Field of the Invention

The present invention refers to a heat exchanger, for example, of the plate type, developed to allow a triple thermal interaction, either simultaneous or sequential, between the fuel to be injected in an internal combustion engine in normal operation, and the two cooling fluids defined by the lubricant oil and water, in order for the fuel to be selectively and suitably heated under control of a thermal management system for feeding the engine different fuels, each presenting a respective and particular flash point or vaporization point.

Background of the Invention

As described in patent application BR 10 2013 004382-6, of the same assignee, improvements in energy efficiency, handling, and reduction in the emission of pollutants may be achieved by means of a thermal management system for the feeding of fuel in an internal combustion engine, which is able to maintain the fuel at a temperature more adequate to the combustion upon its feeding to the engine. The thermal management system includes a heat exchanger which uses, as a heat source, the thermal energy dissipated by the engine itself, without the need for generating extra energy.

One of the means for dissipating the thermal energy is defined by the vehicle radiator, which comprises a heat exchanger to cool the engine, preventing the latter from overheating by exchanging heat from the engine and its components to the environment, by means of the vehicle radiator and using water as the intermediate fluid.

However, the heat transferred from the engine to the radiator water represents an energy which is lost and even undesired, since if this heat remains stored in the water, it loses efficiency as a thermal exchanging fluid. The cooler the radiator water, the more heat it will be able to absorb from the engine in a smaller amount of time.

Another known means for dissipating thermal energy from the engine is the lubricant oil itself which, besides lubricating moving parts of the engine, allows the heat generated by the latter to be carried outside from the engine and dissipated into the environment. Some engine parts, such as the crankshaft, bearings, camshaft, rods and pistons, may have their cooling entirely done by the lubricant oil of the engine. When overheated, the oil loses viscosity and may deteriorate, and consequently loses the desired lubricant properties and the capacity of cooling internal parts of the engine, impairing the correct operation of engine components, leading to major damages to the engine or even to the total loss of the vehicle engine.

Some vehicles, particularly heavy vehicles, are provided with an oil radiator, which takes the form of a heat exchanger, usually of the plate type, provided between the engine block and the required oil filter, usually downstream the latter, or even incorporated in a single block with the oil filter, as usually is the case in heavy vehicles, in order to function as a heat exchange enhancer between the lubricant oil and the radiator water. However, the oil radiators presently in use do not exchange heat between the oil and the fuel.

Thus, as mentioned in said prior patent BR 10 2013 004382-6, in low temperature environments in which the fuel has the temperature thereof reduced to values at a distant low from the flash point temperature ("cold fuel") , there is an increased or reduced difficulty in burning the fuel fed to the engine, said difficulty being greater when using fuels containing a high flash point. It should be further observed that the typical pressure inside a fuel distributor in 1.0 L vehicles of indirect injection is around 4.2 bar. In such condition, the vaporization temperature of the fuel is greater than the vaporization temperature under atmospheric pressure. For vehicles provided with direct fuel injection such values (pressure and vaporization temperature) are even higher. It is also known that the increase in fuel temperature makes easier to obtain a spray of micrometric droplets, which will burn more easily when in contact with the spark from the ignition coil or when compressed to a certain pressure (diesel) .

Although the thermal exchange between the heat dissipated by the operating engine and the fuel is sufficient for, in principle, suitably heating a somewhat "cold" fuel, this is not a working condition that presents an optimized thermo-energetic efficiency, allowing engine failures, jolts, slow acceleration response and even high emission of pollutants due to poor fuel burning.

In "flex vehicles" (fueled by ethanol and/or gasoline in any mixture proportion) it is known that the engine yield is not optimized. An effective fuel heating system may provide optimized conditions by taking the fuel (for example, ethanol or gasoline) to better burning conditions (by heating the fuel to temperatures closer to its vaporization point) and a consequent better yield of the engine.

Due to the facts mentioned above, in the prior patent application BR 10 2013 004382-6 it was proposed a managed system for fuel heating, in order to be maintained operating during the entire engine running time, in order to achieve high performance (energetic optimization) of the engine, better vehicle handling with fast response upon acting, on the acceleration pedal, with optimized torque and power and lower pollutant emissions, not only in "flex" type vehicles (two or three fuels), but also in vehicles provided with an internal combustion engine operating with a single fuel, either liquid or gas.

