WO1989005399A1

WO1989005399A1 - Arrangement for facilitating exploitation of an internal combustion engine by preheating the fuel of the engine

Info

Publication number: WO1989005399A1
Application number: PCT/HU1987/000053
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sándor KAPÁS; Antal NÁDASI; Tibor Balogh
Original assignee: Wagner-Polybau Szolgáltató Kft.
Priority date: 1987-12-02
Filing date: 1987-12-02
Publication date: 1989-06-15

Abstract

The invention relates to an arrangement for facilitating exploitation of an internal combustion engine by preheating the engine fuel, comprising a by-pass conduit (16) included into a fuel gallery (2) of the internal combustion engine for utilization of heat energy produced by the internal combustion engine. The proposed arrangement can be applied both in petrol engines and in compression ignition engines and it facilitates the start of the engine in winter conditions. The by-pass conduit (16) of the proposed arrangement is arranged before the main filter (6) of engine and it includes a heat exchange section (4) built-in into a coolant gallery (21) of the engine before means (13) for regulating the flow of the coolant, wherein the heat exchange section is in heat contact with the coolant gallery (21).

Description

ARRANGEMENT FOR FACILITATING EXPLOITATION OF AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE BY PREHEATING THE FUEL OF THE ENGINE

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to an arrangement for facilitating exploitation of an internal combustion engine by preheating fuel of the engine , comprising a by-pass conduit included into a fuel gallery of the internal combustion engine for utilization of heat energy produced by the internal combustion engine . The proposed arrangement can be applied both in petrol engines and in compression ignition engines and it facilitates the start of the engine in winter conditions .

It is known that in cold and especially winter conditions the start of the internal combustion engines is di ff icult , and particularly the compression ignition engines , the so-called diesel engines show high emission of Substances which are dangereous for the environment . The high viscosi ty of the lubricants in cold conditions results in di fficulties in starting the engines . The carburettors of the compression ignition engines supplied with cold fuel are not able to atomize the fuel in the required manner ensuring the necessary dispersion , the ignition delay is increased , the engine does not work as required and the high uncontrolled emission of substances polluting the environment is not acceptable .

Because of lack of uniformity in the combustion process the eff iciency of the engine does not reach the required value and the pollution effect is unacceptably intensive . In low temperature environment the fuel of the compression ignition engines is subject of disadvantageous structural changes . The gas oil has two characteristic temperature points, i . e. the coagulation point linked with the separation of paraff ine and the solidification point . The petrolchemical industry has developed many different 61 . 865 -5361 /NE effective additives for dewaxing the gas oils , lowering their solidification point , however , the physical properties of the gas oils exclude the satisfactory solution of this problem. Apparently there exists a very simple solution : the gas oil should be mixed with petrol, but it results in deteriorating the mechanical elements of the fuel injection pump and the carburettors because of the fact that petrol highly deteriorates the lubrication properties of the gas oil . Therefor the admixing of petrol to the gas oil is not acceptable being as dangereous as another unacceptable habit : expelling some inserts from the fuelfilter of the engine .

Another problem not solved in this way is that the additives applied in the compression ignition engines are not capable of shortening the ignition delay in the fuel mixtures supplied in cold state to the engine and in consequence in this way it is impossible to avoid the main problem of pollution , and the equally important disadvantage of shortening the light duration of the compression ignition engines exploited in winter conditions .

Another solution proposed recently is to apply a by- pass conduit arranged near to the engine , in the environment o f the radiator for cooling the coolant . This solution is not satisfactory because of the fact that the cooling system allows the coolant to flow to the cooler only after reaching a predetermined basic temperature . Therefor the by-pass conduit can ensure heating of the gas oil only with relatively long delay. A further problem of this solution is that in given conditions it is possible to overheat the gas oil which results in lowering the engine efficiency sometimes up to more than 10 %. Consequently, it is necessary to switch out this by-pass in summer conditions or in the case when the temperature of the environment is higher than a predetermined value . This is highly disadvantageous in normal exploitation of a vehicle. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is to realise an arrangement overcoming the drawbacks mentioned above .

The invention is based on the recognition that the gas oil should be heated up by a heat source available in a very short time after initiating the movement of the engine pistons . This heat source is the main coolant stream of the engine Which is applied usually for heating the interior of the vehicle , for defrosting the glass surfaces . The flow of the coolant in this circuit can be regulated very simply and thereby the temperature therein can be chosen according to the given outer conditions ensuring also the temperature of the gas oil near to the optimal value . The heat content of the coolant can be simply transferred to the gas oil and the construction of the engine should not be modified in a notacceptable manner .

The invention should result in an arrangement for ensuring the effective start of the internal combustion engines in winter conditions , without the danger of evolution of the wax (para ff ine) in case of applying gas oil . (The paraff ine is capable of bringing to nought the transport of gas oil within the compression ignition engine . ) The arrangement of the invention should ensure the temperature of the fuel in the range of the optimal values . The proposed arrangement which comprises a by-pass conduit included into a fuel gallery of the internal combustion engine far utilization of heat energy produced by the internal combustion engine shows the novel feature that the by-pass cunduit is arranged before a main filter of the fuel for forwarding it into the engine and comprises a heat exchange section arranged in a coolant gallery for forwarding coolant in a circuit in a regulated manner , wherein the heat exchange section is before a flow regulator of the coolant in heat contact with the coolant gallery. In a preferred embodiment of the proposed arrange ment the heat exchange section is arranged in the interior of the coolant gallery forming therewith a heat exchanger . Advantageously , the heat exchanger is a counter-flow type unit made in form of an insert to be built-in into, the coolant gallery.

