FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT 1970
(39 of 1970)
AND
The Patents Rules, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See section 10 and rulel3)
1. TITLE OF THE INVENTION:
"THE METHOD OF USING HYDROGEN AS A FUEL FOR IC ENGINE"
2. APPLICANT:
(a) NAME: KPIT Cummins Infosystems Limited
(b) NATIONALITY: Indian Company incorporated under the
Companies Act, 1956
(c) ADDRESS: 35 & 36 Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park, Phase 1, MIDC,
Hinjewadi, Pune 411057, Maharashtra, India.
3. PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION:
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be formed.

FIELD OF INVENTION:
The present invention relates to the use of hydrogen as a fuel in a vehicle, more particularly relates to on-board continuous and controlled generation of hydrogen for using as a fuel in a vehicle.
BACKGROUND & PRIOR ART:
Most of the conventional existing interna] combustion engines used in automobiles are generally powered by petrol, diesel or gas. The existing fuels used for running the vehicles generate pollutants that are released into the atmosphere. Additionally, these fuel sources being limited in the nature is another growing cause of concern. This has also led to a steep increase in the cost of the existing fuels making them unaffordable. Pollution caused by the internal combustion engines is a serious threat to the environment and hence recently a lot of greener solutions in terms of alternate fuels for automobiles are being proposed to prevent global warning. Thus, there is a need for an alternate source of fuel to run the internal combustion engines which is equally efficient and also affordable.
It is also observed that hydrogen as a fuel is being proposed as a source of clean energy. As such, solutions have been proposed to use hydrogen as a fuel for the IC engines, along with the existing fuels. However, the proposed methods for using hydrogen as a fuel for IC engines have not been able to generate the hydrogen continuously, efficiently and at the required rate and pressure. Hence, these methods are not practically easy to implement and are inefficient. Some of the existing methods propose generation of hydrogen gas and storing of this hydrogen gas in some pressurized chamber. This stored gas is then utilized as a fuel for running the IC engines. The established technologies of on-board hydrogen storage include compressed hydrogen and liquid hydrogen. However, these methods are difficult to implement and are inefficient. The compressed hydrogen requires large tank to be stored and thus results in increased weight to be carried on the vehicle. Although liquid hydrogen does not require larger tanks, the storage of hydrogen in liquid form itself becomes problematic since liquid hydrogen boils at temperature of 20K. Hence, liquid hydrogen is not stored in the vehicle.

There are some methods which demonstrate continuous generation of hydrogen which can be used as fuel. US Patent No. 6395252 discloses a method for continuous production of hydrogen. The method comprises of reacting a metal catalyst with a degassed aqueous solution of an organic acid within a reaction vessel under anaerobic condition at a constant temperature. The reaction forms a metal oxide when the metal catalyst reacts with the water content of organic acid solution while generating hydrogen. Some methods produce hydrogen on-board vehicle by electrolysis, as demonstrated in US8101051 or by catalysis as demonstrated in US5694089. Both the aforementioned documents disclose generation of a gas mixture of hydrogen and oxygen for using as a fuel.
A document by John Houseman et. al. of Jet Propulsion Lab., California Institute of Technology titled "On-board hydrogen generator for a partial hydrogen injection Internal Combustion Engine" discloses a compact hydrogen generator for use with a hydrogen enriched gasoline internal combustion engine.
The present inventors have made an attempt to produce hydrogen on-board in relatively simple manner and in a cost-effective way.
SUMMARY:
The present invention provides a system and method for continuous and controlled onboard generation and utilization of hydrogen as a fuel to run Internal Combustion Engine in a vehicle.
In an aspect, the system comprises of a Hydrogen Generator for providing a continuous supply of hydrogen gas, and an Electronic Control Device for controlling the amount of hydrogen generated by said Hydrogen Generator.
Further, the present invention provides a method for running an internal combustion engine in a vehicle using on board generated hydrogen gas as a fuel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING:
FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of the system for continuous and controlled generation
of hydrogen.
FIG. 2 illustrates a graphical relation between cumulative time and amount of hydrogen
generated
FIG. 3 illustrates a graphical relation between time elapsed and power output by the
generator.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION:
The present invention discloses a system for continuous and controlled on-board generation and utilization of hydrogen as a fuel to run Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), comprising; a Hydrogen Generator consisting of plurality of metal plates immersed in a dilute acid or base solution filled in a tank, for providing a continuous supply of hydrogen gas; an Electronic Control Device consisting plurality of sensors to determine amount of portion of metal plates to be immersed into said solution for controlling the amount of hydrogen generated by said Hydrogen Generator; a motor to provide vertical and rotational movement to said plurality of metal plates; an Air Pump for providing pressurized air to be mixed with hydrogen obtained from said Hydrogen Generator; a Mixer and Pressure Adjuster for adjusting pressure of said mixture of air and hydrogen; an ECU Throttle Control Unit for controlling amount of flow of pressurized air and hydrogen gas mixture to adjust the RPM of the engine.
Preferably, the metal plates in the system are selected from group of metals above hydrogen in electrochemical series either alone or in combination thereof. The dilute acid solution used is mineral acid such as hydrochloric acid, sulphuric acid and nitric acid. The dilute base is selected from a group of alkali and alkaline hydroxides such as sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, Calcium hydroxide.
The generation of hydrogen is controlled by the plurality of sensors in the Electronic Control Device based on the speed and torque requirement of the vehicle. A battery is

