JPH0565708B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to an engine starting assist device, and more particularly to a starting assist device that improves startability by supplying hydrogen gas into the engine at the time of starting.

〓Summary of the invention〓 The present invention obtains hydrogen by reforming fuel, stores this hydrogen in a metal hydride, heats the metal hydride at startup to generate hydrogen gas, and generates hydrogen gas. is supplied into the engine, thereby improving the startability of the engine.

<Prior Art> In a diesel engine, air in a cylinder is compressed to a high temperature, and in this state, fuel is injected to spontaneously ignite the fuel and cause combustion. Therefore, when the temperature of the engine is low, such as at the time of starting, the fuel is difficult to ignite, resulting in poor startability. Conventionally, diesel engines have been equipped with electric heaters and glow plugs, and the electric heaters have been used to supplementally heat the air during startup, and the glow plugs have been used to assist in ignition, improving startability. I am trying to achieve this.

〓Problems to be solved by the invention〓 For example, as shown in U.S. Patent No. 3717129,
It has been proposed to supply hydrogen gas within the engine. Since hydrogen gas has a wide flammability limit, it is easy to ignite and lean combustion is possible, and by supplying hydrogen into the engine at the time of starting, it is possible to improve startability. However, when injecting hydrogen gas into a vehicle engine, for example, it is necessary to equip the vehicle with a cylinder filled with hydrogen, which not only makes the equipment large-scale but also expensive. This has hindered its practical application.

The present invention has been made in view of these problems, and provides an engine that improves startability by supplying hydrogen gas into the engine at the time of starting, without using a hydrogen cylinder. The purpose is to provide a starting aid device.

<Means for Solving the Problems> The present invention provides a fuel reformer that extracts a portion of the fuel in a fuel tank filled with fuel, and reforms the extracted fuel to convert it into hydrogen gas; a metal hydride that absorbs and stores hydrogen gas obtained by the fuel reformer; a heating means that heats the metal hydride and generates the absorbed hydrogen as hydrogen gas when starting the engine; The present invention relates to an engine starting auxiliary device comprising: hydrogen gas supply means for supplying the hydrogen gas generated by the heating means to the intake system of the engine;

<Operation> A part of the fuel in the fuel tank is taken out, and the taken out fuel is converted into hydrogen gas by the fuel reformer. The hydrogen gas obtained here is then absorbed and stored by the metallization. The heating means are activated when the engine is started;
As a result, the hydrogen absorbed in the metallized material is generated as hydrogen gas, and this hydrogen gas is supplied into the cylinder through the engine's intake system, mixed with intake air and fuel, and combusted, improving engine startability. is planned.

〓Example〓 The present invention will be described below with reference to an illustrated example.
FIG. 1 shows a diesel engine 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
For example, it is equipped with six cylinders 11, and each cylinder 11 has a fuel injection nozzle 12, respectively. These nozzles 12 are connected to the fuel supply pipe 1
It is designed to be connected to a fuel injection pump 14 via 3. A timer 16 is provided on the camshaft 15 of the fuel injection pump 14, and the timer 16 adjusts the injection timing. The mechanical governor 17 of the fuel injection pump 14 is adapted to perform metering operations by moving its control rack. Note that the fuel injection pump 14 is connected to a fuel tank 18.

Furthermore, this engine 10 is equipped with a hydrogen generator. That is, the fuel tank 18 is connected to a fuel reformer 20, and the reformer 20 is connected to a metal hydride 21. Further, the fuel reformer 20 is connected to a pipe 26, and part of the air is taken out from the intake pipe 23, pressurized by a blower 25, and then sent to the fuel reformer 20. In the fuel reformer 20, fuel sent from the fuel tank 18 and air sent from the blower 25 are used to reform fuel and generate hydrogen. This hydrogen is stored in the metal hydride 21. and hydride 21
is equipped with a heating device 22, and the stored hydrogen is vaporized and generated by the heating device 22. The hydrogen gas generated by the metal hydride 21 is supplied to an intake pipe 23 or an intake manifold 24, and is supplied to each cylinder of the engine 10 via these.

Next, the structure of an example of the fuel reformer 20 will be explained. As shown in FIG. has been done. Further, a preheating chamber 32 is formed in a spiral shape on the outer circumferential side of the container 30, and exhaust gas from the engine is introduced through an introduction hole 33 and passed into the preheating chamber 32. Also, the second container 30
In the figure, the heater 37 at the left end performs heating at the time of startup. Further, the container 30 is provided with a pipe 26 for introducing air from the left end and a fuel injection nozzle 35, so that the fuel sucked from the fuel tank 18 is injected into the container 30. Hydrogen obtained by reforming the fuel is then taken out through the outlet 36.

