Patents by Inventor Wolfgang Polifke

Wolfgang Polifke has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 7947119
    Abstract: In a hydrogen reservoir having a housing with a hydrogen storage material arranged in the housing for absorbing and releasing hydrogen as needed, the hydrogen reservoir includes at least one unit having a porous body surrounding a container in which the hydrogen storage material is contained and a method is provided for charging the hydrogen reservoir with hydrogen from a hydrogen filling stations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2011
    Assignee: Daimler, AG
    Inventors: Daniel Gölz, Claude Keller, Wolfgang Polifke, Eberhard Schmidt-Ihn, David Wenger
  • Publication number: 20090127137
    Abstract: In a hydrogen reservoir having a housing with a hydrogen storage material arranged in the housing for absorbing and releasing hydrogen as needed, the hydrogen reservoir includes at least one unit having a porous body surrounding a container in which the hydrogen storage material is contained and a method is provided for charging the hydrogen reservoir with hydrogen from a hydrogen filling stations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 27, 2008
    Publication date: May 21, 2009
    Inventors: Daniel Golz, Claude Keller, Wolfgang Polifke, Eberhard Schmidt-Ihn, David Wenger
  • Publication number: 20080020250
    Abstract: The invention concerns, among other things, a storage system (40) for storing a medium, particularly an adsorption storage system for adsorbing a medium, comprising a storage vessel (10) inside of which a storage material (30) for storing, particularly for adsorbing a medium, is provided, and comprising a vessel connection (15) for loading/emptying the storage vessel (10). In order to be able to realize an efficient supply of energy and/or removal of energy, the invention provides that at least one circulation circuit (41) is provided for the storage medium by means of which a removal of energy and/or supply of energy ensues in the storage vessel (10). In addition, the storage medium serves as an energy carrier, and the storage vessel (10) is at least temporarily integrated in the circulation circuit (41). The invention also relates to a method for loading a storage system (40) with a storage medium and emptying the same therefrom.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 4, 2004
    Publication date: January 24, 2008
    Inventors: Walter Schuetz, Florian Michl, Wolfgang Polifke, Ricardo Paggiaro
  • Patent number: 6840046
    Abstract: In a method of minimizing thermoacoustic vibrations in gas-turbine combustion chambers, a modulated spraying of liquid or gaseous premix fuel into a premix burner is carried out. The premix fuel is fed by means of two fuel lines (13, 14), and the modulation of the quantity of fed fuel is effected in each case by one fuel valve per fuel line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2005
    Assignee: Alstom
    Inventors: Christian Oliver Paschereit, Wolfgang Weisenstein, Ephraim Gutmark, Wolfgang Polifke
  • Patent number: 6634457
    Abstract: An apparatus for damping acoustic vibrations in a combustor as well as a corresponding combustor arrangement with the apparatus. The apparatus includes a Helmholtz resonator (4) that can be connected via a connecting channel (2) with a combustor (1). The Helmholtz resonator (4) contains a hollow body (6) the volume of which can be changed by adding or draining a fluid via a supply line (5), or is located adjacent to such a hollow body in such a way that the resonance volume (3) of the Helmholtz resonator (4) is changed when the volume of the hollow body (6) is changed. This apparatus makes it possible to adjust the resonance frequency of a Helmholtz resonator arranged inside a pressure container in accordance with the respective current operating point of the combustor to be damped, without having to pass movable components through the pressure container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2003
    Assignee: Alstom (Switzerland) Ltd
    Inventors: Christian Oliver Paschereit, Wolfgang Weisenstein, Peter Flohr, Wolfgang Polifke
  • Patent number: 6581385
    Abstract: In a combustion device (10), particularly for driving gas turbines, comprising a plurality of burners (12, . . . , 15) of identical thermal power output, which work parallel to an axis (28) into a common combustion chamber (11), an effective suppression of thermoacoustic combustion instabilities is achieved in a simple way in that the burners (12, . . . , 15) are designed differently from one another in such a way that the flames (24, . . . , 27) or flame fronts generated by them are positioned so as to be distributed along the axis (28).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2003
    Assignee: Alstom
    Inventors: Franz Joos, Wolfgang Polifke, Alexander Ni
  • Publication number: 20030041588
    Abstract: In a combustion device (10), particularly for driving gas turbines, comprising a plurality of burners (12, . . . , 15) of identical thermal power output, which work parallel to an axis (28) into a common combustion chamber (11), an effective suppression of thermoacoustic combustion instabilities is achieved in a simple way in that the burners (12, . . . , 15) are designed differently from one another in such a way that the flames (24, . . . , 27) or flame fronts generated by them are positioned so as to be distributed along the axis (28).
