KR101152405B1 - Engine system having air compressor for reformer - Google Patents

Abstract

An engine system having an air compressor for a reformer according to the present invention includes an engine that generates mechanical power by combusting reformed gas so as to easily supply compressed air to the reformer, and is connected to the engine and discharged from the engine. An exhaust line for distributing exhaust gas, an intake line connected to the engine and supplying reformed gas and air to the engine, a reformer for reforming fuel to generate reformed gas and supplying reformed gas to the intake line; And an air compressor having a compression turbine connected to the exhaust line and rotating by the exhaust gas, the air compressor supplying air compressed by the compression turbine to the reformer.

Engines, Reformers, Reforming Gases, Air Compressors, Turbines

Description

ENGINE SYSTEM HAVING AIR COMPRESSOR FOR REFORMER

The present invention relates to an engine system, and more particularly, to an engine system having an improved structure for supplying air to a reformer.

For the next 10 to 20 years, the low oil price era and tighter environmental regulations are expected to revolutionize combustion and power technology. Hydrogen as a fuel technology is attracting attention, but in order to utilize hydrogen, it is necessary to develop several key technologies and build a hydrogen manufacturing and supply infrastructure to replace the existing oil industry. The United States, which is currently the largest source of hydrogen vehicle development and infrastructure, expects the actual deployment of hydrogen fuel technology in the US after 20 years.

As a limitation on the hydrogen fuel technology, it is a trend to create a hydrogen-related industry and develop core parts technology including reforming gas generator through the development and utilization of utilization technology in which hydrogen and fossil fuel are mixed. Hydrogen, the main component of the reformed gas, has very ideal characteristics as an engine fuel such as combustion reaction and diffusion rate faster, and clean combustion without soot, compared to conventional fossil fuels. By dramatically reducing the gas, it is necessary to actively utilize it in response to SELEV or PZEV.

Existing hydrocarbon-based fuel reforming techniques include a catalyst reformer and a plasma high temperature reaction. The method using the plasma high temperature reaction can provide the most ideal denitrification process because enough hydrogen is supplied for the denitrification process irrespective of the engine operating conditions, but the apparatus is complicated and the price is high.

The method using the catalyst reformer requires precise control of the fuel and oxidant since the hydrogen generation amount is determined by the hydrocarbon concentration and the component, the temperature and the flow rate. If both methods are miniaturized, technology development is progressing so that hydrogen can be generated by mounting it on a vehicle. If mass production technology is applied in the future, the device is expected to be further miniaturized and inexpensive.

In general, however, a reformer applied to a vehicle is suitable for reforming a partial oxidation or autothermal reforming method, and these methods require air for oxidation of fuel. In the case of a commercial vehicle, compressed air can be supplied from a compressor mounted on an engine, but in the case of a passenger vehicle, a compressed air supply device such as a pump for compressing air has to be added.

The present invention has been made to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, an object of the present invention is to provide an engine system that can easily supply compressed air to improve the reforming efficiency.

In order to achieve the above object, an engine system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an engine for generating mechanical power by burning reformed gas, an exhaust line connected to the engine and circulating exhaust gas discharged from the engine; And an intake line connected to the engine and supplying reformed gas and air to the engine, a reformer for reforming fuel to generate reformed gas and supplying the reformed gas to the intake line, and connected to the exhaust line so as to be provided by the exhaust gas. And an air compressor having a rotating compressor turbine for supplying air compressed by the compressor turbine to the reformer.

The air compressor may further include a compressed air chamber for compressing air by receiving the rotational force of the compression turbine, a clutch for controlling the connection of the compressed turbine and the compressed air chamber between the compression turbine and the compressed air chamber. Can be installed.

The reformer and the air compressor are connected through a compressed air supply line, and when the excessive pressure is applied to the compressed air supply line, a relief valve is installed to control the open air to discharge the compressed air to the outside. Can be.

The compressed air supply line may be connected to the reformer through an air injector or a control valve, and the reformer may be a catalytic reformer or the reformer may be a plasma reformer.