One of the^ solutions proposed in said prior patent application, specifically the one illustrated in figure 3, comprises a management system for the feeding of fuel which is able to absorb, by means of a common heat exchanger, the desired thermal energy both from the cooling water flow and from the engine lubricating oil. However, said prior patent application does not limit the invention to one type of heat exchanger which may be applied to the thermal management system, in order to use, when necessary, the heat dissipated by the flows of cooling water and lubricant oil heated inside the engine and carried to the respective water and oil radiators. Summary of the Invention

The present invention has as an objective to provide a heat exchanger, for example of the plate type, to be used together with a thermal management system for the feeding of fuel in an internal combustion engine under normal operation, in order to provide a triple thermal interaction, either simultaneous or sequential, between the fuel and the two cooling fluids, defined by the lubricant oil and water, in order to selectively and adequately heat the fuel to temperatures closer to the vaporization point thereof.

The present heat exchanger is applied to thermal management systems for the feeding of fuel in internal combustion engines, which is internally provided with a cooling water circuit, having an inlet connected to an outlet of a water radiator by means of a cooled water conduit, external to the engine, and an outlet connected to the water radiator by means of a hot water conduit external to the engine; and a lubricant oil circuit, also internal to the engine and having an inlet and an outlet. According to the invention, the heat exchanger comprises: an inlet and an outlet of water, respectively connected, in series, to the outlet of the water radiator, by means of the cooled water conduit and of the cooling water circuit, and to the inlet of the water radiator, by means of a return conduit and of the hot water conduit; a fuel inlet nozzle and a fuel outlet nozzle, selectively connected in parallel, to the fuel supply tube; and an inlet and , an outlet of lubricant oil, connected, respectively, to the outlet and to the inlet of the lubricant oil circuit by means of respective oil conduits .

In the preferred embodiment, the heat exchanger is defined by a group of chambers formed by a first, a second and a third group of overlapped chambers, every two adjacent chambers being from different groups, the chambers of each group having regions spaced from each other and held each in fluid communication to a respective conduit having an inner end open to an outer chamber of the respective group, and an outer end. The outer ends of the conduits of the first group of chambers containing water are connected in series to the cooling water circuit by means of the water inlet and outlet of the heat exchanger. The outer ends of the conduits of the second group of chambers, containing fuel, are selectively connected, in parallel, to the fuel feeding tube, by means of the fuel inlet and outlet nozzles of the heat exchanger; and the outer ends of the conduits of the third group of chambers, containing lubricant oil, are selectively connected to the lubricant oil circuit. The invention therefore provides a triple heat exchanger, having a compact construction, operatively associated with an automatic thermal management system for the feeding of fuel to an internal combustion engine under an operational regime, allowing a selective, simultaneous or sequential thermal exchange between the three fluids defined by the lubricant oil circulating inside the engine, the cooling water circulating through a water radiator and through the interior of the engine, and also by the fuel to be injected in the engine at an adequate temperature for the complete burning thereof inside the combustion chamber.

With the thermal exchange between the three fluids in the triple heat exchanger, it is possible, by means of a simple and efficient construction, to obtain the advantages of cooling the lubricant oil and the radiator water, with double energetic use for heating the fuel to be fed to the engine.

The proposed heat exchanger, when used together with an automatic thermal management system, allows the heating of the fuel, either single or in a mixture, to be carried to the injection system of the engine in an enhanced temperature condition for the combustion thereof, thereby reducing fuel consumption, reducing damages to the environment and improving the efficiency of the engine and of the vehicle to which said engine is associated with, the thermal energy used for selectively heating the fuel being obtained from the thermal energy itself dissipated by the internal combustion engine.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention will be described below, with reference to the enclosed drawings, given by way of example of possible configurations of the proposed heat exchanger, in which:

Figure 1 represents a diagram of a thermal management system for the feeding of fuel to an internal combustion engine, said system being provided with the heat exchanger of the present invention, in a first mounting configuration;

Figure 2 represents a diagram of a thermal management system for the feeding of fuel to an internal combustion engine, said system being provided with the heat exchanger of the present invention, in a second mounting configuration;

Figure 3 represents a perspective view of a possible construction for the proposed heat exchanger, incorporating a support defined by a flange, in the illustrated construction, for seating and securing the heat exchanger to the motor or to any other structure;

Figure 4 represents a perspective view of the heat exchanger of figure 3, when seen from the side opposite to that in which is incorporated the flange for seating and securing the heat exchanger; Figure 5 represents a sectional view of the heat exchanger illustrated in figures 3 and 4, said cut being taken according to a diametrical plane common to both the oil inlet and outlet and to the inlet and outlet fuel nozzles; and

Figure 6 represents a sectional view of the heat exchanger illustrated in figures 3 and 4, said cut being taken according to the plane diametrical to the cooling water inlet ^■ and to the cooling water outlet provided in the heat exchanger.

