JP2005299541A - engine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress temporary engine revolution speed reduction less than tolerance by a simple structure. <P>SOLUTION: In an engine 100 constructed to perform injection ignition operation in which air fuel mixture MG is ignited by injecting sub fuel SF from a fuel injection valve 25 and burning the same with self ignition in a combustion chamber 1 having air fuel mixture MG composed of main fuel MF compressed and provided with an engine revolution speed establishing means 41 setting engine revolution speed in a target revolution speed range by adjusting intake air quantity of air fuel mixture into the combustion chamber 1, a judgment means 42 judging a low revolution speed condition under which engine revolution speed is less then a target revolution speed range, and a processing means 43 increasing equivalent ratio of air fuel mixture MG sucked in the combustion chamber 1 and performing revolution speed drop avoidance process reducing injection volume of sub fuel SF from the fuel injection valve 25 when the judgment means 42 judges the low revolution speed condition is provided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  According to the present invention, in a combustion chamber in which an air-fuel mixture of main fuel and oxygen-containing gas is compressed, a sub-fuel is injected from a fuel injection valve and self-ignition combustion is performed so as to ignite the air-fuel mixture. The present invention relates to an engine comprising engine speed setting means configured to adjust the intake amount of the air-fuel mixture into the combustion chamber and set the engine speed within a target speed range.

In a combustion chamber in which a mixture of main fuel such as natural gas and air (oxygen-containing gas) is compressed, auxiliary fuel such as light oil and kerosene is injected from the fuel injection valve and self-ignition combustion is performed to ignite the mixture. An engine that performs an injection ignition operation to be performed (the above-mentioned sub fuel is sometimes referred to as an ignition pilot fuel, and therefore, such an engine is sometimes referred to as a pilot ignition engine) is known (for example, Patent Document 1). See).
In addition, in such an injection ignition operation, such an engine performs self-ignition by injecting secondary fuel by the fuel injection valve for ignition of the air-fuel mixture consisting of main fuel. It differs from a diesel engine in that the ratio is as small as a few percent.

  In the engine as described above, the air-fuel mixture consisting of the main fuel can be stably ignited by the thermal energy generated by the self-ignition combustion of the auxiliary fuel, so that the average effective pressure in the combustion chamber is increased and the efficiency is increased. Furthermore, since the air-fuel mixture comprising the main fuel can be stably lean burned at a relatively low equivalent ratio, NOx reduction can be achieved.

  In addition, in an engine used as a drive source for a conventional cogeneration system, heat pump system, or the like, intake of the air-fuel mixture into the combustion chamber is performed by an engine speed setting means that functions as an engine control unit (hereinafter referred to as ECU). In some cases, the engine speed is set within a predetermined target speed range by adjusting the amount by adjusting the opening of a throttle valve provided in the intake passage.

JP 2000-64838 A

In the engine described in Patent Document 1, when the engine speed is set within a predetermined target speed range by the engine speed setting means functioning by the ECU, the engine speed is changed due to a sudden load fluctuation or the like. The number may fluctuate outside the target rotational speed range.
The engine speed setting means changes the intake amount of the air-fuel mixture into the combustion chamber following the change in the engine speed in order to keep the changed engine speed within the target speed range. However, when the fluctuation of the engine speed is abrupt, there is a delay time from when the opening of the throttle valve provided in the intake passage is changed to when the intake amount of the air-fuel mixture to the combustion chamber changes. For this reason, the engine speed may temporarily fluctuate significantly.

  In particular, when the engine speed temporarily falls below the allowable range due to a sudden load increase, the engine is stopped and complicated work such as restarting is required.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to suppress a temporary decrease below an allowable range of engine speed with a simple configuration in a so-called pilot ignition engine. The point is to provide technology.