The engine system according to an embodiment of the present invention may more easily compress air by supplying air to a reformer by rotating the compression turbine using exhaust gas and compressing air. This further improves the reforming efficiency of the reformer.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, so that those skilled in the art can easily carry out the present invention. As those skilled in the art would realize, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. In the specification and drawings, the same reference numerals denote the same elements.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an engine system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the engine system 100 according to the present exemplary embodiment includes an engine 160 that burns fuel and generates kinetic energy, and a reformer that generates reformed gas and supplies the reformed gas to the engine 160. 120 and a fuel tank 170 for supplying fuel to the reformer 120. The fuel tank 170 supplies fuel to the reformer 120 as a fuel tank of a conventional vehicle in which gasoline or diesel fuel is stored.

The engine 160 is composed of an engine 160 applied to a conventional vehicle, and may be formed of a gasoline engine, a diesel engine, or an LPG engine. The heat exchanger 180 is installed between the reformer 120 and the engine 160, and the heat exchanger 180 exchanges heat of the high-temperature reformed gas discharged from the reformer 120 and air introduced into the reformer 120. Heats the air by induction. When the heat exchanger 180 is installed as in this embodiment, it is possible to preheat the air flowing into the reformer 120, thereby improving the reforming efficiency and cooling the air flowing into the engine 150, thereby improving the filling efficiency.

A denitrification apparatus 143 is installed at the rear end of the engine 160 to absorb and denitrate nitrogen from the exhaust gas discharged from the engine 160. On the other hand, the engine 160 generates mechanical power by the combustion reaction.

2 is a more detailed configuration diagram showing the engine system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the engine system 100 according to the present embodiment further includes an intake line 136 and an exhaust line 141 connected to the engine 160.

The intake line 136 includes an air flow meter 135 for measuring the flow rate of the incoming air, a throttle valve 134 for adjusting the flow rate of the air, and a reformed gas injector 132 for injecting the reformed gas into the intake line 136. , And an exhaust gas circulation valve (EGR VALVE) 131 for circulating the exhaust gas into the intake line is provided.

In the exhaust line 141, a deformable turbine (VGT) 147 for supercharging air and supplying it to the engine 160, a denitrification device 143 installed at the rear end of the deformable turbine 147, and a NOx sensor 145. , A temperature sensor 146, and a compression turbine 151 are installed.

The variable turbine 147 rotates with the energy of the exhaust gas discharged from the engine 160 and compresses the air to supply the engine 160 to improve the output of the engine 160. The circulation pipe for supplying the exhaust gas to the exhaust gas circulation valve 131 is connected between the variable turbine 147 and the engine 160. As a result, a high pressure is generated at the front end of the variable shape turbine 147 due to the variable shape turbine 147, and high pressure exhaust gas flows into the circulation pipe at this pressure.

The denitrification apparatus 143 is a device for storing and denitrifying nitrogen, and includes a catalyst filter to remove nitrogen contained in exhaust gas. In addition, the NOx sensor 145 confirms the amount of NOx contained in the exhaust gas discharged from the denitrification apparatus 143 and informs the time when the reducing agent is added to the catalyst filter.

Since the reformed gas may be used as the reducing agent of the denitrification apparatus 143, since the reformed gas generated from the reformer 120 includes hydrogen and carbon monoxide, the denitrification apparatus 143 using hydrogen and carbon monoxide or a hydrocarbon having a low molecular weight as a reducing agent. ) As a reducing agent.

In addition, the engine system 100 according to the present embodiment further includes an engine control unit (ECU) 110. The engine control unit 110 includes an air flow meter 135, a temperature sensor 146, and a NOx. Information is received from the sensor 143 to control the operation of the throttle valve 134, the exhaust gas circulation valve 131, the fuel ignition, and the variable geometry turbine 147. The overall operation of the engine system 100 is controlled by the engine control unit 110.

On the other hand, the air compressor 150 includes a compression turbine 151 installed in the exhaust line 141 and a compressed air chamber 152 to receive the rotational force of the compression turbine 151 to compress the air. The compression turbine 151 rotates by the pressure of the exhaust gas, and air is compressed in the compressed air chamber 152 according to the rotation of the compression turbine 151. The compressed air is supplied to the reformer 120 through the compressed air supply line 153. The compressed air supply line 153 is connected to the reformer 120 through an air injector or a control valve installed in the reformer 120. Accordingly, the amount of compressed air supplied to the reformer 120 can be properly controlled through an injector or a control valve.

The compressed air supply line 153 is provided with a relief valve 154 that controls the connection between the compressed air supply line 153 and the outside, and the relief valve 154 has excessive pressure on the compressed air supply line 153. When applied, it serves to release compressed air to the outside.

