Oxygen injection system

Abstract

The design and construction of past oxygen injection systems having an oxygen mixer to inject oxygen into an air intake pipe required the use of oxygen in a highly pressurized state. The use of high pressure oxygen required precise pressure control in order to maintain safety. Additionally, the high pressure tank used for storing the oxygen was not space efficient due to the large volume occupied by the oxygen in the gaseous state. The present invention overcomes these problems by utilizing oxygen in the liquid state. Liquid oxygen is stored within a more space efficient storage tank. A solenoid is signaled through an electronic control unit to open under specific operating conditions allowing liquid oxygen to flow from the storage tank. Upon leaving the storage tank, the liquid oxygen is converted to a gaseous state where it flows through an oxygen supply pipe so that the oxygen can be injected by an oxygen mixer into an air intake pipe for mixing with ambient air. The ability to increase the oxygen level during specific operating conditions produces more efficient combustion and reduction in black smoke.

I claim: 
     
       1. An oxygen injection system adapted for use with a diesel engine including a cylinder block defining a bore having a cylinder liner therein defining a cylinder bore, a cylinder head attached to the cylinder block in closing relation to the cylinder bore, a piston reciprocally mounted in the cylinder bore and defining with the cylinder block a variable volume combustion chamber, and an intake pipe fluidly connected to the combustion chamber for communicating ambient air into the combustion chamber during an intake cycle of the engine, comprising: an oxygen mixer connected to the intake pipe;   an oxygen supply pipe connected at an end to the oxygen mixer;   a liquified oxygen storage tank connected to the oxygen supply pipe at an opposite end;   a main valve having a normally closed position and an open position disposed within the oxygen supply pipe between the oxygen storage tank and the oxygen mixer;   a regulator and heat exchanger disposed within the oxygen supply pipe between the main valve and the oxygen mixer; and   means for controllably opening the main valve under predetermined engine operating conditions so that liquid oxygen from the oxygen storage tank is converted to a gaseous state and is communicated to the oxygen mixer in order to combine with the ambient air in the intake pipe.