Patents Examined by Edward G. Favors
  • Patent number: 6039261
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for achieving optimal combustion. A boiler has a blower-type burner operatively associated therewith wherein the burner has a variable speed blower. Combustive air is provided to the burner, and in accordance with the invention, a gaseous combustion-correcting complex is provided for supplying a plurality of gaseous additives to the combustive air of the burner. A plurality of sensors are disposed within the boiler and burner, and within a discharge outlet of the boiler, and a central unit is operatively connected to the sensors for receiving information signals therefrom. In response to the information signals received from the sensors, the central unit controls the speed of the variable speed blower and the operation of the gaseous combustion-correcting complex for providing predetermined amounts of the additives to the combustive air.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 1991
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2000
    Inventor: Guy Pavese
  • Patent number: 5513599
    Abstract: A pressurized internal circulating fluidized-bed boiler is incorporated in a combined-cycle electric generating system in which a fuel such as coal, petro coke or the like is combusted in a pressurized fluidized bed and an exhaust gas produced by the combusted fuel is introduced into a gas turbine. The pressurized internal circulating fluidized-bed boiler includes a pressure vessel, a combustor disposed in the pressure vessel and a main fluidized bed combustion chamber provided with an air diffusion device. A thermal energy recovery chamber is partitioned from the main combustion chamber by an inclined partition wall. A fluidized medium flows into and out of the main combustion chamber and the thermal energy recovery chamber. A free board is provided integrally above the main combustion chamber and the thermal energy recovery chamber so that combustion gas from the main combustion chamber and the thermal energy recovery chamber is mixed in the free board.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 1994
    Date of Patent: May 7, 1996
    Assignee: Ebara Corporation
    Inventors: Shuichi Nagato, Masayuki Horio, Takahiro Oshita, Norihisa Miyoshi, Seiichiro Toyoda, Akira Shimokura, Tomoyuki Shinano, Shugo Hosoda
  • Patent number: 5445088
    Abstract: This abstract describes a process for the complete oxidation of municipal refuse and certain hazardous materials. The facility to accommodate the process consists of a completely enclosed, rotating, cylindrical kiln wherein solids, liquids, and gaseous compounds are simultaneously oxidized. To supplement the burning process, natural gas will be injected into the kiln chamber through a regulatory apparatus. Within the oxidation chamber, temperatures of 3200 degrees F., plus, will be maintained by injecting a regulated flow of pure oxygen, as an oxidant, to ensure the complete oxidation of all materials. After suitable preparation, solids and liquids will be introduced into the kiln chamber through an enclosed, sealed, apparatus i.e., screw conveyor, to control refuse volumes. During the oxidation process, the refuse materials will be kept in suspension for an adequate dwell time by the tilted orientation and rotating operation of the kiln apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 1993
    Date of Patent: August 29, 1995
    Inventors: William K. Daugherty, Bernard A. Parkin, Jr., Franklin D. Ling
  • Patent number: 5435257
    Abstract: Apparatus for cooperation with an associated furnace having the capability of burning either coal or oil wherein the improvement includes a coutant having an opening in the bottom thereof. An extended ash hopper is disposed under the coutant. The hopper includes a portion that extends beyond the coutant and a furnace sidewall that abuts an end of the coutant. The ash hopper is generally registered with respect to the opening and the apparatus includes apparatus for conducting gases to be recirculated including a recirculation fan, a duct coupling the apparatus for conducting to the ash hopper; and apparatus for sealing the portion with respect to the duct. In some forms of the invention the duct enters the laterally extending portion through the top thereof. The apparatus for sealing may include first apparatus for receiving a liquid and apparatus for sealing includes at least a first plate fixed to and depending form the coutant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 1993
    Date of Patent: July 25, 1995
    Assignee: Combustion Engineering, Inc.