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 9, 2002
    Publication date: March 6, 2003
    Inventors: Franz Joos, Wolfgang Polifke, Alexander Ni
  • Patent number: 6490864
    Abstract: In a combustion apparatus (10), in particular for driving gas turbines, in which combustion apparatus (10) a gaseous fuel in a burner (11) is sprayed through a plurality of separate fuel-injection devices (15, 16) into a gas flow containing combustion air, and the resulting mixture flows into a combustion chamber (12) for combustion and burns there, the acoustic impedance or stiffness of the fuel-injection devices (15, 16) is selected to be different in order to avoid thermoacoustic combustion instabilities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2002
    Assignee: ALSTOM (Switzerland) Ltd
    Inventors: Franz Joos, Alexander Ni, Wolfgang Polifke
  • Patent number: 6449951
    Abstract: In a combustion device (10), particularly for driving gas turbines, comprising a plurality of burners (12, . . . , 15) of identical thermal power output, which work parallel to an axis (28) into a common combustion chamber (11), an effective suppression of thermoacoustic combustion instabilities is achieved in a simple way in that the burners (12, . . . , 15) are designed differently from one another in such a way that the flames (24, . . . , 27) or flame fronts generated by them are positioned so as to be distributed along the axis (28).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2002
    Assignee: Alstom
    Inventors: Franz Joos, Wolfgang Polifke, Alexander Ni
  • Patent number: 6343927
    Abstract: A method for active suppression of hydrodynamic instabilities in a combustion system in which liquid or gaseous fuel is premixed with combustion air and the fuel/air mixture is then burnt. The mass flow of the supplied fuel is modulated on the basis of a selected time function. Simplification and increased functional reliability are achieved by the modulation which is carried out using fluidics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2002
    Assignee: Alstom (Switzerland) Ltd
    Inventors: Adnan Eroglu, Christian Oliver Paschereit, Wolfgang Polifke
  • Patent number: 6336806
    Abstract: In a method for burning a liquid fuel in a combustion system (10) which comprises a combustion chamber (11) and at least one injection nozzle (13) through which liquid fuel is injected into the combustion chamber (11) in the form of a fuel spray (16) and is burnt there with combustion air being added, disturbance-free operation in a simple manner is distinguished in that, in order to actively suppress hydrodynamic instabilities in the combustion chamber (11), the injected fuel spray (16) is modulated by having an electrical voltage applied to it during the injection process, governed by a selected time function.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2002
    Assignee: Alstom (Switzerland) Ltd.
    Inventors: Christian Oliver Paschereit, Wolfgang Polifke, Christian Steinbach
  • Publication number: 20020000343
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an apparatus for damping acoustic vibrations in a combustor as well as a corresponding combustor arrangement with the apparatus. The apparatus comprises a Helmholtz resonator (4) that can be connected via a connecting channel (2) with a combustor (1). The Helmholtz resonator (4) contains a hollow body (6) the volume of which can be changed by adding or draining a fluid via a supply line (5), or is located adjacent to such a hollow body in such a way that the resonance volume (3) of the Helmholtz resonator (4) is changed when the volume of the hollow body (6) is changed. This apparatus makes it possible to adjust the resonance frequency of a Helmholtz resonator arranged inside a pressure container in accordance with the respective current operating point of the combustor to be damped, without having to pass movable components through the pressure container.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2001
    Publication date: January 3, 2002
    Inventors: Christian Oliver Paschereit, Wolfgang Weisenstein, Peter Flohr, Wolfgang Polifke
  • Publication number: 20010027638
    Abstract: In a method of minimizing thermoacoustic vibrations in gas-turbine combustion chambers, a modulated spraying of liquid or gaseous premix fuel into a premix burner is carried out. The premix fuel is fed by means of two fuel lines (13, 14), and the modulation of the quantity of fed fuel is effected in each case by one fuel valve per fuel line.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 1999
    Publication date: October 11, 2001
    Inventors: CHRISTIAN OLIVER PASCHEREIT, WOLFGANG WEISENSTEIN, EPHRAIM GUTMARK, WOLFGANG POLIFKE
  • Patent number: 6170265
    Abstract: In a gas turbine having a device for the fuel injection, which injects fuel into a mixing device (12), the injected fuel being mixed with combustion air in the mixing device (12), and in which the gas turbine also has a combustion chamber (16) arranged downstream of the mixing device (12), the length of the combustion chamber being LBK and the length of the mixing device being LMix, in order to suppress thermoacoustic vibrations the premix combustion chamber (10) containing the combustion chamber (16) and the mixing device (12) is designed in such a way that an acoustic pressure fluctuation which occurs in the premix combustion chamber (10) at the combustion-chamber outlet (20) is superimposed in phase opposition on an entropy-wave-induced pressure fluctuation at a certain frequency to be damped.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 1998
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2001
    Assignee: ABB Search Ltd.
