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US 11,680,545 B2Granted
Propane fuel system temperature control systems and methods
AssigneeCummins Inc.
InventorsAnthony Kyle Perfetto, Samuel C. Geckler
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods for thermal management of a direct injection propane fuel system are disclosed that include control a temperature of the fuel tank at or below a desired operating temperature to avoid venting of fuel to atmosphere.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- operating an internal combustion engine system including an internal combustion engine with a plurality of cylinders that receive a charge flow and a fuel from a fuel tank of a fuel system;
- and
- maintaining a temperature of the fuel tank below a temperature threshold associated with a pressure relief condition of the fuel tank, wherein maintaining the temperature includes evacuating a fuel vapor from the fuel tank for combustion by the internal combustion engine, wherein maintaining the temperature of the fuel tank includes opening a control valve to evacuate the fuel vapor to the internal combustion engine and evaporate fuel in the fuel tank to cool and reduce pressure in the fuel tank.
A system, comprising:
- an internal combustion engine including a plurality of cylinders that receive a fuel from a fuel tank, wherein the fuel tank is connected to each of the plurality of cylinders with a plurality of direct injectors and a high pressure fuel pump;
- a return line connecting the high pressure fuel pump to the fuel tank for returning fuel to the fuel tank;
- an evacuation line connecting the fuel tank to the internal combustion engine to evacuate fuel vapor from the fuel tank by evaporative cooling;
- and
- a controller configured to determine at least one of a pressure condition and a temperature condition of the fuel tank and open a control valve connected to the evacuation line in response to the at least one of the pressure condition and the temperature condition to evacuate fuel vapor from the fuel tank to the internal combustion engine and to evaporate fuel in the fuel tank to cool and reduce pressure in the fuel tank.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.