Industry/University Cooperative Projects Center
| Agilent | COBE Cardiovascular | Ford Motor Company | Lockheed-Martin |
| Ball Aerospace | Coors | IBM | Micro Motion |
| Ball Packaging | CTD | ICAST | Nastic Actuator Development |
| Boeing | CONMED | Intel | Sikorsky |
Ford Motor Company
Project Objective:
A co-fueling nozzle allows simultaneous and independent delivery of two fluids, diesel fuel and aqueous urea solution, into two separate storage systems onboard a vehicle. The co-fueling nozzle design must include cold weather operation. The lowest freeze point of -11 deg C is obtained with the 32.5% urea solution in water. As a practical consideration, the urea solution temperature, while the nozzle is in use, should not drop below the -7 deg C when the outside temperature is as low as –40 deg C.
Background:
The current design of the co-fueling nozzle is described in the SAE Paper 2002-01-0290.( See instructors for a copy) Several prototypes of this design have been built and successfully operated for a limited time in a laboratory environment. Wear, fatigue and severe use have not been studied. The design enables concurrent and separated delivery of fuel and urea into their respective storage containers. The cross-contamination of fluids is avoided during the nozzle insertion and delivery of both fluids. A few cubic millimeters of urea left inside the fill pipe after removal of the nozzle, are not harmful to the operation of the vehicle. The flow of diesel and urea is shut off independently. The operation of the nozzle does not require any training, and in fact, the operator would not need to know that a second fluid is dispensed.
Freeze protection/avoidance:
When evaluating design options for cold weather operation, various issues concerning both the dispensing nozzle, and the vehicle fill pipe have to be taken into account. The design suggestions related to the vehicle side of the co-fueling interface are based on a bladder-type onboard storage system. This means that urea is filled under pressure into an expanding bladder until the rubber surfaces are pressed against the bladder shell. During the vehicle operation, the urea pressure in front of the metering injector is created by an air pump that pressurizes the air space between the bladder shell and the rubber surfaces