US20050056007A1

US20050056007A1 - Internal combustion engine catalytic converter

Info

Publication number: US20050056007A1
Application number: US10/664,983
Authority: US
Inventors: Donald Pierre Bourgon
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2003-09-15
Filing date: 2003-09-15
Publication date: 2005-03-17

Abstract

In the Air Standard model for any Internal Combustion Engine it is assumed that the Air/Fuel Mixture combusts instantaneously and the thermal energy is delivered immediately. However in real world applications a certain amount of time is needed for the reactants to combust. Therefore, as the reactants combust more rapidly, the performance of the engine approaches the Air Standard Model. In an Internal Combustion Engine which burns petroleum based fuel, a catalytic coating of platinum in the combustion chamber will cause the A/F mixture to burn more rapidly and causing the flames speed to increase. This will increase the Internal Combustion Engine's Mean Effective Pressure (MEP). This rapid burning of the reactants (A/F mixture) brings Internal Combustion Engines closer to the Air Standard Otto Cycle, the Air Standard Diesel Cycle, and the Air Standard Duel Cycle in Piston Engines and the Air Standard Brayton Cycle in Gas Turbine Engines. Because the catalyst actually lowers the activation energy of the reactants (Air/Fuel mixture) the incidents of Piston Engines “missing” and “flameout” in Gas Turbine Engines will be reduced. In Spark Ignition Engines, because fuel will burn more rapidly the “unburned mixture” which can ignite and cause knocking will have less time to ignite before they are consumed by the flame front. Because of the increase in flame speed a greater percentage of the A/F will be converted into carbon dioxide and water, less “unburned mixture” will be left over from the exhaust stroke to cause knocking.

Description

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

When I was about 7 my parents gave me a chemistry set for Christmas. I didn't really learn anything useful from it. This is because the people who made it didn't show any chemical equations, probably because they didn't think kid could understand them, ha! However, I became very proficient at using the lab equipment. Fast forward to high school, I understood what was happening much better than the other students, although my grades were less than praiseworthy because I was never book smart. This is where I learned what a catalyst and enzymes do. I also started working at a place called the Blue Beacon Truck Wash were I learned what a catalytic converter was and many facts about fuel efficiency. For example, a truck with an empty dry box trailer consumed as much fuel on the highway as a full one. Reducing the weight of the vehicle only effects city fuel efficiency. After college, one of the first designs I perused was the hybrid, but in laying out the basic design I realized that the basic design violated the LAW OF CONSERVATION OF ENERGY and THE FIRST, SECOND and THIRD LAW OF THERMAL DYNAMICS. Remembering that cars had catalytic converters, what they did and how they did it I concluded that a substantial amount of the air/fuel mixture must go through the engine without being burned. Having a 1988 Ford Thunderbird, I decided to test this theory. This vehicle had a MPFI 3.8 L V6 and a 4 speed overdrive transmission. It was first benchmarked the vehicle's fuel efficiency at 50 km/h in the city and 110 km/h on the highway.



With MacEwen's Ethanol:	12.5/23 mpg (USg)	(lower energy content
		than gasoline)
With regular gas:	16/29 mpg (USg)	(fuel designed for SFI
		engines)
Regular gas with Techron	19/34 mpg (USg)	(Detergents, fuel
or fuel injector cleaner		designed for MPFI
or gas treatment:		engines, also good for
		SFI.) BENCHMARK
With aftermarket “PERK”	23/44 mpg (USg)	(additive: Atomizer
pills mixed with fuel:		and detergent)
		(note: Aug. 29, 2003,
		temperature gauge
		dropped to lowest
		point above cold)

