Fuel admission tube for gaseous fuel engine and engine operating method
AssigneeCaterpillar Inc.
InventorsJonathan Anders, Bobby John, Kenth I. Svensson, Naga Krishna Chaitanya Kavuri, William J. Barnes
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A gaseous fuel engine system includes an engine housing forming a plurality of intake ports, and a plurality of fuel admission tubes oriented to admit a gaseous fuel into the plurality of intake ports. The fuel admission tubes include mixers having flow-impinged surfaces exposed to at least one of a flow of gaseous fuel or a flow of intake air and each including a detachment edge. The mixers may include fins, wedge structures, and/or a contoured outer surface of the fuel admission tube. Related apparatus and methodology is also disclosed.
Claims20
An engine system comprising:
- an engine housing forming a plurality of intake ports fluidly connected to an upstream intake air feed opening;
- a plurality of fuel admission tubes each forming a fuel passage and defining an outgoing fuel axis extending into a respective one of the plurality of intake ports;
- a fuel flow path for a gaseous fuel is defined through each respective one of the fuel passages, and an air flow path for intake air is defined through each of the plurality of intake ports between each respective one of the plurality of fuel admission tubes and the engine housing;
- and
- the plurality of fuel admission tubes each further including a mixer formed by a plurality of flow-impinged surfaces located externally of the respective fuel passage and each extending to a flow-detachment edge.
A method of operating an engine system comprising:
- feeding intake air through an upstream intake air feed opening through a common air cavity to a plurality of intake ports in an engine housing;
- feeding a gaseous fuel through a plurality of fuel passages in a plurality of fuel admission tubes each extending through the common air cavity to one of the plurality of intake ports;
- impinging a flow of at least one of the intake air or the gaseous fuel upon a mixer of each one of the plurality of fuel admission tubes and located externally of the respective one of the plurality of fuel passages;
- and
- conveying the intake air and gaseous fuel, mixed via detachment of the flow from the mixers, into a plurality of engine cylinders for combustion.
A fuel admission tube for a gaseous fuel engine comprising:
- a tube body including an outer tube surface, and an inner tube surface forming a fuel passage defining a curvilinear tube axis line and extending between a first axial end including a connector forming a fuel inlet, and a second axial end including a fuel outlet and forming a terminal tip;
- a mixer including a plurality of flow-impinged surfaces extending to a plurality of detachment edges, and the mixer being oriented to be impinged upon by at least one of a gaseous fuel exiting the fuel outlet or intake air conveyed along the outer tube surface;
- the mixer being positioned externally of the fuel passage, and the plurality of detachment edges being biased in distribution in a direction of the terminal tip;
- and
- the plurality of flow-detachment edges having among them a plurality of different orientations varied in at least one of an axial aspect, a circumferential aspect, or an angular aspect, relative to the curvilinear tube axis line.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.