The present disclosure relates to fuel delivery systems for engines and more particularly to a hydraulic drive for pumping cryogenic liquid fuels.
Many industries including transportation, construction, mining and others are turning to the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG), liquid propane, and other fuels that are gases at room temperature or pressure. These fuels are economically viable and much cleaner burning alternatives to gasoline and diesel. In order to optimize storage and transport, these fuels are kept at cryogenic temperatures, that is, temperatures low enough to keep the gaseous-at-room temperature fuels in a liquid state.
Cryogenic fuel delivery systems have many challenges. One is that in order to keep the fuel in the liquid state until it reaches a vaporizer at the engine the fuel must be kept at high pressure after it leaves the cryogenic storage tank, so that current systems mount the fuel pump at or even inside the cryogenic storage tank. Another is that the crank and crosshead drives that run off the engine to pump the fuel are limited by the minimum crank speed of the engine and minimum flow or turn-down ratio of the pump. Further, these crank and crosshead drives require their own oil lubrication systems separate from the normal engine lubrication system. Because the crank and crosshead drives are necessarily near the engine, some applications with physical space limitations are not able to locate the fuel tank close enough to the engine to maintain the required pressure in the fuel after leaving the fuel tank, for example, in locomotives.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,898,940 ('940) teaches using a hydraulic pump located at the cryogenic fuel tank to pump LNG to an engine. The '940 patent teaches co-location of a single pump with the cryogenic fuel tank and also requires a separate hydraulic system for powering the pump. The '940 patent fails to disclose a plurality of hydraulic pumps that use engine oil as their hydraulic fluid. The '940 patent also fails to disclose feed pump in a feed line between the cryogenic tank and the pump so that the pump can be located away from the cryogenic tank.
In one aspect of the disclosure a system for delivering cryogenic fuel from a cryogenic fuel tank to an engine has a plurality of hydraulically operated cryogenic pumps coupled to the cryogenic tank and a plurality of electrohydraulic valves, each coupled to one respective cryogenic pump. Each of the plurality of electrohydraulic valves is configured to selectively supply or drain hydraulic fluid to its respective cryogenic pump. The system also includes a controller coupled to each of the plurality of electrohydraulic valves. The controller is configured to activate each of the plurality of electrohydraulic valves in a sequence according to a fuel requirement of the engine.
In another aspect of the disclosure, a method of delivering cryogenic fuel from a cryogenic tank to an engine includes providing a plurality of cryogenic pumps. Each cryogenic pump has a hydraulic chamber coupled to a hydraulic pump via a respective electrohydraulic valve and a cryogenic chamber coupled to the cryogenic tank and the engine. Each of the cryogenic pumps also has first piston in the hydraulic chamber coupled by a shaft to a second piston in the cryogenic chamber. The method also includes supplying hydraulic fluid under pressure to the hydraulic chamber of each of the plurality of cryogenic pumps via its respective electrohydraulic valve responsive to a signal from a controller. The method further includes, for each of the plurality of cryogenic pumps, pumping the cryogenic fuel from the cryogenic tank to the engine via the second piston the cryogenic chamber responsive to application of pressure of the hydraulic fluid at the first piston in the hydraulic chamber.
In yet another aspect of the disclosure, a system for delivering cryogenic fuel from a cryogenic tank to an engine includes a hydraulic pump coupled to an engine oil reservoir, a first electrohydraulic valve of a plurality of electrohydraulic valves coupled to the hydraulic pump and a first cryogenic pump of a plurality of cryogenic pumps. The first cryogenic pump includes a hydraulic chamber coupled to the first electrohydraulic valve and a cryogenic chamber coupled to the cryogenic tank and the engine where the first cryogenic pump has a first piston in the hydraulic chamber coupled by a shaft to a second piston in the cryogenic chamber. The system also includes a controller coupled to the first electrohydraulic valve. The controller activates the first electrohydraulic valve in a sequence with the other of the plurality of electrohydraulic valves according to a fuel requirement of the engine, wherein the activation of the first electrohydraulic valve causes delivery of cryogenic fuel to the engine via the first cryogenic pump.
