Patent Application
20160032847
The present invention relates to a combustion control device for a gas engine, and to a combustion control device with respect to knocking in particular.
Power generation facilities operated by a gas engine using natural gas or city gas as main fuel are launched in view of clean energy source.
To make a gas engine perform stable and efficient operation, fuel supply valves provided for respective cylinders are controlled, and the ignition timing is also controlled. However, abnormal combustion such as knocking and misfire may still occur. It is necessary to detect and avoid abnormal combustion such as knocking and misfire at an early stage.
To avoid knocking, supply of gas fuel is halted or reduced for a cylinder in which knocking has occurred, or the ignition timing is retarded in some cases. For instance, Patent Document 1 (JP4688916B) and Patent Document 2 (JP4247842B) are known.
Patent Document 1 discloses a load leveling control in which an exhaust temperature is detected for each cylinder of a gas engine, a cylinder in which knocking or misfire has appeared is detected, then an amount of fuel supply to a cylinder having the maximum exhaust temperature is reduced, and an amount of fuel supply to a cylinder having the minimum exhaust temperature is increased. Further, supply of fuel is halted or reduced for a predetermined period of time for the cylinder in which knocking or misfire has occurred. Furthermore, the load leveling control is performed excluding the cylinder for which a measure for addressing knocking or misfire is being taken.
Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a knocking control device for a gas engine. The magnitude of knocking is detected by a knocking sensor, and the mean value of occurrence frequency in each cylinder is compared with the occurrence frequency in a certain cylinder on the basis of a measurement value of occurrence frequency of knocking that is a predetermined value or more. If the occurrence frequency in the certain cylinder is not less than a predetermined frequency as compared to the mean value of occurrence frequency, the amount of gas injection is reduced for the certain cylinder. If the occurrence frequency in the cylinder is not more than a predetermined frequency as compared to the mean value of occurrence frequency, the amount of gas injection is increased for the cylinder.
Further, Patent Document 2 similarly discloses retarding and advancing the injection timing of the pilot fuel injection timing and the ignition timing of the spark ignition timing.
Patent Document 1: JP4688916B
Patent Document 2: JP4247842B
Patent Documents 1 and 2 both disclose halting or reducing supply of gas fuel or retarding the ignition timing for a cylinder in which knocking has occurred, as a countermeasure technique to knocking or misfire, but do not go as far as disclosing recovery control in which the amount of gas fuel is increased or the injection timing or the ignition timing of gas fuel is recovered again after performing a countermeasure control.
Further, in case the above recovery control is not appropriately performed, misfire or knocking may occur again upon recovery. Especially, the temperature in the combustion chamber decreases due to halting or reducing supply of gas fuel as a countermeasure to knocking. Thus, if the amount of gas fuel is merely increased upon the recovery control of the gas fuel, abnormal combustion such as misfire may occur again upon recovery.
The present invention was made in view of the above technical issue. An object is to provide a combustion control device for a gas engine which prevents an unstable combustion state such as misfire upon recovery by appropriately performing recovery control for recovering to the optimum operation by increasing gas fuel again after halt or reduction of the gas fuel for a cylinder in which knocking has occurred as a countermeasure to knocking in the gas engine.
The present invention was made to achieve the above object, and provides a combustion control device for a gas engine, including: a knocking determination unit configured to determine occurrence of knocking of each of cylinders; a knocking reduction unit configured to halt or reduce supply of gas fuel to a cylinder in which the knocking is occurring and reduce supply of the gas fuel to other cylinders in which the knocking is not occurring, when the occurrence of the knocking is determined by the knocking occurrence determination unit; a first recovery unit configured to recover a state where the gas fuel is halted or reduced in the cylinder in which the knocking is occurring, when it is determined that the knocking is not occurring after the halt or reduction; and a second recovery unit configured to recover a state where the gas fuel is reduced in the other cylinders which are not the cylinder in which the knocking is occurring. A recovery time of the first recovery unit is shorter than a recovery time of the second recovery unit, and recovery of the cylinder in which the knocking is occurring is performed as a priority.
According to the present invention, when it is determined that knocking is occurring, supply of gas fuel to the cylinder in which knocking is occurring is halted or reduced, and supply of gas fuel to cylinders other than the cylinder in which knocking is occurring is reduced.
In this way, the air-fuel ratio with respect to the cylinder in which knocking is occurring shifts to the lean side, and thus occurrence of knocking is restricted. Further, also in the other cylinders in which the knocking is not occurring, the gas fuel is reduced in response to a predetermined command to reduce the load due to a decrease in the power generation output to prevent overload.
Such reduction or halt of the gas fuel restricts occurrence of knocking. Later, when it is determined that knocking is not occurring by the knocking determination unit, the reduced or halted supply of gas fuel is recovered and returned to the original condition, i.e., the required amount of gas fuel corresponding to the required load.
