Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Fumiaki Ikegawa

Takahiro Gunji

Kohtaro Hashimoto

Kohjiroh Aimoto

The present invention provides an internal combustion engine which can produce several types of fuels from a single fuel as needed. The internal combustion engine comprises reforming meansfor reforming a first fuel to be used in homogeneous charge compression ignition combustion into a second fuel having high ignitability, by making the first fuel contact with a catalyst formed from N-hydroxyphthalimide. The engine uses the second fuel when conducting diesel combustion. The engine can switch between the homogeneous charge compression ignition combustion with the use of the first fuel and the diesel combustion with the use of the second fuel. The engine conducts the homogeneous charge compression ignition combustion when a load is low, and conducts the diesel combustion when the load is high. The internal combustion engine further comprises a first fuel injectorwhich injects the first fuel to an air intake port when the homogeneous charge compression ignition combustion is conducted, and a second fuel injectorwhich directly injects the second fuel to a combustion chamber when the diesel combustion is conducted. The engine further comprises fuel injection timing control meansfor switching between the homogeneous charge compression ignition combustion and the diesel combustion, by changing the injection timing of the fuel. The first fuel is at least one of gasoline, kerosene, light oil and alcohol.

Internal combustion engine

There is provided a control method of a compression-ignition internal combustion engine capable of easily coping with a wide range of required loads by a single fuel. A compression-ignition internal combustion engine includes a first tank () for storing a blended fuel that contains alcohol and liquid hydrocarbon at predetermined percentages and a second tank () for mixing the blended fuel supplied from the first tank () with water and storing a liquid mixture of the water and the alcohol mixed with each other and the liquid hydrocarbon with the liquid mixture and the liquid hydrocarbon separated from each other, and a supply of the blended fuel stored in the first tank () and a supply of the liquid hydrocarbon stored in the second tank () are varied according to a required load of the compression-ignition internal combustion engine ().

Method of controlling compression-ignition internal combustion engine

An internal combustion engine is provided which can operate by either the homogeneous charge compression ignition system or the spark ignition system using a single fuel. In the internal combustion engine using a fuel containing a hydrocarbon, the fuel contains o-xylene of 10 to 70 wt. % of the total weight, and the engine operates by either homogeneous charge compression ignition or spark ignition depending on the load. The fuel contains o-xylene of 30 to 50 wt. % of the total weight. The fuel contains, for example, n-heptane as the base fuel, and o-xylene of 10 to 70 wt. %, preferably 30 to 50 wt. %, of the total base fuel. The internal combustion engine operates by homogeneous charge compression ignition at low or medium load and by spark ignition at high load.

An object is to provide a method for operating a compression ignition internal combustion engine which, using a single fuel, can produce diesel combustion when the load is high, or homogeneous-charged compression ignition combustion when the load is low. The operating method includes: employing a fuel containing 95 to 99.5 wt. % of a base fuel made of one or more compounds selected from the group consisting of a hydrocarbon, an alcohol, an ether and a fatty ester, and 0.1 to 5 wt. % of an additive made of one or more compounds selected from the group consisting of an organic peroxide, a nitric ester, a nitrite ester and an azo compound; and producing diesel combustion when the load is high, or homogeneous-charged compression ignition combustion when the load is low. The organic peroxide is di-tert-butyl peroxide. The nitric ester is n-pentyl nitrate. The nitrite ester is n-pentyl nitrite. The azo compound is 2,2-azobis(2,4-dimethylvaleronitrile).

Method for operating compression ignition internal combustion engine

The present invention provides a method for controlling a compression ignition internal combustion engine, which can easily cope with a wide range of demand loads. The compression ignition internal combustion enginehas a first fuelcontaining ethanol, and reforming meansfor reforming the first fuel into a second fuel having higher ignitability than the first fuel, by converting at least one part of ethanol contained in the first fuelto diethyl ether, and each amount of the first fuel and the second fuel to be supplied to the compression ignition internal combustion engine is varied, in accordance with the change of a load required to the compression ignition internal combustion engineThus, the proportion of the first fuel to the total fuels supplied to the internal combustion engineis increased, with the increase of the demand load, while the proportion of the second fuel to the total fuels supplied to the internal combustion engineis increased, with the decrease of the demand load. The first fuelcontains ethanol and a hydrocarbon which is liquid at room temperature.

Method for controlling compression ignition internal combustion engine

The present invention provides a method for controlling a compression ignition internal combustion engine, which can easily cope with a wide range of demand load with the use of a single fuel. The method includes: providing fuelcontaining an ignition enhancer for the compression ignition internal combustion engine; thermally decomposing a part of the ignition enhancer included in the fuelto make the fuelless ignitable as the compression ignition internal combustion engine has a higher demand load; and supplying the fuel having the a lower ignitability to the compression ignition internal combustion engine. The fuel capable of compression self-ignition is a hydrocarbon-based fuel. The ignition enhancer is one selected from the group consisting of an organic peroxide, a nitric ester, a nitrite ester and an azo compound. The organic peroxide is di-tert-butyl peroxide. The nitric ester is 2-ethylhexyl nitrate. The nitrite ester is n-pentyl nitrite. The azo compound is 2,2-azobis(2,4-dimethylvaleronitrile). The ignition enhancer is thermally decomposed in an electric furnace.

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Wako, Japan

Fumiaki Ikegawa