Abstract: The invention resides in an electrical power generation system comprising means for burning solid carbonaceous fuel, such as brown coal, to generate heat energy which is used to convert water to steam, turbine means driven by the said steam for producing electrical energy, and solid carbonaceous fuel drying means, wherein moist fuel is indirectly heated by steam in the drying means in the absence of introduced air or other gases, whereby water vapor substantially free from air or other gases is driven off from the fuel for further use and the dried fuel is passed to the burning means. Preferably, the solid carbonaceous fuel drying means is in the form of a fluidized bed in which the fluidizing medium is water vapor. Further, the fluidized bed may be indirectly heated by saturated steam which transfers heat to the solid carbonaceous fuel and becomes condensed.

Abstract: A radiant surface combustor comprising a porous combustor element in close heat transfer relation with a heat transfer surface for absorbing radiant heat energy from the combustor element.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for treating hot exhaust gas to purify the gas and to recover the heat values therein includes removing particulate matter from the gas, purifying the gas by subliming or "freezing out" harmful, less volatile components and discharging the more volatile components as purified gas. The sublimed or "frozen out" components are collected and neutralized or utilized. The heat values may be recovered prior or subsequent to purifying, such as by spraying a power fluid into the gas to cool and increase the volume of the gas and then expanding the gas in an expansion turbine to further cool the gas and to produce shaft work. Alternatively, the heat values may be recovered from purified, hot gas by transferring the heat energy of the gas to a power fluid which operates in a Rankine cycle external combustion engine to do shaft work.

Abstract: A heating-chamber is provided for a heating-chamber combustion engine. A piston is provided with a detachable extension on the flat bottom of the piston, which towers upwardly and reaches during the upstoke into a pocket of the cylinder head. The detachable extension has a slit located close to the bottom of the piston. An opening in the cylinder wall is provided, opening a path to the heating-chamber. The path is located near the cylinder head so, that in the highest position of the piston the slit in the detachable extension and the opening in the cylinder wall line up with each other, keeping the opening in the cylinder wall closed in all but the highest position of the piston.

Abstract: A system of operating an engine on a recyclable, relatively non-polluting fuel. The fuel may include any one or more of the following: magnesium (Mg), aluminum (Al), magnesium plus aluminum, magnesium-aluminum alloy, magnesium hydride (MgH.sub.2) aluminum hydride (AlH.sub.3) and magnesium aluminum hydride (Mg(AlH.sub.4).sub.2). The fuel when burned produces oxides and hydroxides of magnesium and/or aluminum. The oxides and hydroxides can be reduced to magnesium and/or aluminum and/or their hydrides and reformed for reuse in the engine. The system is intended for use not only in automotive engines but also stationary power plants including refrigeration.

Abstract: An energy recovery system for use in conjunction with a fermenter operating with an overpressure preferably of 5 to 10 bars gauge. Gas under pressure leaving the fermenter passes to a gas expander and the power produced by the expander is used to drive the compressor which supplies gas under pressure to the fermenter. The combination of the energy recovery system with a fermenter provides an efficient means for operating a process for the production of single cell protein.

Abstract: A turbine including a plurality of nozzles for delivering streams of a two-phase fluid along linear paths, a phase separator for responsively separating the vapor and liquid characterized by concentrically related annuli supported for rotation within the paths and having endless channels for confining the liquid under the influence of centrifugal forces, a vapor turbine fan for extracting kinetic energy from the vapor, and a liquid turbine blade for extracting kinetic energy from the liquid whereby angular momentum of both the liquid phase and the vapor phase of the fluid is converted to torque.

Abstract: The heat and flu gases which are ordinarily expelled through an emission stack of a conventional furnace are instead channeled through a heat exchanger to produce steam for power generation and are subsequently directed through a gas scrubber apparatus to remove all contaminates from the flu gas prior to expelling the gases into the atmosphere.

Abstract: A system of operating an engine on a recyclable, relatively non-polluting fuel. The fuel is preferably a magnesium-aluminum alloy which when burned produces oxides of magnesium and aluminum. The oxides can be reduced to magnesium and aluminum and alloyed for reuse in the engine. The system is intended for use not only in automotive engines but also stationary power plants including refrigeration.

Abstract: The sensible and latent heat of hot exhaust gases generated in fuel burning furnaces, roaster, cement kilns, and the like is transferred to a power fluid in the boiler of an external combustion engine. The cooled gases are purified by subliming or "freezing out" harmful, less volatile components. The purified gases are discharged to atmosphere without using flue gas stacks. The sublimed or "frozen out" impurities are collected and neutralized.

