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US 9,752,497 B2Granted
Dilution of the gas in an intake manifold by water injection
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorYasser Mohamed sayed Yacoub
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods for reducing NOx emissions are provided, comprising: adjusting an amount of water injected into an intake manifold responsive to an oxygen concentration, temperature and pressure in the intake manifold; and heating the injected water if humidity is higher than a threshold. Water injected into the intake manifold decreases the temperature of, and dilutes the oxygen content of intake gases thereby decreasing NOx emissions.
Claims20
A method for reduction of nitrogen oxides emissions of an internal combustion engine, comprising:
- measuring an oxygen concentration in an intake manifold of the internal combustion engine;
- determining a starting dilution factor based on the measured oxygen concentration, wherein the starting dilution factor is a ratio of the measured oxygen concentration;
- determining a target dilution factor based on a user preset with regard to an operating mode of the internal combustion engine, wherein the target dilution factor is an amount of oxygen dilution with water within the intake manifold;
- determining a relative air humidity setpoint in the intake manifold at which the target dilution factor is attained;
- determining an amount of water to be injected into the intake manifold based on the relative air humidity setpoint;
- and
- injecting the determined amount of water into the intake manifold.
4 more elements
An internal combustion engine, comprising:
- an intake manifold;
- an oxygen sensor in the intake manifold;
- an injection device for injecting water into the intake manifold;
- and
- an engine controller having memory with instructions to determine an amount of water to inject into the intake manifold responsive to a determination of a relative humidity set point based on an oxygen concentration, temperature, and pressure within the intake manifold, where the determined amount of water to inject into the intake manifold increases as the pressure increases and the temperature decreases.
2 more elements
A method, comprising:
- via an electronic controller:
- adjusting an amount of water injected into an intake manifold responsive to an oxygen concentration, temperature, and pressure in the intake manifold, where adjusting the amount of water injected into the intake manifold includes increasing the amount of water injected into the intake manifold as the pressure in the intake manifold increases and the temperature in the intake manifold decreases;
- and
- heating the injected water in response to a determination by the controller that humidity is higher than a threshold humidity.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.