    Inventor: Steven P. Wincze
  • Patent number: 5429077
    Abstract: An apparatus and method by which deposits are removed from the heat exchange surfaces of heat exchange element in a boiler. According to the present invention, a heat exchange medium flowing through the element at a first temperature has injected into it a fluid at a second temperature. The injection of the fluid and the temperature difference between the fluid and the medium causes a pressure wave to be produced in the heat exchange element at a specific location whereby the pressure wave in the medium causes mechanical vibration of the element. The result is that ash, scale, soot and other deposits are fractured, loosened and removed from the surfaces of the element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 1994
    Date of Patent: July 4, 1995
    Assignee: The Babcock & Wilcox Company
    Inventor: Thomas E. Moskal
  • Patent number: 5429059
    Abstract: A coal-fired firetube boiler and a method for converting a gas-fired firetube boiler to a coal-fired firetube boiler, the converted boiler including a plurality of combustion zones within the firetube and controlled stoichiometry within the combustion zones.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 1993
    Date of Patent: July 4, 1995
    Assignee: The University of Tennessee Research Corporation
    Inventors: Charles L. Wagoner, John P. Foote
  • Patent number: 5400726
    Abstract: A method for treating waste involves (a) compressing the waste at a pressure of over 800 bars under conditions resulting in separation of the wet fermentable fraction and the solid combustible fraction; (b) exploiting each of these two fractions separately by means of, for the fermentable fraction, specific treatment to take advantage of its biomass nature and, for the combustible fraction, burning to produce energy. The method allows the waste to be exploited with high profitability. The invention also describes an improved press for compression in two successive phases: a precompression phase up to an intermediate pressure (200 to 300 bars) and final compression up to a final pressure of over 800 bars.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 1993
    Date of Patent: March 28, 1995
    Inventor: Pierre Dumons
  • Patent number: 5400723
    Abstract: A method of incinerating wastes while controlling the production of dioxins wherein water vapor or water is sprayed in the main combustion zone of an incinerator. An apparatus for practicing the method of waste incineration, including a line for supplying main combustion air, either alone or together with a line for supplying recycled combustion gas, to the incinerator from below its hearth, is provided with a line for supplying water vapor or water in communication with the line or lines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 1992
    Date of Patent: March 28, 1995
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Satoshi Okuno, Hirotami Yamamoto, Susumu Nishikawa, Hiroki Honda, Yoshinori Terasawa
  • Patent number: 5398623
    Abstract: In refuse incineration, it has been determined that the legal requirements governing refuse incineration can be more easily met by maintaining a uniform depth of charge on the grate. The charging of the refuse and the transport speed of the charge produced by movable refuse feeders can be regulated as a function of the quantity of refuse in the incinerator or in its individual zones. The load of the drive mechanism can be used for measurement and control purposes for maintaing a uniform refuse depth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 1994
    Date of Patent: March 21, 1995
    Assignee: Noell Abfall- und Energietechnik GmbH
    Inventors: Gert Lautenschlager, Ulrich Kaiser, Robert Steiner, Erwin Wachter, Bernhard Fabian
  • Patent number: 5396849
    Abstract: A method for combusting a fossil material so as to produce an exhaust stream having a low level of pollutants. The fossil material is introduced into a fluidized bed combustor which is operated at a temperature of at least approximately 1775.degree. F. to produce a partially cleansed exhaust stream having a low level of N.sub.2 O. SO.sub.2 is removed from the partially cleansed exhaust stream outside of the fluidized bed combustor to produce a cleansed exhaust stream having a low level of SO.sub.2. An apparatus is provided for performing the method of the invention.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 1994
    Date of Patent: March 14, 1995
    Assignee: Electric Power Research Institute, Inc.
    Inventor: Thomas J. Boyd
  • Patent number: 5396865
    Abstract: A startup system for a steam-driven turbine type power plant is disclosed in which auxiliary steam from an external source is heat exchanged against a circulating fluid so as to supply heat to the main steam generator during startup. In one preferred embodiment, auxiliary steam is also used to heat an inert gas which is circulated through the main superheater or reheater of the power plant to heat the superheater or reheater during startup. In another preferred embodiment, steam from a main superheater, or reheater, is used to heat a fluid in an auxiliary generator, and the heated fluid in the auxiliary generator is circulated to supply additional heat to the main steam generator during startup.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 1994
    Date of Patent: March 14, 1995
    Inventor: James H. Freeh
  • Patent number: 5396850
    Abstract: A method of destroying organic waste in a bath of molten metal and slag contained in a vessel (3) is disclosed. The method comprises injecting organic waste into the bath to form a primary reaction zone (13) in which the organic waste is thermally cracked and the products of the thermal cracking which are not absorbed into the bath are released into the space above the surface of the bath. The method further comprises injecting an oxygen-containing gas toward the surface of the bath to form a secondary reaction zone (17) in the space above the surface of the bath in which the oxidizable materials in the products from the primary reaction zone (13) are completely oxidized and the heat released by such oxidation is transferred to the bath.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 1993
    Date of Patent: March 14, 1995
    Assignee: Technological Resources Pty. Limited
    Inventors: David. S. Conochie, Robin J. Batterham, Terry A. Matthews
  • Patent number: 5394811
