DESC:TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to internal combustion engines. More particularly, the disclosure relates to air intake system of an engine. Embodiments of the disclosure relates to an intake air pressure regulating system of the engine, for regulating intake air pressure in air intake system of the engine.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Generally, internal combustion engines operate on four strokes per cycle namely suction, compression, power and exhaust. During the suction stroke, air is inlet into cylinders of the engine via a throttle body, due to the suction created by a piston in the cylinder. The air is then compressed by the piston in the compression stroke. During the power stroke, particularly for a diesel engine, fuel is added to the compressed air and burnt to generate power. For a gasoline engine, the fuel-air mixture is ignited by a spark plug for combustion of fuel-air ratio to generate power. Combustion of the fuel-air ratio results in expansion of gases, which then drives piston and so the crankshaft. The driven crankshaft is coupled to transmission for utilisation of the power generated in the cylinder. In the exhaust stroke the expanded gases are let out into the atmosphere through the exhaust system of the engine.

Thus the amount of air entering in each of the cylinders determines the power generated in the engine. At the same time, efficiency of the engine depends on the air-fuel ratio added and combusted in each cycle of the operation of cylinders.

Due to growing need for compacting and deriving good fuel economy from the engine, research in this area has rapidly increased. One such method to increase efficiency is by injecting high pressure air into the engine intake manifold. In other words, additional air is injected into the intake manifold. This inherently increases the power and performance of the engine. At the same time, it helps in optimizing the engine for better fuel economy.

One such method of injecting additional air into the intake manifold is by providing an induction device such as a turbocharger or a super charger at the air intake side of the engine. Typically, the turbocharger or the supercharger upon actuation will generate larger suction pressure than the conventional engine cylinder, thereby intake additional air into the engine intake system. At the same time, the compressor in the induction device pressurises the air before inletting into the engine intake manifold. The pressurised air when added and combusted with fuel will provide greater power output and increased efficiency.

However, in cases where there is a sudden closure of the throttle body, back pressure is generated in the flow lines of the intake system. The back pressure is generated due to the pressure difference between the outlet and inlet of the compressor. Back pressure causes the air pumped by the compressor to revert back, causing compressor surge. The compressor surge retains the high pressure air and begins to operate beyond its permissible limits, thereby damaging the compressor. At the same time, the engine air intake system gets damaged due to the compressor surge.

In the light of the foregoing discussion, there is a need for an engine intake system which overcomes the limitations stated above.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

The shortcomings of the prior art are overcome and additional advantages are provided through the present disclosure. Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniques of the present disclosure. Other embodiments and aspects of the disclosure are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed disclosure.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a system for regulating intake air pressure of an engine is provided. The system comprises an air filter, a throttle body and a conduit. The air filter is fluidly connected to inlet of a compressor unit to filter the air entering the system. The throttle body is operable between an open condition and a closed condition and is fluidly connected to an intake manifold of the engine. Air outlet from the compressor unit is surged into the intake manifold at open condition of the throttle body. The conduit is fluidly connected in-between the throttle body and the compressor unit such that when the throttle body is at closed condition, high pressure air rebounded off the throttle body is routed to the inlet of the compressor unit via a venturi. The venturi is fluidly connected to the conduit so that, high pressure air entering the venturi is reduced to low pressure air to route low pressure air to the compressor unit thereby regulating intake air pressure.

In an embodiment, air from the compressor is surged through the throttle body via an intercooler.

In an embodiment, a purge unit connected to the venturi to purge fuel vapour particles collected in a canister of the purge unit into the intake manifold.

In an embodiment, a plurality of sensors is configured in the system to monitor the air flow pressure. The plurality of sensors is interfaced to an ECU.

The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

The novel features and characteristic of the disclosure are set forth in the appended claims. The disclosure itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying figures. One or more embodiments are now described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying figures wherein like reference numerals represent like elements and in which:

Figure 1 illustrates schematic view of a system for regulating intake air pressure of an engine with throttle body in open condition according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 2 illustrates schematic view of system shown in figure 1 with throttle body in closed condition according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

The figures depict embodiments of the disclosure for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the disclosure described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

The foregoing has broadly outlined the features and technical advantages of the present disclosure in order that the detailed description of the disclosure that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the disclosure. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present disclosure. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as set forth in the appended claims. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the disclosure, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that each of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration and description only and is not intended as a definition of the limits of the present disclosure.