used to power said Electronic Control Unit. An alternator is mounted on ICE to charge said battery.
The generation of hydrogen gas varies with the portion of metal plates immersed in the acid or base solution. The system is retrofitted into existing system or used as an independent fuel source.
According to the present invention, a method for continuous and controlled on-board generation and utilization of hydrogen comprising, providing a hydrogen generator for continuous generation of hydrogen gas; an Electronic Control Device for controlling the amount of hydrogen generated by said Hydrogen Generator; a motor to provide vertical and rotational movement to said plurality of metal plates; an Air Pump for providing pressurized air to be mixed with hydrogen obtained from said Hydrogen Generator; a Mixer and Pressure Adjustor for adjusting pressure of said mixture of air and hydrogen; an ECU Throttle Control Unit for controlling amount of flow of pressurized air and hydrogen gas mixture to adjust the RPM of the engine.
Therefore, the present invention discloses a method for running an internal combustion engine in a vehicle using on board generated hydrogen gas as a fuel, comprising; a Hydrogen Generator for continuous supply of the hydrogen gas; an Electronic Control Device for controlling the amount of hydrogen generated by said Hydrogen Generator; an Air Pump for providing pressurized air to be mixed with hydrogen obtained from said Hydrogen Generator; a Mixer and Pressure Adjustor for adjusting pressure of said mixture of air and hydrogen; ECU Throttle Control Unit for controlling amount of flow of pressurized air and hydrogen gas mixture to adjust the RPM of the engine.
The pressurized mixture of air and hydrogen is fed to an Inlet Manifold of an Internal Combustion Engine through a fuel injection system to inject fuel in gaseous state. The Inlet Manifold with constant diameter opening allows continuous flow of mixture of air and hydrogen to said Internal Combustion Engine ICE. The generation of hydrogen gas is directly proportional to the portion of metal plates immersed in said acid or base solution.

The preferred embodiment can be explained by referring to Fig. \ which illustrates the system for continuous and controlled generation of hydrogen. According to the preferred embodiment, a system for continuous and controlled on-board generation and utilization of hydrogen as a fuel to run Internal Combustion Engine is described herein. The system consists of a Hydrogen Generator (20) made up of plurality of metal plates immersed in a dilute acid or base solution filled in a tank, for providing a continuous supply of hydrogen gas; an Electronic Control Device (10) including plurality of sensors to determine amount of portion of metal plates to be immersed into said solution for controlling the amount of hydrogen generated by said Hydrogen Generator; a motor (12) to provide vertical and rotational movement to said plurality of metal plates; an Air Pump (15) for providing pressurized air to be mixed with hydrogen obtained from said Hydrogen Generator (20); a Mixer and Pressure Adjustor (25) for adjusting pressure of said mixture of air and hydrogen; an ECU Throttle Control Unit (30) for controlling amount of flow of pressurized air and hydrogen gas mixture to adjust the RPM of the engine.
A Battery (5) is used to provide an electric current to an Electronic Control Device (10). The battery (5) is required in the initial stage. It is recharged using an alternator (50) once the engine is started. An Electronic Control Device (10) comprises of sensors which determine the amount of portion of the perforated iron plates which need to be immersed into the sulphuric solution, based on the speed and torque requirement of the vehicle. The plates can be selected from metals above hydrogen in electrochemical series i.e. having positive reducing potential except noble metals. The plates can be plain or specifically shaped. Also, the solution can be a hydroxide mixture of various normalities. Additionally, a motor (12) can be used to provide vertical and rotational movement to the stack of iron plates. For example, at full speed vehicle, the plates are completely immersed into the solution, by the motor (12), to deliver more amount of hydrogen to the IC engine; whereas at idle conditions, the plates are rotated and completely turned upwards ceasing the chemical reaction between metal plates and the solution and thus ceasing the generation of hydrogen gas. Thus, the Electronic Control Device (10) controls the amount of hydrogen generated by the Hydrogen Generator (20). The residue of iron sulphates or metal hydroxides is disposed off at regular intervals through an outlet provided in the Hydrogen Generator (20). Different mechanisms can be incorporated to either reuse the residue generated or to dispose off the residue of iron sulphate. The

