Patent Application
20110185627
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
The internal-combustion ('IC') engine is the fundamental workhorse of the current economy, everywhere transforming energy into work. For any given design of an IC engine there is an optimal operating combination of temperature and compression pressure. For any given fuel burned in an IC engine, there is an optimal combustion efficiency—so much, and no more, of the fuel's heat of combustion will be transformed by the IC engine into work. The rest of the heat produced is considered to be ‘waste heat’ that will change the temperature of the environment—specifically, the IC engine's temperature. The prior art generally teaches that this waste heat should be radiated away.
It is now necessary—not merely useful—to increase the efficiency of all IC engines. It will undoubtedly be possible to change average efficiencies by improving the engines—finding lighter, or stronger, materials; redesigning components (cams, cylinders, gears, etc.); or improving tolerances and timings. Yet for any IC engine once it is manufactured its optimal characteristics are built-in. True, there may be post-production efficiencies reached through improving the IC engine's environment (lighter or more aerodynamic vehicles, for example). Yet once again, this cannot be done for IC engines which are already ‘in use. For this installed base, the route to improvements in efficiency lies in changing the fuel which they burn.
However here, too, there are limits on what is feasible and attainable, set by the nature of the combustive process itself. Each fuel has a combustion maximum or energy density determined by its composition. If we assume that such maxima are or will soon be reached for all combustible fuels, we do no more than assume that our society will make effective use of our present technology to its limits of possibility. But does this mean that for any given IC engine and combustive fuel, no way exists to get more ‘bang for the buck’?
The original application's specification described a process and formulation by which a new fuel could be synthesized that combined deflagrative and detonative potential energies to produce in an IC engine more energy per fuel unit than could be produced through straight combustion. Continued efforts to produce, test, and confirm the capabilities of the formulation, and of its subordinate components in differing combinations, disclosed therein, have led to a greater understanding of the specific combinations and effects of these compositions in their use in an IC engine. A number of surprising results not disclosed by the prior art have been encountered and made better sense of, and are disclosed in this present application.
The first, and probably the greatest difference from the prior art encountered, was the importance of reducing the proportions of the additive (and its composite components) which was combined with the base combustive fuel. As noted in the prior application, this reduction was by an order of magnitude; significant energy addition was obtained from using one-tenth the previously-taught ‘minimal’ values, or less, of several of the subordinate compounds. Yet the increases attained far outpaced those which could be explained by the difference in combustive values between the base combustive fuel and the additive, which contradicted what the prior art predicted. At least one new factor not subject to linear predictability was operating.
A second, and in some ways far more unexpected difference encountered, was the importance and value of maintaining the operating temperature of the reaction in the IC engine—of keeping the heat of combustion higher than that which would be produced through combustion of the additive's compositive elements alone. This definitely countered the expectation that a higher heat of operation of the IC engine would mean a greater loss of combustive efficiency—since a higher observed temperature indicates a lower thermal efficiency, as it shows a lower proportion of the combustive heat energy being translated into work.
Both of these differences were only explainable by recognizing that the additive's function was such that the loss of combustive thermal energy was more than made up for by the release of explosive potential energy, but only when and as the correct proportions and compositions, and the optimal operating conditions (temperature and pressure) were present. It was not that the ‘waste energy’ was being directly converted into work within the engine by the additive (that would be an impossibility); it was that the so-called ‘waste energy’ was being used by reactions of the additive within the combustion of the base combustive fuel, that released a greater potential source of energy—the explosive potential of a sub-component thereof—which was then being added to the combustive energy.
