Fuel reformer system for multiple combustion chambers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9903263-B2
Application number	US-201615163041-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 24, 2016
Priority date	May 24, 2016
Publication date	Feb 27, 2018
Grant date	Feb 27, 2018

Abstract

A system for controlling a flow of a gas stream into a plurality of combustion chambers of an engine is provided. The system comprises a fuel reformer module configured to provide the flow of the gas stream containing hydrogen gas and carbon monoxide gas, a cooler module positioned downstream of the fuel reformer module with respect to the flow of the gas stream. The cooler module is configured to control a temperature of the gas stream. A flow control assembly is positioned downstream of the cooler module and upstream of the plurality of combustion chambers with respect to the flow of the gas stream. The flow control assembly is configured to supply a first effluent stream to a pre-chamber of the plurality of combustion chambers. The flow control assembly also supplies a second effluent stream to a main chamber of the plurality of combustion chambers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for controlling a flow of a gas stream into a plurality of combustion chambers of an engine, the system comprising:
a fuel reformer module configured to provide the flow of the gas stream containing hydrogen gas and carbon monoxide gas;
a cooler module positioned downstream of the fuel reformer module with respect to the flow of the gas stream, the cooler module configured to control a temperature of the gas stream; and
a flow control assembly positioned downstream of the cooler module and upstream of the plurality of combustion chambers with respect to the flow of the gas stream, the flow control assembly configured to:
supply a first effluent stream to a pre-chamber of the plurality of combustion chambers; and
supply a second effluent stream to a main chamber of the plurality of combustion chambers,
wherein a concentration of the hydrogen gas in the first effluent stream is greater than a concentration of the hydrogen gas in the second effluent stream, and wherein a concentration of the carbon monoxide gas in the first effluent stream is lesser than a concentration of the carbon monoxide gas in the second effluent stream.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the flow control assembly includes any one of a membrane element and a filter element.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the flow control assembly further includes a valve fluidly coupled to the any one of the membrane element and the filter element.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the flow control assembly further includes a control module communicably coupled to the valve.

Assignees

• Caterpillar Inc

Inventors

• Ge Xinyu

Classifications

• C01B3/382

  Processes with two or more reaction steps, of which at least one is catalytic, e.g. steam reforming and partial oxidation · CPC title

• C01B2203/142

  At least two reforming, decomposition or partial oxidation steps in series · CPC title

• B01J8/00

  Chemical or physical processes in general, conducted in the presence of fluids and solid particles; Apparatus for such processes · CPC title

• C01B2203/1241

  Natural gas or methane · CPC title

• C01B2203/0233

  the reforming step being a steam reforming step · CPC title