COMBUSTION ENGINE

Abstract

A combustion engine for combustion of an air-fuel mixture containing air and fuel, comprising at least one temperature adjusting means for cooling or heating the air, fuel, and/or air-fuel mixture and a control unit configured to determine the methane number and/or hydrogen content of the fuel and/or air-fuel mixture, wherein the control unit is configured to control a temperature of the air, fuel and/or air-fuel mixture based on the determined methane number and/or hydrogen content by controlling the at least one temperature adjusting means.

Claims

1. A system, comprising: a controller of a combustion engine, wherein the controller is configured to: determine a knock value of a fluid flow supplied to a combustion chamber of the combustion engine, wherein the fluid flow comprises at least one fuel, and the knock value varies at least due to variations in a fuel composition of the at least one fuel; and control at least one temperature adjuster to change a temperature of the fluid flow in response to variations in the knock value caused by the variations in the fuel composition of the at least one fuel.

2. The system of claim 1, comprising the at least one temperature adjuster coupled to at least one flow path of the fluid flow.

3. The system of claim 2, comprising the combustion engine coupled to the at least one temperature adjuster.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one temperature adjuster is coupled to a fuel flow path of the at least one fuel.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one temperature adjuster is coupled to an air-fuel mixture flow path downstream from a mixer, and the mixer is configured to mix an air with at least a portion of the at least one fuel to obtain an air-fuel mixture.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one temperature adjuster is coupled to air flow path of air.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one temperature adjuster is downstream from a compressor.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the compressor is downstream from a mixer configured to mix air with at least a portion of the at least one fuel to obtain an air-fuel mixture upstream of the compressor.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one temperature adjuster comprises at least one intercooler and/or at least one fluid circuit with a temperature adjusting fluid.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to monitor a temperature of the fluid flow upstream from the at least one temperature adjuster, and control the temperature of the fluid flow based on a target knock value versus the knock value.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to: control the at least one temperature adjuster to operate to change the temperature of the fluid flow in response to the knock value not meeting a target knock value caused by the variations in the fuel composition of the at least one fuel; and control the at least one temperature adjuster to not operate in response to the knock value meeting the target knock value.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one fuel comprises hydrogen and the knock value is based at least partially on a hydrogen content of the hydrogen in the fluid flow.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one fuel comprises methane and the knock value is based at least partially on a methane content of the methane in the fluid flow.

14. A method, comprising: determining a knock value of a fluid flow supplied to a combustion chamber of a combustion engine via a controller, wherein the fluid flow comprises at least one fuel, and the knock value varies at least due to variations in a fuel composition of the at least one fuel; and controlling at least one temperature adjuster via the controller to change a temperature of the fluid flow in response to variations in the knock value caused by the variations in the fuel composition of the at least one fuel.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one temperature adjuster is coupled to a fuel flow path of the at least one fuel and/or an air-fuel mixture flow path of an air-fuel mixture of the at least one fuel and air.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein controlling comprises: controlling the at least one temperature adjuster to operate to change the temperature of the fluid flow in response to the knock value not meeting a target knock value caused by the variations in the fuel composition of the at least one fuel; and control the at least one temperature adjuster to not operate in response to the knock value meeting the target knock value.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one fuel comprises hydrogen and the knock value is based at least partially on a hydrogen content of the hydrogen in the fluid flow.

18. A system, comprising: a controller of a combustion engine, wherein the controller is configured to: determine a knock value of a fluid flow supplied to a combustion chamber of the combustion engine, wherein the fluid flow comprises at least one fuel, and the knock value varies at least due to variations in a fuel composition of the at least one fuel; and control at least one temperature adjuster to change a temperature of the fluid flow in response to variations in the knock value, wherein the at least one temperature adjuster is coupled to a fuel flow path of the at least one fuel and/or an air-fuel mixture flow path of an air-fuel mixture of the at least one fuel and air.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the controller is configured to control the at least one temperature adjuster to change the temperature of the fluid flow to adjust the knock value toward a target knock value without other knock control measures.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the controller is configured to control the at least one temperature adjuster to change the temperature of the fluid flow to adjust the knock value toward a target knock value without allowing any knock to occur in the combustion engine.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0068] Further details and advantages of the present invention will be described by means of the figures and their specific description hereinafter, wherein:

