Fuel reformer for generating gaseous fuel containing hydrogen and/or carbon monoxide
AssigneeNissan Motor Co., Ltd.
InventorsKatuaki Kosaka, Zene Ueno
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A reformer for obtaining a reformed gas containing H.sub.2 and/or CO from an ordinary fuel exemplified by a petroleum fuel, having a reaction chamber in the form of a combustion chamber of a compression-ignition internal combustion engine, preferably with a swirl-producing auxiliary chamber, and a piston adapted to compress the fuel usually together with air at a compression ratio ranging from about 14 to about 20 in order to initiate and sustain a reforming reaction by the heat of adiabatic compression.
Claims15
A fuel reformer for carrying out a fuel-reforming reaction which gives a gaseous fuel containing as combustible components at least one of hydrogen and carbon monoxide through partial oxidation of at least one fuel selected from hydrocarbon fuels, alcohols, and nitrogen-hydrogen compounds without using any catalyst, the reformer comprising:
- a single reaction chamber in the form of a combustion chamber of a compression-ignition internal combustion engine;
- a piston adapted to compress a gas in said reaction chamber at a compression ratio in the range from about 14 to about 20;
- a heat exchanger arranged to transfer heat from the reaction product discharged from said reaction chamber to at least one component of a gaseous mixture to be supplied to said reaction chamber;
- a fluid feed means for selectively supplying to said reaction chamber either an oxygen-containing gas selected from the group consisting of oxygen and air when said heat exchanger is too cold to support said fuel-reforming reaction or said gaseous mixture comprising said at least one fuel and said oxygen-containing gas when said heat exchanger is sufficiently hot enough to support said fuel-reforming reaction, the amount of oxygen in said gaseous mixture being sufficient to accomplish partial oxidation but insufficient to accomplish complete oxidation of said at least one fuel in said gaseous mixture;
- and
- a fuel injection means for pressurizing said at least one fuel and injecting the pressurized fuel into said reaction chamber only when said fluid feed means supplies said oxygen-containing gas alone to said reaction chamber in such a quantity that the injected fuel undergoes a complete oxidation.
An engine system comprising:
- a fuel reformer which is adapted to carry out a fuel-reforming reaction to give a gaseous fuel containing as combustible components at least one of hydrogen and carbon monoxide through partial oxidation of at least one fuel selected from hydrocarbon fuels, alcohols, and nitrogen-hydrogen compounds without using any catalyst and includes a single reaction chamber in the form of a combustion chamber of a compression-ignition internal combustion engine, a piston adapted to compress a gas in said reaction chamber at a compression ratio in the range from about 14 to about 20x;
- at least one heat exchanger arranged to accomplish heat exchange between the exhaust gas of said combustion engine and at least one component of a gaseous reactant to be supplied to said reaction chamber;
- a fluid feed means for selectively supplying to said reaction chamber either an oxygen-containing gas selected from the group consisting of oxygen and air when said heat exchanger is too cold to support said fuel-reforming reaction or said gaseous mixture comprising said at least one fuel and said oxygen-containing gas when said heat exchanger is sufficiently hot enough to support said fuel-reforming reaction, the amount of oxygen in said gaseous mixture being sufficient to accomplish complete oxidation of said at least one fuel in said gaseous mixture, a fuel injection means for pressurizing said at least one fuel and injecting the pressurized fuel into said reaction chamber only when said fluid feed means supplies said oxygen-containing gas alone to said reaction chamber in such a quantity that the injected fuel undergoes a complete oxidation;
- a combustion engine adapted to produce power;
- and
- means for preparing a combustible mixture of air and said gaseous fuel supplied from said fuel reformer and supplying the prepared combustible mixture to said combustion engine.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.