    Abstract: Dried fuel is at least partly combusted, gasified or carbonized in the presence of cooled solid residue in a reactor. Hot solid residue, which is at temperatures in the range from 500.degree. to 1200.degree. C., is withdrawn from the reactor and is mixed with water-containing fuel in the receiving region of a mechanical mixer, without a supply of fluidizing gas. The mixture is transported with further mixing from the receiving region of the mixer through a mixing section of 1 to 10 meters to an outlet. A fuel-containing, substantially water-free mixture at a temperature in the range from above 100.degree. C. to 150.degree. C. is fed from the outlet of the mixer to the reactor. A mixer which comprises two intermeshing shafts, which rotate in the same sense, may be employed in the process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 1994
    Date of Patent: March 7, 1995
    Assignee: Metallgesellschaft Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventor: Hans-Jurgen Weiss
  • Patent number: 5394837
    Abstract: A furnace comprising a lower radiant section and an upper convection section, the lower section having associated fuel burners; generally vertically extending first tubular structure suspended in the first section; second tubular structure extending generally horizontally relative to the first section and suspending the first tubular structure; and grid structure extending generally horizontally and supporting the second tubular structure; whereby hot combustion gases produced by the burners flow upwardly in the first section and past the first and second tubular structure and the grid structure to the upper convection section; and the second tubular structures and/or the grid structure are cooled by circulation of fluids therein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 1994
    Date of Patent: March 7, 1995
    Inventors: Frank W. Tsai, Paul A. Bock
  • Patent number: 5392736
    Abstract: A fluidized bed combustion system and process is disclosed, in which full load stoichiometry is maintained at lower loads. The system and process includes an enclosure and a partition disposed in the enclosure to define a furnace section and an overfire air plenum section. A bed of combustible particulate material is formed in the furnace section and air is passed into the bed in quantities sufficient to fluidize the material and insufficient to completely combust the material. Overfire air is passed into the overfire air plenum, through control dampers in the partition and into the furnace section in quantities sufficient to completely combust the material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 1993
    Date of Patent: February 28, 1995
    Assignee: Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation
    Inventors: David H. Dietz, Walter R. Campbell
  • Patent number: 5392719
    Abstract: A renovated incinerator is essentially composed of a furnace, a circulation means, and an exhausting means. The circulating means picks up any particle which is unburned or not burned thoroughly and delivered to the furnace for continuous burning until all waste material become ashes which are collected and forming asbestos. A circular water tank is integrally formed surrounding the furnace to utilize steam from boiling water in the tank to generate power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 1994
    Date of Patent: February 28, 1995
    Inventor: Hung L. Wen-Chiang
  • Patent number: 5392720
    Abstract: A flame retaining nozzle tip for a burner for a pulverized fuel fired furnace receiving a primary stream of pulverized fuel and primary transport and combustion air for discharge into the combustion zone of the furnace comprises a hollow, open-ended, choke or body having an inlet end of generally polygonal flow cross-section for receiving the stream and an outlet end of generally rounded cross-section for accelerating and discharging the stream into the furnace. The outlet end of the choke has a flow cross-sectional area that is less than that of the inlet end to provide choking action. An elongated center element is mounted in coaxial alignment with a central axis of the choke body extending between the inlet and outlet ends.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1994
    Date of Patent: February 28, 1995
    Assignee: Riley Stoker Corporation
    Inventors: Oliver G. Briggs, Donald S. Langille, Francis G. Ouellette
  • Patent number: 5392721
    Abstract: The present invention provides methods for the reduction and recycling of papermaking sludge. Papermaking sludge is incinerated in a rotary heater, typically a rotary cement kiln, asphalt dryer, or specially designed rotary kiln or incinerator. Aggregate may be combined with the sludge to provide better dispersion of the sludge within the heater, and to facilitate heat transfer. Once in operation, the heat of sludge combustion is added to the process heat, resulting in markedly reduced energy requirements. Papermaking sludge is typically fed continuously into said rotary heater while temperatures in the combustion zone are maintained in the range of approximately 800.degree. to 3500.degree. F. During incineration, mixing catalysts (typically casein or soy protein) and wood fibers are burned, while moisture is evaporated. The resulting product consists essentially of carbonate particles which are collected for subsequent use.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 1994
    Date of Patent: February 28, 1995
    Assignee: Technology Development Corp.
    Inventor: Wendell Judd
  • Patent number: 5393220
    Abstract: Processes and apparatus for combusting fluid fuel, e.g., liquid fuel, in at least two combustion zones, wherein the fluid fuel is partially combusted with a fluid fuel atomizing or dispersing fluid containing oxygen in an initial combustion zone and is completely combusted with oxidant in at least one subsequent combustion zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 1993
    Date of Patent: February 28, 1995
    Assignee: Praxair Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Ludo J. C. Couwels, Eddy J. A. Lauwers
  • Patent number: 5392737
    Abstract: A friction heater is provided which includes a rotor which rotates relative to a stator to generate heat which is transferred to a wall of a tank which contains a quantity of liquid to be heated. The outer surface of the stator and a surface of the tank are smooth surfaces which are in contact with each other substantially throughout their extent so that virtually no heat is lost at the interface between such surfaces. Baffles are provided in the tank to increase the dwell time of the liquid flowing through the tank.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 1994
    Date of Patent: February 28, 1995
    Inventors: William E. Newman, Sr., Henry W. Clark, Jr.