JP2009222557A - Homogeneity determination method of fluid, homogeneity determination device, homogeneity determination program used for homogeneity determination device, and information recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily determine homogeneity of one or more fluids. <P>SOLUTION: A reference geometric pattern 121 used as a reference for determining homogeneity of fluid is compared with a transmission geometric pattern acquired by viewing the reference geometric pattern 121 through the fluid, and the homogeneity of the fluid is determined based on the comparison results. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to, for example, reforming a fuel for an internal combustion engine, more specifically, fuel reforming by reacting fuel and water in a supercritical state or a subcritical state. The present invention relates to a method, a homogeneity determination device, a homogeneity determination program used for the homogeneity determination device, and an information recording medium.

In recent years, automobile fuel efficiency has been energetically improved from the viewpoint of suppressing carbon dioxide emissions.
These are achieved not only by reducing the weight of the vehicle, but also by various technologies such as lean combustion by intake control, high compression ratio by using high octane fuel, and combustion improvement by fuel reforming.

  Among these, a combustion improvement technique by fuel reforming has recently been proposed as a fuel reforming system that can be mounted in a small vehicle by utilizing a supercritical state (see Patent Documents 1 and 2).

JP 2002-161827 A Japanese translation of PCT publication No. 2002-519566

However, for example, when conditions change locally due to an endothermic reaction or the like, there is a problem that the homogeneity and miscibility of the fluid changes and the fuel reforming performance is significantly reduced.
On the other hand, at present, in fuel reforming using fuel in supercritical state, or fuel in supercritical state and supercritical water, it is effective to be able to judge homogeneity including homogeneity and mixing properties. There is no means.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a fluid homogeneity determination method, a homogeneity determination device, and a homogeneity determination program used for the homogeneity determination device, which can easily determine the homogeneity of one or more types of fluids, And an information recording medium.

  In order to achieve the above object, a fluid homogeneity determination method according to the present invention includes a reference geometric pattern that serves as a reference for determining fluid homogeneity, and the reference geometric pattern that is visible through the fluid. The content is to determine the homogeneity of the fluid based on the difference between the two transparent geometric patterns.

  In order to achieve the above object, a fluid homogeneity determination apparatus according to the present invention includes an imaging unit that images a reference geometric pattern serving as a reference for determining fluid homogeneity through a fluid. The partial image acquisition means for sequentially acquiring the partial images of the transmission image of the transparent geometric pattern imaged by the imaging unit, and among the partial images sequentially acquired later, based on the partial image acquired first, Prediction image creation means for predicting and creating a partial image to be acquired later, partial image comparison means for comparing the created prediction image and the partial image acquired later, and fluid based on the difference of the compared partial images It is characterized by having a homogeneity determination means for determining the homogeneity of.

  The homogeneity determination program according to the present invention for achieving the same object as described above is a homogeneity having an imaging unit that images a reference geometric pattern as a reference for determining the homogeneity of a fluid through the fluid. A partial image acquisition function for sequentially acquiring partial images of a transparent geometric pattern imaged by the imaging unit, and a partial image acquired in advance first among partial images acquired in advance. Based on the prediction image creation function for predicting and creating a partial image to be acquired later, the partial image comparison function for comparing the created predicted partial image and the partial image acquired later, and the comparison result, The content is to realize a homogeneity determination function for determining the homogeneity of a fluid in a computer that constitutes a fluid homogeneity determination device.

  An information recording medium according to the present invention for achieving the above object is characterized by recording a homogeneity determination program used in the above-described homogeneity determination apparatus.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to easily determine the homogeneity of one kind or two or more kinds of fluids based on a comparison result between a reference geometric pattern and a permeation geometric pattern that is visible through the fluid.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an internal combustion engine system to which a fluid homogeneity determination apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied, and FIG. 1B is a functional block diagram of a control unit. FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a mixed visual recognition unit forming part of the homogeneity determination device.

  An internal combustion engine system A according to an example shown in FIG. 1 includes an internal combustion engine 10, a fuel reservoir 20, a reformer 30, a fluid homogeneity determination device B, a water heating unit 40, a fuel heating unit 50, a water high-pressure pump 60, The fuel high-pressure pump 70, a water tank (not shown), and a fuel tank are included.

