US970154A - Method of controlling combustion-engines. - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL -WIITANZD, OF COLOGNE, GERMANY.

METHOD OF CONTROLLING COMBUSTION-ENGINES.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 13, 1910. Application filed March 8, 1907. Serial No. 361,223.

No Drawing.

To all whom it, may concern:

Be it knownthat I, PAUL WINAND, engineer, a subject of the King of Bel um, residing at 1 Sudermannstrasse, Co ogne-onthe-Rhine, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Controlling Combustion-Engines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Combustion engines which are driven by atmospheric air as the oxygen vehicle are, as is well known, so operated that there is always a certain excess of air present in the charge, in order that the fuel may be completely utilized, that is, in order that each individual particle of fuel may be united With the amount of oxygen necessary to burn it. The employment of the excess above the theoretically necessary quantity of air is justified because, in ractice, it is not possible, in consequence of lack of exactness in the regulating devices on the one hand, and in consequence of occasional inequalities in the mixture of the charge, or in the composition of one of the elements of the char e, on the other hand, to introduce fuel an air into the combustion chamber in such proportions that a complete union of the two elements takes place, that is, that the products of combustion contain neither unconsumed fuel noi unutilized oxygen. In order, therefore, to be sure that no unconsumed fuel is contained in the products of combustion, one is led to give to the charge an excess of oxy en so that the products of combustion, i they must contain an unutilized element of the charge, shall only contain unutilized air.

In operating combustion engines in which combustible fuel is burned by means of an oxygen vehicle carried along with the engine as in submarine boats, it is important to utilize the oxygen completely in order to obtain the smallest possible weight of stored material. A complete utilization of the combustible is of minor importance because 3% kilograms of oxygen are required for the complete combustion of one kilogram of liquld hydrocarbon.

The object of the present method is to avoid wasting the oxygen, notwithstanding any inaccuracy in the working of the governin device and notwithstanding any lack of uniformity in the mixture of the oxygen or oxygen vehicle with the combustible, and also notwithstanding any possible lack of uniformity in the nature of the combustible and of the oxygen vehicle.

The invention consists primarily in controlling the supply of the oxygen. vehicle to the explosive c arge in such manner that the amount supplied is not quite suflicient to completely burn the combustible fed to the engine. When thus usin an excess of combustible the amount of eveloped heat, and consequently the amount of power developed, is determined primarily by the amount of oxygen fed to the engine. The engine may be controlled, therefore, by regulatin the amount of the oxygen vehicle supplie and the amount of the combustible may then be regulated in such manner that the excess of combustible remains within desired limit-s, so that an approximately com lete utilization of the oxygen vehicle is o tained. It is, however, practically necessary, as pointed out in my co-pendin application, Serial Number 272,621, filed ugust 3d, 1905, when using an oxygen vehicle of high oxidizing capacity, to employ also a diluting medium to reduce the temperature which would otherwise exist. The diluting medium may, as pointed out in the aforesaid application, consist of an excess of the combust1ble,thereby avoiding the necessity for a separate receptacle for the diluting medium with a resu tant economy in weight. The diluting medium may, however, more advantageously consist of a third substance (such as sea water or the cooled products of combustion) since such a diluting agent is cheaper and is usuall present in the place or locality of use without necessitating a separate rece tacle. But whether the combustible itse f is used as the dilutin medium, or a separate substance is employe the characteristic feature of my invention broadly considered is that the charge always contains more combustible than is necessary to unite with all of the oxygen present, thereby assurin a complete utilization ofv the oxygen. ore specifically, and in its preferred embodiment, it consists in the utilization not only of the excess of combustible above that necessar to unite with all of the oxygen pres- What I claim is 1. The method of actuating combustion I engines for submarine boats and the like, in

which the oxidizing element of the combustion charge is an oxygen vehicle having a greater oxidizin capacity than air, which consists in intro ucing into the working cylinder of the engine a given quantity of the combustible element and likewise introducing into said working cylinder a quantity of the oxygen vehicle in amount less than that necessary to unite with all of the combustible element present, and thereupon effecting the combustion of the charge in said working cylinder, whereby, for said combustion charge of the working cylinder the ox gen of the oxygen vehicle is completely ut' ized and a surplus of unconsumed combustible remains as a diluent.

2. The method of actuating combustion engines for submarine boats and the like, in which the oxidizing element of the combustion charge is an oxygen vehicle having a greater oxidizing capacity than air, which fecting the combustion of the char e in said working cylinder, whereb forsai combustion charge of the wor ing cylinder the oxygen of the oxygen vehicle is completely utilized and a surplus of unconsume combustible remains as a diluent, and further diluting the charge with a separate third constituent.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

PAUL WINAND.

Witnesses? .Bnssm F. DUNLAP, LoU'Is VANDORY.