Fuel reforming system for an internal combustion engine
AssigneeNippon Soken, Inc.
InventorsMasaaki Noguchi, Masaharu Sumiyoshi, Yukiyasu Tanaka, Taro Tanaka
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Abstract
A fuel reforming system for use in an intake system for an internal combustion engine operable with a hydrocarbon fuel has a spark plug or plugs for intermittently producing spark discharges to cause imperfect combustion of a rich air-fuel mixture so that a part of the fuel is reformed into intermediate combustion products and the large portion of the remainder of the fuel is vaporized by the heat produced by the imperfect combustion, whereby the reformed mixture is made optimum for combustion to thereby enable the engine to perform an optimum operation.
Claims9
A fuel reforming system for an internal combustion engine operable with a hydrocarbon fuel comprising:
- a passage for a rich mixture of air and the fuel,
- at least a single spark plug disposed in said passage for imperfectly burning a part of said rich mixture in said passage to reform and vaporize the fuel contained in said rich mixture,
- a secondary air intake pipe having an open end disposed in said passage upstream of said spark plug for supplying a secondary air to said passage, and
- means for controlling said imperfect burning of said rich mixture.
A fuel reforming system for an internal combustion engine having a cylinder, a cylinder head cooperating with said cylinder to define a main combustion chamber, an intake port for introducing a lean mixture to said main combustion chamber, a trap chamber communicated with said main combustion chamber, a first spark plug exposed to said trap chamber, and a passage for feeding a rich mixture, said passage having an open end disposed in said intake port and being directed to said trap chamber so that the rich mixture is introduced therefrom into said trap chamber, said fuel reforming system comprising:
- a second spark plug disposed in said passage for imperfectly burning a part of said rich mixture to reform and vaporize the fuel contained in said rich mixture, a secondary air intake pipe having an open end disposed in said passage upstream of said second spark plug for supplying a secondary air to said passage, and means for controlling the amount of said secondary air to be supplied from said secondary air intake pipe in accordance with the temperature of the fuel reforming system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.