Testing—both under controlled conditions using a dynometer, and in the real world through on-the-road usage—proved to be necessary to evaluate and reason about the performance of the synthetic fuel's composition(s). Differences from predicted and expected valuations, as well as some serendipity (through encountering environmental conditions, i.e. the random-within-range temperatures experienced in and on the roads as opposed to the laboratory's controlled conditions, or the varying-within-norms shifts in compression demands from changing slopes, both up and down, in driving across terrain), provided significant data. Variations, also, in the IC engines used (car, light truck, semi; diesel and gasoline), assisted with the understanding of the compositions' effects. Linear extrapolation from any one field (thermal efficiency of combustive fuel, explosive potential of subordinate compounds, solvency and miscibility reactions, IC engine design) did not predict the results or data, as these extrapolations did not incorporate any of the developing, deeper comprehension of the behavior of the synthetic fuel's compositions.
Further experimentation—that done since the original application was filed—has disclosed not just a composition for a synthetic fuel that produces a superior efficiency to that available through combustive processes alone, but insight into the most probable underlying processes giving rise to this result. What has been observed strongly suggests that this is a synergistic reaction—one, that is, where “the interaction . . . of two or more . . . substances . . . produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects”. (Oxford American Dictionaries; see also both http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ synergy and http://www.yourdictionary.com/synergy, which define synergy as “The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.”)
The present form of the invention in this continuation-in-part application comprises a synthetic fuel unit to be used in an internal combustion engine that establishes and maintains a stable operating threshold temperature and pressure. This synthetic fuel unit comprises a base combustive fuel, to which are added both a core polar material and a stabilizing and enhancing combustive mixture.
The core polar material may itself contain some proportion of a stabilizing yet combustive compound, but will definitely contain at least one polar protic compound, at least two polar aprotic compounds, and at least one nitro-alkane compound; the former encapsulating the lattermost, which is in itself potentially explosive.
The stabilizing and enhancing combustive mixture may also contain some proportion of a stabilizing yet combustive compound, at least one nonpolar molecule and polar detergent, and an explosion-enhancing compound; the former to enable separate storage and shipment without hazard of explosion, the middle to enable the core polar material to be maintained and dispersed in the synthetic fuel resulting after mixture with the base combustive fuel, as these overcome the base combustive fuel's miscibility limitations, and the latter to increase the releasable explosive potential when the synthetic fuel is used in the IC engine.
At the moment of peak compression the IC engine initiates deflagrative combustion of the base combustive fuel (which in the preferred embodiment is a petroleum-based fuel). This deflagration immediately initiates and sustains a solvation reaction in compounds from the stabilizing and enhancing combustive mixture and the core polar material.
Together the deflagrative combustion and solvation reaction enable and release a detonative or explosive reaction of the nitro-alkane compound, and thus release the explosion potential energy contained within the nitro-alkane compound.
It is believed that the combination of the stabilizing and enhancing combustive mixture and core polar material, as well as the combination of these with the base combustive fuel, for all of the nitro-alkane and polar protic and aprotic compounds present, effect a dynamic molecular ‘cage’ in the resulting solution that isolates and contains, and thus stabilizes, the potentially explosive nitro-alkane compound while in storage or transport. The proportions and volumes disclosed herein are such that even while the particular molecules forming the ‘bars’ of the cage may swap with their peers through ordinary molecular dispersion and motion, the ongoing chemical reactions will maintain a stable dispersion and structure of the nitro-alkane compound within the synthetic fuel until the synthetic fuel is used in the IC engine.
