Fuel system and method for operating a piston engine
AssigneeWäRtsilä Finland Oy
InventorTuukka Laakso
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The fuel system for introducing liquid fuel into the cylinders of a piston engine has a fuel tank for storing the fuel, a pump for pressurizing the fuel, at least one fuel injector for injecting fuel into a cylinder of the engine, and a fuel pipe for supplying fuel from the pump to the fuel injector. The fuel system further has a source of inert gas and means for introducing inert gas into the fuel pipe for purging the fuel pipe.
Claims10
A fuel system for introducing liquid fuel into a cylinder of a piston engine, the fuel system comprising:
- a fuel tank for storing the fuel;
- a pump for pressurizing the fuel;
- at least one fuel injector for injecting fuel into the cylinder of the engine, and a fuel pipe for supplying fuel from the pump to the at least one fuel injector;
- a source of inert gas;
- a means for introducing inert gas into the fuel pipe for purging the fuel pipe;
- an outer pipe that is arranged around the fuel pipe for forming a fluid volume between the fuel pipe and the outer pipe;
- a means for introducing inert gas from the source of inert gas into the fluid volume between the fuel pipe and the outer pipe;
- and
- a first discharge valve for discharging fluid from the fuel pipe into the outer pipe and a second discharge valve for discharging fluid from the outer pipe.
A method for operating a piston engine, wherein the engine is provided with a fuel pipe for supplying pressurized liquid fuel to a fuel injector, the method comprising:
- introducing inert gas into the fuel pipe for purging the fuel pipe after shutting down the engine and/or after switching to the use of another fuel system, the engine is provided with an outer pipe that is arranged around the fuel pipe for forming a fluid volume between the fuel pipe and the outer pipe;
- a mixture of fuel and inert gas from the fuel pipe is discharged into the outer pipe, and
- before introducing fuel into the fuel pipe, introducing inert gas into the fluid volume between the fuel pipe and the outer pipe.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.