  The water high-pressure pump 60 has a function of increasing the pressure of water supplied from a water tank (not shown) to a required critical pressure and supplying the pressure to the water heating unit 40 through the connection pipe 61. It comes to send.

  The water heating unit 40 has a function of raising the water supplied from the water high-pressure pump 60 through the connection pipe 61 to a required critical temperature, and the heated water will be described in detail later through the connection pipe 41. It is fed to the mixing visual recognition unit 80.

  The fuel high-pressure pump 70 has a function of boosting the fuel fed from a fuel tank (not shown) to a required critical pressure and feeding the fuel to the fuel heating unit 50 through the connection pipe 71. It is supposed to be.

  The fuel heating unit 50 has a function of raising the temperature of the fuel supplied from the fuel high-pressure pump 70 through the connection pipe 71 to a required critical temperature. To be sent to.

The fluid homogeneity determination device B compares a reference geometric pattern that is a reference for determining the homogeneity of the fluid with a transparent geometric pattern that is visible through the reference geometric pattern. Based on the comparison result, the homogeneity of the fluid is determined, and the mixed visual recognition unit 80, the imaging unit 90, and the control unit 100 are included.
“Homogeneity” includes miscibility of two or more fluids and homogeneity of one fluid.
In the present embodiment, two types of fluids are composed of components having low affinity with each other, and specifically, a supercritical mixed fluid composed of a hydrocarbon fuel and water is shown as an example.

  The mixing visualizing unit 80 is for mixing the water supplied from the water heating unit 40 and the fuel supplied from the fuel heating unit 50 and observing the fuel gas generated by mixing. A road body 110, a determination plate 120, and a light source 130 are provided.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the flow path body 110 is formed by integrally arranging a flow path forming portion 112 at a position that bisects a cylindrical cylindrical portion 111 having both ends opened.
The flow path forming portion 112 is formed with a mixing flow path 113 for mixing the mixed fuel and water at the center thereof.
Cylindrical transparent members 114 and 114 are fitted into spaces α1 and α2 defined by the inner wall surface 111a of the cylindrical portion 111 and both surfaces 112a and 112b of the flow path forming portion 112.

The determination plate 120 represents a reference geometric pattern 121 that is a reference for determining the homogeneity of the fluid, and is formed of a transparent material that transmits light.
The reference geometric pattern 121 shown in the present embodiment is a two-color striped pattern that is slightly inclined with respect to the reading direction of a partial image, which will be described later, and has the same line width. However, even if the line widths are different from each other. Good. Further, as the reference geometric pattern, a lattice pattern (checkered pattern) slightly inclined with respect to the reading direction of the partial image described later can be adopted.
In addition, as a reference | standard geometric pattern, if the difference with this and the permeation | transmission geometrical pattern which permeate | transmits and is visually recognized is clear enough to be used for determination, it will be restricted to the said striped pattern or lattice pattern. It is not a thing.

The above-described determination plate 120 is opposed to the one opening 111b of the above-described cylindrical portion 111 with a predetermined interval, and the light source 130 is disposed further outward of the determination plate 120. Yes.
In addition, the above-described imaging unit 90 is disposed in the other opening 111c of the cylinder unit 110 at a predetermined interval. That is, the reference geometric pattern 121 shown on the determination plate 120 has a positional relationship that can be imaged by the imaging unit 90 via the mixing channel 113 of the channel body 110.

  The imaging unit 90 captures a transparent geometric pattern that is visible through the fluid, and includes, for example, a CCD.

The control unit 100 includes a CPU 101, an interface circuit, and the like, and a storage unit 101 as an information recording medium.
The storage unit 101 is, for example, a hard disk or the like, and stores a transmission image taken by the imaging unit 90, the following homogeneity determination program, and the like.
The “information recording medium” is not limited to the hard disk described above, but includes a floppy disk, a compact disk, a digital video disk, a magneto-optical disk, a portable hard disk, a portable memory, and the like. That is, the recording format is not limited to a magnetic format, but includes a format that matches the recording structure of the information recording medium.

