GB2155993A

GB2155993A - Magnetic treatment of i.c. engine fuel

Info

Publication number: GB2155993A
Application number: GB08401763A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Koichi Wakuta
Original assignee: JOHOKU KIGYO KK
Current assignee: JOHOKU KIGYO KK
Priority date: 1984-01-24
Filing date: 1984-01-24
Publication date: 1985-10-02
Also published as: GB8401763D0; GB2155993B

Abstract

Fuel flow to a spark ignition or diesel engine is subjected to a magnetic field between 2,000 and 10,000 gauss by a rare earth or cobalt magnet 16 or an electrical coil surrounding a non-magnetic fuel pipe section. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Method of combusting fuel in an internal combustion engine and its apparatus BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present invention relates to a method of combusting fuel in an internal combustion engine carried on automobiles, for example, and its apparatus.

Brief Description of the Prior Art The internal combustion engine carried on the automobiles, for example, is generally categorized into a spark-ignition type internal combustion engine using gasoline for fuel and a compression-ignition type internal combustion engine using gas oil for fuel.

In these types of the internal combustion engines, a fuel system is merely provided with a fuel filter for filtering fuel passing therethrough between the fuel tank and the carburettor or the fuel injection system, for fuel combustion enhancing purposes. No other measure than the above has been taken for the same purposes. The recent servere situation on resources requires fuel saving, thus resulting in increase of fuel price for the internal combustion engine. In this field, therefore, there is a strong demand to improve the specific fuel consumption.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method of combusting fuel in an internal combustion engine and its apparatus, which can provide the improved fuel combustion and the improved specific fuel consumption by merely providing a magnetic field applying device in the fuel system of the internal combustion engine.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of combusting fuel in an internal combustion engine with a fuel combustion system having fuel supply means, fuel injecting means for injecting fuel into a cylinder section and a fuel path for fluidly coupling the fuel supply means with the fuel injecting means, the method comprising the step of applying a magnetic field to fuel flowing from said fuel supply means to said fuel injecting means through the fuel path.

According to another aspects of the invention, there is provided a combustion apparatus for an internal combustion engine having fuel supply means, fuel injecting means for injecting fuel into a cylinder section and a fuel path for fluidly coupling the fuel supply means with the fuel injecting means, in which the improvement comprises magnetic field applying device provided in a section containng the fuel path and the fuel injecting means.

Brief Description of the Drawings Other objects and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a view schematically illustrating a first embodiment of a combustion apparatus according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of a magnetic field applying device used in the combustion apparatus shown in Fig. 1; Figure 3 is a cross sectional view taken on line Ill-Ill of Fig. 2; Figure 4 is a partial longitudinal sectional view of another magnetic field applying device; and Figure 5 is a view schematically illustrating a second embodiment of a combustion apparatus according to the present invention.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments Referring to Figs. 1 to 3, there is shown an embodiment of a combustion apparatus according to the present invention which is incorporated into an internal combustion engine of the spark-ignition type. In Fig. 1 a fuel tank 1 communicates through a fuel filter 2 with a fuel pump 3. The fuel pump 3 is fluidly coupled with a float chamber 5 of a carburettor 4 by a fuel path 6. A magnetic field applying device 7 is inserted in the fuel path 6, while being located closer to the float chamber 5 of the carburettor 4. The above components cooperate to form a fuel system 8 in the internal combustion engine.

Also in Fig. 1, an air cleaner 9 is connected to cylinders 11 of the internal combustion engine, via an inlet pipe 10 of the carburettor 4. A main nozzle 1 2 of the carburettor 4 opens into a ventury portin of the inlet pipe 10. In the figure, reference numeral 1 3 designates a throttle valve and numeral 14 intake valves.

Turning now to Figs. 2 and 3 there is shown a structure of the magnetic field applying device 7. As shown, a plate like permanent magnet 1 6 is fixedly fit in a tubular yoke 1 5 at the substantially mid portion in the yoke. Under this condition, the permanent magnet 1 6 parts the hollow of the yoke 1 5 into two sections 1 7 and 17, which are respectively defined by the inner wall of the yoke 1 5 and one of the side walls of the permanent magnet 1 6 and by the inner wall and the other side wall of the permanent magnet 1 6. Those hollow sections 1 7 and 17, shaped like trapezoid as viewed in the cross section, serve as fuel paths, respectively.

For mounting the magnetic field applying device 7 to the fuel system 8, mouth-piece 1 8 and 18, which are respectively fit into fuel pipes 6a and 6a of the fuel paths 6 and 6, are fixed to, for example, screwed around both ends of yoke 15, respectiveley. The yoke 1 5 is made of magnetic metal such as iron.

The mouth-piece 18 is made of non-magnetic material, such as brass. The permanent magnet 16 is preferably made of material providing a high flux density, viz, with a rectangular magnetizing curve and a large coersive force, such as rare earth magnet or cobalt magnet.

For example, a Rarenet (trade name) commercially available, is preferable for the permenent magnet 1 6 in this embodiment.

In the above embodiment, the permanent magnet 16 is used for a magnetic source.