When a unit of synthetic fuel (base combustive fuel, core polar material, stabilizing and enhancing combustive mixture) is used in an IC engine, at least one quarter of the waste heat from combustion of the base combustive fuel and stabilizing yet combustive compound(s) will synergistically supply the heat required for an endothermic solvenation reaction of parts of the synthetic fuel, more specifically between the polar protic and aprotic compounds, though without said endothermic solvenation reaction involving initially the nitro-alkane compound. This endothermic solvenation occurs via a concerted mechanism (a mechanism which takes place in one step, with bonds breaking and forming at the same time) at the balanced ratio of heat and pressure of the IC engine's optimal operating temperature and power-stroke compression ratio and timing (more heat, less pressure; lower heat, more pressure). This endothermic solvenation then synergistically creates for or from the nitro-alkane compound an explosive compound which responds at that same heat/pressure combination so that a detonation or explosion occurs, thereby releasing the explosive potential energy of the nitro-alkane compound. It is this released explosion potential energy which, because it is greater than the thermal combustive energy available should the nitro-alkane compound just be combusted, supplements (rather than replacing or reducing) the mechanical energy created from the thermal processes. (
In the present embodiment for at least one protic compound of the synthetic fuel each component of the dynamic molecular cage stabilizing the nitro-alkane compound is believed to be held together by dipole moment charges until the moment of combustion; and is present in stoichiometric ratio with other subordinate components of the synthetic fuel such that they will react with each other (in pairs) and the core polar material, to synergistically engage in solvenation of positively charged species via the negative dipole of the aprotic compound, thereupon enabling a detonative or explosive release of the nitro-alkane from the dynamic molecular cage, creating a pressure wave that progresses at a detonation speed estimated to be of 18 times that of the combustion wave, or an explosive wave that is 100 times or more that of the combustion wave, and transfers the momentum to the entirety of the combustive and explosive ‘waste products’ to the cylinder and piston head, driving the resultant power stroke with some combination of the thermal and explosive energies. Precise timing and interim molecular re-combinations and responses of explosive products are generally not of concern as long as there is a predictable, measurable, energy release; as there is with this synthetic fuel.
The observed effect of this synthetic fuel is a release of more energy within the IC engine than can be accounted for through a strict ‘thermal energy’ accounting for the combustive potential of each of the synthetic fuel's elements' combustive potential. This is not to be understood as an impossibility, but as the probative evidence that a previously unknown factor or reaction is present. More happens with the synthetic fuel than mere combustion.
It is well known that the energy yield per gram of TNT when exploded is 4,184 joules, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinitrotoluene) which is far greater than the 2,724 joules generated by combustion of TNT. In a complex reaction, as long as the decomposition energy from a first process (e.g. combustion) exceeds the activation energy of a second process (e.g. explosion) and the proximal presence of the components and their condition are maintained, the chain is sustainable. (Combustion, Irving Glasser and Richard A. Yetter, 4th Ed., © 2008, Elsevier Press, ISBN 978-0-12-088 573-2, p. 46) While most combustion is heat generating (exothermic), even an explosive reaction that is endothermic is sustainable as long as that heat is available in the environment. This is believed to occur with and in the present invention, wherein heat from combustion enables the subsequent solvation and explosive reactions.
The power stroke of the IC engine provides two buffers for the resulting explosion. First, the combustion products of the primary fuel are present at several orders of magnitude greater mass than the products of the explosion. So the kinetic energy of the nitro-alkane compound's explosion is ‘cushioned’ even as it contributes to an increase in velocity and thus kinetic energy of the combustion products. The second buffering arises from the movement of the piston which in the power downstroke is creating a larger volume in the cylinder, thus allowing the detonation or explosion to occur without creating a “knock”, as the direction of the movement of the piston allows the desired expansion of volume. (See Glasser, supra, pp. 262, 286-287) (
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention and the alternative embodiments and ranges shown herein, the base combustive fuel is presumed to be a petroleum-based fuel (e.g. diesel #1, diesel #2, biodiesel, gasoline) unless otherwise stated.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the core polar material is mixed with an equal amount of the stabilizing and enhancing combustive mixture, before being mixed with the base combustive fuel (
In an alternative embodiment, the mixture between the core polar material and the stabilizing and enhancing combustive mixture is one part to three parts, so the core polar material will form ¼ of the intermediate mixture and the stabilizing and enhancing combustive mixture will form ¾ of the intermediate mixture—which again will be mixed at 1:1,000 with the base combustive fuel.
These mixtures are in volume comparison; and all these, and other, volumes are calculated under standard conditions, that is, assuming a temperature of materials and environment of 25° C./68° F. and a pressure of 1 standard atmosphere (or 1,013,250 dynes per square centimeter, or 101,325 Pa., or 14.696 lbs/sq. in).