particular arrangement and shape of plates and various solution normality combinations give hours of hydrogen output in required quantity. The arrangement also saves the plates from salt coatings to a larger extent so as to keep the chemical reaction going on for longer duration without the need of frequent cleaning.
Chemical reactions between plates and solutions as mentioned below, releases hydrogen gas which is used as a fuel to run the IC engine.
1. 2Fe(s) + 3H2S04(aq) ------------>Fe2(S04)3(aq) + 3H2(g)
2. 2A1 + 2NaOH + 2H20 > 2NaA102 + 3H2(g)
3. 3Ca(OH)2 + Al --> 3Ca + Al(OH)6 (In this case the liberated calcium reacts with water and releases hydrogen gas)
4. Ca (s) + 2H20 -> Ca(OH)2 (aq) + H2 (g)
5. Zn(s) + 2NaOH(aq) + 2H20(I) = Na2Zn(OH)4(aq) + H2(g)
Reaction number 2, 3, 4 may be used in combination which yields a higher hydrogen output. Reaction number 5 may be combined with the other reactions or conducted separately for its efficiency and practical implementation. Furthermore, the reaction number 5 can be used in different way i.e. the zinc and sodium hydroxide can be regained by electrolysis in cost effective manner.
According to the preferred embodiment, a method for running an internal combustion engine in a vehicle using on board generated hydrogen gas as a fuel is illustrated herein. The method consists of a Hydrogen Generator (20) for continuous supply of the hydrogen gas; an Electronic Control Device (10) for controlling the amount of hydrogen generated by said Hydrogen Generator; an Air Pump (15) for providing pressurized air to be mixed with hydrogen obtained from said Hydrogen Generator (20); a Mixer and Pressure Adjustor (25) for adjusting pressure of said mixture of air and hydrogen; ECU Throttle Control Unit (30) for controlling amount of flow of pressurized air and hydrogen gas mixture to adjust the RPM of the engine. The hydrogen flow is controlled by mechanical / electromechanical device.

Pressurized air from an Air Pump (15), or from a similar device, is continuously mixed with the output hydrogen gas obtained from the Hydrogen Generator (20) in the Mixer and Pressure Adjustor (25). The pressure of this mixer is adjusted at a Mixer and Pressure Adjustor (25), depending on the speed and torque requirement of the vehicle. The pressure applied on the air needs to be adjusted as per the changes in the RPM before the air is mixed with the hydrogen gas. As such, the electronically controlled Air Pump (15) or a similar device is devised so as to achieve the desired air pressure and volume at various RPM requirements. The proportion of the constituents in the mixture of the pressurized air and the hydrogen gas varies as the RPM requirement of the engine varies. The Air Pump (15) may be used to pump the atmospheric air to be mixed with the hydrogen from the Hydrogen Generator (20) in the Mixer and Pressure Adjustor (25). Alternatively, the atmospheric air maybe directly mixed with the hydrogen from the Hydrogen Generator (20) in the Mixer and Pressure Adjustor (25) without use of an Air Pump (15).
A specifically designed Inlet Manifold (35) is utilized which always allows continuous air flow to the engine and has a constant diameter opening. Preferably, the Inlet Manifold (35) is an L-shaped manifold. This manifold bypasses the carburetor system. The air enters in the manifold through surrounding atmosphere and is sucked in the engine at the time of suction stroke. Gaseous hydrogen is injected in the manifold where it is mixed with air while going inside the combustion chamber. In this method hydrogen is at positive pressure till the point of entry of inlet manifold with respect to the negative pressure on the air generated by suction stroke. The flow of hydrogen is controlled based on the requirement of speed and torque of the engine.
This pressurized mixture of hydrogen and air is fed to the Inlet Manifold (35) of the Internal Combustion Engine (40) through a fuel injection system (32) specifically designed to inject a fuel in a gaseous state. An ECU Throttle Control Unit (30) controls the amount of flow of the pressurized air and the hydrogen gas mixture to adjust the RPM of the engine based on the speed requirement at various conditions. According to the invention, the mixture of pressurized air and hydrogen gas is passed to the Internal Combustion Engine (40) with a range of pressure having a minimum and maximum value in order to keep the engine running at a Minimum RPM and a Maximum RPM to deliver