This may be replaced by any other suitable device if it can apply a maximum of magnetic field to the flowing fuel. For example, a couple of plate like permanent magnets are successively arranged in and along the yoke in a manner such that one is rotated 90 from the other in the circumferential direction of the yoke. This modification can apply a magnetic field to the flowing fluid over a longer distance. Further, the magnetic flux passing the flowing fluid may electrically be developed in a manner that a nonmagnetic tubular member shaped like the yoke 1 5 is provided with a coil would therearound. In this case, the magnetic field applying device 7 must be structured so that a maximum of magnetic flux passes through the flowing fluid by using a well known technique in the field.Any way, the structure essential to this magnetic field applying device 7 is able to apply maximumly and uniformly a magnetic field to the flowing fluid.

Incidentally, the yoke 1 5 may be covered with a nonmagnetic tube, for protecting the yoke 1 5 from dust or damage. Additionally, pole pieces may be mounted to both sides of the permanent magnet 1 6.

For ease of installing the magnetic field applying device 7, it is preferable to set it closer to and upstream the carburettor 4.

With such installation of the magnetic field applying device 7, it can easily be installed to the conventional fuel system of the internal combustion engine. Alternatively, the magnetic field applying device 7 is provided in a main fuel path between the float chamber 5 and the main nozzle 1 2 in the carburettor 4.

In Fig. 4 there is a modification of the magnetic field applying device 7 so structured as to be convenient when it is installed closest to the carburettor 4. As shown one of the mouth-piece 18 and 1 8 of the magnetic field applying device 7 is omitted. The screwed end of the yoke 15, where otherwise has the mouth-piece screwed thereto, is directly coupled with, for example, screwed into the float chamber wall 5a of the carburettor 4, thereby to make the fuel path in the yoke 1 5 to communicate with the float chamber 5 by way of a float valve. In the figure, like reference numerals are used to designate like portions in Figs. 2 and 3.

In operation, with a negative pressure gen-erated by the action of the cylinders 11 when the internal combustion engine runs, fresh air is taken in through the air cleaner 9 and the inlet pipe 10. At the same time, gasoline as fuel from the float chamber 5 of the carburettor 4 is jetted by the main nozzle 12 and blended with the taken in air to form a mixture fuel. The mixture is fed into the cylinders 11 and 11 when the intake valves 14 are open. In the cylinders 11 and 11, the mixture is ignited by an injection plug (not shown) and combusted. The above process is the same as that of the conventional internal combustion engine of this type.With the level drop of the gasoline in the float chamber 5 due to its consumption as the engine runs, gasoline in the fuel tank 1, after filtered by the fuel filter 2 is fed by the fuel pump 3, into the float chamber 5 through a float valve (not shown), thereby to keep the gasoline at a fixed level in the float chamber 5. The magnetic field applying device 7 provided between the fuel pump 3 and the float chamber 5 applies a magnetic field to the gasoline flowing through the fuel paths 1 7 and 1 7. At this time, a magnetic field of approximately 2000 to 10,000 Gauss flux density is applied by the permanent magnet 16, to the flowing gasoline in such a way that the direction of the magnetic field is substantially orthogonal to the flow of the gasoline.Then, the gasoline is led to the float chamber 5 and to the cylinders 11 and 11 for combustion.

In the experiments conducted by the inventor of the present invention, the same automobile (Toyota Mark II) was comparatively operated using the mixture based on the gasoline after it, flowing the paths 1 7 and 1 7 of the magnet device 7, is subjected to a magnetic field of about 4000 Gauss and the mixture based on the gasoline not subjected to such magnetic field. When using the magnetic field applied fuel, the specific fuel consumption for the ordinary running of the car was 3 to 5% high than that when using the ordinary fuel not subjected to the magnetic field. Further, in the case of using the magnetic field applied fuel, the stain of the electrode part of the ignition plug after three months with approximately 5,500 Km run of the car was remarkably less. This implies that the fuel is well combusted. Additionally, the idling speed when the magnetic field applied fuel is used was about 10% higher than that when the ordinary fuel is used. The improvement of acceleration in the former case was also confirmed.

Turning now to Fig. 5, there is shown another embodiment of a combustion apparatus according to the present invention which is incorporated into a compression-ignition engine, or a Diesel engine, for automobile. As shown, a fuel tank 21 communicates with a fuel injection pump 25 of a fuel injection system 24, via a fuel filter 22 and a fuel pump 23. The fuel injection pump 25 further communicates with cylinders 27 through an injection valve 26. A magnetic field applying device 7 structurally similar to that of Fig. 3 is provided on the in-take side of the fuel injection pump 25. The above components constitute a fuel system 28.

For combusting gas oil by the combustion apparatus thus arranged, when the Diesel engine is running, gas oil pumped from the fuel tank 21 into the oil pipe connected thereto by the fuel pump 23 and is filtered by the fuel filter 22. The filtered fuel is subjected to a magnetic field developed by the magnetic field applying device 7, before it enters the fuel injection valve 26 cooperate to jet the magnetic field applied fuel into the cylinders 27 where it, together with air introduced thereinto, is compressed and ignited.