The proposed arrangement shows all advantages if included into a compression ignition engine , howeverm it can facilitate exploitation of petrol engines , too .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be described in more detail on the basis of embodiments shown by way of example and with reference to preferred embodiments illustrated in the drawings , wherein:

Figure 1 is a diagram of the proposed arrangement ; and

Figure 2 is a schematic cross-section of an insert forming a heat exchanger .

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The proposed arrangement , which should facilitate the exploitation of an internal combustion engine by prepreheating the fuel of the engine , is strictly linked with the construction elements of an internal combustion engine , especially a compression ignition engine (diesel-engine) . As it is shown in Figure 1 a fuel container 1 is connected by a fuel gallery 2 with a fuel supply pump 3 which would transport the fuel over an omitted section 22 to a main fuel filter 6. According to the invention a by-pass conduit 16 is applied for replacing the omitted section 22 . The by- pass conduit 16 consists of an inlet 14 , a heat exchange section 4 and an outlet 15 . The heat exchange section 4 is arranged in a coolant gallery 21 connected over a flow regulator 13 to a heating radiator 12 and other pieces of comfort equipment of a vehicle . The heating radiator 12 is connected by a recycling 11 with the other conduits forwarding coolant. The engine is connected by an outlet con duit 10 with a radiator 9 for cooling the coolant . The fuel is received by a fuel injection pump 7 . and the remaining fuel can be recycled to the fuel container 1 by means of a return conduit 8. The heat exchange section 4 fs in heat contact with the coolant gallery 21 . This is preferably made by introducing an insert 5 into the coolant gallery 21 (Figure 2) , wherein the heat exchange section 4 constitutes together with an outer pipe element 24 - connected by means of fastening elements 24 to the coolant gallery 21 - a heat exchanger . This heat exchanger as shown in Fig . 1 is arranged so that it forms a counter-flow type heat exchanger .

Thus , the insert 5 is arranged in the primary coolant circuit of the engine separated by the flow regulator 13 from the entire coolant circuit . The flow regulator can be for example the temperature regulator of the heating radiator 12 . The primary coolant circuit includes over the heating radiator 12 the recycling 11 and the flow regula tor 13 . Of course , the heat contact between the heat exchange section 4 and the primary coolant circuit can be realised by other ways, e .g. by direct contacting the con¬duits made of material of high heat conductivity.

Hence , the invention lies in the arrangement of a heat exchanger element in the primary coolant circuit of an internal combustion engine , which can be a petrol engine and a compression ignition engine , as well .

The arrangement of the invention renders the following way of operation of the internal combustion engine possible , which will be described in connection with a compression ignition engine .

The main and other filtering elements of the engine , the entire system of fuel supply are free of wax (paraff ine) in the moment of starting the engine . Thus , the conditions for a succesful starting are ensured also in cold conditions . After starting the temperature of the engine begins to increase as soon as after some revolu tions , i .e . a time period of some second duration is well enough for increasing the temperature in the primary coolant circuit. The increased temperature is transferred by the heat exchange section 4 immediately to the fuel . The arrangement of the invention is therefor capable of ensuring conditions, wherein the dewaxing of the fuel is not necessary. (It should be noted that the paraff ine is in the upper part of the fuel container 1 if the engine is not exploited longer time , and the fuel gallery 2 arranged with its end in he lower part of the fuel container 1 receives fuel with relatively low content of paraffine . Thisis also a factor that the arrangement according to the invention is capable of ensuring the operating of the engine from the first moment after starting .

The arrangement of the invention is capable of improving the working conditions of an internal combustion engine and lower ing the emission of substances pollutingthe environment .

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. Arrangement for facilitating exploitation of an internal combustion engine by preheating of fuel of the engine, comprising a by-pass conduit included into a fuel gallery of the internal combustion engine for utilization of heat energy produced by the internal combustion engine, characterized in that the by-pass conduit (16) is arranged before a main filter (6) of the internal combustion engine for forwarding the fuel and comprises a heat exchange section (4), wherein the heat exchange section (4) is arranged in a coolant gallery (21) of the internal combustion engine before a flow regulator (13) of the coolant and the heat exchange section (4) is in heat contact with the coolant gallery (21).

2. The arrangement according to claim 1, character i zed in that the heat exchange section (4) is arranged in the interior of the coolant gallery (21).

3. The arrangement according to claim 1 or 2. char acteri zed in that the heat exchange section (4) is included into the fuel gallery (1) after the fuel supply pump (3) of the internal combustion engine.

4. The arrangement according to any preceding claim, character ized in that the by-pass conduit (16) comprises an inlet (14) included into the fuel gallery (1) after the fuel supply pump (3) of the internal combustion engine and connected to the heat exchange section (4).

5. The arrangement according to any preceding claim, character ized in that the heat exchange section (4) is arranged in the interior of an insert (5) included into the coolant gallery (21).

6. The arrangement according to claim 5, characterized in that the insert (5) constitutes a counter-flow heat exchanger.

7. The arrangement according to any preceding claim, characterized in that the internal combustion engine is a compression ignition engine.

3. The arrangement according to any preceding claim, characterized in that the flow regulator (13) constitutes means for regulating the heat output of a heating radiator (12) applied together with the internal combustion engine.