  The homogeneity determination program according to the present embodiment is acquired first among the partial image acquisition function that sequentially acquires partial images of the transparent geometric pattern captured by the imaging unit 90 and the partial image that is sequentially acquired later. Based on the partial image, a predicted image creation function for predicting and creating a partial image to be acquired later, a partial image comparison function for comparing the created predicted partial image with the partial image acquired later, and the comparison result Based on this, the content is to realize the homogeneity determination function for determining the homogeneity of the fluid in the computer constituting the fluid homogeneity determination device B.

The control unit 100 is a computer constituting the homogeneity determination device B, and exhibits the following functions by executing the above-described homogeneity determination program.
(1) A function of sequentially acquiring partial images of a transparent image of a transparent geometric pattern imaged by the imaging unit 90. This function is referred to as “partial image acquisition unit 100a”.
(2) A function of predicting and creating a partial image to be acquired later based on the partial image acquired in advance among the partial images sequentially acquired later. This function is referred to as “predicted image creation means 100b”.
(3) A function of comparing the created predicted partial image with a partial image acquired later. This function is referred to as “partial image comparison means 100c”.

(4) A homogeneity determination function for determining the homogeneity of the fluid based on the comparison result. This function is referred to as “homogeneity determination means 100d”.
In the present embodiment, the presence or absence of homogeneity is determined by counting phases by a phase counter described later. Specifically, if the phase is “1”, it is miscible, and if the phase is “2” or more, it is determined that it is not miscible. This will be described below with reference to 3 to 5.
In addition, the phase counted by the phase counter can be rephrased as a density region, and thus the phase counter can also be referred to as a density region counter.

  Creation of the predicted partial image by the predicted image creation means 100b described above, comparison of the predicted partial image by the partial image comparison means 100c with the partial image acquired later, and determination of the homogeneity of the fluid by the homogeneity determination means 100d A specific example is as follows.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a predicted partial image creation process, a comparison process, and a determination process. FIG. 4 is a predicted partial image creation, a comparison between a predicted partial image and a partial image acquired later, and a homogeneity determination. It is explanatory drawing which shows the specific example of the transparent geometric pattern used as object of. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a transparent geometric pattern, and the flowchart shown in FIG. 3 is described based on the transparent geometric pattern shown in FIG.

Step 1 (abbreviated as “S1” in the figure. The same applies hereinafter): Initialization is performed. Specifically, the address of the ROW line memory and the value of the phase counter are set to “1”, and the process proceeds to step 2.
As shown in FIG. 5, in the present embodiment, an example of 25 × 25 pixels is shown. The ROW line memory stores the number of pixels in one horizontal row, and the phase counter sets “phase”. Count.
Further, the transparent geometric pattern shown in FIG. 5 is read out as a partial image one column at a time from the uppermost column (corresponding to address “1”) to the lowermost column (corresponding to address “25”). ing.
The “prediction pattern” described in the figure is a “prediction partial image”, and the “prediction partial image” is a predicted geometric pattern for one column.

  Step 2: It is determined whether or not the address of the ROW line memory is greater than or equal to a preset upper limit value of the address. If it is determined that the address is less than the upper limit value of the address, the process proceeds to Step 3 and the upper limit value is reached. If it is determined that the value is greater than or equal to the value, the process proceeds to step 14.

Step 3: Read the transparent geometric pattern in the ROW line memory and go to Step 4.
Step 4: The ROW line memory address is incremented by "1" and the process proceeds to Step 5.
Step 5: It is determined whether or not the address of the ROW line memory is equal to or higher than a preset upper limit value of the address value. If it is determined that the address value is less than the upper limit value of the address value, the process proceeds to Step 6. If it is determined that the value is equal to or greater than the upper limit value, the process proceeds to step 14.

Step 6: Read the transparent geometric pattern in the ROW line memory in the next row, and go to Step 7.
Step 7: It is determined whether or not the read transparent geometric pattern in the ROW line memory in the next row matches the transparent geometric pattern in the ROW line memory in the previous row decremented by “1” from the counter. Here, if the transparent geometric patterns of the row line memories in both rows match, the process returns to step 4; otherwise, the process proceeds to step 8.

