Combustion in an internal combustion engine
OwnerMichael A. V. Wardinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A technique for increasing the efficiency, and for decreasing the exhaust emissions, of an internal combustion type engine in which substantially rf energy (e.g., 10.sup.6 Hz to 10.sup.12 Hz) is generated and coupled to a combusting plasma airfuel mixture (preferably at a plasma frequency) so as to enhance both pre-combustion conditioning of the mixture and combustion reactions.
Claims25
A system for use with an internal combustion engine having a combustion chamber, means for producing a combustible mixture therein, and means for igniting said mixture, the system comprising
- means for generating electromagnetic energy at an operating frequency, f.sub.o, of the order of the plasma frequency, f.sub.ps, of a species, s, of charged particles of said mixture where ##EQU5## and where n.sub.s is the species number density of the mixture, m.sub.s is the species mass, e is the charge of an electron, and .epsilon.o is the dielectric constant of free space, and for conducting said energy to said chamber for at least about a millisecond following ignition of said mixture to couple said energy to charged particles of said species in said mixture during combustion thereof.
A system for use with an internal combustion engine having a combustion chamber and means for producing a combustible mixture therein, the system comprising
- an energy source means for generating rf electromagnetic energy, where rf energy is energy having a frequency in the range of about 10.sup.8 Hz to about 10.sup.12 Hz, and for generating high voltage breakdown fields, and
- means for conducting said rf energy and said high voltage breakdown fields to said chamber to precondition said mixture for combustion, ignite said mixture, and enhance combustion reactions.
In an internal combustion engine having a combustion chamber and means for producing a combustible mixture therein, the improvement comprising
- an energy source for generating rf electromagnetic energy, where rf energy is energy having a frequency in the range of about 10.sup.8 Hz to about 10.sup.12 Hz,
- means for generating a substantially DC voltage, and
- means for conducting said rf energy and said DC voltage to said chamber to precondition said mixture for combustion, ignite said mixture, and enhance combustion reactions.
An apparatus for attachment to the combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine for enhancing combustion of an air-fuel mixture in said chamber said apparatus comprising:
- an rf source generating energy at an operating frequency of the order of the plasma frequency, f.sub.ps, of a species, s, of charged particles in the plasma of the combusting mixture, where ##EQU7## and where n.sub.s is the species number density of the mixture, m.sub.s is the species mass, e is the charge of an electron, and .epsilon.o is the dielectric constant of free space;
- conductive means defining a spark gap across which substantially DC voltage is applied to ignite said air-fuel mixture in said chamber, said conducting means including means for coupling rf energy from said rf source to the combusting air-fuel plasma mixture for at least about a millisecond following ignition of said mixture.
An apparatus for use with an internal combustion engine having n combustion chambers for the combustion of an air-fuel mixture where n is an integer greater than zero, said apparatus comprising
- a plurality of spark splugs, one communicating with each combustion chamber for igniting said air-fuel mixture in each chamber,
- a source of substantially DC voltage,
- rf generating means for generating electromagnetic energy having a frequency in the range of from about 10.sup.6 Hz to about 10.sup.12 Hz,
- rf coupling means electrically connected to said rf generating means for coupling said rf energy to the combusting air-fuel plasma mixture in each of said combustion chambers, and
- distributor means coupled to said voltage source, said rf source, said spark plugs, and said rf coupling means for controllably distributing said DC voltage and said rf energy to said spark plugs and said rf coupling means respectively, in a predetermined timed sequence.
An apparatus for generating rf energy and distributing said rf energy and independently supplied high DC voltage to the n combustion chambers of an internal combustion engine, where n is an integer greater than zero, said apparatus comprising a housing internally segmented into n compartments, a rotor disposed in said housing and having a portion which successively sweeps through each of said compartments during the rotation thereof, said rotor being driven in timed relation with the engine operation and being electrically connected to said source of DC voltage, each said compartment containing
- a source of rf energy,
- a coaxial conductor for conducting both said DC voltage and said rf energy from said compartment to a combustion chamber of said engine,
- conductor means coupling said source of RF energy to said coaxial conductor, said conductor means including DC blocking means,
- a contact point which electrically connects said rotor with the inner conductive means of said coaxial conductor,
- actuating means for actuating said source of rf energy at a predetermined orientation of said rotor with respect to said compartment, and
- rf energy filtering means disposed in the electrically conducting path between said source of rf energy and said rotor.
The method of operating an internal combustion engine comprising the repeated steps of, for each combustion chamber,
- supplying an air-fuel mixture to the chamber, the fuel component of said mixture comprising a fuel having a permanent electric dipole moment having resonances in the rf frequency region,
- compressing said mixture in said chamber,
- coupling rf energy to said mixture at frequencies which include at least one of said resonances,
- igniting the compressed mixture, and
- exhausting the combustion products from said chamber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.