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A mixture of air, oxygen and engine exhaust gases is added to a fuel and fed to an internal combustion engine in controlled amounts to reduce the amount of toxic material formed. The oxygen is supplied by a plurality of oxygen converters arranged in parallel so that one or more of the converters are

A mixture of air, oxygen and engine exhaust gases is added to a fuel and fed to an internal combustion engine in controlled amounts to reduce the amount of toxic material formed. The oxygen is supplied by a plurality of oxygen converters arranged in parallel so that one or more of the converters are charging while one or more of the remaining converters are discharging oxygen. Each converter includes an inner chamber having a fluidized bed of a metallic oxide surrounded by a heating chamber. Engine exhaust gases are fed to the heating chamber to raise the temperature of the metallic oxide to that at which a higher oxide is formed. To obtain oxygen the temperature of the fluidized bed is raised by means of the exhaust gases to that at which oxygen is released and the original metallic oxide is formed.

대표청구항 ▼

In apparatus for substantially oxidizing a fuel in the combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine including a mixer, means for controlling flow of fuel to said mixer, means for controlling flow of air to said mixer, means for controlling flow of engine exhaust gases to said mixer, and means

In apparatus for substantially oxidizing a fuel in the combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine including a mixer, means for controlling flow of fuel to said mixer, means for controlling flow of air to said mixer, means for controlling flow of engine exhaust gases to said mixer, and means for supplying a controlled amount of oxygen to said mixer: the improvement comprising a plurality of oxygen converters arranged in parallel, each of said converters including an inner chamber adapted to receive a bed of metallic oxide and a heating chamber around said metallic oxide chamber, a first conduit connecting exhaust from said engine to said heating chamber, a second conduit for delivering air to said metallic oxide bed, a third conduit leading from said metallic oxide chamber, a valve in said third conduit, a fourth conduit leading from said valve to the oxygen supply means to said mixer, means for shutting off flow of air to said bed when said metallic oxide has been converted to a higher oxide, and control means for maintaining the temperature of said bed at that which the higher oxide is formed while air is flowing therethrough and then changing said temperature to that at which oxygen is released when it is desired to feed oxygen from said converter to said mixer, said valve being movable from a position where deoxidized air is discharged from the system while air is being fed to the converter to a position where it connects the third and fourth conduits while oxygeN is being fed from the converter, whereby one of said converters can be discharged while another converter is being charged.