From the results of this test I concluded that massive fuel economy gains could be made through pure chemical engineering applications.
A couple years before, my father had purchased a device called the “GASAVER” for his 1979 Cadillac Broham D'Ellegance. It had a TBI 425 CI V8. My dad ordered a GASAVER I installed it. When I read the instruction I had found that the car had to be driven 200 to 2000 km for this device to start working. Upon reading this I didn't think it would do anything, but is did. The car's average fuel efficiency increased from 12 mpg to 17 mpg.
Remembering this I concluded that what must happen is that the catalyst are deposited on the top of the pistons and in the combustion chamber in the head, this is why it would need to be run in. This is about the time when I was starting to find out the transmission in the T-Bird had seen better days and it was time to look for a different vehicle with less mileage. Also, the vehicle should be a mid size car with a 4 cylinder to offset the power gains caused by the increase in energy conversion efficiency. Less displacement would be required to effect an adequate power to weight ratio. The vehicle that was selected was a 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass Cierra with a TBI 2.5L 4-cylinder engine and a 3-speed automatic with a locking torque converter clutch, which I originally thought was an overdrive gear. This engine was also chosen for it's reputation for being mechanically indestructible and it's reputation for overheating. Mechanical integrity was important because of the horsepower gain. Overheating was important because I wanted to see if and engine could withstand the higher combustion and operating temperatures. Basically this was a “lets see if it will break anything” car.
Adding the GASAVER increased the car's highway range from 400 km to 550 km on 50 L of fuel at 110 km/h. However, in the city it was a different story, the GASAVER can be washed out by excessive cold starts, WYNN'S gas treatment, Petro-Canada's Techron gasoline and PERK pills. If the car is run on the highway, however, the fuel economy gains follow through in the city. This also re-enforces the theory that catalytic deposits collect on the top of the piston and the bottom combustion chamber in the heads. Adding an extra vile of platinum carrying additive made it work in the city. This also indicates the combustion chamber and top of the piston were coated. Finally when the GASAVER was removed after the second vile was added and run for 4000 km and removed it still continued to work for another 500 km. On the Cadillac I remember that the exhaust went from a smokey white to clear once the GASAVER was installed. For the first time water would run out of the exhaust when it was driven away hot. Just like a new car. It took 2 stages of exhaust mounted catalytic converters on the 99 Lincoln Town Car 1 saw do this. The Oldsmobile also did this after the GASAVER was installed.
The last parameter laid out was transparent conversion. There must be no loss of reliability. It is designed without compromise.
This is why platinum is specified as the catalyst to be used. This is why no mechanical modifications are specified. The catalytic coating must be inert, not susceptible to contamination from air, fuel or oil. It must also be resistant to the acids formed in the by-products of combustion, including nitric and sulfuric acid. If there is sulfur in the fuel, sulfuric acid will be present in the exhaust. If there are ever any Nitrous Oxide in the exhaust nitric acids will be formed. Eventually these acid compounds dissolve any thin coating that is not completely inert.
Choosing the Catalyst
Ceramics can both be contaminated by fuel and oil and dissolved by acids. Eliminated. Nickel, Cobalt, Palladium are attacked by nitric and sulfuric acid. Eliminated. Iridium and Osmium oxidize when heated in air. Eliminated. Furthermore, from the chemistry books I had read and the information published by the National Fuel Saver Company Platinum was the obvious choice.
Platinum is not oxidized by air. Platinum cannot be contaminated by fuel or oil. Acids formed in the exhaust do not attack platinum. In fact platinum is used to make acid proof containers. BINGO! Reference data from MERCK INDEX, 9 ^thEdition
June 2003
Me and a couple of my friends went to Beamsville Ontario for a couple of days before camp Omaph in the Toronto area for a weekend designed to help singles meet other eligible singles. This gave the GASAVER a chance to really shine because my car was driven on the highway consistently for a long distance. In the beginning the temperature gauge in the car would climb about ⅔ from the bottom to the top of the scale. If the National Fuel Saver Company's surmise that only ⅔rds of the air/fuel mixture burned in a normal engine than the temperature gauge should have climbed higher still. When I almost back home in Cornwall, I noticed that the temperature gauge had dropped to only ⅓ from bottom to the top. Two days later I realized there must be a great increase in thermal efficiency for the operating temperature to drop off so sharply. So I borrowed my friend's Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamic book to figure out what really was happening.

Building the Internal Combustion Engine Catalytic Comverter into and Engine

All surfaces in an Internal Combustion Engine that will come in contact with a large proportion of the reactants (A/F mixture) as it passes through the engine will be coated with the elemental metallic catalyst Platinum. The thickness of the coating should be 10 nm to 1 um thick. It should be attached by electro-plating or anodization.
In piston engines the top of the piston (see FIGURE#1) and the combustion chamber should be coated. For the purpose of this design combustion chamber entails the entire area on the bottom of the cylinder head, which is above the piston. (see FIGURE#2) In engines with more than two valves per cylinder the bottom of the valves should also be plated with Platinum. See pictures of Performer LT1 Head # 61909 and the picture of the engine block that shows the area on the top of pistons that should be electroplated of anodized.
In gas turbine engines the combustion chamber (can, flame holder, combustor; see FIGURE#3) and the turbines (exhaust fans, see FIGURE#4) should be plated with Platinum. See pictures of Turbine/Compressor assembly and the Flame Holder or “Can”.

BIBLIOGROPHY

FUNDAMENTALS OF THERMALDYNAMICS 3^rdedition by Michael J. Moran and Howard N. Shapiro. Copyright John Wiley & Sons Inc. ISBN 0-471-07681-3

- Chapter 9 pages 375, 378 2^ndparagraph, 381, 390

REED'S MARINE ENGINEERING SERIES, Volume 12, MOTOR ENGINEERING KNOLEDGE FOR MARINE ENGINEERS by Thomas D Moran, Extra First Class Engineer's Certificate, C. Eng., F.I Mar. E. copyright THOMAS REED PUBLICATIONS LIMITED ISBN 0 900335 52 1

- pages 3, 7,8

CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES 2^ndEdition by Steven S. Zumdahl copyright D.C. and Company ISBN 0-669-39321-5

- chapter 15

Gasoline FAQ's 1 to 4, by: Bruce Hamilton @http://www.repairfaq.org/filipg/AUTO/F Gasoline.html, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2003

Claims

1. Platinum, by catalytic action reduces the activation energy of the Air/Fuel mixture causing the rate of combustion to greatly increase.

2. Lower activation energy also reduces the incidents of “missing” in Piston Engines and “flameout” in Gas Turbine Engines. If “flameout” does occur, the lower activation energy of the Air/Fuel mixture in the presence of the catalyst will facilitate relighting.

3. The reactants, the A/F mixture will burn more rapidly, increasing the engine's mean effective pressure and increasing the amount of heat yielded by the fuel. These two effects bring the performance of the Internal Combustion Engines closer to the Air Standard Models.

4. Increasing the engine's mean effective pressure increases the engine's specific power output. (More torque throughout the power band, more trust for jet engines.)

5. Because the engine's specific output increases without an increasing the amount of reactants (A/F mixture) or enriching the A/F mixture the specific fuel consumption will be reduced.

6. Because the Mean Effective Pressure increase more of the heat created by the combustion process will be converted into mechanical work, thus increasing thermal efficiency.

7. Because the combustion will be more rapid a higher percentage of the A/F mixture will burn and the exhaust gasses will be cleaner.

8. In spark ignition engines, because of more complete and rapid combustion this device will allow for greater ignition advance or a higher compression ratio. (Advancing the ignition timing is the better option because it increases the Mean Effective Pressure and the Electronic Control Module can adjust the settings automatically.) This will result in more complete combustion eliminating most flat spots in an Internal Combustion Engine's power band.