In the preferred embodiment, the core polar material comprises the following sub-elements and ratios:
with a possible miniscule addition of the third-party, other-functional additives not meaningfully different from the preferred embodiment.
The addition of third-party, other-functional additives—as in the preferred embodiment, the corrosion inhibitor, detergent, and anti-oxidant—to either of these embodiments of the core polar material is in accord with the prior art, as these serve commercially desired, alternative functions; and no claim is made for their inclusion or omission.
Acetone is one of the components in the core polar material. Figure one, in the Feb. 1, 2010 filing has a curve for mpg increase as a function of dose of acetone in diesel. The “D” curve peaks at 1.5 oz dose producing-a 20% gain in mileage. This corresponds to 1,117 ppm of acetone in diesel. The concentration of acetone is 23.75 ppm in an embodiment of the present invention that comprising three parts out of four of the stabilizing and enhancing combustive mixture to one part of the core polar material, before being mixed with the base combustive fuel at 1 part to 1,000 parts. An alternative embodiment is being tested currently, using 1:500 and that is double the acetone or 47.5 ppm. A 50% increase in mpg (obtained in one run) is an unexpected result, as the prior art had 1,117 ppm of acetone in another fuel additive associated with only a 20% increase in mpg. This can be calculated to mean that the present invention utilizes acetone 58.7 times more effectively in increasing the mpg on the basis of an equal volume percent additions.
The stabilizing and enhancing combustive mixture (commercially available under the private mark of Monster Diesel™) comprises:
This formulation may be altered within the following proportionate ranges:
In yet a further embodiment of this invention, the proportions are significantly different due to a different choice of the base combustive fuel, the stabilizing yet combustive compound of the stabilizing and enhancing combustive mixture, or both together. When either (or both) of these combustible sub-parts is (or are) a combustive fuel that is itself polar—specifically, when a biodiesel—then the entire synthetic fuel's proportions change. First, a mixture of the core polar material, stabilizing and enhancing combustive mixture, and base combustive fuel (the biodiesel) is combined in a 1:1:8 ratio (so the core polar material is 1/10th of the intermediate product, the stabilizing and enhancing combustive mixture is also 1/10th of the intermediate product, and the biodiesel is 8/10ths of the intermediate product); and next, this intermediate product is then mixed at a 1:100 ratio with the base combustive fuel (biodiesel), which will mean that the intermediate product is <1% of the resulting blended synthetic fuel.
It is feasible to prepare the core polar material and stabilizing and enhancing combustive mixture as an additive or pair of additives to be blended with a base combustive fuel; however, if the two are separate then measures must be taken to eliminate the hazard of detonation or explosion of the core polar material during shipment and storage before it is blended in with either or both of the other sub-units.
It would also be possible to incorporate further environmentally-favorable aspects by, among others, incorporating into the synthetic fuel, or the predecessor additive(s), additional minor (by volume) additives that are in themselves more environmentally friendly than petroleum-derivation products, such as by creating a product through this process further comprising a detergent additive being made by phospholation of waste glycerine from esterification of fatty acids used to make biodiesel cooking oils from any fats and oils of animal or plant origin.
One skilled in the art of fuel additives may be capable of taking the information provided in this and the parent application and not only producing the synthetic fuel, but (as additives) alternative formulations of the core polar material and the stabilizing and enhancing combustive mixture disclosed in this application or its parent, at least within certain limits of logical extension and substitution of other materials that produce the same synergistic contribution of deflagrative and detonative potential energies within an IC engine.
This is a continuation-in-part (“CIP”) in part of application Ser. No. 12/658,062, filed on Feb. 1, 2010, and of application. This CIP application is filed to continue the prosecution, separately, of the invention described in claims 1-31 below and expressly incorporates herein by reference all of the original application's specification, references, and drawings.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 12658062 | Feb 2010 | US |
| Child | 12802093 | US |
