Internal combustion engines, systems, devices, and methods for propulsion and power applications
AssigneeGryphon Diesel Engines, LLC
InventorAntonio Silva
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Engines, systems, devices, software, and methods of the present invention provide increased fuel efficiency and emission performance. The engine may include a magnesium alloy cast engine block cast as a mono-block with or without a ceramic inner core and including one or more cylinders designed to provide compression ratio of 10:1 to 14:1. Each cylinder may include one or more laser igniters, one or more supercritical fuel injectors configured to inject the fuel near or in a supercritical state, and carbon dioxide, which may be in the form of engine exhaust gas. The fuel may be diesel, gasoline, or other suitable hydrocarbons that may be cracked into smaller molecules prior to be injected into the cylinder.
Claims17
A system comprising:
- a fuel source;
- a fuel reconditioning system connected to receive larger molecule fuel from the fuel source;
- a heat exchanger connected to the fuel reconditioning system to receive smaller molecule fuel and output heated fuel;
- a mixer connected to the heat exchanger to mix heated fuel from the heat exchanger with exhaust gas,
- a supercritical fuel injector configured to receive an exhaust gas-heated fuel mixture from the mixer and to produce an exhaust gas-supercritical fuel mixture;
- an engine block having
- at least one combustion cylinder connected to
- mix the exhaust gas-supercritical fuel mixture from the supercritical fuel injector with air,
- compress the exhaust gas-supercritical fuel and air mixture, and
- provide exhaust gas to the mixer, and output power to a transmission;
- and,
- at least one optical ignition source positioned to ignite the compressed exhaust gas-supercritical fuel and air mixture in the combustion cylinder.
A method comprising:
- providing an engine block to
- receive an exhaust-supercritical fuel mixture and air as input, and output power and exhaust gas;
- breaking down, via a fuel reconditioning system, at least a portion of a larger molecule fuel into a smaller molecule fuel;
- splitting, via an exhaust splitter, the exhaust gas into at least two exhaust streams;
- heating, via a heat exchanger, the smaller molecule fuel using at least one of the at least two exhaust streams;
- mixing, via a mixer, at least one of the at least two exhaust streams with the heated smaller molecule fuel to produce an exhaust-heated fuel mixture;
- injecting, via supercritical fuel injectors which are configured to produce a supercritical mixture, the exhaust-heated fuel mixture into the engine block as an exhaust-supercritical fuel mixture;
- compressing, in the engine block, the exhaust-supercritical fuel mixture and air to produce compressed fuel and air;
- igniting, via an optical ignition system and in the engine block, the compressed fuel and air to combust the compressed fuel and air to produce the power and exhaust gas;
- and
- controlling, via an electronic control unit, the fuel reconditioning system, heat exchanger, mixer, supercritical fuel injectors, and optical ignition system.
A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:
- one or more instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to control:
- a fuel reconditioning system to break down at least a portion of a larger molecule fuel into a smaller molecule fuel;
- an exhaust splitter and heat exchanger to heat the smaller molecule fuel;
- a mixer to mix exhaust gas from an engine block with the heated smaller molecule fuel to produce an exhaust-heated fuel mixture;
- at least one supercritical fuel injector configured to produce an exhaust-supercritical fuel mixture from the exhaust-heated fuel mixture, and to inject the exhaust-supercritical fuel mixture into the engine block;
- the engine block to compress the exhaust-supercritical fuel mixture with air in the engine block to produce compressed fuel and air;
- an ignition system to ignite the compressed fuel and air in the engine block to combust the compressed fuel and air in the engine block;
- and
- the engine block to output power and exhaust gas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.