The first recovery unit recovers the cylinder in which knocking is occurring from a state in which the gas fuel is halted or reduced, and the second recovery unit recovers cylinders other than the cylinder in which knocking is occurring from a state in which the gas fuel is reduced. Then, the recovery time of the first recovery unit is set to be shorter than the recovery time of the second recovery unit, so that recovery of the cylinder in which knocking is occurring is performed in priority.
Thus, recovery is firstly performed for the cylinder in which knocking is occurring, and then if abnormality is not occurring again, i.e., after confirming that abnormal combustion such as knocking and misfire is not occurring again, recovery can be completed for other cylinders in which knocking is not occurring. In this way, it is possible to perform the recovery control securely and stably.
Further, preferably in the present invention, the first recovery unit and the second recovery unit may be configured to start a recovery control if the knocking is not occurring within a predetermined period after the halt or reduction of the gas fuel by the knocking reduction unit.
As described above, with the predetermined standby period set after reduction or halt of the gas fuel by the knocking reduction unit, it is possible to determine whether the knocking is occurring again during the period, which makes it possible to perform the recovery control securely and stably.
Further, preferably in the present invention, an increase rate of the gas fuel of the first recovery unit may be set to be greater than an increase rate of the gas fuel of the second recovery unit.
As described above, with the increase rate of the gas fuel of the first recovery unit being greater than the increase rate of the gas fuel of the second recovery unit, it is possible to shorten the recovery time of the first recovery unit as compared to that of the second recovery unit.
Further, the first recovery unit may be set to perform the recovery control to recover after a short period of time, for instance, two to three seconds after the start. While it is possible to address the knocking effectively by reducing the gas fuel, a decrease in the combustion temperature in return reduces the temperature inside the combustion chamber, which may lead to a misfire due to remarkable unstable combustion that emerges when the amount of gas fuel is gradually increased upon recovery. Thus, it is possible to avoid such unstable recovery by increasing the amount of gas fuel at once.
Further, preferably in the present invention, an amount of reduction of the gas fuel reduced by the knocking reduction unit may be set to be larger for the cylinder in which the knocking is occurring than for the other cylinders in which the knocking is not occurring.
For the cylinder in which knocking is occurring, the amount of gas fuel reduction is an amount for shifting the air-fuel ratio to the lean side to restrict knocking. For other cylinders in which knocking is not occurring, assuming that there is one cylinder with knocking, the amount of reduction is an amount accompanying the load reduction of the power generation output for preventing overload caused by an increase in the load applied to the other cylinder, the increase corresponding to the amount of the one cylinder with knocking.
In this way, the amount of gas-fuel reduction is set to be larger for the cylinder in which the knocking is occurring than for the other cylinders in which the knocking is not occurring, which makes it possible to perform the control to reduce knocking effectively.
Further, preferably in the present invention, if the knocking occurs again during the predetermined period, the gas fuel may be reduced further by an amount of gas-fuel reduction which is set by the knocking reduction unit at a time when the knocking occurs again.
As described above, if knocking has occurred again during the standby period, it is possible to perform reduction of knocking and the subsequent recovery control stably by reducing the amount of gas fuel supply even further at this point of time.
According to the present invention, as a countermeasure to knocking in a gas engine, it is possible to prevent the gas engine from entering an unstable combustion state such as misfire upon recovery by halting or reducing the gas fuel for the cylinder in which knocking is occurring and then increasing the amount of gas fuel again to appropriately perform recovery control upon recovery to the optimum operation.
Specifically, the first recovery unit recovers the cylinder in which knocking is occurring from a state in which the gas fuel is halted or reduced, and the second recovery unit recovers cylinders other than the cylinder in which knocking is occurring from a state in which the gas fuel is reduced.
When the amount of gas fuel is increased to perform recovery, the recovery time of the first recovery unit is set to be shorter than the recovery time of the second recovery unit, which makes it possible to complete recovery of the cylinder in which knocking is occurring in priority, and to complete recovery of other cylinders with no knocking after it is checked whether knocking is occurring again. In this way, it is possible to perform the recovery control securely and stably.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is intended, however, that unless particularly specified, dimensions, materials, shapes, relative positions and the like of components described in the embodiments shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not limitative of the scope of the present invention.
In
Further, a gas-fuel control device 7 for controlling an amount of gas fuel which is to be supplied into each cylinder of the engine 1, and an ignition device 9 for igniting gas fuel supplied into each cylinder are provided.
As illustrated in
Further, a gas mixer 25 is disposed in a supply-air pipe 23 at the upstream side of the intake port 19, and a gas supply pipe 27 is connected to the supply-air pipe 23 at the upstream side of the intake port 19. Fuel gas supplied through a gas adjustment valve 29 disposed in the gas supply pipe 27 to adjust the amount of fuel gas and air supplied through the supply-air pipe 23 are premixed in the gas mixer 25.