Description of the Invention

As mentioned above and illustrated in the attached drawings, the heat exchanger HE of the invention is applied to ^' an internal combustion engine M, using a single fuel or a varying mixture of fuels presenting different vaporization temperatures, as is the case of "flex" engines which use, for example, gasoline, ethanol or a mixture thereof in different proportions.

The heat exchanger HE of the invention was developed to operate together with a thermal management system TMS for the feeding of fuel during the entire vehicle operation, in order to maintain the fuel being supplied to the engine M at an optimized temperature, for an efficient combustion, lower than that of the vaporization point. The thermal management system TMS may be defined, for example, as described in prior patent application BRIO 2013 004382-6, of the same applicant.

In figures ■ 1 and 2 of the attached drawings are illustrated two possible embodiments for mounting the heat exchanger HE, in a thermal management system TMS, operating in an internal combustion engine M, provided with an injection system IS which is supplied from a fuel tank TQ, by means of a fuel feeding tube 10, provided with a fuel pump 11 and with a filter 12.

The fuel feeding tube 10 comprises a first segment 10a connected to the injection system IS and provided with a first valve 13, and a second segment 10b which defines a by-pass to the first segment 10a, and in which is provided the heat exchanger HE.

In both illustrated mounting conditions, the engine M is operatively associated with a water radiator 20 which has an inlet 20a and an outlet 20b connected, by means of a hot water conduit 21 and a cooled water conduit 22, to a cooling water circuit 23, internal to the engine M, to provide the usual cooling of the latter.

The engine M further comprises therein a circuit 30 for the circulation of lubricant oil, presenting an outlet 31 and an inlet 32, open to the exterior of the engine M, in order to be connected to the heat exchanger HE, as described further below.

The heat ^{^} exchanger HE is usually affixed to a support S which ^' is mounted, externally and removably, to the engine M or to any other structure for installing in engine M, by any suitable means such as, for example, by non- illustrated screws.

The heat exchanger HE comprises a water inlet 41a and a water outlet 41b, respectively connected, in series, to the outlet 20b of the water radiator 20, by means of the cooled water conduit 22 and of the cooling water circuit 23, and with the inlet 20a of the water radiator 20, by means of a return conduit 24 and of the hot water conduit 21, the latter being positioned in series. The heat exchanger HE further comprises a fuel inlet nozzle 42a and a fuel outlet nozzle 42b, selectively connected in parallel to the fuel supply to engine M; and an inlet and an outlet of lubricant oil 43a, 43b, respectively connected to the outlet 32 and the inlet 31 of the lubricant oil circuit 30 by means of respective oil conduits 34, 33.

The oil conduits 33, 34 present and inlet end 33a, 34a, which are respectively connected to the oil outlet 43b do heat exchanger HE e to the outlet 32 of the lubricant oil circuit 30, and an outlet end 33b, 34b, which are respectively connected to the inlet 31 of the lubricant oil circuit 30 and to the oil inlet 43a of the heat exchanger HE.

The fuel inlet and outlet nozzles 42a, 42b are provided at one side of the heat exchanger HE, other than the side of the latter in which are provided the water inlet and outlet 41a, 41b and the inlet and outlet of lubricant oil 43a, 43b.

In the construction illustrated in figure 1, the water inlet and outlet 41a, 41b and the inlet and outlet of oil 43a, 43b of the heat exchanger HE are seated against engine M, with the water inlet and outlet 41a, 41b being respectively held in fluid communication with the cooled water conduit 22, by means of the cooling water circuit 23 internal to engine M, and with the hot water conduit 21 by means of the return conduit 24 and with the inlet and outlet of oil 43a, 43 being directly open to the outlet and to the inlet 32, 31 of the lubricant oil circuit 30.

Still according to the construction illustrated in figure 1, the heat exchanger HE is mounted to a support S, for affixing to engine M or to a structure for installing to engine M, which is defined by a flange 40 against one side of which is seated and affixed the heat exchanger HE, said flange 40 presenting through holes in which are respectively defined the water inlet and outlet 41a, 41b and the inlet and outlet of oil 43a, 43b.