Cryogenic fuels are those fuels that are gaseous at room temperature and atmospheric pressure but which are stored at very low temperatures in a liquid state. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is one example of a popular cryogenic fuel being used in engines as an alternative to gasoline or diesel fuels. As discussed above, several problems have hindered the deployment of cryogenic fuels in many applications, among them proximity to the fuel tank and delivery at a consistent pressure over a wide range of flow rates.
Check valves 110, 111, and 112, prevent the cryogenic fuel 101 from returning to the cryogenic fuel tank 102. The embodiment illustrated in
The cryogenic pumps 118, 119, 120 supply cryogenic fuel 101 under pressure to the engine 104 via another set of check valves 114, 115, 116, that prevent back flow of cryogenic fuel 101 output from one pump to another of the cryogenic pumps 118-120.
A plurality of electrohydraulic valves 122, 123, 124 are coupled to respective cryogenic pumps 118, 119, 120 and are configured to selectively supply hydraulic fluid 127 to or drain hydraulic fluid 127 from its respective cryogenic pump 118-120. The hydraulic fluid 127 is supplied to the electrohydraulic valves 122-124 under pressure by a hydraulic pump 126 from an oil reservoir 128 via a hydraulic line 130. In an embodiment, the oil reservoir 128 may be simply a tank for engine lubricating oil so that there is no requirement for a separate hydraulic fluid system simply to drive the electrohydraulic valves 122-124. Alternatively, a separate hydraulic system may be used. In the illustrated embodiment, each representation of an oil reservoir (or tank) is the same oil reservoir 128. An accumulator 132 may be used to store hydraulic fluid 127 under pressure for use in driving the cryogenic pumps 118-120 during times of high demand. A relief valve 133 may protect against potentially damaging high pressures in the hydraulic line 130. Each of the electrohydraulic valves 122-124 connects its respective cryogenic pump 118-120 to either the hydraulic line 130 or its drain line 134, 135, 136.
The electrohydraulic valves 122-124 operate responsive to a signal from a controller 138. The controller 138 may be a comprehensive engine controller with responsibility for as much as all engine, body, and tool or accessory controls or may simply be focused on management of cryogenic fuel delivery, or various combinations between these. The controller 138 may have a separate output for each electrohydraulic valve 122-124 (A, B, C). Based on the fuel demands of the engine 104, the controller 138 may sequentially activate the cryogenic pumps 118-120 with a given duty cycle to provide the necessary pressure, fuel volume, or both. The controller 138 may also include input lines from, for example, the engine 104 as designated by the bus line connection 140. The controller 138 is discussed in more detail below. A typical embodiment of the system of
In an exemplary embodiment, the electrohydraulic valve 122 and its associated cryogenic pump 118 shown schematically as separate elements in
The addition of the second electro-hydraulic valve allows increased flow rate into the cryogenic pump in a situation where performance of the system is limited by the capacity of the electro-hydraulic valve 122. For example, a cryogenic pump 318 may have its flow rate doubled by increasing its rate from 200 strokes/minute to 400 strokes/minute through the use of the second electro-hydraulic valve 122′. In addition, the second electro-hydraulic valve for each cryogenic pump provides redundancy should one electro-hydraulic valve fail.
The first piston 152 and the second piston 154 may be coupled by a shaft 162 so that the first piston 152 and the second piston 154 move in unison. A surface area of the first piston 152 (corresponding to its larger diameter illustrated) is greater than a surface area of the second piston 154 so there is an intensified relationship between the hydraulic pressure against the first piston 152 and the second piston 154 against the cryogenic fuel 101. A spring return 164 moves the first piston 152 back toward the electrohydraulic valve 122 when the spool 146 couples the hydraulic chamber 150 to the drain 144. In other embodiments the return movement of the first piston 152 may be part of another active hydraulic circuit. In either the spring return embodiment or the active hydraulic circuit embodiment or another return strategy, pressurized flow from pump 106 will assist in the retraction of pistons 152 & 154.