the expected torque. This torque can be utilized to run a vehicle or power generator with given efficiency factors. Thus, the supply amount and volume of the mixer of pressurized air and hydrogen gas is controlled by the ECU Throttle Control Unit (30) which in effect controls the RPM and hence the speed of the engine.
An Exhaust (45) releases the residue gases from the Internal Combustion Engine (40) into the atmosphere. An Alternator (50) mounted on the engine charges the source of electricity, Battery (5), which provides the required current to the Electronic Control Device (10). Additionally, an electric feedback circuit may be used to recover any lost electric energy. The carburetor of a conventional IC engine vehicle is bypassed in the proposed assembly. The efficiency of the power delivered to the vehicle is extracted by using specific proportions of the constituents of the mixture and the pressure applied on the individual constituents.
An embodiment of the invention utilizes a compact Hydrogen Generator (20) with a box type space of 20 liters. The onboard Hydrogen Generator (20) of the present invention is equipped to provide a continuous supply of the hydrogen gas as a fuel for running the IC engine. The amount of supply of the hydrogen fuel is varied based on various RPM requirements. Thus, the device and method of the present invention delivers the required torque and speed at a reduced cost of operation. The proposed solution can easily be retrofitted into the existing systems and maybe used along with an existing fuel source, or as an alternate fuel source in combination with the existing fuel source or completely as an independent fuel source.
Thus, the present invention discloses using reaction of a metal or mixture of metals with an acid and reaction of a metal or mixture of metals with base that releases hydrogen continuously, which is used as a fuel for the IC engine. As such, it should be noted that the scope of the invention is not limited to using the mentioned metals, acids and bases only but any combination of various other metals, acids and bases which are capable of providing a continuous supply of hydrogen to the IC engine may be used.
IC engines are used for various purposes. The popular or common uses are in wheeled vehicles, marine applications like ships, construction equipments, power generators and

other such similar applications. As such, the present invention is not to be limited only to vehicles, but may be utilized to run various 1C engines regardless of their applications.
The following data is purely for exemplary purpose and does not limit the scope of the invention to the mentioned data.
Example 1:
This sample reaction uses Aluminum, Calcium hydroxide and Sodium hydroxide. Various NaOH + CaOH concentrations with different quantities of aluminum are used. Given example uses one such concentration which gives continuous output of hydrogen for 5 hours and 55 minutes. Column 'Cumulative time in seconds' shows the total time for which the reaction is run, wherein readings are taken for a minute to quantify the rate of hydrogen generation (cc per minute). The Column Trapezoid' provides the area under the curve i.e. the total amount of hydrogen generated in the time period between two records.
Table 1

Time in Minutes Cumulative Time in Minutes Hydrogen Generated (cc per min) Trapezoid
1 1 500
15 15 750 8750
15 30 1200 14625
15 45 750 14625
15 60 650 10500
15 75 1500 16125
30 105 750 33750
15 120 600 10125
10 130 600 6000
15 145 700 9750
20 165 750 14500
25 190 400 14375
30 220 500 13500

15 235 500 7500
10 245 1000 7500
10 255 850 9250
10 265 850 8500
15 280 800 12375
15 295 850 12375
15 310 850 12750
15 325 600 10875
30 355 800 21000
Total 268750
The graphical relation between time and hydrogen generated is depicted in FIG. 2. The X-axis represents cumulative time in seconds whereas Y-axis represents hydrogen generated in Cubic Centimeter, while the total area under the curve at each time interval is provided by the 'Trapezoid' column.
Example 2:
A power generator is run continuously on hydrogen generated by the method of the invention. Readings are taken using an electronic monitor at every second. The total duration for which the generator is run is 4 hours and three minutes. An output data for a chunk of 24 seconds is plotted as below. The data presented is for duration of between 7302 seconds to 7325 seconds i.e. for approximately 2 hours 2 minutes. Output power generated by the generator is measured at every second. As seen in the table, the output wattage varies between 249 watts to 257 watts. This demonstrates a near to constant output generated with a continuous supply of hydrogen from an onboard hydrogen generator, according to the method of the invention.
Table 2

Output Power by
Time in the Generator
Seconds (Watts)
7302 248.7
7303 251.57

7304 | 253.23
7305 255.51
7306 251.77
7307 256.95
7308 251.11
7309 255.29
7310 253.37
7311 253.28
73tt 257iM
7313 251.81
7314 249.63
7315 252.93
7316 252.9
7317 253.01
7318 252.98
7319 250.78
7320 250.8
7321 254.09
7322 252.68
7323 255.88
7324 254.42
7325 250.34
The graphical relation between time and output power generated by the generator is depicted in FIG. 3. The X-axis represents time in seconds whereas the Y-axis represents the power output by the generator.