In order to achieve the above object, an engine according to the present invention includes a combustion chamber in which an air-fuel mixture of main fuel and oxygen-containing gas is compressed. The engine includes an engine speed setting means that adjusts the amount of air-fuel mixture into the combustion chamber and sets the engine speed within a target speed range. The first characteristic configuration is a determining means for determining a low engine speed state in which the engine speed is below the target engine speed range;
When the low speed state is determined by the determination means, the equivalence ratio of the air-fuel mixture sucked into the combustion chamber is increased, and the reduction in the rotational speed is avoided by reducing the injection amount of the auxiliary fuel from the fuel injection valve. It is in the point provided with the processing means which performs processing.

According to the first characteristic configuration, the determination means determines that the engine speed is in a low speed state lower than the target speed range, and the engine may stop if the engine speed further decreases. If the engine is present, the engine speed reduction avoidance process is performed by the processing means, whereby the equivalent ratio of the air-fuel mixture sucked into the combustion chamber can be increased and the indicated effective pressure of the combustion chamber can be increased. It is possible to suppress the engine speed from being further reduced and stop the engine, and to increase the engine speed and return it to the target speed range.
Further, when the equivalence ratio of the air-fuel mixture sucked into the combustion chamber is increased, the amount of heat generated in the combustion chamber increases, and in particular, in the region where the auxiliary fuel injected from the fuel injection valve self-ignites and burns. The heat generated by the self-ignition combustion of the fuel is also applied, and the portion near the region may be thermally damaged.
Therefore, in the rotation speed reduction avoidance process, the above-described thermal damage is caused by increasing the equivalence ratio of the air-fuel mixture sucked into the combustion chamber and decreasing the injection amount of the auxiliary fuel from the fuel injection valve. Can be avoided.

The second characteristic configuration of the engine according to the present invention includes a determination unit that determines a load sudden increase state in which the increase speed of the engine load exceeds an allowable speed,
Rotational speed reduction avoidance processing for increasing the equivalence ratio of the air-fuel mixture sucked into the combustion chamber and reducing the injection amount of the sub fuel from the fuel injection valve when the determination means determines the sudden increase state of the load In the point provided with the processing means which performs.

  According to the second feature configuration, it is determined by the determination means that the engine load increase speed exceeds the allowable speed and the load suddenly increases, and the engine speed falls below the target rotation speed range due to the engine load increase. If there is a possibility that the engine will stop, the processing means performs the rotation speed reduction avoidance process to reduce the injection amount of the sub fuel from the fuel injection valve as in the first feature configuration described above. While increasing the equivalence ratio of the air-fuel mixture sucked into the combustion chamber while avoiding thermal damage, the engine speed is further reduced and the engine is stopped from stopping and the engine speed is increased. It can be returned to within the target rotational speed range.

In order to achieve the above object, a third characteristic configuration of the engine according to the present invention includes a spark plug in the combustion chamber,
The processing means is configured to operate the spark plug in the rotation speed reduction avoiding process.

  In the rotation speed reduction avoiding process, the amount of sub fuel injected by the fuel injection valve is reduced, so that the heat energy generated by the self-ignition combustion of the sub fuel is small, and the air-fuel mixture cannot be properly ignited. Although it is conceivable, according to the third characteristic configuration, in the rotation speed reduction avoidance process, the ignition plug provided in the combustion chamber is operated to assist the ignition of the air-fuel mixture composed of the main fuel and stably. Can be burned.

A fourth characteristic configuration of the engine according to the present invention includes, as the combustion chamber, a main chamber formed in a cylinder, and a sub chamber formed in a cylinder head and communicating with the main chamber.
The fuel injection valve is disposed in the sub chamber.

According to the fourth characteristic configuration, the main chamber and the sub chamber are provided as the combustion chamber, and the fuel injection valve is disposed in the sub chamber, so that the sub fuel injected into the sub chamber is diffused throughout the combustion chamber. The sub-chamber can be successfully self-ignited and combusted while suppressing the occurrence of this, and the flame jet generated by the self-igniting combustion is injected into the main chamber, for example, to ignite the low-equivalent gas mixture in the main chamber. Can be made.
Even in such an engine, by providing the determination unit and the processing unit, it is possible to suppress a temporary decrease below the allowable range of the engine speed.