Abstract: A steam turbine is provided with an automatic digital computer controller and a backup analog controller which are interfaced with an electrohydraulic position control for the turbine throttles and governor valves. Valve position signals are generated by transducers and applied to the valve position control along with position setpoint signals from the computer or the backup controller for the purpose of generating valve control signals which drive the valves until the position setpoints are satisfied. The position signals are also applied to the computer where they are compared to the computer valve position setpoints. The automatic controller and the analog backup controller each have a speed/load control which generates the valve position setpoints in accordance with a speed or load reference, and the backup control tracks the computer setpoints during automatic control.

Abstract: An improved system of transferring heat energy from a high temperature fluid to a low temperature fluid is described. A countercurrent heat exchanger is employed in which heat transfer fluids undergo one or more thermodynamic transitions at various pressures by employing conventional heat exchangers having additional components. It has been determined that by employing this system of the present invention under a critical choice of design parameters, a substantially greater amount of heat energy can be transferred per unit area of the heat exchanger than was possible by conventional techniques.

Abstract: An electric power plant including a steam generator and a steam turbine is operated by a control system including two redundant digital computers. Switching circuitry is provided for coupling one of the computers through interface equipment to the steam generator and the turbine and a generator according to programmed computer control. A data link is established between the computers to transfer manual/automatic status and other needed data from the control computer to the standby computer. A system is provided for detecting when certain hardware and software malfunctions have occurred and for responsively transferring control to the standby computer. The standby computer is tracked to the control computer so that control computer transfer can be made reliably without disturbing the electric power generation process. The turbine control includes a speed control loop which is implemented with computer operations.

Abstract: An electric power plant including a steam generator and a steam turbine is operated by a control system including two redundant digital computers. Switching circuitry is provided for coupling one of the computers through interface equipment to the steam generator and the turbine and a generator according to programmed computer control. A data link is established between the computers to transfer manual/automatic status and other needed data from the control computer to the standby computer. A system is provided for detecting when certain hardware and software malfunctions have occurred and for responsively transferring control to the standby computer. The standby computer is tracked to the control computer so that control computer transfer can be made reliably without disturbing the electric power generation process.

Abstract: In a system and method for automatically starting, synchronizing and operating a steam turbine, proportional plus integral feedbck control utilizing digital computer systems is adapted to correspond to physical valve operation by applying integration limits. Useful for both speed and load control modes of operation, the demand signal is compared with prior values thereof, and the differential is both multiplied by a proportional gain factor, and integrated in the computer utilizing numerical integration techniques. The integrated total is kept within a desired range by applying upper and lower limits, and the limited integral is combined with the proportional factor, further limited, as desired, and appropriately scaled for use as a process variable.

Abstract: An electric power plant including a steam generator and a steam turbine is operated by a control system including two redundant digital computers. Switching circuitry is provided for coupling one of the computers through interface equipment to the steam generator and the turbine and a generator according to programmed computer control. A data link is established between the computers to transfer manual/automatic status and other needed data from the control computer to the standby computer. A system is provided for detecting when certain hardware and software malfunctions have occurred and for responsively transferring control to the standby computer. The standby computer is tracked to the control computer so that control computer transfer can be made reliably without disturbing the electric power generation process. The turbine control includes a load control loop which is implemented with computer operations.

Abstract: A digital computer control system for operating a steam turbine in an electric power plant is disclosed. Under automatic control, the digital computer calculates a steam flow demand signal for positioning the steam inlet valves. A speed feedback loop is used to modify the steam flow demand signal as required to maintain the desired speed. The speed loop selects a first or second of three independently generated speed signals depending on the difference between the three speed signals. The first speed signal is a digital signal; and the second is an analog signal, which is converted to a digital signal. The digital signal consists of a fine and a coarse speed signal which is selected in accordance with turbine speed to constitute the first generated speed signal.

Abstract: An electric power plant including a steam generator and a steam turbine is operated by a control system including two redundant digital computers. Switching circuitry is provided for coupling one of the computers through interface equipment to the steam generator and the turbine and a generator according to programmed computer control. A data link is established between the computers to transfer manual/automatic status and other needed data from the control computer to the standby computer. A system is provided for detecting when certain hardware and software malfunctions have occurred and for responsively transferring control to the standby computer. The standby computer is tracked to the control computer so that control computer transfer can be made reliably without disturbing the electric power generation process. Tracking is produced by a system which includes the data link as well as tracking controls in the noncontrolling computer.