[0069] FIG. 1 shows a schematic of an embodiment of a combustion engine proposed,

[0070] FIGS. 2 and 3 show a first variant of a temperature control mechanism for a combustion engine proposed, and

[0071] FIGS. 4 and 5 show a second variant of a temperature control mechanism for a combustion engine proposed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0072] FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a combustion engine 1 for combustion of an air-fuel mixture 2 containing air 3 and fuel 4, comprising at least one temperature adjusting means 5 (e.g., temperature adjuster) for cooling or heating the air 3 and/or fuel 4 and/or air-fuel mixture 2 and a control unit 6 (e.g., controller) configured to determine the methane number 7 and/or hydrogen content 8 of the fuel 4 and/or air-fuel mixture 2, wherein the control unit 6 is configured to control a temperature of the air 3 and/or fuel 4 and/or air-fuel mixture 2 based on the determined methane number 7 and/or hydrogen content 8 by controlling the at least one temperature adjusting means 5.

[0073] This embodiment of a combustion engine 1 comprises an air-fuel mixing means 15 (e.g., air-fuel mixer), which mixes the air 3 and fuel 4 to an air-fuel mixture 2.

[0074] This embodiment comprises at least one sensor 12, which can at least measure the methane number 7 and/or hydrogen content 8 of the fuel 4 and/or air-fuel mixture 2.

[0075] This embodiment comprises a turbocharger 18 consisting of a compressor 16 and a turbine 17.

[0076] In this embodiment, the at least one temperature adjusting means 5 comprises an intercooler 9 with a fluid circuit 10 and a fluid temperature controller 19, wherein the fluid temperature controller 19 can be controlled to alter the temperature of the temperature adjusting fluid 11.

[0077] In respect to this embodiment of a combustion engine 1, firstly, the air 3 and fuel 4 enter the air-fuel mixing means 15; secondly, the air-fuel mixture 2 is measured by the sensor 12, compressed by the compressor 16 and cooled or heated by the temperature adjusting means 5 before the air-fuel mixture 2 enters the at least one combustion chamber 13; then, the exhaust gas leaves the combustion chamber 13, is decompressed by the turbine 17 of the turbocharger 18 and enters an exhaust aftertreatment system 20, e.g., a three-way catalyst, a SCR catalyst or the like, before it leaves the combustion engine 1.

[0078] In this embodiment, the control unit 6 of the combustion engine 1 controls the temperature adjusting means 5 by means of the fluid temperature controller 19.

[0079] The control unit 6 uses data for the temperature control 14 mechanism, wherein the data is generated by the at least one sensor 12.

[0080] FIGS. 2 and 3 show a first variant of a temperature control 14 mechanism for a combustion engine 1 proposed, wherein FIG. 2 represents the control scheme and FIG. 3 represents the steps that are executed successively to achieve the temperature control 14.

[0081] As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, both variants comprise at least one temperature adjusting means 5 with an intercooler 9 and a fluid circuit 10 with temperature adjusting fluid 11, such as cooling water.

[0082] The temperature adjusting means 5 cools or heats the air 3, fuel 4 and/or air-fuel mixture 2 before the air 3, fuel 4 and/or air-fuel mixture 2 enters a combustion chamber 13 of the combustion engine 1. The combustion chamber 13 is not illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 4; the horizontal arrows pointing towards the reference number 13 indicate that the cooled or heated fluid(s) are supplied to the combustion chamber 13

[0083] Preferably, the combustion engine 1 comprises multiple temperature adjusting means 5, e.g., two or three intercoolers 9 and/or other temperature adjusting means 5.

