Patents by Inventor Lijia Zhong

Lijia Zhong has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20250146449
    Abstract: An ammonia-rich combustion coupled dual-mode prechamber ammonia-fueled engine control system is provided, including an ammonia-fueled engine and an electronic control unit. The ammonia-fueled engine includes a combustion chamber, a dual-mode jet ignition device, and an ammonia injector. The dual-mode jet ignition device includes a prechamber, an air injector, and a fuel injector. When the engine operates, ammonia fuel is firstly injected into the combustion chamber by the ammonia injector to form a rich ammonia-air mixture with air in the combustion chamber. During a compression stroke of the engine, the rich ammonia-air mixture in the combustion chamber is entered into the prechamber through a jet hole. The air injector performs scavenging in the prechamber until a equivalence ratio of prechamber gas mixture is less than 1.0, and then the fuel injector injects fuel into the prechamber forming target mixture. Finally, the target mixture is ignited by the spark plug.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 4, 2024
    Publication date: May 8, 2025
    Inventors: Lei ZHOU, Zongkuan LIU, Lijia ZHONG, Haiqiao WEI, Gequn SHU
  • Publication number: 20250146435
    Abstract: A precombustion chamber igniter with a retractable electric glow plug and a cold start control method for a methanol engine are provided. The precombustion chamber igniter includes a fuel injector, a spark plug, and an electric glow plug. The electric glow plug is retractable and has two working positions, at a first position, a heating segment is wholly located in an injection chamber to provide heat energy for the injection chamber, and at a second position, the heating segment is partially located in the injection chamber and passes through a first through hole, and the rest of the heating segment is located in a main combustion chamber of an engine, to provide heat energy for the injection chamber and the main combustion chamber. In a cold start stage of the engine, the heating segment of the electric glow plug is controlled to be located at the second position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 5, 2024
    Publication date: May 8, 2025
    Applicant: Tianjin University
    Inventors: Lei Zhou, Zongkuan Liu, Lijia Zhong, Haiqiao Wei
  • Publication number: 20240426238
    Abstract: Disclosed is a pre-combustion chamber igniter, a methanol engine and a cold start control method thereof. The pre-combustion chamber igniter includes a housing, nozzles, a fuel injector, a spark plug and heating elements. The heating elements at outer surfaces of the nozzles can heat fuel spray sprayed to an inner wall of a pre-combustion chamber. According to the present disclosure, the pre-combustion chamber is heated using the heating elements during a cold start of the methanol engine, and an excess air coefficient of an interior of the pre-combustion chamber can be controlled between 0.8 and 1.0 to achieve ultra-lean combustion of the engine in a cold start state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2023
    Publication date: December 26, 2024
    Inventors: Lei Zhou, Zongkuan Liu, Haiqiao Wei, Fengnian Liu, Lijia Zhong
  • Patent number: 11761393
    Abstract: Disclosed is a multiple combustion mode engine with ammonia fuel including an cylinder head, a cylinder sleeve, a piston, a main combustion chamber, an inlet valve and an exhaust valve, and further including a jet ignition device arranged on the cylinder head and used for providing an ignition source for the main combustion chamber, and an ammonia injector used for providing ammonia/air mixture gas for the main combustion chamber. Also disclosed is a control method of the multiple combustion mode engine with ammonia fuel. The time sequence of ammonia injection of the main combustion chamber and jet flame generation of the pre-chamber is controlled, the mixed state of the fuel/air in the main combustion chamber before ignition can be controlled, and finally different combustion modes, i.e. a premixed combustion mode and a diffusion combustion mode, are formed in the main combustion chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2023
    Assignee: TIANJIN UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Lei Zhou, Zongkuan Liu, Haiqiao Wei, Lijia Zhong, Gequn Shu
  • Publication number: 20230220809
    Abstract: Disclosed is a multiple combustion mode engine with ammonia fuel including an cylinder head, a cylinder sleeve, a piston, a main combustion chamber, an inlet valve and an exhaust valve, and further including a jet ignition device arranged on the cylinder head and used for providing an ignition source for the main combustion chamber, and an ammonia injector used for providing ammonia/air mixture gas for the main combustion chamber. Also disclosed is a control method of the multiple combustion mode engine with ammonia fuel. The time sequence of ammonia injection of the main combustion chamber and jet flame generation of the pre-chamber is controlled, the mixed state of the fuel/air in the main combustion chamber before ignition can be controlled, and finally different combustion modes, i.e. a premixed combustion mode and a diffusion combustion mode, are formed in the main combustion chamber.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 4, 2022
    Publication date: July 13, 2023
    Applicant: TIANJIN UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Lei Zhou, Zongkuan Liu, Haiqiao Wei, Lijia Zhong, Gequn Shu