On the other hand, the clutch 156 is installed between the compression turbine 151 and the compressed air chamber 152, the clutch 156 is sufficient pressure in the compressed air supply line 153 or the operation of the reformer 120 is required. If not, it serves to block the connection between the compression turbine 151 and the compressed air chamber 152.

The reformer 120 includes a reforming reaction unit installed therein, and the reforming reaction unit converts fuel into hydrogen-rich reforming gas by oxidizing the fuel supplied from the fuel tank 170 using the air supplied from the air compressor. The reformer 120 may include a catalytic reformer having a reforming reaction part coated with an oxidation catalyst and a plasma reformer having a reforming reaction part generating a plasma or a reforming reaction part generating a plasma. The reformed gas generated in the reformer 120 is injected into the intake line 136 through the reformed gas injector 132.

When the air compressor 150 having the compression turbine 151 and the compressed air chamber 152 is provided as in this embodiment, it is possible to easily compress air without consuming power by using energy of exhaust gas.

When the reforming reaction ideally occurs in the reformer 120, a reformed gas composed only of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and the like is produced, but in reality, a reformed gas containing components such as moisture and unreacted fuel is produced by complete oxidation of the fuel. . When the water and the unreacted fuel condensate at the rear end of the reformer 120, the flow of the reformed gas may be hindered to increase the pressure in the reformer 120, as well as inside the line to the engine 160 or the aftertreatment device. It acts as a resistance to cause pressure to rise. Since the supply pressure of the fuel is about 3 bar, the fuel can be smoothly supplied even when the pressure rise occurs, but there is a problem that the air is not smoothly supplied. However, when the air compressor 150 is applied as in this embodiment, the compressed air is supplied, so that even when the pressure inside the reformer 120 is increased, the air can be smoothly supplied to perform stable fuel reforming.

In addition, since reformed gas rich in hydrogen is supplied to the engine 160 through the reformer 120, soot emitted from the engine 160 may be minimized.

As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to this, It can be variously modified and implemented in a claim, a detailed description of an invention, and the attached drawing.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an engine system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a more detailed configuration diagram showing the engine system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE REFERENCE NUMERALS

100: engine system 110: engine control unit

120: reformer 131: exhaust gas circulation valve

132: reforming gas injector 134: throttle valve

135: air flow meter 136: intake line

141: exhaust line 143: denitrification apparatus

145: NOx sensor 146: temperature sensor

147: variable geometry turbine 150: compressor

151: compressed turbine 152: compressed air chamber

153: compressed air supply line 154: relief valve

156: clutch 160: engine

170: fuel tank 180: heat exchanger

Claims (7)

An engine that generates mechanical power by burning reformed gas; An exhaust line connected to the engine and configured to distribute exhaust gas discharged from the engine; An intake line connected to the engine and supplying reformed gas and air to the engine; A reformer for reforming fuel to generate reformed gas and supplying the reformed gas to the intake line; An air compressor connected to the exhaust line and having a compression turbine rotating by the exhaust gas and supplying air compressed by the compression turbine to the reformer; Including, As the compression turbine rotates, air is compressed in the compressed air chamber connected to the compression turbine, Compressed air is supplied to the reformer through a compressed air supply line, And an air compressor installed between the compression turbine and the compressed air chamber to control a connection between the compression turbine and the compressed air chamber. delete delete An engine that generates mechanical power by burning reformed gas; An exhaust line connected to the engine and configured to distribute exhaust gas discharged from the engine; An intake line connected to the engine and supplying reformed gas and air to the engine; A reformer for reforming fuel to generate reformed gas and supplying the reformed gas to the intake line; An air compressor connected to the exhaust line and having a compression turbine rotating by the exhaust gas and supplying air compressed by the compression turbine to the reformer; Including, As the compression turbine rotates, air is compressed in the compressed air chamber connected to the compression turbine, Compressed air is supplied to the reformer through a compressed air supply line, The reformer and the air compressor are connected through a compressed air supply line, And the compressed air supply line has an air compressor installed with a relief valve for controlling the release of compressed air to the outside when excessive pressure is applied to the compressed air supply line. 5. The method of claim 4, The compressed air supply line has an air compressor connected to the reformer via an air injector or control valve. The method according to claim 1, Said reformer having an air compressor consisting of a catalytic reformer. The method according to claim 1, Said reformer having an air compressor consisting of a plasma reformer.

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