TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001]The present invention generally relates to the exhaust and fuel injection system of internal combustion engines.

BACKGROUND ART

[0002] The following discussion of the background art is intended to facilitate an understanding of the present invention only. The discussion is not an acknowledgement or admission that any of the material referred to is or was part of the common genera) knowledge as at the priority date of the application.

[0003] Injecting hydrogen into an internal combustion engine using hydrolysis to improve efficiency is well known. The existing hydrogen injection systems require a separate source of water for electrolysis that is liable to become depleted, ceasing the production of hydrogen. Often these sources of additional water are an additional tank or reservoir that must be refilled by the user to enable continued hydrogen production.

[0004] It is also known to use the waste heat of an exhaust system to generate electricity to power the accessories of a car using the heat to produce steam in a separate circuit that in turn powers a generator. Alternatively the heat has been used to power a Thermo Electric Generator. Shortcomings of these systems are that the generator system requires a separate generator circuit to produce steam and electricity, and the Thermo Electric Generator system produces limited power levels.

[0005]Typically in these known hydrogen injection systems the electricity for electrolysis is supplied by the main car battery.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

[0006] It is an object of this invention to provide to ameliorate, mitigate or overcome, at least one disadvantage of the prior art, or which will at least provide the public with a practical choice. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007]Further features of the present Invention are more fully described in the following description of several non-limiting embodiments thereof. This description is included solely for the purposes of exemplifying the present invention. It should not be understood as a restriction on the broad summary, disclosure or description of the invention as set out above. The description will be made with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the hydrogen fuel injection system of a first

embodiment of the present invention:

Figure 2A is a cross sectional view of a manifold and parts of the hydrogen fuel injection system of Figure 1;

Figure 2B is plan view of a part of a manifold and parts of the hydrogen fuel injection system of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan view of a manifold and dehumidification device for use with the hydrogen fuel injection system in accordance with the embodiment of claim 1 ;

Figure 4 is a plan view of a humidification device for use with the hydrogen fuel injection system of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a plan view of a electrochemical cell for use in the hydrogen fuel injection system of Figure 1 ;

Figure 6 is a plan view of an alternative arrangement of the exhaust from the engine in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 7 is a perspective view of electrodes for use with the hydrogen fuel injection system of Figure 1 ;

Figure 8 is a plan view of a turbine attached to the exhaust of an engine in accordance with a third embodiment of the invention;

Figure 9 is a cross sectional view of a thermocouple system in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the present invention; Figure 10 is a perspective view of an alternative thermocouple system to that of Figure 9.

[0008] In the drawings like structures are referred to by like numerals throughout the several views. The drawings shown are not necessarily to scale, with emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0009] in particular, an embodiment of this invention relates to a system designed to recover a portion of the heat energy expelled from an engine exhaust which is in turn used to extract and supply atmospheric water to an electrolysis system, which in turn supplies Hydrogen and Oxygen gas to the engine cylinders.

[0010] Referring to Figure 1 an energy transfer system for recovering and converting energy from an internal combustion engine 1 (henceforth referred to as an engine) is shown. The engine 1 comprises a heat recovery and transfer system 41, an additional fuel production system 8 and an additional gas injection apparatus 14.

[0011] A typical engine draws fuel into an engine, where it is combusted, driving the piston. The exhaust then expels the hot exhaust gas that is gradually lost to the atmosphere. In the embodiment as illustrated in Figure 1, some of the heat in the hot exhaust gas 3 expelled from the engine 1 is recovered by a refrigerant in a coil 4 that passes through the manifold (not shown). Coil 4 is part of a refrigeration cycle tubing 11. The refrigeration cycle tubing 11 cools the heated refrigerant in a condenser, illustrated as dehumidifier 5. The dehumidifier 5 converts atmospheric vapour to liquid water 7. The condenser embodied as dehumidifier 5 can be a simple set of coils and vanes designed to convert the water vapour contained In the air passing over it into liquid, but as readily understood by the skilled addressee, alternative dehumldifiers that do not require a refrigeration cycle and condenser can be used, such as electronic dehumidifiers, or in high humidity environments, adsorption dehumldifiers.

[0012]The water 7 produced in the dehumidifier is then captured (for example in a drip tray) and introduced into an electrochemical cell 29. A current is applied to the water 7 in the electrochemical cell 29 through a series of oppositely charged electrodes (not shown) to disassociate the hydrogen and oxygen in the water to produce hydrogen and oxygen gas. [0013] The electrochemical cell 29 can be powered by the engine alternator 67 as illustrated, but can equally be powered by an alternative power source, some of which are discussed below under other embodiments. Alternator 67 powers an electronic circuit or controller 10 which powers the electrochemical cell 29. An alternative power source can be the car's battery or may be from an additional battery.