The experiment conducted under the same conditions as those in the above experiments for the spark-ignition type engine, also showed that the specific fuel consumption for the ordinary running of the car when the magnetic field applied fuel is used is improved over that when the ordinary fuel is used.

Also in this embodiment, if the magnetic field applying device 7 is located upstream and closer to the fuel injection pump 25, the useful effects as mentioned above may be obtained. Further the magnetic field applying device 7 may be located in each of the fuel paths continuous to cylinders in the fuel injection system.

As seen from the foregoing description, in a method of combusting fuel in an internal combustion engine according to the present invention, fuel such as gasoline or gas oil flowing through a fuel system is subjected to a magnetic field and then is combused. The fuel combustion in the engine goes well. This leads to fuel saving and in a broad sense the resource saving, and further less stain on the electrode of the ignition plug even after a long time use.

A combustion apparatus for an internal combustion engine according to the present invention has a structural feature that the magnetic field applying device is provided between the fuel tank and the carburettor or the fuel injection system or is provided in the carburettor or the fuel injection system. The combusting method can easily be executed with a simple construction and, if the invention is applied to the conventional combustion engine, requiring merely a minor modification.

While the present invention has been described using specific embodiments, it should be understood that the present invention may be variously changed within the scope of the invention. The present invention is applicable not only for the above mentioned two types of internal combustion engine, but also for general purpose engines, motorcycle engines, motor boat engines, etc. In the application of the present invention, not consideration must be given on the ignition type, the number of strokes in the engine cycle, the number of cylinders, etc. It is evident that the present invention is also applicable for the internal combustion engine using heavy oil for fuel such as the marine engine.

Claims

1. A emthod of combusting fuel in an internal combustion engine with a fuel combustion system having fuel supply means, furel injecting means for injecting fuel into a cylinder section and a fuel path for fluidly coupling the fuel supply means with the fuel injecting means, said method comprising the step of applying a magnetic field to fuel flowing from said fuel supply means to said fuel injecting means through the fuel path.

2. The method according to claim 1, in which said fuel inejecting means is a caburator.

3. The method according to claim 2, in which said magnetic field application is performed in said fuel path upstream said caburator.

4. The method according to claim 1, in which said magnetic field application is performed in a main fuel path between a float chamber and a main nozzle in said caburator.

5. The method according to claim 2, in whcih said fuel injecting means is a fuel injection system.

6. The method according to claim 5, in which said magnetic field application is performed in said fuel path upstream said fuel injection system.

7. The method according to claim 5, in which said magnetic field application is performed in each of fuel paths continuous to cylinders in said fuel injection system.

8. In a combustion apparatus for an internal combustion engine having fuel supply means, fuel injecting means for injecting fuel into a cylinder section and a fuel path upstream said fuel injection system.

7. The method according to claim 5, in which said magnetic field application is performed in each of fuel paths continuous to cylinders in said fule injection system.

8. In a conbustion apparatus for an internal combustion engine having fuel supply means, fuel injecting means for injecting fuel into a cylinder section and a fuel path for fluidly coupling the fuel supply means with the fuel injecting means, in which the improvement comprises magnetic field applying means provided in a section containing said fuel path and said fuel injecting means.

9. The combustion apparatus according to claim 8, in which said fuel injecting means is a caburator.

10. The combustion apparatus according to claim 9, in which said magnetic field applying means is provided in said fuel path upstream said caburator.

11. The combustion appratus according to claim 9, in which said magnetic field applying means is provided in a main fuel path between a float chamber and a main nozzle in said caburator.

1 2. The combustion apparatus according to claim 8, in which said magnetic field applying means is comprised of a plate like permanent magnet and a tubular yoke containing said permanent magnet fixedly mounted therein and allowing the fuel to flow through spaces formed between the internal surface of said yoke and the outersurface of said permanent magnet.

1 3. The combustion apparatus according to claim 8, in which said magnetic field applying means is comprised of a couple of plate like permenent magnets arranged in a manner that one is rotated by 90 from the other in the circumferential direction of said yoke and a tubular yoke containing said permenent magnet fixedly mounted therein and allowing the fuel to flow through spaces formed between the internal surface of said yoke and the outersurface of said permanent magnet.

14. The combustion apparatus according to claim 8, in which said magnetic filed applying means is comprised of a tubular yoke allowing the fuel to flow therethrough and an electric current flowing coil would around said yoke.

1 5. The combusiton appratus according to claim 12, in which said permanent magnet is made of material mainly containing rare earth elements.

16. The combustion apparatus according to claim 13, in which said permanent magnet is made of material mainly containing rare earth elements.

1 7. The combustion apparatus according to claim 12, in which said permanent magnet is made of material maimainly containing rare earth elements.

1 8. The combustion apparatus according to claim 13, in which said permanent magnet is made of material mainly containing rare earth elements.

19. The combustion apparatus according to claim 8, in which said fuel injecting means is a fuel injection system.

20. The combustion apparatus according to claim 19, in which said magnetic field applying means is provided in said fuel path upstream said fuel injection system.

21. The combustion apparatus according to claim 19, in which said magnetic field applying means are respectively provided in fuel paths continuous to cylinders in said fuel injection system.