Then, the premixed mixed gas passes through the intake port 19 to arrive at the intake valve 21, and the intake valve 21 opens, so that the premix mixed gas is supplied to the main combustion chamber 17.
Here, the supply-air pipe 23, the gas supply pipe 27, the gas adjustment valve 29 disposed in the gas supply pipe 27, and the gas mixer 25 are provided for each cylinder.
Further, an ignition device 9 corresponding to each cylinder is provided for a cylinder head 31 which forms an upper portion of the main combustion chamber 17 of the corresponding cylinder. The ignition device 9 has a structure including a precombustion chamber (auxiliary chamber) and a spark plug, which are not illustrated. Fuel gas for the precombustion chamber supplied into the precombustion chamber is ignited by the spark plug, so that flame produced in the precombustion chamber is injected into the main combustion chamber 17 so as to combust the mixed air in the main combustion chamber 17.
The ignition device 9 is configured to be ignited by a spark plug at an appropriate timing on the basis of signals from an engine speed sensor 42, a crank-angle sensor 45, and a load sensor 47, and to inject flame into the main combustion chamber 17.
Further, an exhaust port 35 is connected to the main combustion chamber 17, so that exhaust gas after combustion is discharged from the main combustion chamber 17 when the exhaust valve 37 opens. Further, an exhaust pipe 39 (not illustrated) is connected to the downstream side of the exhaust port 35, and an exhaust supercharger (not illustrated) is mounted to the exhaust pipe 39.
Further, a combustion pressure sensor 41 for detecting an in-cylinder pressure in the main combustion chamber 17 is disposed on each cylinder. The engine speed sensor 42 for detecting the engine rotation speed and the crank-angle sensor 45 are disposed on the flywheel 3. The load sensor 47 for detecting the load of the generator 5, which is the engine load, is disposed on the generator 5.
The signals from the respective sensors are inputted into the combustion control device 43 described below.
Next, the combustion control device 43 in the engine 1 having the above configuration will be described.
As illustrated in
Further, the combustion control device 43 includes a knocking reduction unit 55 which includes the first knocking reduction unit 51 and the second knocking reduction unit 53. The first reduction unit 52 halts or reduces supply of gas fuel to the cylinder in which knocking is occurring and the second knocking reduction unit 53 reduces supply of gas fuel to cylinders other than the cylinder in which knocking is occurring, when it is determined that knocking is occurring by the knocking determination unit 49.
The first knocking reduction unit 51 halts or reduces gas fuel for a cylinder in which knocking is occurring. Specifically, the gas fuel is halted or reduced by controlling the opening degree of the gas adjustment valve 29 disposed in the gas supply pipe 27.
For instance, when it is determined that knocking is occurring, a reduction rate may be set so that the amount of supply is reduced by 2 to 3% from the amount of supply at the time. Further, supply of the gas fuel may be always halted because the reduction control becomes complex.
The above amount of 2 to 3% reduction is the amount of gas fuel reduction which is required to shift the air-fuel ratio to the lean side to restrict knocking.
Further, the second knocking reduction unit 53 reduces the gas fuel for cylinders other than the cylinder in which knocking is occurring. In this case, since knocking is not occurring in the cylinders, the load of power generation output is reduced to prevent the load applied to the other cylinders from increasing to cause overload (due to an increase in the load applied to the other cylinders caused by operation of a governor mechanism) by the amount corresponding to one cylinder given that there is one cylinder in which knocking is occurring, instead of reduction of gas fuel for shifting the air-fuel ratio to the lean side.
For instance, assuming a case where supply of gas fuel is halted for one cylinder among 18 cylinders due to knocking during operation at approximately 50% load, the load is reduced by 2 to 3% KW of the power generation output and set as an amount of reduction of gas fuel corresponding to the load reduction.
As described above, the gas fuel is reduced by different amounts between a cylinder in which knocking is occurring and cylinders other than the cylinder in which knocking is occurring, which makes it possible to achieve an effect to restrict knocking with high efficiency.
Further, the combustion control device 43 includes the first recovery unit 57 and the second recovery unit 59. The first recovery unit 57 recovers to the amount of fuel gas before occurrence of knocking from a state in which the gas fuel is halted or reduced in the cylinder in which knocking is occurring, and the second recovery unit 59 recovers to the amount of gas fuel before reduction of torque from a state in which gas fuel is reduced in cylinders other than the cylinder in which knocking is occurring, when it is determined that there is no recurrence, i.e., when it is determined that knocking is not occurring during a predetermined standby period in a state in which the gas fuel is halted or reduced by the first and second knocking reduction units 51, 53.