In said mounting system in which the heat exchanger HE is seated against the engine M, the return conduit 24 is defined internally to the engine M and presents an inlet end 24a open to the water outlet 41b of the heat exchanger HE and an outlet end 24b open to the hot water conduit 21. In this mounting arrangement, the oil conduits 33, 34 are defined by the respective through holes of the flange 40, said holes defining, in turn, the inlet and outlet of oil 43a, 43b of the heat exchanger HE.

Still in the constructive form illustrated in figure 1, the flange 40 has one side, opposed to that in which the heat exchanger HE is secured, which is seated and affixed against engine M, in order to establish a direct fluid communication of: the water inlet 41a of the heat exchanger HE with the outlet 23b of the cooling water circuit 23; the water outlet 41b of the heat exchanger HE with the inlet 24a of the return conduit 24; and of the inlet and outlet of oil 43a, 43b of the heat exchanger HE with the outlet 32 and to the inlet 31, respectively, of the lubricant oil circuit 30 internal to the engine M.

In figure 2 of the drawings it is illustrated a construction in which the heat exchanger HE is not directly seated against the engine M, but mounted to a support S which comprises a flange 40, against one side of which is seated and affixed the heat exchanger HE, and a spacing rod 43, having one side affixed to flange 40 and an opposite side affixed to the engine . In this second mounting arrangement, the flange 40 may present the same through holes already described in relation to the construction of figure 1 and in which are respectively defined the inlet and outlet of water 41a, 41b and the inlet and outlet of oil 43a, 43b of the heat exchanger HE.

In the construction illustrated in figure 2, the inlet and outlet of water 41a, 41b of the heat exchanger HE are respectively held in fluid communication, in series, with the cooled water conduit 22, by means of the cooling water circuit 23 and of an inlet conduit 25, external to the engine M, and with the hot water conduit 21, by means of the return conduit 24, and with the inlet and outlet of oil 43a, 43b being maintained in fluid communication with the outlet 32 and with the inlet 31, respectively, of the lubricant oil circuit 30, by means of the respective oil conduits 33, 34, external to the engine M and built of any suitable material.

In the construction of the heat exchanger HE, not seated to the engine M, the return conduit 24 is defined externally to the engine , presenting an inlet end 24a open to the water outlet 41b and an outlet end 24b open to the hot water conduit 21, with the oil conduits 33, 34 being defined by the respective through holes of the flange 40, which define the inlet and outlet of oil 43a, 43b of the heat exchanger HE.

In a similar manner, in the construction of figure 2, the inlet conduit 25, external to the engine M, presents an inlet end 25a open to the outlet 23b of the cooling water circuit 23, and an outlet end 25b open to the water inlet 41a in the heat exchanger HE.

In the construction illustrated in figures 3 to 6 and independently of the manner by which it is mounted to the engine or to another adjacent support structure, the heat exchanger HE comprises a pack P of chambers 50, 60, 70, formed by a first, a second and a third group Gl, G2 , G3 of overlapped chambers 50, 60, 70, every two adjacent chambers being of different groups.

The chambers 50, 60, 70 of each group Gl, G2 , G3 have regions spaced from each other and which are each maintained in fluid communication with a respective conduit 51, 61, 71 having an inner end 51a, 61a, 71a open to an outer chamber of the respective group, and an outer end 51b, 61b, 71b.

The outer ends 51b of the conduits 51 of the first group Gl of chambers 50 are connected in series to the cooling water circuit 23, by means of the inlet and outlet of water 41a, 41b of the heat exchanger HE.

The outer ends 61b of the conduits 61 of the second group G2 of chambers 60 are selectively connected, in parallel, to the fuel feeding tube 10 by means of the fuel inlet and outlet nozzles 42a, 42b of the heat exchanger HE, allowing the latter to be located in a "by-pass" of the fuel feeding tube 10.

The outer ends 71b of the conduits 71 of the third group

G3 of chambers 70 are connected to the lubricant oil circuit 30. The above described construction allows the cooling water and the lubricant oil to respectively circulate through the interior of the chambers 50 of the first group Gl and through the interior of the chambers 70 of the third group G3 of chambers, while the fuel is passed through the chambers 60 of the second group G2, upon detection of the need for heating said fuel before being injected in engine M.

In the constructive form illustrated in figures 3 to 6, the conduits 51, 61, 71 of each group of chambers 50, 60, 70 are located through the interior of the pack P of chambers 50, 60, 70, crossing the chambers located between the end chamber of the respective group, to the interior of which is open the inner end 51a, 61a, 71a of the conduit and the outer end 51b, 61b, 71b of said conduit, the latter being centrally and radially open to the chambers of the respective group crossed by said conduit, in order to allow the flow of fluid along the chambers of each group.

