Liquid hydrocarbon fuel treating device for an internal combustion engine

Abstract

A device for treating liquid carbonous fuel having external and internal electrodes having a dielectric insert positioned between and coaxially arranged to form a treatment chamber. The chamber is connected to a fuel line by an-outlet channel located along the longitudinal axis of the electrodes and at least one inlet channel disposed in the external electrode, wherein the inlet and outlet channels are embodied according to a relationship ( 1 ), wherein S iin is the cross-section area of an i-th inlet channel, n is the number of inlet channels and S out is the cross-section area of the outlet channel. ∑ i = 1 n   S iin = ( 0.1 2.7 )  S out ( 1 )

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for processing liquid hydrocarbon fuel for an internal combustion engine, comprising:
 a first electrode;   a second electrode where said second electrode is positioned about said first electrode such that a chamber is formed between the first electrode and second electrode and where said second electrode comprises an inlet channel and an outlet channel; and   a dielectric insert positioned between the first electrode and second electrode.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the inlet and outlet channels are embodied according to the formula 
       
         
           
             
               
                 
                   ∑ 
                   
                     i 
                     = 
                     1 
                   
                   n 
                 
                  
                 
                     
                 
                  
                 
                   S 
                   iin 
                 
               
               = 
               
                 
                   ( 
                   
                     0.1 
                     2.7 
                   
                   ) 
                 
                  
                 
                   S 
                   out 
                 
               
             
           
         
       
       wherein S iin  is the cross-section area of an i-th inlet channel, n is the number of the inlet channels and S out  is the cross-section area of the outlet channel. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1  where said second electrode comprises threading. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 3  where said threading is configured to fix said second electrode to a fuel line. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1  where said dielectric insert electrically isolates the first and second electrodes from each other. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1  where said first electrode and said second electrode are coaxially arranged on a longitudinal axis and where said outlet channel is located on the longitudinal axis of the electrodes. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 6  where the inlet channel is defined by the second electrode. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1  where the inlet and outlet channels are adapted to connect the second electrode to a fuel line of the internal combustion engine. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1  where said second electrode is configured as a bolt. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 1  where the electrodes comprise a conductive material. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 1  where said chamber is a fuel treatment chamber. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 2  comprising at least two inlet channels. 
     
     
         13 . A method for processing a liquid hydrocarbon fuel in an internal combustion engine, comprising the steps of:
 providing a fuel line of the internal combustion engine with an apparatus of  claim 1 ;   passing the fuel through the apparatus from the inlet channel to the outlet channel while supplying the first and second electrodes with an electric current, resulting in a treated fuel; and   combusting the treated fuel in the internal combustion engine.   
     
     
         14 . The method of claim  16  where said electric current has a voltage of 12V-2 kV and an oscillating frequency from 0.5 to 6.0 kHz. 
     
     
         15 . The method of claim  16  wherein the inlet and outlet channels of the apparatus are sized such that a ratio of the sum of the cross-sectional areas of all of the inlet channels to the sum of the cross-sectional areas of all of the outlet channels is about 1:27.