A fifth characteristic configuration of the engine according to the present invention is configured as a multi-cylinder type including the plurality of combustion chambers,
The processing means is configured to perform the rotation speed reduction avoiding process only for a part of the combustion chambers.

  In an engine having a plurality of combustion chambers and configured in a multi-cylinder type, if the above-described rotation speed reduction avoidance process is performed on all combustion chambers by the processing means, the illustrated effective pressure increases in all combustion chambers. As a result, the engine speed may increase excessively and the engine may be damaged. Therefore, according to the fifth characteristic configuration, the engine speed as described above is obtained by performing the engine speed reduction avoidance process only on a part of the plurality of combustion chambers by the processing means. Engine damage can be avoided by excessive increase of the engine.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
The engine 100 includes a piston 2 and a cylinder 3 that accommodates the piston 2. The engine 100 is formed in the cylinder 3 by reciprocating the piston 2 in the cylinder 3 and opening and closing the intake valve 4 and the exhaust valve 5. In the combustion chamber 1, intake, compression, combustion / expansion, and exhaust strokes are performed, and the reciprocating motion of the piston 2 is output as the rotational motion of the crankshaft 17. Such a configuration has a normal 4-stroke. There is no difference from an internal combustion engine.

The engine 100 forms a mixture MG of main fuel MF, which is a natural gas mainly composed of methane, and air in the intake passage 6, opens the intake valve 4 in the intake stroke, and opens the mixture from the intake passage 6. MG is sucked into the combustion chamber 1, the exhaust valve 5 is closed in the compression stroke to compress the intake air-fuel mixture MG, and the compressed mixture is ignited and burned in the combustion / expansion stroke. The exhaust valve 5 is opened, and the exhaust gas after combustion is discharged to the exhaust passage 7.
The equivalence ratio of the air-fuel mixture MG is set to be less than 1, preferably in the range of 0.5 to 0.7.

  Unlike the main fuel MF sucked from the intake passage 6, the combustion chamber 1 is combusted with a sub fuel SF such as light oil or kerosene, which is a liquid fuel superior in ignitability than the main fuel MF, at the end of the compression stroke. A fuel injection valve 25 is provided in the chamber 1 for high-pressure injection and self-ignition.

  The fuel injection valve 25 can adopt the same configuration as that of, for example, a common rail type fuel injection mechanism used in a general diesel engine or the like, and burns the auxiliary fuel SF supplied in a highly compressed state. It is configured to inject into the chamber 1.

  However, the fuel injection mechanism for the diesel engine has a secondary fuel injection valve 25 that is sub-combustible in order to inject a relatively large amount of liquid fuel in order to push down the piston by diffusing and burning high pressure injected liquid fuel. The difference is that the injection amount of the fuel SF is very small.

  That is, in the engine 100 of the present embodiment, at the end of the compression stroke, a small amount of sub fuel SF is injected into the combustion chamber 1 from the fuel injection valve 25 at high pressure and self-ignition combustion is performed. The mixture MG sucked from the intake passage 6 is stably ignited and burned by the heat energy generated by the self-ignition combustion of the fuel MF, and the piston 2 is pushed down by the combustion, so that the operation is continued.

The injection amount of the auxiliary fuel SF by the fuel injection valve 25 is in the range of 0.2% or more and 5% or less, preferably in the range of 1% or less, in terms of the heat amount ratio to the total heat amount of the main fuel MF and the auxiliary fuel SF. It is said.
That is, if the calorie ratio of the injection amount of the auxiliary fuel SF to the total heat amount is smaller than 0.2%, the amount of heat generated by the self-ignition combustion is too small to stably ignite the mixture MG. Misfire may occur. On the other hand, if it is larger than 5%, the amount of heat generated by the self-ignition combustion is too large, the maximum pressure of the combustion chamber 1 becomes excessively large and knocking may occur. Since the consumption amount of the sub fuel SF with respect to the main fuel MF is increased, the size of the apparatus is increased by increasing the size of the tank or the like for storing the sub fuel SF.
Further, by making the heat quantity ratio of the injection quantity of the auxiliary fuel SF to the total heat quantity less than 1%, further miniaturization can be achieved while avoiding misfire and knocking as described above.