Step 8: Create a predicted partial image (geometric pattern for one row) in the next row based on the transparent geometric pattern in the ROW line memory in the previous row, and go to Step 9.
In other words, the partial image to be acquired later is predicted and created based on the partial image of the transparent geometric pattern acquired in advance among the partial images of the transparent geometric pattern acquired sequentially.

Step 9: The address value of the ROW line memory is incremented by “1”, and the process proceeds to Step 10.
Step 10: It is determined whether or not the value of the address in the ROW line memory is equal to or higher than a predetermined upper limit value of the address value. If it is determined that the address value is less than the upper limit value of the address value, the process proceeds to Step 11. If it is determined that the upper limit value is reached, the process proceeds to step 14.

Step 11: Read the partial image of the transparent geometric pattern in the ROW line memory in the back row, and go to Step 12.
Step 12: It is determined whether or not the partial image of the transparent geometric pattern in the ROW line memory in the rear row matches the geometric pattern of the predicted partial image. If they do not match, the process proceeds to Step 13, and if they match, the process returns to Step 2. .
That is, if the partial image of the transparent geometric pattern in the ROW line memory in the back row does not match the geometric pattern of the predicted partial image, it is determined that the phases are different. In other words, it is determined that they are not mixed.
Step 13: Increment the value of the phase counter by “1” and return to Step 2.
Step 14: Since all the partial images have been judged, the value of the phase counter is output and the process is finished. This makes it possible to know how many phases it is.

The above-mentioned geometric pattern is as shown in FIGS.
FIG. 4A shows a reference geometric pattern visually recognized without passing through a fluid. FIG. 5B shows a state in which four phases are exposed at the boundaries a, b, and c, and shows a state in which no gas is mixed.
Further, FIG. 4C shows boundaries a, b, and c that divide the four phases, and shows a state where the gas is mixed, and FIG. 4D shows the liquid and the boundary d. It shows a state where it is not miscible with the supercritical fluid. In addition, although the same figure (E) has shown the same state as (B), since there is no reference | standard geometric pattern, it cannot discriminate | determine that the gas phase is not mixing.

  That is, as shown in FIGS. 4A to 4D, when the two kinds of mixed fluids are not well mixed, the boundary is generated and the geometric pattern is different from the boundary.

The reformer 30 reforms the fuel gas sent from the mixing visual recognition unit 80, and the reformed fuel gas is fed to the fuel reservoir 20 through the connection pipe 31.
The fuel reservoir 20 temporarily stores a required amount of fuel gas, and the fuel gas temporarily stored in the fuel reservoir 20 is supplied to the internal combustion engine 10 through the connection pipe 21. .

  By the way, the control unit 100 described above sends the control signals to the reformer 30 and the internal combustion engine 10 based on the determination result described above. Thereby, the internal combustion engine 10 and the reformer 30 can be operated in an optimum state.

  That is, since the progress of the reforming reaction is low when the mixed fluid is separated, the reforming reaction proceeds with a high degree of progress if it is not separated. Become. For this reason, since it becomes a light fuel or an aromatized fuel, the control is switched to a control suitable for a high-octane fuel (for example, switching to a high compression type in the case of a variable volume cycle).

As described above, the determination of the homogeneity of the fluid has been described with respect to the example configured as the above-described homogeneity determination apparatus B. However, it can be manually performed as follows.
That is, the reference geometric pattern 121 serving as a reference for determining the homogeneity of the fluid is compared with the transparent geometric patterns 121a to 121j that are visible through the fluid shown in FIG. Based on the comparison result, the homogeneity of the fluid is determined.

According to the present invention described above, the following effects can be obtained.
In the case of one kind of fluid, the density distribution of the fluid can be visualized, so that the distribution of thermal conductivity, solubility, etc. can be visualized, and thereby uniformity can be determined.
-Phase separation can be determined even between fluids that are difficult to mix, such as water and fuel, and the miscibility can be determined by visualizing whether the gas phase fluid is separated or well mixed.
・ Evaluate miscibility by visualizing whether the fluids are miscible, such as supercritical water and supercritical fuel, that is, even if the interface disappears, the fluid is separated or well mixed it can.

