CleanFUEL USA Opens Detroit Site for Design an Development of Liquid Propane Injection Systems
08 October 2009
CleanFUEL USA, a leading supplier of certified and approved alternative fuel dispensing equipment for propane and E85, and liquid propane engine systems is opening a new facility in Novi, Michigan, a northwestern suburb of Detroit.
The new 5,000 square foot facility will be used to advance the design and development of CleanFUEL USA’s Liquid Propane Injection (LPI) systems for OEM and aftermarket fleet vehicles. Efforts will include prototype vehicle construction, light assembly of sub-system components, engineering and design in support of product development and system components and inventory management and logistics.
The company also named Thomas E. “Tucker” Perkins Jr. as president and chief operating officer (COO). Perkins is chartered to lead CleanFUEL USA’s day-to-day operations, oversee product development and commercialization as well as guide sales and marketing efforts.
Propane (autogas) powers roughly 13 million cars and trucks worldwide, and is gaining popularity as an alternative transportation fuel because of its cost competitive and environmental benefits. Limited accessibility to refueling stations has presented challenges for the industry in the past; however, the Department of Energy recently granted $12.9 million to CleanFUEL USA to establish the nation’s first and largest autogas refueling network.
Perkins comes to CleanFUEL USA with over three decades of industry experience, most recently from Inergy Propane, a national propane marketing and distribution company, where he served as director of business development. Prior to Inergy, Perkins was the CEO of Premier Propane and COO of Columbia Propane. He currently serves on the Board of the Virginia Propane Gas Association and is also active with the Propane Education Research Council and the National Propane Gas Association.
Liquid propane should suit D.I.
with a better efficiency gain than the petrol DI systems currently hitting te market with ~25% efficiency gains over multi point fuel injection.
Expect these DI LPG engines to beat the gasoline DI on a liter comparison and ~ 20% better energy conversion efficiency.
Posted by: arnold | 09 October 2009 at 01:18 AM
Can you use propane for compression ignition?
Posted by: dursun | 09 October 2009 at 09:57 AM
By compression do you mean sparkless?,the current "compression ignition" or diesel engines use a small amount of diesel timed to initiate the combustion.
Of course a liquid 'slug of propane could do the same, up till now we haven't seen much in the way of liquid phase propane so the issue has not been relevant, better use whats there , but propane is a good candidate for your suggestion as long as the timing is controlled somehow by a spark or injection timing.
I dont think the new DI petrol systems need a spark plug to run, but to tame the beast and expand engine management systems , they possibly do.
One word can be interpreted in numerous ways, the conventional) or the literal.
Posted by: arnold | 09 October 2009 at 01:32 PM
"compression ignition" or diesel engines use a small amount of diesel timed
More accurately the current diesel/propane or LPG and
diesel / CNG engines use the small slug as compared to the whole charge being diesel.
Posted by: arnold | 09 October 2009 at 01:37 PM
No! liquid propane will not ignite properly if injected instead of diesel. It has too low of a cetane number which just means that the temperature must be much higher to ignite. The same is true of natural gas methane, ethane and butane. Dimethylether, DME, that can be stored in similar tanks to propane does have an easy ignition rating and has been tested in trucks for many years; it burns with almost no soot. Some diesel engines have been made to get 99% of their fuel from methane or propane and one percent diesel for ignition.
A Capstone, single rotating part, turbine engine has been demonstrated in an automobile. Capstone turbines can run on any fuel. They can have a higher average efficiency than almost any engine used in an automobile. The turbines have been demonstrated to run for more than a year continuously.
..HG..
Posted by: Henry Gibson | 11 October 2009 at 12:38 AM
Henry,
Apologies for such a confusing post.The reasoning I would use goes like this.
From:
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/05/ethanol_direct_.html
"Ethanol Direct Injection as an Enabler for Aggressive Engine Downsizing
Knock refers to the autoignition of unburned gas in the cylinder. There are a number of factors that contribute to knock, but two of the main ones are cylinder pressure, temperature and fuel octane
The ethanol direct injection system is controlled separately form the gasoline injection system, and the ethanol is stored in a separate tank. The gasoline system can continue to use conventional port-injection.
The ethanol injection is carried out so as to maximize evaporative cooling which occurs when it is directly injected into the engine cylinders. The resulting reduction in temperature of the fuel/air charge from the ethanol evaporative cooling is the major factor in enhancing the fuel octane rating and suppressing knock."
........................................................
The new piezo injectors with multiple firing can also do their bit to suppress the knock "while retaining the evaporative cooling benefit."
Think the high temp super lean mixes,with modern sensors and ECU's.
It makes sense that liquid phase propane is capable of running as a compression engine requiring no spark.
Slightly off the track here but as you know many very early diesel engines a hot bulb ignition source.
Posted by: arnold | 11 October 2009 at 11:44 PM