To alleviate the problems mentioned in the background, a system for regulating intake air pressure of an engine is disclosed. The system comprises an air filter, a throttle body and a conduit. The air filter is connected to an inlet of a compressor unit for filtering the air drawn from the atmosphere, before inletting into an intake manifold of the engine. The compressor unit compresses and surges the air drawn from the air filter into the throttle body of the engine via an intercooler. The throttle body is operable between an open condition and closed condition, and is fluidly connected to an intake manifold of the engine. The throttle body allows required quantity of high pressure air into the intake manifold for operating the engine to generate power. The intercooler cools the hot air pumped by the compressor before entering the throttle body, to prevent pre-ignition. Cooling the air entering the throttle body will also allow more air into the intake manifold due to the reduced volume of the compressed air. The throttle body upon actuation by a user will selectively allow air into intake manifold of the engine to generate power. In between the throttle body and inlet of the compressor unit, a conduit is connected which is capable of allowing pressurized air rebounded/reverted from the throttle body to the inlet of the compressor unit. In an embodiment, one end of the conduit connects to the throttle body and the intercooler and the other end is connected to the air filter and the inlet of the compressor unit. A venturi is configured to the conduit which converts high pressure air reverting from the throttle body, to low pressure air and inlet into the compressor.

At open condition of the throttle body, the compressed air enters the intake manifold of the engine, and thereby supplies required quantity of air into the engine for generating power. However, when the throttle body is in closed condition, the compressed air bounces back from the throttle body. The compressed air is then routed to the inlet of the compressor unit via the venturi thereby regulating intake air pressure within the system.

In an embodiment, a purge system of the engine is connected to the venturi. The purge system is configured to supply vapor fuel particles collected in a canister of the purge system into intake manifold. The purge system utilizes the suction created in the venturi due to the flow of high pressure air to supply the vapor fuel particles to the intake manifold.

It is to be noted at this point that all of the above described components, whether alone or in any combination, are claimed as being essential to the disclosure, in particular the details depicted in the drawings and reference numerals in the drawings are as given below.

REFERRAL NUMERALS

Referral numeral Description
1 Engine
2 Air filter
3 Compressor unit
4 Intercooler
5 Throttle body
6 Intake manifold
7 Venturi
7a Inlet section of venturi
7b Throat section of venturi
7c Outlet section of venturi
8 Purge system
8a Non-return valve of purge system
8b T-joint of the purge system
8c Purge valve
9 Canister
10 Fuel tank
100 System for regulating intake air pressure
102 Conduit
103 Induction device

Figure 1 is an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure illustrates a system (100) for regulating intake air pressure of an engine (1). The system (100) comprises an air filter (2) connected to an inlet of the compressor unit (3). The air filter (2) filters the air to be inlet into the engine (1). In an embodiment, the air filter (2) is at least one of mesh filters, High-efficiency particulate arrestance (HEPA) filters, carbon filters or any other air filter which serves the purpose. The compressor unit (3) compresses the air drawn from the air filter (2) and converts the ambient air into high pressure air. In an embodiment, the compressor unit (3) is a component of an induction device (103) such as a turbocharger or a supercharger. The outlet of the compressor unit (3) is connected to a throttle body (5) via an intercooler (4). The intercooler (4) cools the high pressure air received from the compressor unit (3) which is inlet into the throttle body (5). In an embodiment, cooling the high pressure air before inletting into the throttle body (5) will prevent pre-ignition of the compressed air. The throttle body (5) is configured to be operated in open condition and closed condition and is connected to an intake manifold (6) of the engine (1). The throttle body (5) allows high pressure air from the intercooler (4) into the intake manifold (6) for operating the engine (1). When the throttle body (5) is in an open condition, the high pressure air from the outlet of the compressor unit (3) is surged to the intake manifold (6).

In an embodiment, the throttle body (5) is at least one of butterfly valve, solenoid valve or any other valve which serves the purpose. A conduit (102) extends in-between the throttle body (5) and the inlet of the compressor unit (3). The conduit (102) routes high pressure air reverted from the throttle body (5) to the inlet of the compressor unit (3). The conduit (102) is configured with a venturi (7) for converting high pressure air entering the conduit (102) to low pressure air. The low pressure air is routed into the inlet of the compressor unit (3) thereby preventing compressor surge.

