초록 ▼

An internal combustion engine has a primary fuel circuit for producing a lean mixture of air and hydrocarbon fuel to be fed into a combustion chamber and a secondary fuel circuit which includes a secondary carburetor for producing a mixture of air and methanol at an air-methanol ratio of less than 2

An internal combustion engine has a primary fuel circuit for producing a lean mixture of air and hydrocarbon fuel to be fed into a combustion chamber and a secondary fuel circuit which includes a secondary carburetor for producing a mixture of air and methanol at an air-methanol ratio of less than 2.0. The air-methanol mixture is fed into a reactor vessel having therein a catalyst bed which is heated to facilitate reaction between the components of the air-methanol mixture. By the reaction the air-methanol mixture is converted into a reformed gaseous mixture rich with hydrogen which is then mixed with an air-hydrocarbon fuel mixture to form a composite mixture to be supplied into the combustion chamber. The existence of hydrogen in the composite mixture assures reliable spark-ignition and stable combustion of the composite mixture which is of a very large air-fuel ratio as calculated in terms of air-gasoline ratio, to thereby reduce the emission of harmful components of engine exhaust gas and improve the fuel consumption.

대표청구항 ▼

An internal combustion engine comprising: a combustion chamber; a spark plug; an intake and exhaust system; said intake system including first and second fuel circuits; said first fuel circuit comprising a choke valve, a first carburetor disposed in said first fuel circuit downstream of said choke v

An internal combustion engine comprising: a combustion chamber; a spark plug; an intake and exhaust system; said intake system including first and second fuel circuits; said first fuel circuit comprising a choke valve, a first carburetor disposed in said first fuel circuit downstream of said choke valve for producing a mixture of air and gasoline, and a first throttle valve disposed in said first fuel circuit downstream of said first carburetor; said second fuel circuit comprising a second carburetor for producing mixture of air and methanol, a catalytic reactor disposed in said second fuel circuit downstream of said second carburetor and containing a catalyst bed so arranged as to be heated by the engine exhaust gases flowing through said exhaust system, a second throttle valve disposed in said second fuel circuit and operatively connected to said first throttle valve for operation therewith, and a shut-off valve disposed in said second fuel circuit to control the communication between said combustion chamber and said second carburetor; said catalytic reactor being so constructed as to cause the air-methanol mixture to flow through said catalyst bed and being rendered operative to facilitate a catalytic conversion of said air-methanol mixture into a reformed gaseous mixture containing free hydrogen when said catalyst bed is heated to a temperature higher than a predetermined temperature; and means responsive to the temperature of said catalyst bed to actuate said choke valve and said shut-off valve, the arrangement being such that, when said catalyst bed temperature is below said predetermined temperature, said shut-off valve is closed to render said second carburetor inoperative to produce the air-methanol mixture and said choke valve is at least partially closed to enrich the air-gasoline mixture produced by said first carburetor whereby said combustion chamber is supplied solely with the enriched air-gasoline mixture, and such that, when said catalyst bed temperature is higher than said predetermined temperature, said choke valve is fully opened to increase the air-gasoline ratio of the air-gasoline mixture produced by said first carburetor and said shut-off valve is opened to cause said second carburetor to produce the air-methanol mixture and thus cause said catalytic reactor to produce the reformed gaseous mixture whereby said combustion chamber is supplied with both the lean air-gasoline mixture and the reformed gaseous mixture.