  The engine 100 employs the above-described configuration, so that an air-fuel mixture MG having an equivalence ratio of 0.5 to 0.7 using natural gas or the like as the main fuel MF is injected from the fuel injection valve 25 at a high pressure. Since a small amount of auxiliary fuel MF can be stably ignited by self-ignited combustion, the indicated mean effective pressure in the combustion chamber 1 can be increased to achieve high output and high efficiency.

Further, the auxiliary fuel supply means 50 for supplying the auxiliary fuel SF to the fuel injection valve 25 will be described. The auxiliary fuel SF is stored in the auxiliary fuel tank 53, and the auxiliary fuel SF is supplied to the auxiliary fuel supply path. At 54, the fuel pump 51 driven by using the rotational power of the crankshaft 17 is highly compressed and supplied to the fuel injection valve 25.
Further, the injection amount of the sub fuel SF by the fuel injection valve 25 is adjusted by adjusting the operation of the fuel injection valve 25 itself. The injection amount in the fuel injection valve 25 can also be adjusted by adjusting the governor provided in the auxiliary fuel supply path 54 and adjusting the pressure of the auxiliary fuel SF supplied to the fuel injection valve 25.
The auxiliary fuel supply path 54 is provided with a flow meter 52 for measuring the flow rate of the auxiliary fuel SF.

  Further, the engine 100 of the present embodiment includes a main chamber 11 defined by the inner surface of the cylinder 3, the top surface of the piston 2, and the lower surface of the cylinder head 9 as the combustion chamber 1, and the central portion of the cylinder head 9 (the cylinder 3 And a sub chamber 21 formed in the sub chamber base 20 provided in the portion of the sub chamber base 20, and the main chamber 11 and the sub chamber 21 are connected to the main chamber 11 of the sub chamber base 20. It communicates via the communication hole 22 formed in the protrusion part. The volume ratio of the sub chamber 21 is preferably about 2% to 20% of the entire combustion chamber 1.

  Furthermore, a concave portion 2a is formed in the central portion of the top surface of the piston 2 so as to surround the sub-chamber base 20 protruding into the main chamber 11 when the piston 2 is located at the top dead center. Thus, when the piston 2 rises in the compression stroke, squish flowing from the outer peripheral portion of the top surface of the piston 2 to the central portion of the recess 2a is generated.

  Further, the fuel injection valve 25 is provided above the sub chamber base 20 and configured to inject the sub fuel SF into the sub chamber 21 at a high pressure.

  That is, the engine 100 employs the above-described configuration, thereby compressing the air-fuel mixture MG sucked into the main chamber 11 as the piston 2 rises, and opening the compressed air-fuel mixture MG into the main chamber 11. The fuel MG is injected into the sub-chamber 21 through the communicating hole 22 and compressed in the sub-chamber 21, and the fuel injection valve 25 injects the sub-fuel SF to cause self-ignition combustion to form a flame. Is injected into the main chamber 11 from the sub chamber 21 through the communication hole 22 as a flame jet FJ, and the so-called injection ignition operation is performed in which the air-fuel mixture MG in the main chamber 11 is ignited and burned by the flame jet FJ. Has been.

  The engine 100 is provided with an engine control unit (hereinafter referred to as an ECU) 40 comprising a computer. The ECU 40 detects the engine speed based on the detection result of the crank angle sensor 16 that measures the rotation angle of the crankshaft 17. The amount of intake air of the mixture MG into the combustion chamber 1 is adjusted by adjusting the opening of the throttle valve 15 provided in the intake passage 6 so that the engine speed is set within a desired target speed range. The engine speed setting means 41 to be adjusted is configured to function.

  Even if the engine speed is set within the predetermined target speed range by the engine speed setting means 41, the engine speed may fluctuate outside the target speed range due to a sudden load fluctuation or the like. However, the engine 100 is configured to avoid such excessive fluctuations in engine speed. The detailed configuration will be described below.

