Fuel control system and associated method

• US 20070175459A1
• Filed: 02/02/2006
• Published: 08/02/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gilbarco Incorporated (Vontier Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Edward Payne, Rodger Williams
• Inventors: Payne, Edward, Williams, Rodger
• Granted Patent: US 8,006,677 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 123/575
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 19/0605 to adjust the fuel pressure or temperature
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 19/061 by controlling fuel injectors
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 19/0618 depending on the engine's or vehicle's position, e.g. on/off road or proximity to a harbor
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 19/0628 Determining the fuel pressure, temperature or flow, the fuel tank fill level or a valve position
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 19/0652 Biofuels, e.g. plant oils
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 19/0689 for in-cylinder direct injection
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 19/0692 Arrangement of multiple injectors per combustion chamber
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 19/0694 operating with a plurality of fuels
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 19/08 simultaneously using pluralities of fuels F02D19/12 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 19/081 Adjusting the fuel composition or mixing ratio; Transitioning from one fuel to the other
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2200/701 Information about vehicle position, e.g. from navigation system or GPS signal
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/0025 Controlling engines characterised by use of non-liquid fuels, pluralities of fuels, or non-fuel substances added to the combustible mixtures
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/021 Introducing corrections for particular conditions exterior to the engine conjoint control of vehicle sub-units for propelling the vehicle B60W30/18
• CPC Class Codes: F02M 37/0064 for engines being fed with multiple fuels or fuels having special properties, e.g. bio-fuels; varying the fuel composition controlling engines working with pluralities of fuels F02D19/06
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/30 Use of alternative fuels, e.g. biofuels

Abstract

A fuel control system and method for providing fuel to an internal combustion engine are provided. The fuel control system generally includes at least one valve device structured to deliver a fuel supply to the engine, a first fuel source structured to provide a primary fuel to the valve device, a second fuel source structured to provide an alternate fuel to the valve device, and an electronic controller structured to control the valve device. The electronic controller controls the valve device as a function of various data to selectively deliver the primary fuel and the alternate fuel to generate a fuel supply, e.g. as a mixture of the two fuels. The data used to control the fuel supply may include GPS data, engine data, environmental data, and/or other operational data.

Claims

1. A fuel control system for use in providing fuel to an internal combustion engine of a vehicle, said fuel control system comprising:

at least one valve device structured to deliver a fuel supply to the engine;

a first fuel source structured to provide a primary fuel to said valve device;

a second fuel source structured to provide an alternate fuel to said valve device;

an electronic controller structured to control said valve device; and

a global positioning system receiver configured to transmit GPS data to said electronic controller,

wherein said electronic controller controls said valve device according to the GPS data to selectively deliver the primary fuel and the alternate fuel to generate the fuel supply.

2. The fuel control system of claim 1, wherein the GPS data transmitted by said global positioning system receiver comprises at least one of vehicle speed, vehicle altitude, or ground surface grade.

3. The fuel control system of claim 1, wherein the primary fuel comprises one of a diesel fuel or a bio-diesel fuel and the alternate fuel comprises one of a vegetable oil fuel or a bio-diesel fuel.

4. The fuel control system of claim 1, wherein said electronic controller is adapted to provide a data threshold value according to the GPS data, and wherein said electronic controller is configured to control said valve device to use mainly primary fuel below the data threshold value, and said electronic controller is configured to control said valve device to use mainly alternate fuel above the data threshold value.

5. The fuel control system of claim 1, wherein said electronic controller controls said valve device to deliver a mixture of the primary fuel and the alternate fuel according to the GPS data.

6. The fuel control system of claim 1, wherein said at least one valve device comprises a primary valve device that receives the primary fuel from said first fuel source and an alternate value device that receives the alternate fuel from said second fuel source, and wherein said electronic controller controls said primary valve device according to the GPS data to selectively deliver the primary fuel, and said electronic controller controls said alternate valve device according to the GPS data to selectively deliver the alternate fuel, and wherein a mixture of the primary fuel delivered by said primary valve device and the alternate fuel delivered by said alternate valve device generate the fuel supply.

7. The fuel control system of claim 1, further comprising at least one of a heating mechanism structured to heat the alternate fuel, a temperature sensing device structured to sense the temperature of the alternate fuel, an alternate fuel volume measurement device structured to measure the volume of the alternate fuel in said second fuel source, or a primary fuel volume measurement device structured to measure the volume of the alternate fuel in said first fuel source.

