Isothermal compression based combustion engine

摘要

Systems and methods are disclosed that include operating an isothermal compression based combustion (IsoC) engine by injecting isothermally compressed air into a combustion engine immediately prior to a combustion event in order to increase the efficiency of the engine, improve emissions, and substantially eliminate autoignition and associated design constraints. The IsoC engine utilizes an intercooled compressor to isothermally compress air that is stored in a plurality of capacitance tanks prior to delivery of the compressed air to the combustion engine. The IsoC engine allows combustion to be selectively terminated to increase fuel efficiency, thereby resulting in a hybrid compressed air-motor and internal combustion operated IsoC engine.

主权项

1. An isothermal compression based combustion (IsoC) engine, comprising:
a compressor configured to isothermally compress a volume of air; at least one capacitance tank coupled to the compressor and configured to store the volume of isothermally compressed air; and a combustion engine configured to:
receive at least a portion of the volume of isothermally compressed air from the at least one capacitance tank and into a cylinder of the combustion engine;at least one of (1) selectively inject a volume of fuel into the cylinder and ignite the volume of fuel in the presence of the volume of air in the cylinder and (2) selectively omit the injection of a volume of fuel and expand the volume of air in the cylinder using no combustion.