    Inventors: Wolfgang Polifke, Christian Oliver Paschereit, Klaus Döbbeling
  • Patent number: 6164058
    Abstract: In an annular combustion chamber for a gas turbine, a combustion-chamber dome (14) is arranged upstream of an air-cooled combustion chamber (10). A first portion of an air flow (46) which comes from the compressor is admixed as combustion air to the combustion operation and cooling ducts (22; 24) feed a second portion of the air flow (46) coming from the compressor as cooling air into the combustion chamber (10). In this case, the cooling ducts (22; 24), which run at least in sections along the combustion chamber (10), have an entry (23; 25) into the combustion-chamber dome (14). The cooling ducts (22; 24) are designed for damping combustion-chamber oscillations in such a way that the acoustic impedance at the entry (23; 25) of the cooling ducts (22; 24) into the combustion-chamber dome (14) is minimized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2000
    Assignee: ABB Research Ltd.
    Inventors: Klaus Dobbeling, Christian Paschereit, Wolfgang Polifke
  • Patent number: 6050078
    Abstract: In a combustion chamber, the hot gases are prepared sequentially via two stages (20, 40). Arranged at the end of the first stage (20) in the direction of flow is a cross-sectional constriction (30) via which the hot gases (21) prepared in the first stage (20) are passed over into the second stage (40). The Mach number at the outlet (31) of this cross-sectional constriction (30) corresponds to the area ratio of outlet area (A2) over inlet area (A1). This results in a low-reflection configuration in which low-frequency vibrations are absorbed to a significant extent. And acoustic energy reflected from the turbine is substantially reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2000
    Assignee: ABB Research Ltd.
    Inventors: Christian Oliver Paschereit, Wolfgang Polifke, Thomas Sattelmayer
  • Patent number: 5918457
    Abstract: In a method of operating a plant with staged combustion, the first combustion stage (1a) is operated with a fuel/air mixture (3) whose air coefficient is larger than the overall air coefficient of the combustion system. The hot combustion gases (5) from the first combustion stage (1a) are mixed with an additional fuel/air mixture (4) whose air coefficient is smaller than the overall air coefficient of the combustion system, before the further combustion in the second stage (2a) takes place. Since hot-gas backmixing is no longer required in the second stage (2a) for the flame stabilization, this combined mixture burns without the formation of further NOx emissions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 6, 1999
    Assignee: ABB Research Ltd.
    Inventors: Klaus Dobbeling, Dieter Winkler, Wolfgang Polifke, Thomas Sattelmayer
  • Patent number: 5807097
    Abstract: The object of the invention is to provide a novel cone burner for gaseous and/or liquid fuels which has a reduced NOx and CO emission. According to the invention, this is achieved in that the sectional cone bodies (1, 2) have a common outlet diffuser (27) at their downstream end. They have a transition region (28) to the outlet diffuser (27), in which the size of the air-inlet slots (7, 8) decreases continuously in the direction (3) of flow. The outlet diffuser (27) is designed to be circular and without air-inlet slots (7, 8).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 15, 1998
    Assignee: ABB Research Ltd.
    Inventors: Klaus Dobbeling, Adnan Eroglu, Hans Peter Knopfel, Wolfgang Polifke, Thomas Sattelmayer
  • Patent number: 5803602
    Abstract: A mixing device for mixing two or more flowing fluids in a flow duct in which the fluids to be mixed flow along a dividing wall (22), includes a plurality of vortex generators mounted on a downstream end of the dividing wall. The vortex generators (9) have surfaces which project into the duct, and around which flow occurs freely. Each vortex generator includes two side surfaces connected at a lead connecting edge which stands perpendicularly to the dividing wall (22) and is the edge acted upon first by the flow. A top surface consists of two sectional top surfaces (1, 2) which are connected to one another via a top connecting edge (10). Downstream rear edges (5, 6) of the sectional top surfaces (1, 2) are oriented at an angle (.gamma.) with the dividing wall (22), as a result of which, the the rear edges (5, 6) lie on an opposite side of the dividing wall (22)), with respect to the side surfaces (11, 13).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 8, 1998
    Assignee: ABB Research Ltd.
    Inventors: Adnan Eroglu, Wolfgang Polifke, Peter Senior
  • Patent number: 5791894
    Abstract: In a premix burner having a swirl-stabilizing interior space (20) which is essentially formed by sectional shells (11, 12) nested one inside the other in a mutually offset manner as well as by a conically running inner body (13), one feed duct (11c, 12c) each extends upstream of the tangential air-inlet slots (11a, 12a) formed by the offset sectional shells, which feed duct (11c, 12c) is fitted at least with means (11d, 12d) for swirling an air flow (23) and with means for introducing a fuel (24). The introduction of the fuel is preferably arranged downstream of the means for swirling the air flow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 1996
    Date of Patent: August 11, 1998
    Assignee: ABB Research Ltd.
    Inventors: Klaus Dobbeling, Adnan Eroglu, Hans Peter Knopfel, Wolfgang Polifke, Dieter Winkler