In an embodiment, a purge system (8) is connected to the venturi (7) to facilitate purging of the fuel vapor particles into intake manifold (6). The purge system (8) comprises a fuel tank (10) connected to an absorption canister (9). The absorption canister (9) is configured to absorb the fuel vapor particles from the fuel tank (10). The purge system (8) utilizes the suction induced in the venturi (7) due to flow of high pressure air in the venturi (7) for purging the trapped fuel vapor particles from the absorption canister (9). The purged fuel vapor particles are then routed to the intake manifold of the engine (1). A non-return valve (8a) is configured in-line which connects a T joint (8b) of the purge system (8) and the venturi (7). A purge valve (8c) is configured in between the absorption canister (9) and the T joint (8b). The purge valve (8c) is controlled by an ECU [not shown], and upon actuation will allow the fuel vapors to the intake manifold (6) via the T-joint (8b). The fuel vapors are passed to the intake manifold (6) either directly from the T-joint (8b) during low pressure condition or via the venturi (7) during high pressure condition in the system (100). Further, the non-return valve (8a) ensures that, the fuel vapor particles flow only towards the venturi (7) due to the suction induced by the flow of high pressure air. Thus, the fuel vapor particles mixes with the air which will be routed to inlet of the compressor unit (3) and in turn to the intake manifold (6).

Figure 2 in one exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure illustrating the system (100) as shown in figure 1 with the throttle body (5) in closed condition. Once the user actuates the throttle body (5) to closed condition, there exists a pressure difference between the inlet and outlet of the compressor unit (3). This is due to the back pressure generated in circuit connecting the intercooler (4) and the throttle body (5), when the throttle body (5) is abruptly closed. This results in high pressure air reverting from the throttle body (5). The reverted high pressure air is routed through the conduit (102) and into the inlet of the compressor unit (3) via the venturi (7). The venturi (7) converts the high pressure air entering the conduit (102) to low pressure air before routing to the inlet of the compressor unit (3). The cross-section of the venturi (7) is configured to have, a gradual increasing cross-section at inlet section (7a), a uniform cross-sectional at throat section (7b) and a reduced cross-section at the outlet section (7c). The cross section of the venturi (7) induces constriction to limit the flow of air when high pressure air enters the inlet section (7a) and the throat section (7b). When the air is exiting from the outlet section (7c) of the venturi (7), the pressure of air reduces thereby, converting the high pressure air to low pressure air. At the same time, pressure decrease is compensated by corresponding increase in the velocity of flow of air. Thus, entry of low pressure air into the inlet of the compressor prevents compressor unit surge, and hence prevent damage to the components of the system (100) to regulate intake air pressure.

Advantages:

In one embodiment, the present disclosure provides a system to prevent compressor surge when the throttle body is suddenly closed.

In one embodiment, the present disclosure provides a system which eliminates dump valve.

In one embodiment, the present disclosure provides a system which is retrofittable.

In one embodiment, the present disclosure provides a system which is economical and requires minimal maintenance.

EQUIVALENTS

With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application. The various singular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity.

It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to inventions containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”

In addition, where features or aspects of the disclosure are described in terms of Markush groups, those skilled in the art will recognize that the disclosure is also thereby described in terms of any individual member or subgroup of members of the Markush group.

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.
,CLAIMS:WE CLAIM:

1. A system for regulating intake air pressure of an engine (1), the system (100) comprising:
an air filter (2) fluidly connected to an inlet of a compressor unit (3);
a throttle body (5) operable between an open condition and a closed condition is fluidly connected to an intake manifold (6) of the engine (1), wherein air from the compressor unit (3) is surged into the intake manifold (5) at open condition of the throttle body (5);
a conduit (102) fluidly connected in-between the throttle body (5) and the compressor unit (3), wherein at closed condition of the throttle body (5), high pressure air rebounded off the throttle body (5) is routed to the inlet of the compressor unit (3) via a venturi (7) fluidly connected to the conduit (102) such that, high pressure air entering the venturi (7) is reduced to low pressure air to route low pressure air to the compressor unit (3) thereby regulating intake air pressure.

2. The system (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein air from the compressor is surged through the throttle body (5) via an intercooler (4).

3. The system (100) as claimed in claim 1 comprises a purge unit (8) connected to the venturi (7) to purge fuel vapour particles collected in a canister (9) of the purge unit (8) into the intake manifold (6).

4. The system (100) as claimed in claim 1 comprises a plurality of sensors to monitor the air flow pressure.

5. The system (100) as claimed in claim 5, wherein the plurality of sensors are interfaced to an ECU.

6. A vehicle comprising an intake air pressure regulating system (100) as claimed in claim 1.