In the illustrated construction, the fuel inlet and outlet nozzles 42a, 42b project outside from one side of the pack P of chambers 50, 60, 70 opposite to that in which are provided the inlet and outlet of water 41a, 41b of the heat exchanger HE, with said opposite side being closed by an end cover 90, in which every two adjacent chambers are from different groups and are spaced apart by a common wall W of thermal exchange.

Considering that the temperature of the lubricant oil inside engine M is higher than the temperature of the cooling water and, in turn, the latter is higher than the temperature to which the fuel is to be heated, the chambers 50, 60, 70 of the pack P of chambers are distributed in a manner that the chambers 70 of the third group G3 of chambers 70 present common walls only with the chambers 50 of the first group Gl of chambers.

According to the temperatures of the three fluids in question, a portion of the height of the pack P of chambers adjacent to the outer end 61b of the conduits 61 of the second group G2 of chambers 60 may be formed solely by the latter and by at least one of the chambers 50 of the first group Gl, with the remaining portion of the height of the pack P of chambers being formed by the remaining of the chambers 50 of the first group Gl containing cooling water 23 and by the chambers 70 of the third group G3, containing lubricant oil. This construction is better illustrated in figure 5.

Due to the fact that the thermal energy required for heating the fuel is usually lower than the thermal energy dissipated by the engine M by means of the lubricant oil and the cooling water, the portion of the height of the pack P of chambers, formed solely by the chambers 50, 70 of the first and third group Gl, G3 of chambers, is usually greater than the portion of the height formed solely by the first and second group Gl, G2 of chambers containing water and fuel.

In the exemplary construction illustrated in figures 3 to 6, the chambers 50, 60, 70 of the pack P of chambers have the same flat elongated shape, and of reduced height in relation to their area, each of the two conduits 51, 61, 71, of each group of chambers 50, 60, 70, being located in an end region of the pack P of chambers opposite to that in which is positioned the other conduit.

The chambers 50, 60, 70 may be built of any suitable material, having high thermal conductivity and being shaped in trays, for example, having a bottom wall with a substantially elongated rectangular shape, and incorporating a peripheral wall of reduced height, whose free end is hermetically seated and affixed under the peripheral region of the bottom wall of an adjacent tray of the pack P of chambers, and the last tray of the pack P may be superiorly closed by the end cover 90 which is hermetically seated and affixed onto the free end of said last tray.

In order to guarantee the tightness of the connection between the through holes of the flange 40, which define the inlets and outlets of water 41a, 41b and of oil 43a, 43b of the heat exchanger HE and the outlets 23b, 32 and inlets 23a, 31 of oil and water of the engine" M, the side of the flange 40, to be seated against engine M, is provided with a sealing gasket J surrounding said through holes .

The second segment 10b of the fuel feeding tube 10 is coupled to the outer ends 6.1b of the conduits 61 of the second group G2 of chambers 60 of the heat exchanger HE and provided with a second valve 14 located upstream the heat exchanger HE and with a one-way valve 15 located downstream said heat exchanger HE.

The first valve 13 and the second valve 14 may be of the electromagnetic type, commanded by an electronic control unit CPU, which receives different operational parameters from engine and physic-chemical parameters of the fuel (such as temperature of the fuel being supplied, characteristics of the fuel or of the mixtures of different fuels, fuel injection pressure, pressure loss, etc.), in order to determine the maximum temperature value to be used for commanding the operation of the first and second valves 13, 14. It is usually also provided a return tube 10c, connecting the fuel tank TQ to a point of the fuel feeding tube 10, located downstream the second segment 10b, in order to allow the return, to tank TQ, of the fuel pumped to the injection system IS, but not consumed by the engine M. However, it should be understood that the return tube 10c may be connected to the fuel feeding tube 10 at a point upstream the second segment 10b.

The thermal management system T S, associated with the present heat exchanger HE, may comprise electromagnetic valves individually mounted or in a valve manifold and driven from the electronic control unit CPU which is operatively associated with multiple sensors SE connected to the fuel supply system and to the engine M, in order to allow that the total or partial opening of the valve or valves occur as a function of the real requirements of heating the fuel to a temperature lower than that of vaporization of the single fuel or mixture of fuels.