« DKRW Selects GE Gasification Technology for Medicine Bow Coal-to-Liquids Plant | Main | Leaders of US Senate Finance Committee Introduce Bill for Increasing Tax Incentives for Alternative-Energy Vehicles »

EPA Promotes its Green Technology

1 March 2006

More than 130 Environmental Protection Agency scientific patents of technologies developed over the last eight years that benefit the environment can now be viewed at the new EPA TechMatch web site. About 30% of those—the vast majority of them from the National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory—involve vehicle technologies: engine, emissions and a variety of hybrid systems, including hydraulic hybrids.

Under the Federal Technology Transfer Act (FTTA) of 1986, government agencies may patent and license inventions, which assist new ideas from government laboratories to enter the marketplace. Entrepreneurs can view and license EPA technologies to develop new products that offer both environmental protection and economic growth.

Some of the more recently awarded patents include:

• Low emission diesel combustion system with low charge-air oxygen concentration levels and high fuel injection pressures. The result is an engine that meets environmental standards for NO_x and PM emissions without the need for expensive after-treatment devices, while still maintaining diesel-like fuel efficiency.

• A full series-configuration hydraulic hybrid vehicle in which the engine powers hydraulic pumps rather than a motor.

• An HCCI engine with combustion-tailoring chamber. The patent describes an method and apparatus to control the operation of a homogeneous-charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine over a wide range of speeds and loads.

• Methods for operating a series hybrid vehicle. This patent focuses on methods for improving the series hybrid system by making it responsive to the operator’s demand for power output, while maximizing efficiency and minimizing performance disruption. Unlike prior series hybrid systems, the current technology enables continuous replenishment of electrical energy with greater energy levels and no performance decline.

• Exhaust aftertreatment system and method for an internal combustion engine that is optimized for that capturing NO_x under the oxidizing conditions characteristic of diesel and lean-burn engine exhaust streams and delivers it to a three-way catalyst under the reducing conditions necessary for efficient reduction of the NO_x to N₂ by the catalyst.

• Individual cylinder coolant control system and method. The technology describes an internal combustion engine coolant system where each cylinder has its own set of heat sensors and check valves. A central controller monitors each cylinder’s heat sensors and opens individual check valves to ensure equal and balanced cooling.

  Current engine cooling systems do not cool each cylinder individually, resulting in dissimilar combustion efficiency among all cylinders. The technology would increase engine efficiency by individually cooling each cylinder, increasing combustion efficiency for each cylinder and the overall engine.

• Hydraulically intensified high pressure fuel system for common rail application. The patent involves a method for supplying fuel to a high-pressure common rail fuel injection system compatible with a wide range of fuels. The components include intensifiers, control valves and a controller. Two hydraulic intensifiers, separate from the injectors, alternately supply high-pressure fuel at approximately 6000 psi to the common rail and refill with low-pressure fuel. The intensifiers are connected in parallel and so are able to supply fuel to the common rail fuel systems at constant pressure.

• Piston-in-Piston Variable Compression Ratio Engine. An engine’s compression ratio is varied using an inner piston within a larger outer piston. The outer piston is controlled by a conventional connecting rod/crankshaft assembly, while the inner piston is controlled by a fluid actuator. Working together, the two pistons can change the overall compression ratio, thus improving the engine’s efficiency and gas mileage.

EPA is fortunate to have some of the best scientists in the world who do cutting-edge environmental research. TechMatch will encourage entrepreneurs to license technologies developed by EPA scientists for new products that both strengthen environmental protection and improve the growth of our economy.

—Dr. George Gray, EPA assistant administrator for the Office of Research and Development

TechMatch includes third-party independent analyses of the commercial potential of the technologies, information on in-house research, and links to the full U.S. Patent and Trademark Office description of each patent. Technologies that have been assessed to have particularly high market potential are also featured.

March 1, 2006 in Emissions, Engines, Fuel Efficiency, Hybrids | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (1)

Comments

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/22062/4367555

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference EPA Promotes its Green Technology :

» Taking Care of Business from After Gutenberg
EPA developed and patented methods for improving series hybrids making the system responsive to operator demands for power output, while maximizing efficiency and minimizing performance disruption. ... [Read More]

Tracked on Mar 3, 2006 7:52:04 AM