The combustion control device 43 is configured such that the recovery time of the first recovery unit 57 is set to be shorter than the recovery time of the second recovery unit 59, so that recovery of the cylinder in which knocking is occurring is performed in priority to other cylinders in which knocking is not occurring.
As described above, recovery is firstly performed for the cylinder in which knocking is occurring, and then if abnormality is not occurring again, i.e., after or while confirming that abnormal combustion such as knocking and misfire is not occurring again, recovery is completed for other cylinders in which knocking is not occurring. In this way, it is possible to perform the recovery control securely and stably.
Further, reduction and recovery of gas fuel are performed by the first knocking reduction unit 51, the second knocking reduction unit 53, the first recovery unit 57 and the second recovery unit 59 of the combustion control device 43 by controlling the opening degree of the gas adjustment valve 29 constituting the gas fuel control device 7.
Next, with reference to the flowchart of
First, when operation is started, an in-cylinder pressure of each cylinder is detected in step S1. In step S2, knocking is determined and determination of occurrence of knocking is repeated until knocking occurs. If knocking is occurring, the cylinder with knocking is specified in step S3.
Next, in step S4, the amount of gas fuel is reduced or halted for the cylinder in which knocking is occurring, and the air-fuel ratio is shifted to the lean side (t0 in the time chart of
Next, in step S6, it is determined whether knocking has occurred during the standby state. If it is determined that knocking is not occurring in step S6, recovery is performed in time to (t1 to t2 in the time chart of
If knocking is not occurring in step S8, the recovery is completed and the process is terminated in step S9.
Further, if it is determined that knocking is occurring in step S8, the process returns to step S4 to be repeated.
On the other hand, after the cylinder in which knocking is occurring is determined in step S3, the amount of gas fuel is reduced in step S10 for other cylinders in which knocking is not occurring (t0 in the time chart of
Then, in step S11, a standby state is continued for a predetermined period of time in a condition in which the amount of gas is reduced (t0 to t1 in the time chart of
Next, in step S12, it is determined whether knocking has occurred during the standby state. If it is determined that knocking is not occurring in step S12, recovery is performed taking time tb (t1 to t3 in the time chart of
If knocking is not occurring in step S15, recovery is completed and the process is terminated in step S16.
On the other hand, if it is determined that knocking is occurring in step S15, the process returns to step S10 to be repeated.
The above steps S10 to S16 have the same process flow as the steps S4 to S9.
Further, in steps S6 and S12, if knocking occurs during the standby state, the process proceeds to step S13, in which uniform load reduction is performed for all cylinders and the amount of gas fuel is reduced accordingly.
Recoveries performed by the first recovery unit 57 and the second recovery unit 59 are illustrated in
In the comparative example of
It is possible to avoid such unstable recovery by increasing the amount of gas fuel at once in the recovery time ta (which is shorter than the recovery time tb) as in the present embodiment.
Further, while the first recovery unit 57 and the second recovery unit 59 start recovery simultaneously with time t1 as illustrated in
The engine 1 of the present embodiment performs high-output operation, and is operated at substantially constant rotation at point P1. The operation point is likely to shift to the operation point P2 in the knocking area due to a change in the power generation load or in the environmental conditions. If the operation point has moved to the knocking area, it is necessary to reduce the output or shift the air-fuel ratio to the lean side to return the operation point to the normal operation area from the knocking area.
In the present embodiment, knocking is avoided by reducing the amount of gas fuel at the operation point by 2 to 3% for the cylinder in which knocking is occurring and by shifting the air-fuel ratio to the lean side.
According to the above embodiment, gas fuel is halted or reduced for the cylinder in which knocking is occurring as a countermeasure to knocking in the engine 1, and then the gas fuel is appropriately increased in the subsequent recovery control to the optimum operation, which makes it possible to prevent the engine 1 from entering an unstable combustion state such as misfire upon recovery.
Specifically, the first recovery unit 57 recovers the cylinder in which knocking is occurring from a state in which the gas fuel is halted or reduced, and the second recovery unit 59 recovers cylinders other than the cylinder in which knocking is occurring from a state in which the gas fuel is reduced.
Upon this recovery, the recovery time of the first recovery unit 57 is set to be shorter than the recovery time of the second recovery unit 59 so as to recover the cylinder in which knocking is occurring as a priority, and then completes recovery of other cylinders with no knocking. Thus, it is possible to perform the recovery control securely and stably.
According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent a gas engine from entering an unstable combustion state such as misfire by halting or reducing gas fuel for a cylinder in which knocking is occurring as a countermeasure to knocking in the gas engine and then increasing the amount of gas fuel again to appropriately perform recovery control upon recover to the optimum operation. Thus, the present invention can be suitably applied to a combustion control device of a gas engine for a generator.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013056776 | Mar 2013 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2014/054049 | 2/20/2014 | WO | 00 |
