초록 ▼

An improvement to an internal combustion engine (10, 90) having a fuel system for feeding a fuel-air mixture to the combustion chambers which utilizes ammonia gas as an auxiliary fuel which is partially dissociated and added to the fuel-air mixture of the engine (10, 90). The dissociated ammonia all

An improvement to an internal combustion engine (10, 90) having a fuel system for feeding a fuel-air mixture to the combustion chambers which utilizes ammonia gas as an auxiliary fuel which is partially dissociated and added to the fuel-air mixture of the engine (10, 90). The dissociated ammonia allows the engine to have its fuel-air ratio leaned down well below the misfire limits of hydrocarbon fuel and air to thereby improve the mileage of a vehicle and reduce certain pollutants in the exhaust of the engine. The ammonia is stored in a liquefied state under pressure in a storage container (24, 98) and is fed to a dissociator (28) including a heater (30, 106) using heat from the engine\s exhaust and a catalyst chamber (31, 107) and is then fed to the engine (10, 90). The partially dissociated ammonia being fed to the engine is metered simultaneously with the changing of the fuel-air mixture and is controlled to lean the normal fuel-air mixture down.

대표청구항 ▼

An improvement in internal combustion engines characterized by: an internal combustion engine having fuel feed means for feeding a hydrocarbon fuel-air mixture to at least one combustion chamber, said engine having an ignition system and an exhaust system for feeding exhaust gases from said internal

An improvement in internal combustion engines characterized by: an internal combustion engine having fuel feed means for feeding a hydrocarbon fuel-air mixture to at least one combustion chamber, said engine having an ignition system and an exhaust system for feeding exhaust gases from said internal combustion engine and a cooling system for cooling said engine; ammonia storage means for storing ammonia in proximity to said internal combustion engine; ammonia feed means for feeding ammonia from said ammonia storage means to said engine combustion chamber with said fuel-air mixture charge; means coupled to said ammonia feed means between said ammonia storage means and said internal combustion engine for dissociating said ammonia into hydrogen and nitrogen and feeding said gas to said engine with the hydrocarbon fuel-air mixture, whereby ammonia is fed into a combustion chamber substantially dissociated; feed control valve means connected to said ammonia feed means for varying rate of feed of said ammonia to said combustion chamber responsive to operating conditions of said internal combustion engine; means to control the hydrocarbon fuel-air mixture of said internal combustion engine so as to be leaned below a normal hydrocarbon fuel-air operating range when ammonia is being dissociated and fed from said ammonia storage means by said ammonia feed means to said internal combustion engine in accordance with said rate of feed of said ammonia; and means to switch said internal combustion engine to said normal hydrocarbon fuel-air operating range in response to said ammonia dissociation means having insufficient heat to dissociate the ammonia; and means to advance the ignition system spark upon the hydrocarbon air-fuel being leaned by said engine control means and to retard the ignition system spark upon said hydrocarbon air-fuel being switched to said normal hydrocarbon fuel-air operating range.