Nozzle
A nozzle for providing a nitrous oxide/fuel mixture to a combustion cylinder. The nozzle has a body member having an inlet end and an outlet end and defining an angular bore and a straight bore. The angular bore intersects the straight bore and terminates at an inlet end such that there is fluid communication between the inlet end of the angular bore and the straight bore. The nozzle also has a tube concentric with the straight bore and terminating substantially flush with the outlet end of the body member. The tube is in fluid communication with an inlet end of the straight bore, and the tube and body member define an annular channel around the tube and a plurality of radially spaced outlet ports distributed around a central outlet port.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of injection systems in general and to the field of providing a nitrous oxide/fuel mixture to a combustion cylinder, in particular.
2. Related Art
In internal combustion engines, a mixture of air and fuel is burned in a combustion chamber (cylinder), with the force generated by the combustion being utilized to provide mechanical energy. The mechanical energy may be used to turn a drive shaft, for example. Typically, the air and the fuel are mixed in a device such as a carburetor prior to their introduction into the cylinder. In order to increase the efficiency of the combustion process, it is often desired to “inject” the fuel into the combustion chamber. In an injection system, the fuel and the air are separately introduced to the combustion chamber. There, mixing occurs and, ideally, the fuel is vaporized. Such vaporization maximizes the surface area of fuel exposed to oxygen at a given time. This increases the speed and efficiency of combustion.
For high performance it is sometimes desired to introduce nitrous oxide into the combustion chamber along with the fuel. The nitrous oxide operates as a source of oxygen for the oxidation (i.e., combustion) of the fuel. The nitrous oxide/fuel mixture is more combustible than air and fuel alone, leading to greater energy in the burn and consequently increased mechanical energy. In order to maximize the efficiency of the nitrous oxide/fuel mixture combination, it is desired to inject the mixture in an atomized form to form an aerosol comprising a multitude of small fuel droplets. In addition, it is desired to utilize the nitrous oxide as a means of atomizing the air/fuel mixture.
In a device described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,798,190 and 4,827,888, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, a nozzle is provided that mixes and atomizes fuel with nitrous oxide. The nozzle comprises a Y-shaped housing having a pair of inlet ports and a single outlet port. One inlet port introduces fuel to the nozzle through a fuel line that extends the length of the nozzle, terminating at the outlet port. The second inlet port is used to introduce nitrous oxide into a hollow sleeve of the nozzle surrounding the fuel channel and ultimately exiting at the outlet port. The nitrous oxide is introduced at a higher pressure than the fuel, such that as the nitrous oxide exits past the end of the fuel line at the outlet port, it creates a vacuum which aids in drawing the fuel from the line. Because the fuel and the nitrous oxide are permitted to impinge upon each other within the confines of the nozzle, the mixing creates a high impact pressure near the nozzle exit. This in turn leads to chaotic turbulence in which the mixing is not even and the atomization non-optimal.
Accordingly, it is desired to provide a nozzle configuration that leads to a finer atomization of the fuel droplets and a more even mixing of the nitrous oxide and the fuel.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAn injection nozzle utilizing nitrous oxide to form an aerosol with fuel in a combustion chamber is disclosed. The nozzle has a body defining a fuel channel and a nitrous oxide tube that does not communicate with the fuel channel within the body of the nozzle. The fuel channel terminates in a plurality of radially spaced fuel outlet ports surrounding an outlet port of the NO2 tube. Fuel is introduced in the fuel channel at a pressure of approximately 3-12 p.s.i. Nitrous oxide is introduced in the nitrous oxide tube at a high pressure of approximately 500-1000 p.s.i. The nitrous oxide tube terminates flush with an outlet end of the body of the nozzle and centrally dispose relative to the plurality of annularly spaced fuel outlet ports. As a result, the NO2 forms a jet that shears each of the fuel streams, thereby forming an aerosol with the fuel within a large volume of the combustion chamber and thus causing it to burn more efficiently. The central location of the NO2 jet relative to the plurality of fuel ports increase the efficiency of the shearing and subsequent aerosol formation over prior art nozzles.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThese and other features as well as advantage, of the different embodiments of the invention will be apparent by referring to the drawings, detailed description and claims below, where:
While the above described embodiments can be manufactured from many different metals including brass and aluminum, it is preferred that the body member, the coupling members and the tube be stainless steel. Machining the above nozzle from stainless steel results in a nozzle having improved durability in the high stress environment in which the nozzles are used.
In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes can be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. Therefore, the scope of the invention should be limited only by the appended claims.
Claims
1. A nozzle for providing a nitrous oxide/fuel mixture to a combustion cylinder comprising;
- a body member used in combination with a combustion engine having an inlet end and an outlet end, the body member defining an angular bore and a straight bore, the angular bore intersecting the straight bore and terminating at an inlet end such that fluid communication exists between the inlet end of the angular bore and the straight bore;
- a tube concentric with the straight bore and terminating substantially flush with the outlet end of the body member and in fluid communication with in inlet end of the straight bore wherein the tube and body member in combination define an annular channel around the tube and a plurality of radially spaced outlet ports distributed around a central outlet port.
2. The nozzle of claim 1 wherein the body member is stainless steel.
3. The nozzle of claim 1 wherein the outlet end of the body member defines the radially spaced outlet ports and a center bore of a size to receive and engage the tube such that fluid communication through the center bore around the tube is prevented.
4. The nozzle of claim 1 wherein the body member defines a single hole in the outlet end, the nozzle further comprising:
- a flange member coupled to the tube and concentric with the tube the flange member engaging a portion of the body defining the single hole, the flange member for causing annular disbursement of fuel around the central outlet port.
5. The nozzle of claim 1 further comprising:
- a first coupling member engaging the inlet end of the angular bore and defining a fuel inlet port; and
- a second coupling member engaging the inlet end of the straight bore and defining an oxidizing agent inlet port, the second coupling member coupled to the tube.
6. The nozzle of claim 5 wherein a flow path of an oxidizing agent within the nozzle is linear.
7. A nozzle comprising:
- a body member defining an angular bore and a straight bore;
- a first coupling member engaging an inlet end of the angular bore;
- a second coupling member engaging an inlet end of the straight bore;
- a tube coupled to the second coupling member and substantially concentric with straight bore wherein the nozzle defines a plurality of radially spaced outlet ports around a central outlet port.
8. The nozzle of claim 7 wherein the central outlet port and the plurality of radially spaced outlet ports are substantially coplanar.
9. The nozzle of claim 7 wherein the plurality of annularly spaced outlet ports are defined by the body member.
10. The nozzle of claim 7 wherein the plurality of annularly spaced outlet ports are defined by a flange member.
11. The nozzle of claim 7 wherein the plurality of annularly spaced outlet ports are defined by a conjunction of the body member and a flange member.
12. The nozzle of claim 1 wherein the angular bore intersects the straight bore at a predetermined angle greater than five degrees from the horizontal defined by the longitudinal axis of the straight bore.
13. The nozzle of claim 1 wherein the body member comprises a threaded region for engaging a manifold port of the internal combustion engine.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 22, 2004
Publication Date: Jan 13, 2005
Inventor: Michael Thermos (Huntington Beach, CA)
Application Number: 10/829,447