  The ECU 40 determines that the engine speed recognized from the detection result of the crank angle sensor 16 exceeds the target speed range due to a rapid load decrease state where the decrease speed of the engine load 36 exceeds the allowable speed or the rapid load decrease state thereof. Determining means for determining a high engine speed state, or a low engine speed state where the engine speed is below the target engine speed range due to a load rapid increase state where the engine speed of the engine load 36 exceeds an allowable speed or the load rapid increase state. 42 is configured to function as 42. Further, the ECU 40 performs a speed increase avoidance process for avoiding an excessive increase in the engine speed when the determination means 42 determines a sudden load drop state or a high rotation speed state, while the determination means 42 Thus, the engine is configured to function as a processing means 43 that performs a rotation speed reduction avoiding process for avoiding an excessive decrease in the engine speed when a sudden load increase state or a low rotation speed state is determined.

  That is, the processing means 43, when the determination means 42 determines a sudden load drop state or a high rotation speed state, the rotation speed so as to instantaneously decrease or stop the injection amount of the sub fuel SF by the fuel injection valve 25. By performing the avoidance process, the thermal energy generated by the self-ignition combustion of the auxiliary fuel is reduced or eliminated, the engine speed is further increased and the engine is prevented from being damaged, and the engine speed is set to the target speed. Reduce to within range.

On the other hand, the processing means 43 increases the supply ratio of the main fuel MF to increase the equivalence ratio of the air-fuel mixture MG that is taken into the combustion chamber 1 when the determination means 42 determines the load sudden increase state or the low rotation speed state. And the engine speed reduction avoiding process is performed so as to reduce the injection amount of the auxiliary fuel SF from the fuel injection valve 25, thereby activating the combustion in the combustion chamber 1 and further reducing the engine speed. The engine speed is increased within the target speed range by suppressing the engine from stopping.
Further, since the injection amount of the auxiliary fuel SF is reduced in the rotation speed reduction process, thermal damage to the auxiliary chamber cap 20 and the like due to an increase in the equivalence ratio of the air-fuel mixture MG is suppressed.
In the present embodiment, in the rotation speed reduction avoiding process, the equivalence ratio of the air-fuel mixture MG is initially increased from about 0.5 to about 0.7, and the injection amount of the auxiliary fuel SF is set to the total amount. The ratio of heat quantity to heat quantity, which was originally about 1%, is reduced to about 0.5%.

  Further, when the engine 100 is configured as a multi-cylinder type having a plurality of combustion chambers 1, the processing means 43 is configured to avoid the increase in the rotation speed or decrease the rotation speed for all the combustion chambers 1. In order to prevent the engine speed from being excessively reduced or increased by performing the avoidance process, the rotation is performed with respect to some predetermined combustion chambers 1 among the plurality of combustion chambers 1. The number increase avoidance process or the rotation speed decrease avoidance process is performed.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in the engine 100, the fuel injection valve 25 is disposed in the central portion of the combustion chamber 1, and a plurality of, specifically, two spark plugs 30 are symmetrically disposed around the central portion of the combustion chamber 1. Further, the fuel injection valve 25 is disposed in the sub chamber 21, and the plurality of spark plugs 30 are disposed in the main chamber 11.

  In addition, the processing means 43 prevents the ignition plug 30 from igniting the air-fuel mixture MG by reducing the injection amount of the sub fuel SF from the fuel injection valve 25 in the rotation speed reduction avoiding process. Is configured to operate.

  These spark plugs 30 are operated by the ECU 40 when the self-ignition of the auxiliary fuel SF and the ignition of the air-fuel mixture MG are not stable in the combustion chamber 1 during, for example, start-up operation or no-load operation. The air-fuel mixture MG sucked into the chamber 11 may be stably ignited and burned.

[Another embodiment]
(1) In the above embodiment, the increase range of the equivalence ratio of the air-fuel mixture MG and the decrease amount of the injection amount of the auxiliary fuel SF in the rotation speed decrease avoiding process are set to avoid the excessive decrease in the engine rotation speed. It can be appropriately set within a range in which thermal damage such as 20 can be suppressed.

