Work vehicle alcohol-based power system with on-board ether
AssigneeDeere & Company
InventorsDanan Dou, Craig W. Lohmann
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A power system for a work vehicle includes an alcohol tank configured to store alcohol; a catalytic converter fluidly coupled to receive alcohol from the alcohol tank and configured to convert the alcohol into ether; and an engine including one or more piston-cylinder sets configured to selectively receive the alcohol stored in the alcohol tank and the ether converted by the catalytic converter and to combust the alcohol and the ether with air to produce mechanical power and exhaust gas.
Claims18
A power system for a work vehicle, comprising:
- an alcohol tank configured to store alcohol;
- a catalytic converter fluidly coupled to receive alcohol from the alcohol tank and configured to convert the alcohol into ether;
- an ether reservoir to store the ether;
- an air intake arrangement with a charge air cooler integrated with the ether reservoir such that heat is transferred from air in the charge air cooler to the ether reservoir;
- and
- an engine including one or more piston-cylinder sets configured to selectively receive the alcohol stored in the alcohol tank and the ether converted by the catalytic converter and to combust the alcohol and the ether with air to produce mechanical power and exhaust gas.
A method for operating a work vehicle power system with a compression combustion engine, comprising:
- directing a first portion of ethanol from an ethanol tank into a catalytic converter;
- converting the first portion of ethanol within the catalytic converter into diethyl ether;
- storing the diethyl ether in an ether reservoir of an air intake arrangement having a charge air cooler integrated with the ether reservoir such that heat is transferred from air in the charge air cooler to the ether reservoir;
- directing a second portion of the ethanol from the ethanol tank into the compression combustion engine for ignition and combustion;
- and
- selectively directing the diethyl ether from the ether reservoir into the compression combustion engine to supplement the ignition and combustion of the second portion of the ethanol.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.