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US 6,782,869 B2Granted
Fuel delivery system and method
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorDaniel Robert Blakley
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fuel delivery system includes a drop ejector for discretely ejecting drops of combustible liquid in a digital manner. A controller is configured to cause the drop ejector to provide a first air/fuel mixture to a combustion chamber for a first portion of a fuel intake period and to provide a second air/fuel mixture to said combustion chamber for a second portion of the same fuel intake period.
Claims21
A fuel delivery system, comprising:
- a drop ejector having a nozzle capable of discretely ejecting liquid fuel in a digital manner;
- and
- a controller configured to cause said drop ejector to provide a first air/fuel mixture to a combustion chamber for a first portion of a fuel intake period and to provide a second air/fuel mixture to said combustion chamber for a second portion of said fuel intake period, wherein
- said controller is configured to cause said drop ejector to provide a third air/fuel mixture to said combustion chamber for a third period portion of said fuel intake period.
1 more element
A fuel delivery system, comprising:
- a drop ejector having a nozzle capable of discretely ejecting liquid fuel in a digital manner;
- and
- a controller configured to cause said drop ejector to provide a first air/fuel mixture to a combustion chamber for a first portion of a fuel intake period and to provide a second air/fuel mixture to said combustion chamber for a second portion of said fuel intake period, wherein said controller is configured to adjust said air/fuel mixture supplied to said combustion chamber by changing a number of discrete droplets of fuel expelled from said drop ejector during a given time period.
A method of delivering an air/fuel mixture to a combustion chamber, comprising:
- delivering a combustible vapor having a first air/fuel ratio during a first portion of an intake period;
- delivering a combustible vapor having a second air/fuel ratio during a second portion of said intake period;
- delivering a combustible vapor having a third air/fuel ratio during a third period portion of said intake period;
- and
- wherein said combustible vapor is created by passing air through discrete droplets of a combustible liquid.
2 more elements
A method of delivering an air/fuel mixture to a combustion chamber, comprising:
- delivering a combustible vapor having a first air/fuel ratio during a first portion of an intake period;
- delivering a combustible vapor having a second air/fuel ratio during a second portion of said intake period, wherein:
- said lean air/fuel mixture is created by passing said air through a first number of fuel droplets;
- and
- said rich air/fuel mixture is created by passing said air through a second number of fuel droplets, wherein said second number of fuel droplets is greater than said first number of fuel droplets, wherein
- said second number of fuel droplets is generated by activating additional firing chambers on a drop ejector.
3 more elements
An internal combustion engine, comprising:
- a combustion chamber;
- fuel ejector means for discretely ejecting liquid fuel in a digital manner;
- and
- means for causing said fuel ejector means to deliver a first air/fuel mixture to said combustion chamber for a first portion of an intake period and causing said fuel ejector means to deliver a second air/fuel mixture to said combustion chamber for a second portion of said intake period and causing said fuel ejector means to deliver a third air/fuel mixture to said combustion chamber for a third portion of said intake period.
1 more element
A fuel powered apparatus, comprising:
- an internal combustion engine having a least one combustion chamber;
- a fuel delivery system that delivers an air/fuel mixture to said combustion chamber;
- and
- wherein said fuel delivery system comprises:
- a drop ejector having a nozzle capable of discretely ejecting liquid fuel in a digital manner;
- and
- a controller configured to cause said fuel delivery system to deliver a lean air/fuel mixture to said combustion chamber for a first portion of an intake period and deliver a rich air/fuel mixture to said combustion chamber for a second portion of said intake period, said controller being further configured to deliver a third air/fuel mixture to said combustion chamber for a third portion of said intake period, said third air/fuel mixture being richer than said lean air/fuel mixture and leaner than said rich air/fuel mixture.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.