[0084] If multiple temperature adjusting means 5, particularly multiple intercoolers 9, are used and cooling or heating is performed in stages, it is advantageous to cool or heat the air 3, fuel 4 and/or air-fuel mixture 2 at stages with lower temperatures and/or at the last stage where the temperature of the air 3, fuel 4 and/or air-fuel mixture 2 is the lowest.

[0085] Cooling the air 3, fuel 4 and/or air-fuel mixture 2 at the stage with the lowest temperature, the smallest amount of energy is required to achieve the target temperature of the air 3, fuel 4 and/or air-fuel mixture 2 for a present methane number 7 and/or hydrogen content 8.

[0086] It is very much preferred that the temperature control 14 is performed in or close to real-time and dependent on the incoming fuel 4 quality.

[0087] Preferably, the temperature control 14 mechanism is applied only if required. Preferably, the control unit 6 triggers the temperature control 14 mechanism when the quality of the fuel 4 decreases and/or the engine's operation point moves towards the actual knock resistance.

[0088] Decreasing quality of the fuel 4 usually means decreasing methane numbers 4 and/or increasing hydrogen contents 8.

[0089] In the first variant, shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the control unit 6 of the combustion engine 1 is configured to control the temperature of the air 3, fuel 4 and/or air-fuel mixture 2 directly, i.e., by means of direct temperature control 14.

[0090] This means that the control unit 6 retrieves the methane number 7 and/or hydrogen content 8 measured by the at least one sensor 12, sets a target temperature of the air 3, fuel 4 and/or air-fuel mixture 2 based on the retrieved methane number 7 and/or hydrogen content 8, and controls the temperature of the temperature adjusting fluid 11 of the temperature adjusting means 5.

[0091] The temperature of the temperature adjusting fluid 11 can be controlled via the fluid temperature controller 19, which can comprise at least one mixing valve, radiator, exhauster or the like, and/or by controlling parameters associated with the fluid temperature controller 19, such as rotations of a fan.

[0092] FIGS. 4 and 5 show a second variant of a temperature control 14 mechanism for a combustion engine 1 proposed, wherein FIG. 4 represents the control scheme and FIG. 5 represents the steps that are executed successively to achieve the temperature control 14. The second variant differs from the first variant of FIGS. 2 and 3 in that the control unit 6 is configured to control the temperature adjusting fluid 11 of the temperature adjusting means 5, i.e., by means of indirect temperature control 14.

[0093] This means that in the variant shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the temperature of the air 3, fuel 4 and/or air-fuel mixture 2 is controlled indirectly by means of direct control of the temperature of the temperature adjusting fluid 11, preferably by controlling the fluid temperature controller 19.

[0094] This means that the control unit 6 retrieves the methane number 7 and/or hydrogen content 8 measured by the at least one sensor 12, sets a target temperature of the temperature adjusting fluid 11 of the temperature adjusting means 5, and controls the temperature of the temperature adjusting fluid 11 of the temperature adjusting means 5, preferably so that a required or target temperature of the air-fuel mixture 2 inside the combustion chamber 13 can be achieved.

[0095] In the schematics, solid lines indicate the flow of the fluids, i.e., air 3, fuel 4 and/or the air-fuel mixture 2; and dashed lines indicate the application of the temperature control 14 mechanism controlled by the control unit 6.

LIST OF REFERENCES

[0096] 1 combustion engine [0097] 2 air-fuel mixture [0098] 3 air [0099] 4 fuel [0100] 5 temperature adjusting means [0101] 6 control unit [0102] 7 methane number [0103] 8 hydrogen content [0104] 9 intercooler [0105] 10 fluid circuit [0106] 11 temperature adjusting fluid [0107] 12 sensor [0108] 13 combustion chamber [0109] 14 temperature control [0110] 15 air-fuel mixing means [0111] 16 compressor [0112] 17 turbine [0113] 18 turbocharger [0114] 19 fluid temperature controller [0115] 20 exhaust aftertreatment system