Split cycle engine control
AssigneeDolphin N2 Limited
InventorsNick Owen, Andrew Atkins, Anoop Selvaraj
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The split cycle engine of the present disclosure comprises a compression cylinder (10) accommodating a compression piston (12), a combustion cylinder (20) accommodating a combustion piston (22), a recuperator (35) arranged to exchange heat between exhaust fluid (95) from the combustion cylinder and working fluid being supplied from the compression cylinder to the combustion cylinder via a crossover passage (30). A controller is configured to control operation of the engine based on an indication of a temperature of at least one of a material of the recuperator and the working fluid in the crossover passage.
Claims20
A split cycle internal combustion engine comprising:
- a compression cylinder accommodating a compression piston;
- a combustion cylinder accommodating a combustion piston;
- a recuperator arranged to exchange heat between exhaust fluid from the combustion cylinder and working fluid being supplied from the compression cylinder to the combustion cylinder;
- and
- a recuperator bypass passage selectively operable to enable at least some fluid to avoid flowing through the recuperator.
A split cycle internal combustion engine comprising:
- a compression cylinder accommodating a compression piston;
- a combustion cylinder accommodating a combustion piston;
- a recuperator arranged to exchange heat between exhaust fluid from the combustion cylinder and working fluid being supplied from the compression cylinder to the combustion cylinder;
- a turbine arranged to be driven by the exhaust fluid flowing from the combustion cylinder to the recuperator;
- and
- a turbine bypass passage selectively operable to enable at least some of the exhaust fluid to flow to the recuperator without driving the turbine.
A method of operating a split cycle internal combustion engine, the split cycle internal combustion engine comprising:
- a compression cylinder accommodating a compression piston;
- a combustion cylinder accommodating a combustion piston;
- a recuperator arranged to exchange heat between exhaust fluid from the combustion cylinder and working fluid being supplied from the compression cylinder to the combustion cylinder;
- and
- a recuperator bypass passage selectively operable to enable at least some fluid to avoid flowing through the recuperator;
- wherein the method comprises:
- obtaining an indication of at least one of:
- (i) a temperature associated with the combustion cylinder, and (ii) a temperature associated with the recuperator;
- and
- controlling use of the recuperator bypass passage based on the indicated temperature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.