Internal combustion engine system, movable body, and method of supplying fuel to fuel consumption apparatus
Processing circuitry of an internal combustion engine system is configured to perform: first control in which a valve system and a compressor are controlled such that while a fuel gas from a fuel storing source is being supplied to an internal combustion engine, the fuel gas from the fuel storing source is pressurized and filled in a charge tank; and second control in which the valve system is controlled such that the fuel gas from the charge tank is supplied to the internal combustion engine.
1 . An internal combustion engine system comprising:
a fuel storing source including at least one fuel tank that stores a fuel gas in a compressed state;
a main channel that connects the fuel storing source to an internal combustion engine;
a charge tank;
a charge channel that connects the fuel storing source to the charge tank;
a compressor that pressurizes the fuel gas of the charge channel toward the charge tank;
a sub-channel that connects the charge tank to the internal combustion engine;
a valve system that opens and closes the main channel, the charge channel, and the sub-channel; and
processing circuitry configured to control the valve system and the compressor, wherein
the processing circuitry is configured to
execute a first control in which the valve system and the compressor are controlled such that while the fuel gas from the fuel storing source is being supplied to the internal combustion engine, the fuel gas from the fuel storing source is pressurized and filled in the charge tank,
after the charge tank is filled with the fuel gas by the first control, execute a second control in which the valve system is controlled such that the fuel gas from the charge tank is supplied to the internal combustion engine, the second control being executed instead of the first control,
when a pressure of the fuel gas in the charge tank lowers to a predetermined pressure value by the execution of the second control, execute the next first control instead of the second control, and
after the charge tank is filled with the fuel gas by the next first control, execute the next second control, in which the valve system is controlled such that the fuel gas from the charge tank is supplied to the internal combustion engine, instead of the next first control.
2 . The internal combustion engine system according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to execute a switching control in which the first control and the second control are alternately repeated.
3 . The internal combustion engine system according to claim 1 , wherein:
when the processing circuitry determines during the execution of the first control that the pressure of the fuel gas filled in the charge tank has reached a predetermined upper limit pressure value, the processing circuitry executes the second control; and
the upper limit pressure value is higher than a required pressure value of the fuel gas to be supplied to the internal combustion engine.
4 . The internal combustion engine system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one fuel tank comprises a first fuel tank and a second fuel tank;
the main channel includes
a first main channel that connects the first fuel tank to the internal combustion engine and
a second main channel that connects the second fuel tank to the internal combustion engine;
the charge channel includes a first charge channel that connects the first fuel tank to the charge tank; and
in the first control, the valve system and the compressor are controlled such that the fuel gas from the second fuel tank is supplied to the internal combustion engine, and the fuel gas from the first fuel tank is pressurized and filled in the charge tank.
5 . The internal combustion engine system according to claim 4 , wherein when it is determined that a pressure of the fuel gas stored in the first fuel tank is less than an upper limit pressure value of the charge tank, the first control is executed.
6 . The internal combustion engine system according to claim 1 , wherein the internal combustion engine includes a direct injection engine.
7 . The internal combustion engine system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an energy transmitting path through which energy generated by the internal combustion engine is transmitted as a rotational power to the compressor;
an energy transmission selector that establishes and cuts the energy transmitting path; and
an actuator that drives the energy transmission selector, wherein
the processing circuitry is configured to control the actuator to drive the compressor.
8 . The internal combustion engine system according to claim 1 , further comprising a compressor driving source that is a driving source different from the internal combustion engine and that drives the compressor, wherein
the processing circuitry is configured to control the compressor driving source to drive the compressor.
9 . The internal combustion engine system according to claim 1 , wherein the fuel gas includes a hydrogen gas.
10 . A movable body comprising:
the internal combustion engine system according to claim 1 ; and
a propulsive power generator that generates a propulsive power by a driving power generated by the internal combustion engine.
11 . The internal combustion engine system according to claim 1 , wherein when the processing circuitry determines during the execution of the second control that the pressure of the fuel gas in the charge tank has reached a predetermined lower limit pressure value, the processing circuitry executes the next first control.
12 . The internal combustion engine system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the processing circuitry is configured to:
when the processing circuitry determines that a pressure of the fuel gas stored in the fuel storing source is a predetermined upper limit pressure value or more, execute a normal control in which the valve system is controlled such that the fuel gas from the fuel storing source is supplied to the internal combustion engine without being filled in the charge tank; and
when the processing circuitry determines during the execution of the normal control that the pressure of the fuel gas stored in the fuel storing source has lowered to less than the predetermined upper limit pressure value, execute the second control; and
the predetermined upper limit pressure value is higher than a required pressure value of the fuel gas to be supplied to the internal combustion engine.
13 . A method of supplying a fuel gas to a fuel consumption apparatus,
the method comprising:
executing a first supply operation of, while supplying the fuel gas from a fuel storing source to a fuel consumption apparatus, pressurizing the fuel gas from the fuel storing source by a compressor and filling the fuel gas in a charge tank;
executing a second supply operation of, when a pressure of the fuel gas in the charge tank reaches a predetermined upper limit pressure value, stopping the supply of the fuel gas from the fuel storing source to the fuel consumption apparatus and supplying the fuel gas from the charge tank to the fuel consumption apparatus until the pressure of the fuel gas in the charge tank reaches a predetermined lower limit pressure value;
when the pressure of the fuel gas in the charge tank lowers by the second supply operation to reach the lower limit pressure value, executing the next first supply operation instead of the second supply operation; and
when the pressure of the fuel gas in the charge tank increases by the next first supply operation to reach the upper limit pressure value, executing the next second supply operation instead of the next first supply operation.