We claim,
1. A system for continuous and controlled on-board generation and utilization of
hydrogen as a fuel to run Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) (40), comprises;
a) a Hydrogen Generator (20) consisting of plurality of metal plates immersed in a dilute acid or base solution filled in a tank, for providing a continuous supply of hydrogen gas;
b) an Electronic Control Device (10) consisting plurality of sensors to determine amount of portion of metal plates to be immersed into said solution for controlling the amount of hydrogen generated by said Hydrogen Generator;
c) a motor (12) to provide vertical and rotational movement to said plurality of metal plates;
d) an Air Pump (15) for providing pressurized air to be mixed with hydrogen obtained from said Hydrogen Generator (20);
e) a Mixer and Pressure Adjustor (25) for adjusting pressure of said mixture of air and hydrogen;
f) an ECU Throttle Control Unit (35) for controlling amount of flow of pressurized air and hydrogen gas mixture to adjust the RPM of the engine.

2. The system for continuous and controlled on-board generation and utilization of hydrogen as claimed in claim 1, wherein said metal plates are selected from group of metals above hydrogen in electrochemical series either alone or in combination thereof.
3. The system for continuous and controlled on-board generation and utilization of hydrogen as claimed in claim 1, wherein said dilute acid solution is mineral acid such as hydrochloric acid, sulphuric acid and nitric acid.
4. The system for continuous and controlled on-board generation and utilization of hydrogen as claimed in claim 1; wherein said dilute base is selected from a group of alkali and alkaline hydroxides such as sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, Calcium hydroxide.

5. The system for continuous and controlled on-board generation and utilization of hydrogen as claimed in claim 1, wherein generation of hydrogen is controlled by said plurality of sensors in said Electronic Control Device based on the speed and torque requirement of the vehicle.
6. The system for continuous and controlled on-board generation and utilization of hydrogen as claimed in claim 1, wherein said generation of hydrogen gas varies with the portion of metal plates immersed in said acid or base solution.
7. The system for continuous and controlled on-board generation and utilization of hydrogen as claimed in claim 1, wherein said system is retrofitted into existing system or used as an independent fuel source.
8. A method for continuous and controlled on-board generation and utilization of hydrogen as claimed in claim 1 comprising, providing
a) a hydrogen generator (20) for continuous generation of hydrogen gas;
b) an Electronic Control Device (10) for controlling the amount of hydrogen
generated by said Hydrogen Generator;
c) a motor to provide vertical and rotational movement to said plurality of metal plates;
d) an Air Pump (15) for providing pressurized air to be mixed with hydrogen obtained from said Hydrogen Generator (20);
e) a Mixer and Pressure Adjuster (25) for adjusting pressure of said mixture of air
and hydrogen; and
f) an ECU Throttle Control Unit (35) for controlling amount of flow of
pressurized air and hydrogen gas mixture to adjust the RPM of the engine.
9. A method for running an internal combustion engine in a vehicle using on board
generated hydrogen gas as a fuel, comprising;
a) a Hydrogen Generator (20) as claimed in claim 8 for continuous supply of the hydrogen gas;

b) an Electronic Control Device (10) as claimed in claim 8 for controlling the amount of hydrogen generated by said Hydrogen Generator;
c) an Air Pump (15) for providing pressurized air to be mixed with hydrogen obtained from said Hydrogen Generator (20);
d) a Mixer and Pressure Adjustor (25) for adjusting pressure of said mixture of air and hydrogen;
e) ECU Throttle Control Unit (35) for controlling amount of flow of pressurized air and hydrogen gas mixture to adjust the RPM of the engine.

10. The method for running an internal combustion engine in a vehicle as claimed in claim 9; wherein said pressurized mixture of air and hydrogen of step (c) is fed to an Inlet Manifold (35) of an Internal Combustion Engine (40) through a fuel injection system (32) to inject fuel in gaseous state.
11. The method for running an internal combustion engine in a vehicle as claimed in claim 9; wherein said Inlet Manifold (35) with constant diameter opening allows continuous flow of mixture of air and hydrogen to said Internal Combustion Engine ICE (40).
12. The method for running an internal combustion engine in a vehicle according to claims 9 to 11, wherein said generation of hydrogen gas is directly proportional to the portion of metal plates immersed in said acid or base solution.