Ultra-compact system for characterization of physical, chemical and ignition properties of fuels

A miniaturized, hand holdable fuel laboratory system, the system comprising:

• a housing;
• a processor housed within the housing;
• a fuel inlet port supported from the housing for receiving a quantity of fuel to be used as a fuel test sample;
• at least one fuel sensor housed in the housing in communication with the fuel inlet port for receiving the fuel test sample, the test fuel sample forming a quantity of fuel no greater than 100 milliliters;
• a communications component housed in the housing and enabling bidirectional communication with an external remote subsystem;
• at least one port configured to receive available information from the external remote subsystem, and wherein the external remote subsystem is associated with an internal combustion engine;
• a database containing stored fuel characteristic information accessible by the processor;
• the processor using information obtained by at least a subplurality of the fuel sensor, the database and the information from the external remote subsystem, to determine at least one measured fuel characteristic of the fuel test sample.

A miniaturized, hand-holdable fuel laboratory system, the system comprising:

• a housing;
• a processor housed within the housing;
• a fuel inlet port supported from the housing for receiving a quantity of fuel to be used as a fuel test sample;
• at least one fuel sensor housed in the housing in communication with the fuel inlet port for receiving the fuel test sample, the at least one sensor comprising a plurality of:
• a flame speed sensor which measures a flame speed during combustion of the fuel test sample;
• a calorimetry sensor for measuring a chemical energy released by fuel and oxidizer mixtures, including at least one of an increased heating value or a decreased heating value;
• a heat of combustion sensor which senses an amount of heat energy released during combustion of a fuel-oxidizer mixture;
• an auto-ignition sensor for measuring a time which it takes for a premixed volume of fuel and oxidizer to spontaneously ignite at a given initial temperature and pressure;
• a viscosity sensor for measuring an internal friction or resistance of parallel layers of fluid moving at different speeds for the fuel test sample;
• a distillation curve sensor for measuring a volume of liquid in a mixture that has evaporated at a given temperature, and providing information regarding at least one of a boiling point temperature or enthalpy of vaporization;
• and
• a surface tension sensor for measuring a resistive force of a surface film of a liquid caused by an attraction of molecules in a surface layer by a bulk of the liquid, which tends to minimize surface area;
• an electronic input/output communications port housed in the housing enabling bidirectional, electronic communication with an on-board diagnostic port of a vehicle having an internal combustion engine;
• at least one port configured to receive information from a sensor associated with an internal combustion engine;
• a database containing stored fuel characteristic information accessible by the processor;
• the processor using information obtained by the fuel sensor, the database and the information from the sensor associated with the internal combustion engine, to determine at least one fuel characteristic of the fuel test sample.

A method for forming a hand-holdable fuel laboratory system, the method comprising:

• using a housing to house a processor, a fuel inlet port for receiving a quantity of fuel to be used as a fuel test sample, at least one fuel sensor housed in the housing in communication with the fuel inlet port for receiving the fuel test sample and carrying out combustion of the fuel test sample, and a communications component housed in the housing enabling receipt of information from an external remote subsystem;
• using a database in communication with the processor to store at least one of fuel characteristics or fuel analysis models, accessible by the processor;
• and
• causing the processor to use fuel oxidation information generated by the fuel sensor and at least one of the stored fuel characteristics or stored fuel analysis models, to determine at least one fuel characteristic of the fuel test sample.