In the above configuration, the fuel in the fuel tank 18 shown in FIG.
Nozzle 12 provided in each cylinder 11 of 0
This nozzle 12 sequentially injects fuel into each cylinder 11 at a predetermined timing. This causes the fuel to burn and explode within each cylinder 11 of the diesel engine 10, causing the engine 10 to produce power.

Further, in this engine 10, hydrogen is supplied into the cylinder 11 at the time of starting. A part of the fuel in the fuel tank 18 is supplied to the fuel reformer 20, and this reformer 2
0 will be converted into hydrogen gas by a catalyst or the like. This hydrogen gas 20 is then absorbed by metal hydride 21 in the tank. The metal hydride 21 is made of a hydrogen-absorbing alloy, and is designed to absorb and store hydrogen obtained in the reformer 20. Then, at the time of starting, etc., the metal hydride 2 is heated by the heating device 22.
1, the generated hydrogen gas flows into the intake pipe 2.
3 and the intake manifold 24 to each cylinder 11 of the engine 10, thereby improving the ignitability of the fuel and improving the startability. Note that fuel reforming is more efficient when the temperature of the fuel reformer 20 etc. is sufficiently high, so the temperature is detected by the temperature sensor 29 while the vehicle is running, and the computer 28 controls the solenoid valves 27 and The blower 25 is controlled to reform up to a certain amount of fuel.

The generation of hydrogen by reforming the fuel is carried out by the apparatus shown in FIG. Exhaust gas introduction hole 3
By passing the gas introduced from 3 through the preheating material 32, the pressure vessel 30 containing the nickel catalyst 31 is heated. On the other hand pipe 2
The air guided from 6 is supplied into the container 30.
At this time, fuel is injected from the fuel injection nozzle 35. As the mixture of fuel and air passes through the nickel catalyst 31, they will react with each other to generate hydrogen, which will be taken out through the outlet 36 and the metal hydride 2.
It is designed to be absorbed and stored by 1.

As described above, in the diesel engine 10 according to this embodiment, the hydrogen stored in the metal hydride 21 is released at the time of startup, and this hydrogen gas is supplied into the cylinder 11.
Startability can be improved. In other words, hydrogen gas generally has a wide flammability limit range and is capable of lean combustion, which not only improves startability but also has the effect of reducing nitrogen oxides in exhaust gas. Furthermore, since hydrogen is obtained from the fuel by the reformer 20 and stored in the metal hydride 21, it is necessary to prepare a cylinder filled with hydrogen gas in advance. gone,
This avoids making the device complicated or expensive. Furthermore, since hydrogen is absorbed and stored by the hydrogen absorbing alloy 21, safety is significantly improved.

<Effects of the Invention> As described above, in the present invention, a part of the fuel filled in the fuel tank is taken out and converted into hydrogen gas by the fuel reformer, and this hydrogen gas is converted into metallized When the engine starts, the metal hydride is heated and the absorbed hydrogen is generated as hydrogen gas.
This hydrogen gas is supplied into the cylinder through the engine's intake system.

Therefore, according to such a configuration, it is possible to supply hydrogen gas into the cylinder at the time of starting the engine, and this hydrogen gas is mixed with intake air and fuel and combusted. Therefore, the startability of the engine is improved by the mixed hydrogen gas. Moreover, since hydrogen gas is obtained by reforming a part of the fuel using a fuel reformer, it is now possible to obtain hydrogen gas using fuel, and vehicles are equipped with hydrogen cylinders, etc. Hydrogen can be supplied into the cylinder at startup without any trouble.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of essential parts of an engine equipped with a starting assist device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a hydrogen reformer. In the symbols used in the drawings, 10...diesel engine, 11...cylinder, 18...fuel tank, 20...fuel reformer, 21...metal hydride, 22...heating device, 23...intake air tube,
24...Intake manifold.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A fuel reformer that takes out a part of the fuel in a fuel tank filled with fuel, and reforms the taken out fuel to convert it into hydrogen gas; a metal hydride that absorbs and stores the absorbed hydrogen gas; a heating means that heats the metal hydride and generates the absorbed hydrogen as hydrogen gas when starting an engine; An engine starting auxiliary device comprising: hydrogen gas supply means for supplying the hydrogen gas to the intake system of the engine;