Process for operating a heater that can be operated with hydrocarbon fuel
AssigneeEberspaecher Climate Control Systems GmbH & Co. KG
InventorGünter Eberspach
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A process for operating a heater that can be operated with hydrocarbon fuel, especially for a vehicle includes providing a substoichiometric air/fuel mixture in a precombustion chamber (18) for a combustion operation and performing a cold flame combustion in the precombustion chamber (18). The precombustion products forming in the precombustion chamber (18) during the cold flame combustion are supplied to a catalyst arrangement (32) and a partial catalytic oxidation is performed for producing a gas containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The gas produced during the partial catalytic oxidation is supplied to a main combustion chamber (34) for producing a hydrogen/carbon monoxide/air mixture. The hydrogen/carbon monoxide/air mixture is burned in the main combustion chamber (34).
Claims9
A heater for a vehicle, the heater comprising:
- a precombustion chamber;
- a fuel supply which supplies hydrocarbon fuel to the precombustion chamber;
- a primary combustion air supply which supplies combustion air to the precombustion chamber;
- a catalyst arrangement disposed downstream of the precombustion chamber for receiving precombustion products from the precombustion chamber and for producing a gas containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide by means of partial catalytic oxidation;
- a main combustion chamber downstream of the catalyst arrangement for receiving the gas containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide from the catalyst arrangement;
- and
- a secondary combustion air supply which supplies combustion air to the main combustion chamber, wherein said main combustion chamber is free of an ignition element.
A vehicle heater comprising:
- a precombustion chamber;
- a fuel supply which supplies hydrocarbon fuel to the precombustion chamber;
- a primary combustion air supply which supplies combustion air to the precombustion chamber;
- a catalyst arrangement disposed downstream of the precombustion chamber for receiving the precombustion products from the precombustion chamber and performing a partial catalytic oxidation, of the supplied precombustion products, to produce a gas containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide;
- a main combustion chamber downstream of the catalyst arrangement for receiving the gas containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide from the catalyst arrangement;
- a secondary combustion air supply which supplies combustion air to the main combustion chamber for burning a mixture of the hydrogen and the carbon monoxide and the supplied air in the main combustion chamber;
- and
- an ignition device associated with the precombustion chamber, wherein the mixture of the hydrogen and the carbon monoxide and the supplied air in the main combustion chamber ignite exclusively based on a temperature of one or more of the hydrogen, the carbon monoxide and the supplied air.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.