Patent ID: 8037849

Claim:
A fuel supply system for a diesel engine with individual pump-injector units, comprising: a fuel tank; a first fuel line connected to said fuel tank, active in a first mode of system operation, and a low pressure pump in said first fuel line, which directs the fuel to a common low pressure inlet manifold of the individual pump-injector units, a non-return valve and the relief pressure regulator for controlling the pressure in said low pressure common manifold on the level P 1 ; a second fuel line, active in a second mode of system operation, and a high-pressure feed pump connected in said second fuel line and pumping the fuel at a pressure P 3 ; a fuel gasification vessel for saturating the diesel fuel with a gas, at least one fuel dispersing nozzle connected to said high-pressure feed pump for discharging the fuel supplied by said feed pump into said fuel gasification vessel, said fuel gasification vessel further having at least one gas inlet port for feeding gas into said fuel gasification vessel, at least one inlet port for fuel returned from said low pressure common manifold, and an outlet port, a gas source for feeding gas to said fuel gasification vessel, and a gas pressure regulator configured to regulate a gas pressure in said fuel gasification vessel at a pressure level P 2 ; a level sensor measuring a fill level of liquid in said fuel gasification vessel, said level sensor controlling the liquid level in said fuel gasification vessel by starting and stopping said electro motor driven feed pump, a gas/fuel solution pump, active in the second mode of system operation, receiving gas-saturated fuel from said outlet of the fuel gasification vessel, said pump increasing a pressure of the gas/fuel solution to a pressure level P 4 and pumping the resulting under-saturated solution to said low pressure inlet common manifold; a fuel accumulator connected to said outlet of said fuel gasification vessel, said fuel accumulator decreasing a fluctuation in the pressure P 2 resulting from starting and stopping said feed pump; a pressure relief regulator controlling a pressure in said low pressure common inlet manifold at the level P 4 by directing excess fuel to a common return line; said common return line collecting the fuel from said pressure relief regulator and fuel returned from said individual pump-injector units; a return valve operated by a control system, said valve, in the first mode of system operation directing the fuel from said common return fluid line to said fuel tank and, in the second mode of system operation directing the return fuel to said fuel gasification vessel; and a cooler connected between said common return line and said inlet return port of said fuel gasification vessel for reducing a temperature of the fuel fed back into said fuel gasification vessel.