[0014]The hydrogen and oxygen gases produced In the electrochemical cell 29 are transported through a tube 9 and a regulating valve 12 to be injected into the engine 1 through the gas injecting apparatus 14. The hydrogen and oxygen acts as an additional fuel source which supplements the typically used fuel source. The gas injection apparatus 14 is suitable to be attached directly onto the cylinder head, combustion chamber, air injection bodies, or manifolds or into the fuel inlet.

[0015JThe regulating valve 12, receives signals from a computer 16 and starts, stops, restricts or increases the flow of hydrogen and oxygen gas based on these signals. The signals received from the computer include exhaust temperature from a temperature sensor 17, exhaust gas chemical levels through a sensor 19 and aspiration gas levels through a further sensor 16. By way of example, when the temperature of the exhaust gases becomes unusually high, the computer can cause the level of hydrogen and oxygen injected into the engine to be decreased.

[0016]The temperature sensor can be a thermocouple, pyrometer or other temperature recording device able to be interfaced with the computer.

[0017]The regulating valve 12 can also include a compressor 43 to increase the pressure of the hydrogen and oxygen gases injected into the engine. One type of compressor 43 that can be used is a rotary valve compressor.

[0018] As it is excess heat that enables the dehumidifier 5 to provide the water 7 for the production of hydrogen and oxygen gas production, this type of fuel injection system can be used on diesel, petrol, ethanol and any other internal combustion type engine.

[0019] Figure 2A illustrates an embodiment of an exhaust manifold 42 in accordance with this invention. The hot exhaust gas 3 enters the exhaust manifold at exhaust ports 51 and exits through the exhaust manifold exit 66. The refrigeration cycle tubing 11 at an internal tube portion 54 passes through the manifold 42. The internal tube portion 54 can be part of the coil 4 discussed under Figure 1. The internal tube portion 54 can be welded into the manifold or alternatively can enter through a sealed spigot 57 as illustrated. Inside the manifold the internal tube portion 54 passes through the manifold absorbing heat from the hot exhaust gas 3. For safety the internal tube portion 54 can be fitted with evacuation release valves 55 to relieve internal pressure within the internal tube portion 54. The evacuation release valves 55 can direct refrigerant back into the refrigeration cycle tubing 11 at a region where the refrigerant is cooler. As an additional safety feature a cooling pipe 56 can abut the internal tube portion 54 so that the walls of the cooling pipe 56 and internal tube portion 54 are contiguous to cool the refrigerant in internal tube portion 54. The cooling pipe 56 can carry water or another coolant within it. Additionally a control apparatus 52 can be fitted to the internal tube portion 54 that feeds back to the computer 16 through temperature sensor 58 to regulate the flow of refrigerant through refrigeration tube 11 and internal tube portion 54. In an alternative embodiment, a solid heat sink can be used to absorb heat from the internal tube portion 54.

[0020] Figure 2B illustrates an embodiment of the exhaust manifold of Figure 2A where the cooling pipe 156 twists around the internal tube portion 54 to increase the surface area of the cooling pipe 156 in contact with Internal tube portion 54. The internal tube portion can be fitted with a thermometric device 158 to measure the temperature of the refrigerant. The thermometric device can be a pyrometer, a thermocouple or a variety of other devices.

[0021] Figure 3 illustrates an embodiment of the heat recovery and transfer system 41 of this invention. The manifold 42 is illustrated with internal tube portion 54 that directs refrigerant through the dehumidifier 5, where the refrigeration cycle tubing 11 is in the form of cooling coils 23, through vanes 24 to cool the refrigerant. With the cooled refrigerant in the dehumidifier, moisture contained in air that passes through the vanes 24 is liquefied and passed into the collector 34. The temperature sensor 20 records the temperature of the refrigerant after it has been-chilled and condensed by the

dehumidifier. The refrigeration cycle tubing 11 can include a one way flow valve to ensure the refrigerant continues to flow through the dehumidifier in one direction, and that the heat is not store within the refrigeration cycle tubing 11.

[0022] Figure 4 illustrates a dehumidifier 5 that can be used in the present invention. The dehumidifier 5 is used to extract moisture in the air using the excess heat The dehumidifier 5 is aided by a fan 27 that directs air 26 over the cooling coils 23 and vanes 24. The dehumidifier can have an outer casing 31 that can be made of a metai or a variety of polymers and can be made through a variety of moulding techniques such as injection moulding. Moisture collected in the vanes 24 falls into a collector 34 at the base of the dehumidifier and is then transported to the electrochemical cell 8 for electrolysis.

