Charge air cooler condensate reservoir

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9546590-B2
Application number	US-201514828971-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 18, 2015
Priority date	Sep 1, 2014
Publication date	Jan 17, 2017
Grant date	Jan 17, 2017

Abstract

A condensate reservoir for a charge air cooler of an engine has one or more inlets for receiving condensate from the charge air cooler, and a chamber for collecting the condensate from the charge air cooler. The condensate reservoir is configured to be in thermal communication with an exhaust gas recirculation duct of the engine such that thermal energy from the exhaust gas recirculation duct may be transferred to the condensate reservoir to vaporize the condensate collected in the chamber.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An engine system comprising:
an exhaust gas recirculation duct;
a charge air cooler (CAC);
a condensate reservoir having at least one inlet for receiving condensate from the CAC, and a chamber for collecting the condensate from the CAC, the reservoir in thermal communication with the exhaust gas recirculation duct such that thermal energy from the exhaust gas recirculation duct is transferred to the condensate reservoir to vaporise the condensate collected in the chamber; and
a controller configured to adjust an exhaust gas flow rate in the duct based on a rate of heat loss from exhaust gases in the duct to condensate in the reservoir.

2. The engine system of claim 1 , wherein the condensate reservoir is disposable around the exhaust gas recirculation duct.

3. The engine system of claim 1 , wherein the chamber of the condensate reservoir is defined by one or more walls of the condensate reservoir and an outer wall portion of the exhaust gas recirculation duct.

4. The engine system of claim 1 , wherein the condensate reservoir comprises a first opening in a first wall of the condensate reservoir and a second opening in a second wall of the condensate reservoir, the first and second openings being configured to receive the exhaust gas recirculation duct such that the exhaust gas recirculation duct passes through the first and second openings.

5. The engine system of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the inlets are arranged at or towards the top of the condensate reservoir when the condensate reservoir is in an installed configuration.

6. The engine system of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the inlets are arranged at or towards the bottom of the condensate reservoir when the condensate reservoir is in an installed configuration.

7. The engine system of claim 1 , wherein the CAC comprises one or more drains arranged to drain the condensate formed in an air passage of the CAC.

8. The engine system of claim 7 , wherein the CAC comprises one or more drain channels configured to guide the condensate within the CAC toward the one or more drains.

9. The engine system of claim 1 , further comprising one or more drain passages provided between the CAC and the condensate reservoir inlets to permit the condensate to collect in the condensate reservoir.

10. The engine system of claim 9 , wherein the CAC comprises a charge air inlet chamber and a charge air outlet chamber and wherein the one or more drain passages extend from at least one of the charge air inlet chamber and the charge air outlet chamber to the condensate reservoir inlets.

11. The engine system of claim 1 wherein an outer wall portion of the exhaust gas circulation duct provides a wall of the chamber of the condensate reservoir, at least a portion of the outer wall portion being permeable to allow vaporized condensate to flow therethrough from the chamber to the duct.

12. A method of collecting condensate from an engine charge air cooler (CAC), the method comprising:
collecting condensate from the CAC into a chamber of a condensate reservoir;
transferring thermal energy from an engine exhaust gas recirculation duct to the reservoir to vaporise condensate collected in the chamber;
determining a vaporization rate of condensate in the reservoir; and
determining a rate of heat loss from exhaust gases in the duct to condensate in the reservoir.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises:
returning vaporised condensate to the CAC and then to the engine.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises:
determining an amount of condensate collected in the reservoir.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises:
estimating a collection rate of condensate based on operational parameters.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises:
determining a temperature of condensate stored in the reservoir.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises:
adjusting a flow rate of exhaust gases in the duct based on the rate of heat loss from exhaust gases in the duct to condensate in the reservoir.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising increasing the flow rate of exhaust gases in the duct in response to the collection rate being higher than the vaporisation rate.

19. An engine system comprising:
a reservoir having a chamber fluidly connected to a charge air cooler to collect condensate therefrom;
an exhaust gas recirculation duct thermally coupled to the reservoir such that a rate of heat loss from exhaust gases in the duct to condensate in the chamber vaporizes the condensate; and
a controller configured to adjust an exhaust gas flow rate in the duct in response to the rate of heat loss.

20. The engine system of claim 19 wherein the controller is further configured to adjust the exhaust gas flow rate in the duct in response a comparison between a condensate collection rate and a condensate vaporization rate in the chamber.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Radmard Stephen
• Styles Martin James
• Kudar Graham Michael

Classifications

• F02B29/0468 Primary

  Water separation or drainage means · CPC title

• F02B29/0475

  the intake air cooler being combined with another device, e.g. heater, valve, compressor, filter or EGR cooler, or being assembled on a special engine location · CPC title

• F02M26/28

  with liquid-cooled heat exchangers · CPC title

• F02M26/32

  Liquid-cooled heat exchangers · CPC title

• F02B29/04 Primary

  Cooling of air intake supply · CPC title