A HUMIDIFYING GAS INDUCTION OR SUPPLY SYSTEM

摘要

Water vapor is introduced into an inlet air stream (16) of an engine (12), f or example, by a pervaporation process through a non-porous hydrophilic membran e (18). A water reservoir (20), which can contain contaminated water, provides a vapor pressure gradient across the hydrophilic membrane (18) into the inlet air stream (16), while the rate of delivery of the water vapor to a cylinder (38-40) is self-regulated by the rate of flow of air across the membrane. Th e hydrophilic membrane (18) therefore also filters the water from the water reservoir (20) to an extent that pure water vapor is provided to the air inl et stream (16). Delivery of water vapor can nevertheless be controlled using a hood (26) that slides over the hydrophilic membrane to limit its exposed surface area.