8. The fuel control system of claim 1, wherein said electronic controller receives engine data from the engine and wherein said electronic controller controls said valve device as a function of at least one of the GPS data and the engine data to selectively deliver the primary fuel and the alternate fuel to generate the fuel supply.

9. The fuel control system of claim 8, wherein the engine data comprises at least one of engine RPM data, fuel injection timing data, engine exhaust temperature data, engine exhaust particulate data, engine throttle position data, transmission status data, emission control system data, ignition status data, or user preferences.

10. A fuel control system for use in providing fuel to an internal combustion engine of a vehicle, said fuel control system comprising:

at least one valve device structured to deliver a fuel supply to the engine;

a first fuel source structured to provide a primary fuel to said valve device;

a second fuel source structured to provide an alternate fuel to said valve device; and

an electronic controller structured to receive operational data and to control said valve device according to the operational data to selectively deliver the diesel fuel and the vegetable oil fuel to generate the fuel supply.

11. The fuel control system of claim 10, wherein said electronic controller controls said valve device to deliver a mixture of the primary fuel and the alternate fuel according to the operational data.

12. The fuel control system of claim 10, wherein said operational data comprises at least one of the speed of the vehicle, engine RPM data, fuel injection timing data, engine exhaust temperature data, engine exhaust particulate data, engine throttle position data, transmission status data, emission control system data, altitude data, ground grade data, diesel fuel volume data, vegetable fuel volume data, vegetable fuel temperature data, user preference data, or time.

13. The fuel control system of claim 10, further comprising a primary fuel flow measurement device structured to measure a primary fuel flow rate of the diesel fuel delivered through said valve device, and an alternate fuel flow measurement device structured to measure an alternate fuel flow rate of the vegetable fuel delivered through said valve device, wherein the fuel flow measurement devices are configured to provide primary fuel flow rate data and alternate fuel flow rate data to said electronic controller, and wherein the electronic controller provides an indication of the amount of use of the vegetable oil fuel.

14. The fuel control system of claim 13, further comprising a fuel supply measurement device structured to measure a fuel supply flow rate, and wherein said primary fuel flow measurement device provides primary fuel flow rate data to said electronic controller, said alternate fuel flow device provides alternate fuel flow rate data to said electronic controller, and said fuel supply measurement device provides fuel supply data to said electronic controller.

15. The fuel control system of claim 10, wherein said valve device comprises at least one fuel injector structured to deliver fuel to a combustion chamber of the engine.

16. The fuel control system of claim 10, wherein said valve device comprises a first fuel injector that receives the primary fuel from said first fuel source, and a second fuel injector that receives the alternate fuel from said second fuel source.

17. The fuel control system of claim 15, wherein said at least one fuel injector is structured to deliver a mixture of fuel to the combustion chamber of the engine.

18. The fuel control system of claim 16, wherein said first fuel injector is controlled according to a first fuel injector output pulse and said second fuel injector is controlled according to a second fuel injector output pulse, and wherein an original fuel injector timing pulse is divided to create the first fuel injector output pulse and the second fuel injector output pulse.

19. The fuel control system of claim 18, wherein one of said first fuel injector or said second fuel injector is gated before the other.

20. The fuel control system of claim 18, wherein the first and second fuel injector output pulses are sequential.

21. The fuel control system of claim 18, wherein the first and second fuel injector output pulses are non-sequential.

22. The fuel control system of claim 18, wherein at least one of the first or second fuel injector pulses occurs after a delay.

23. The fuel control system of claim 16, wherein said first fuel injector delivers a stream of primary fuel to the combustion chamber of the engine and said second fuel injector delivers a stream of alternate fuel to the combustion chamber of the engine.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein said step of controlling at least one valve device comprises controlling a first valve device and a second valve device to deliver at least one of the primary fuel, the alternate fuel, or a mixture of the primary fuel and the alternate fuel to the engine according to the operational data.

24. A method of controllably delivering fuel to an internal combustion engine of a vehicle, said method comprising:

transmitting operational data to an electronic controller; and

controlling at least one valve device with the electronic controller to selectively deliver at least one of a primary fuel, an alternate fuel, or a mixture of the primary fuel and the alternate fuel to the engine according to the operational data.