・ Supercritical fluids can take a continuous density without undergoing a significant density change like gas-liquid, but their physical properties fluctuate greatly due to slight changes in temperature and pressure conditions, so miscibility and homogeneity. Also changes significantly. In other words, fluids of components having poor affinity to each other may appear to be immiscible even when they become a single supercritical phase, but according to the present embodiment, this is visualized to determine miscibility. be able to.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and the following modifications can be made.
(A) In the above-described embodiment, the example of determining the miscibility of two types of mixed fluids has been described. However, the determination of the miscibility of three or more types of mixed fluids or the uniformity of one type of fluid is determined. Of course, it can also be done.
In the case of one type of fluid, it is a plurality of density regions that are counted.

(B) In the above-described embodiment, the reference geometric pattern is shown to be a striped pattern or a lattice pattern. However, a part of these patterns may be provided with a color as a determination reference.

(A) is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an internal combustion engine system to which a fluid homogeneity determination apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied, and (B) is a functional block diagram of a control unit. It is an expanded sectional view which shows schematic structure of the mixing visual recognition part which makes a part of homogeneous determination apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the production | generation process of a prediction partial image, a comparison process, and a determination process. It is explanatory drawing which shows the specific example of the transparent geometric pattern used as the object of preparation of a prediction partial image, the comparison of a prediction partial image and the partial image acquired later, and the determination of a homogeneity. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of a transparent geometric pattern.

Explanation of symbols

90 Imaging unit 100a Partial image acquisition unit 100b Predictive image generation unit 100c Partial image comparison unit 100d Homogeneity determination unit 101 Information recording medium (storage unit)
121 Reference geometric patterns 121a to 121j Transparent geometric pattern B Homogeneity determination device

Claims (12)

  A reference geometric pattern that is a reference for determining the homogeneity of the fluid is compared with a transparent geometric pattern that is visible through the reference geometric pattern through the fluid, and based on the comparison result, the homogeneity of the fluid is determined. A method for determining the homogeneity of a fluid, characterized by determining the property.   The fluid homogeneity determination method according to claim 1, wherein uniformity of one kind of fluid is determined as the homogeneity.   The fluid homogeneity determination method according to claim 1, wherein the miscibility of two or more kinds of mixed fluids is determined as the homogeneity.   The fluid homogeneity determination method according to claim 3, wherein the fluids are mixed fluids composed of components having low affinity for each other.   4. The fluid homogeneity determination method according to claim 3, wherein the fluids are supercritical fluids composed of components having low affinity to each other.   6. The fluid homogeneity determination method according to claim 5, wherein the supercritical fluid mixture is composed of a hydrocarbon fuel and water. A homogeneity determination device having an imaging unit that images a reference geometric pattern that is a reference for determining the homogeneity of a fluid through a fluid,
Partial image acquisition means for sequentially acquiring partial images of the transparent geometric pattern imaged by the imaging unit;
Prediction image creation means for predicting and creating a partial image to be acquired later based on the partial image acquired first among the partial images sequentially acquired before and after,
A partial image comparison means for comparing the created predicted partial image with a partial image acquired later;
A fluid homogeneity determination device comprising: a homogeneity determination unit that determines the homogeneity of a fluid based on the comparison result.   8. The fluid homogeneity determination device according to claim 7, wherein the reference geometric pattern is a striped pattern.   8. The fluid homogeneity determination apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the reference geometric pattern is a lattice pattern.   The fluid homogeneity determination apparatus according to claim 8 or 9, wherein a color as a determination reference is attached to a part of the reference geometric pattern. A homogeneity determination program used in a homogeneity determination apparatus having an imaging unit that images a reference geometric pattern that is a reference for determining the homogeneity of a fluid through a fluid,
A partial image acquisition function for sequentially acquiring partial images of a transparent geometric pattern imaged by the imaging unit;
A predicted image creation function for predicting and creating a partial image to be acquired later based on a partial image acquired in advance among the partial images to be sequentially acquired earlier,
A partial image comparison function for comparing the created predicted partial image with a partial image acquired later;
Based on the comparison result, the homogeneity determination function for determining the homogeneity of the fluid,
A homogeneity determination program used for a homogeneity determination apparatus, characterized in that the program is implemented in a computer forming a fluid homogeneity determination apparatus.   12. An information recording medium in which a homogeneity determination program used in the homogeneity determination apparatus according to claim 11 is recorded.

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