US 11,859,568 B2
Natural gas engines with fuel quality determination
Kennon Guglielmo, San Antonio, TX (US); Justin H. Sanders, San Antonio, TX (US); Michael T. Hambidge, San Antonio, TX (US); Timothy J. Westerdale, San Antonio, TX (US); James Cole, Helotes, TX (US); Chad Stovell, San Antonio, TX (US); and Timothy J. Barton, San Antonio, TX (US)
Assigned to EControls, LLC, San Antonio, TX (US)
Appl. No. 17/905,341
Filed by Kennon Guglielmo, San Antonio, TX (US); Justin H. Sanders, San Antonio, TX (US); Michael T. Hambidge, San Antonio, TX (US); Timothy J. Westerdale, San Antonio, TX (US); James Cole, Helotes, TX (US); and Chad Stovell, San Antonio, TX (US)
PCT Filed Mar. 2, 2021, PCT No. PCT/US2021/020557
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Aug. 31, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/178461, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 10, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/983,840, filed on Mar. 2, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0116609 A1, Apr. 13, 2023
Int. Cl. F02D 41/00 (2006.01); F02D 19/02 (2006.01); F02D 19/06 (2006.01)
CPC F02D 41/0027 (2013.01) [F02D 19/023 (2013.01); F02D 19/0642 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for determining one or more fuel properties during operation of an internal combustion engine that combusts a mixture of air and gaseous hydrocarbon fuel, the system comprising:
a) a mass-flow throttle operatively connected with said internal combustion engine for controlling a mass-flow through an intake manifold of said internal combustion engine, wherein said mass-flow is the mass-flow of the gaseous hydrocarbon fuel or the air or the mixture of the air and the gaseous hydrocarbon fuel, said mass-flow throttle being adapted to enable real-time determination of a measure of said mass-flow; and
b) one or more processors for controlling operation of the system, said processors having data communication with a database correlating fuel quality measures with a plurality of possible values for a particular condition that characterizes the operation of said engine, said processors being programmed to do the following:
i. determine via said mass-flow throttle a current measure of said mass-flow through the intake manifold of the internal combustion engine;
ii. determine a current air-fuel ratio from said current measure of said mass-flow;
iii. determine via a database an ideal air-fuel ratio based on current operating conditions of said internal combustion engine;
iv. determine an ideal value for said mass flow based on said ideal air-fuel ratio;
v. calculate an error based on the difference between said current mass flow and said ideal value for said mass flow;
vi. compare said error with a fuel property table including fuel properties associated with various measures of error, the various measures of error having been programmed in said fuel property table during calibration of said internal combustion engine;
vii. interpolate one or more properties of the supplied fuel based on information in said database, wherein the information in said database is correlated to a response curve; and
viii. adjust the operation of the internal combustion engine when the one or more interpolated properties require an adjustment of an operating condition of the internal combustion engine based on a change in the one or more fuel properties.