During the pumping process a certain portion of the cryogenic fuel 101 may experience an increase in temperature or a pressure drop which may cause a state change to a gaseous form. This gas may move past the seals of the second piston 154 to a shaft side of the cryogenic chamber 166 and may be vented via the gas bleed outlet 168. The gas bleed outlet 168 may be coupled to a recovery system or may simply be vented to the atmosphere. Similarly, a certain amount of hydraulic fluid may escape past the seals of the first piston 152 and may be expelled via port 170 back to the oil reservoir 128.
The memory 202 may be any of several physical memories, including without limitations combinations of volatile and non-volatile RAM, ROM, flash, PROM, EEPROM or other memory technologies and constructions. The memory 202 is a physical memory and does not include carrier wave or other propagated media transient memories.
The memory 202 may include an operating system 216 and utilities 218 that manage the interactions of the processor 200 for internal and external communication, memory access, programming and diagnostics. The memory 202 may also include an engine strategy 220 that uses data received via the input block 206 to determine settings for various engine parameters such as spark timing and fuel injector timing, among other things. A fuel routine 222 may work in conjunction with other elements of the engine strategy 220 to determine a fuel requirement for the engine 104. The fuel routine 222 may then activate the drivers 208, 210, 212, etc. for the electrohydraulic valves according to the strategy.
While discussing the fuel routine 222, turn briefly to
At block 254, the controller 138 may activate signals that control flow of pressurized hydraulic fluid to the hydraulic chamber 150 of each of the plurality of cryogenic pumps 118-120. As discussed above, the signals are based on an overall engine strategy to meet the fuel needs of the engine 104. An accumulator 132 may be disposed on a hydraulic line 130 that supplies the hydraulic fluid to each of the plurality of cryogenic pumps 118-120. In an embodiment, the hydraulic fluid is engine lubricating oil so that for each of the plurality of cryogenic pumps 118-120 spent hydraulic fluid is drained from the hydraulic chamber 150 to a reservoir 128 of engine lubricating oil.
At block 256, cryogenic fuel 101 may be supplied to each of the plurality of cryogenic pumps 118-120. In an embodiment, the cryogenic fuel 101 may be supplied under pressure using a feed pump 106.
At block 258, the cryogenic fuel 101 received from the cryogenic fuel tank 102 may be pumped to the engine 104 via the second piston 154 in the cryogenic chamber 156 responsive to application of pressure of the hydraulic fluid at the first piston 152 in the hydraulic chamber 150.
At a block 260, check valves 110, 111, 112 may be used for preventing backflow of cryogenic fuel 101 from any of the plurality of cryogenic pumps 118-120 to the cryogenic fuel tank 102. Check valves 114, 115, 116 may be used for preventing backflow of cryogenic fuel 101 from any of the cryogenic pumps 118-120 to any other of the plurality of cryogenic pumps 118-120.
At block 262, fuel vapor that bypasses the second piston 154 may be bled from a shaft side of the cryogenic chamber 166 via a gas bleed outlet 168. The disclosed fuel delivery system 100 and method provide significant advantages to both manufacturers and users of equipment that can operate on cryogenic fuels. The use of a plurality of cryogenic pumps 118-120 significantly increases the level of control for fuel pressure and delivery rate while reducing fuel pressure ripple. The feed pump 106 maintains pressure in feed lines 108 to keep the cryogenic fuel 101 in a liquid state even if it warms slightly in transit to the cryogenic pumps 118-130. This allows location of the cryogenic pumps 118-120 farther from the cryogenic fuel tank 102 than was previously possible, enabling the use of cryogenic fuels in new applications such as, but not limited to, locomotives and other space restricted applications. The ability to use simple engine lubricating oil to drive the cryogenic pumps simplifies both supply and return paths for the hydraulic actuating fluid and eliminates the need for separate oil systems required by prior art crank and crosshead drives.