[0023] Referring to Figure 5, an electrochemical cell 29 is illustrated. The cell 29 can be used in the additional fuel production system 8 of an embodiment of the present invention. The electrochemical cell 29 can be of a typical construction with positive electrodes 38 interfacing with negative electrodes 37 and an inlet 33 for the water from the dehumidifier 5 to enter and act as the electrolyte 39. The electrodes 38 and 37 can be in the form of plates but other embodiments such as rods are envisaged. Electricity is supplied through terminals 32 to produce the required electric potential. The electrolyte 39 is circulated within the electrochemical cell 29 through use of a circulating apparatus 46 (such as a pump or turbine) pumping water through circulating conduit 45. Vibration is applied to the electrodes through vibrator 44 to stop air bubbles forming on the electrodes.

[0024]When electric potential is applied to the electrodes, electrolysis takes place producing hydrogen and oxygen gas that passes out of the electrochemical cell 29 through outlet 58. To ensure that hydrogen and oxygen gas is expelled only through outlet 58, inlet 33 can be fitted with valves 89 to stop gas exiting from inlet 33.

[0025] Referring to Figure 6, an alternative power source for generating electricity that can be added to the exhaust of the engine according to an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. A generator 72 can be attached in the exhaust 2 of the engine 1 to use the hot exhaust gas 3 to drive a rotor of the generator 72. The generator can optionally be a generator, an alternator, or other device able to be driven by a rotor to create electricity. Electricity from the generator 72 can be used to power the

electrochemical cell 29, computer 16 and/or electronic circuit/controller 10.

[0026] Referring to Figure 7, an exemplary set of electrodes 75 for use with the embodiments of the present invention is illustrated. The electrodes 75 are illustrated as having a waved and flat profile but can be any combination of knurled, flat, wave shaped, rods or other profiled electrodes. [00271 Referring to Figure 8, the generator 72 of Figure 6 is illustrated in cross section. The generator 72 can be attached to the exhaust 2 of the internal combustion engine at flange 82 to direct the hot exhaust gas 3 through the rotor 76, turning blades or vanes 77 and passing through the exit flange 85 back into the exhaust system. The rotor 76 includes shaft 71 that extends into alternator 70 to drive the alternator 70 to produce electricity which is transferred through outputs 49 to power devices such as the computer 16, electrochemical cell 29 and/or electronic circuit/controller 10. Exciter current cable 47 carries the exciter current to the field windings. Alternator 70 is attached to the rotor 76 with an insulating flange or coupling 87. The connection 78 between the shaft 71 and the alternator 70 is electrically and thermally insulated to protect the devices. Alternatively, the alternator 70 can be a generator.

[0028] Referring to Figure 9, an alternative method for heat recovery and electricity production according to the present invention is illustrated. In this arrangement an exhaust tube 91 transports the hot exhaust gas 3 from the internal combustion engine that includes an array of thermocouple junctions 92 in its walls. The thermocouple junctions 92 pass through the outlet 94 to allow the thermocouple junctions to meet their cold end junctions and produce current. The current produced by the thermocouple junctions 92 can be used to power devices power devices such as a computer 16, electrochemical cell 29 and/or electronic circuit/controller 10. Using an exhaust tube 91 with thermocouple junctions 92 allows water to be produced using the refrigeration cycle dehumidifier described above, or alternatively directly from the electricity produced from the thermocouple using devices such as an electronic dehumidifier.

[0029] Figure 10 illustrates an alternative to the tube carrying thermocouple system of Figure 9 according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the tube 96 for transporting hot exhaust gas 3 is made of two dissimilar metal sections 97 and 98 that are connected at junctions 13. The junctions 13 act as the thermocouple junctions and tags 93 can be connected to the cold junction for electricity production.

[0030]Throughoutthis specification, unless the context requires otherwise, the word "comprise" or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or group of integers but not the exclusion of any other integer or group of integers. [0031]The present invention is not to be limited in scope by any of the specific embodiments described herein. These embodiments are intended for the purpose of exemplification only. Functionally equivalent products, formulations and methods are clearly within the scope of the invention as described herein. For example the engine may be replaced by a furnace or other heat source having an exhaust and requiring fuel to burn. Also the above description is described on the basis that water is dissociated to produce H2 and O ₂ . However, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to this and other liquids may be used in place of water to produce gases from the liquids.

[0032]Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention described herein is susceptible to variations and modifications other than those specifically described. The invention includes all such variation and modifications. The invention also includes all of the steps, features, formulations and compounds referred to or indicated in the specification, individually or collectively and any and all combinations or any two or more of the steps or features.