Specifically, the large dashed line in
(26) It should also be noted that higher total gas volumes do not necessarily improve fuel efficiency in contradiction to the results of Bari et. al. using Brown's gas. The maximum total gas addition needed for this engine is 3.0 lpm at lower instantaneous engine loads. The ideal total gas addition generally declines as engine load increases except for the portion between loads of 34-35.9%. To further demonstrate this point, this same truck was operated with twice the total volume of Brown's Gas (2.4 lpm) at an engine load of 38% and only achieved fuel economy of 6.67 mpg (versus approximately 7.5 with the invention and half the total gas volume). Again, this is a surprising result given Prior Art 2 mentioned earlier and indicates that the relationship is non-linear for this truck. Segments 5, 7, 14, 18 of Table 3 show the fuel economy at a total volume of gas of 1.2 lpm for a range of loads of 32-33.9% in contrast to segments 2, 6, 9, 11 where total gas is increased to 1.5 lpm for maximum benefit at loads of 34-35.9%, a non-linear portion of the relationship.
(27) Table 4 below shows the range of parameters suggested for a few engines across a variety of load profiles. Note that ideal ratios and volumes of gases are different for different engines thus requiring the invention herein to optimize fuel economy for different engines, load profiles, transmission types, fuel types etc., the primary function of Program 1 in
(28) TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Ideal Ranges of Gas Volumes and Ratios for Selected Diesel Engines Engine Engine Gas Flow (lpm) H2/O2 Ratio Manufacturer Displacement EGR Min Max Min Max Fuel Detroit Diesel S60 12.7 | No .9 4.0 0.00 2.00 Diesel Detroit Diesel 14.0 | Yes 1.0 5.0 0.00 1.50 Diesel Cummins N14 14.0 | No 0.8 3.5 0.75 2.00 Diesel Cummins ISX500 14.0 | Yes 2.0 4.8 0.25 2.00 Diesel Wartsila 18V46 1,723 | No 25 300 0.00 3.50 HFO
(29) The data clearly demonstrate that significant improvements in combustion efficiency are possible with this invention resulting in fuel economy improvements of between 2% and 25% over the prior art 1, and approximately 3-20% over the prior art 2 (fixed Brown's Gas) and 2-25% over the prior art 3 (fixed non-elemental gas). Most importantly, unlike the prior art, this invention will result in fuel usage that is between 4% to 20% lower under all, not just selected load conditions, resulting in greenhouse gas generation that in turn is 4% to 20% lower relative to a diesel engine without the inventive dynamic hydrogen and oxygen gas addition.
(30) The foregoing description of the invention has been presented describing certain operable and preferred embodiments. It is not intended that the invention should be so limited since variations and modifications thereof will be obvious to those skilled in the art, all of which are within the spirit and scope of the invention.