(2) In the above embodiment, the spark plug 30 is configured to operate in the rotation speed reduction avoidance process. However, separately, even if the injection amount of the auxiliary fuel SF is decreased in the rotation speed decrease avoidance process, When the ignitability is ensured, the spark plug 30 may not be operated.
In addition, the spark plug 30 may be configured to always operate.

(3) In the above embodiment, the fuel injection valve 25 is disposed in the sub chamber 21 disposed in the central portion of the combustion chamber 1, and the spark plug 30 is centered on the central portion of the main chamber 11 as the combustion chamber 1. However, the arrangement of the fuel injection valve 25 and the spark plug 30 can be modified as appropriate.

(4) Although the main chamber 11 and the sub chamber 21 are provided as the combustion chamber 1 in the above embodiment, the combustion chamber 1 may be configured only by the main chamber 11 without providing the sub chamber 21 separately. .

(5) In the above embodiment, natural gas is used as the main fuel MF and light oil or kerosene is used as the auxiliary fuel SF. However, the main fuel MF and the auxiliary fuel SF can be modified as appropriate. In particular, since the auxiliary fuel SF is injected into the combustion chamber 1 in a high pressure state and self-ignited, it is preferable to use a liquid fuel excellent in ignitability.

The figure which shows the side cross section and schematic structure of the combustion chamber part of an engine Side sectional view of the combustion chamber part of the engine Cross section of engine combustion chamber

Explanation of symbols

1: Combustion chamber 11: Main chamber (combustion chamber)
15: Throttle valve 16: Crank angle sensor 21: Sub chamber (combustion chamber)
22: Communication hole 25: Fuel injection valve 30: Spark plug 36: Engine load 40: Engine control unit (ECU)
41: Engine speed setting means 42: Determination means 43: Processing means 50: Sub fuel supply means 100: Engine MF: Main fuel SF: Sub fuel MG: Air-fuel mixture

Claims (5)

In a combustion chamber in which an air-fuel mixture of main fuel and oxygen-containing gas is compressed, it is configured to perform an injection ignition operation of igniting the air-fuel mixture by injecting auxiliary fuel from a fuel injection valve and performing self-ignition combustion, An engine having an engine speed setting means for adjusting an intake amount of an air-fuel mixture into a combustion chamber and setting an engine speed within a target speed range,
Determining means for determining a low engine speed state in which the engine engine speed is below the target engine speed range;
When the low speed state is determined by the determination means, the equivalence ratio of the air-fuel mixture sucked into the combustion chamber is increased, and the reduction in the rotational speed is avoided by reducing the injection amount of the auxiliary fuel from the fuel injection valve. An engine equipped with processing means for processing. In a combustion chamber in which an air-fuel mixture of main fuel and oxygen-containing gas is compressed, it is configured to perform an injection ignition operation of igniting the air-fuel mixture by injecting auxiliary fuel from a fuel injection valve and performing self-ignition combustion, An engine having an engine speed setting means for adjusting an intake amount of an air-fuel mixture into a combustion chamber and setting an engine speed within a target speed range,
Determination means for determining a load sudden increase state in which the engine load increase speed exceeds an allowable speed;
Rotational speed reduction avoidance processing for increasing the equivalence ratio of the air-fuel mixture sucked into the combustion chamber and reducing the injection amount of the sub fuel from the fuel injection valve when the determination means determines the sudden increase state of the load An engine equipped with a processing means. An ignition plug is provided in the combustion chamber;
The engine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the processing means is configured to operate the spark plug in the rotation speed reduction avoiding process. The combustion chamber includes a main chamber formed in a cylinder, and a sub chamber formed in a cylinder head and communicating with the main chamber.
The engine according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the fuel injection valve is disposed in the sub chamber. A plurality of combustion chambers are provided to form a multi-cylinder type,
The engine according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the processing means is configured to perform the rotation speed reduction avoiding process only on a part of the combustion chambers.

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