Low soot stoichiometric compression-ignition combustion
| DWPI Title: Vehicle combustion system for stoichiometrically mixing air and oxygenated fuel for relatively soot-free combustion, has exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) device that recirculates portion of exhaust gases back into combustion chamber |
| Abstract: A combustion system including a combustion mechanism that injects oxygenated fuel into a combustion chamber. The oxygenated fuel mixes with the intake air in the combustion chamber where the air-fuel ratio in a portion of the combustion chamber is stoichiometric. The combustion mechanism includes an ignition mechanism that ignites the air-fuel mixture that generates a threshold number of particulates during combustion of the air-fuel mixture. The combustion system further includes an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) device that recirculates a portion of the exhaust gases back into the combustion chamber. The EGR device recirculates the portion of the exhaust to lower combustion temperature resulting in reduced amount of nitrogen oxide in the exhaust. The combustion system further includes a three-way catalytic converter in line with the exhaust channel to convert a second portion of the exhaust gases, leading to lower pollutant emissions than conventional combustion systems. |
| Use: Vehicle combustion system for stoichiometrically mixing air and oxygenated fuel for soot-free combustion. |
| Advantage: The system generates relatively soot-free combustion using a stoichiometric mix of air and oxygenated fuel and an EGR device to recirculate exhaust back into a combustion chamber, which limits or prevents the formation of soot while simultaneously lowering the nitrogen oxide generated during combustion, avoiding the long-standing soot/nitrogen oxide trade-off for diesel engines. Direct-injection engines represent an improvement in engine technology over past designs about increased engine efficiency and reduced emissions, direct-injection engines can produce relatively high levels of certain undesired emissions. The technologies generate relatively soot-free combustion using a stoichiometric mix of air and oxygenated fuel and an EGR device to recirculate exhaust back into a combustion chamber, which limits or prevents the formation of soot while simultaneously lowering the nitrous oxide (NOx) generated during combustion, avoiding the long-standing soot/NOx trade-off for diesel engines. The ignition mechanism comprises a compression ignition where the air-fuel mixture is compressed to the point that it auto-ignites without the need for a spark igniter. The use of oxygenated fuels reduces or prevents the formation of soot, even with recirculation via the EGR device. |
| Novelty: The vehicle combustion system (100) has a combustion mechanism (102) that is used to perform acts, which include controlling a rate of injection of oxygenated fuel into a combustion chamber of the vehicle combustion system each time that a piston reciprocates in the combustion chamber to maintain a stoichiometric air-fuel mixture of oxygenated fuel in the combustion chamber, igniting the air-fuel mixture and directing exhaust from the combustion chamber into an exhaust channel (112), where the exhaust is caused by combustion of the air-fuel mixture. An exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) device (104) recirculates a portion of the exhaust from ignition of the air-fuel mixture back into the combustion chamber. A three-way catalytic converter (106) converts a second portion of the exhaust from a first chemical mixture to a second chemical mixture. |
| Filed: 10/12/2021 |
| Application Number: US17498967A |
| Tech ID: SD 15788.0 |
| This invention was made with Government support under Contract No. DE-NA0003525 awarded by the United States Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration. The Government has certain rights in the invention. |
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