Abstract: A steam turbine is provided with inlet throttle and governor valves which are positioned by an electrohydraulic control. A digital computer includes a speed control and a load control which respond to turbine speed and load signals and an electrical load signal to generate position control setpoints for the valves. A load reference is generated from an input load demand, and the reference is modified by a speed correction and selectively acted upon by a megawatt control and an impulse pressure control in the generation of the valve position setpoints. On the insertion of the megawatt control or the impulse pressure control into service, or on its removal from service, the computer instantly resets control parameters as required to provide for bumpless control loop switching.

Abstract: The electric power plant including a steam generator and a steam turbine is operated by a control system including two redundant digital computers. Switching circuitry is provided for coupling one of the computers through interface equipment to the steam generator and the turbine and a generator according to programmed computer control. A data link is established between the computers to transfer manual/automatic status and other needed data from the control computer to the standby computer. A system is provided for detecting when certain hardware and software malfunctions have occurred and for responsively transferring control to the standby computer. The standby computer is tracked to the control computer so that control computer transfer can be made reliably without disturbing the electric power generation process.

Abstract: Inplant sensors in the boiler and turbine units sense present values of a number of physical parameters designated process variables, and of certain control variables. Set points are developed, and deviations therefrom of the control and process variables are calculated. Utilizing a mathematical model, state variable deviations are estimated and translated into corresponding physical parameter estimates, which are used to evaluate model inaccuracy. State variable and model error estimates are translated into desired control deviations, which in turn are combined with fed forward values of the control variable set points. The combined control terms actuate controllers in the boiler and turbine units.

Abstract: Waste heat in the form of the sensible heat of flue gases, sensible and latent heat of geothermal sources, etc., is converted to usable energy. When the energy source consists solely of sensible heat of a gas or a liquid which is not the working fluid, the liquid working fluid is heated by the energy source and then expanded in a hot liquid turbine wherein partial vaporization occurs with decrease in pressure. The working fluid is thereby accelerated as thermal energy is converted to kinetic energy and internal energy of the vapor. The hot liquid turbine can be a hot liquid impulse turbine wherein the expansion occurs in the inlet nozzles and the mixed phase working fluid then impinges on the moving buckets of the impulse turbine transferring the kinetic energy to shaft work.

Abstract: A portion of the steam produced in a nuclear power plant at relatively low pressure is substantially adiabatically compressed, and the compressed, heated steam is employed for superheating the steam supplied to one or both stages of a steam turbine which drives the generator. The energy gained by superheating may be greater than that spent in compressing a portion of the steam.

Abstract: A fluid pressure power plant which converts heat energy, externally generated, to high hydraulic pressure. The system generates heat energy in the form of steam or hot gas, supplies the heat energy to a double-acting intensifier piston which converts the heat energy to high hydraulic pressure which is stored in an accumulator. The high pressure hydraulic energy stored in the accumulator is used to drive hydraulic motors or turbines through hydraulic output control valves. The system operates on a demand cycle in that no energy input from the heat generator and power conversion piston is necessary until there is some demand for power output from the hydraulic accumulator, once said accumulator is fully charged.

Abstract: Steam or other condensable vapor heated to a maximum temperature at a maximum pressure permitted by the system is expanded to a lower pressure in a positive displacement expander; the partially expanded fluid is then further expanded in a turbine, a portion of the fluid in the turbine is withdrawn and directed to a positive displacement compressor and compressed to the maximum operating pressure while introducing the condensate of the remaining portion of the fluid into the compressor. The compressed fluid is then reheated to maximum temperature and the cycle repeats.

Abstract: A gas generator is disclosed which will simply and reliably effect a gas producing reaction between a gaseous and a liquid reactant. The generator can operate at elevated temperatures and has heat exchange means incorporated. The gas generator is applied as a hydrogen generator to an energy conversion system in which hydrogen from the hydrogen-producing reaction powers a fuel cell and the reaction heat from the hydrogen producing reaction powers a thermal engine, thereby enhancing the energy conversion system relative to one in which the hydrogen generator is merely cooled and its heat is rejected as waste heat. Other possible energy conversion systems based on this gas generator are disclosed.

Abstract: At a heat source, such as a nuclear reactor, phosgene is reacted to form a mixture of carbon monoxide and chlorine. This mixture of gases is cooled by heat exchange with incoming cold phosgene and is pumped through a first pipeline at ambient temperature to an energy use area. At the energy use end of the first pipeline the gas mixture is heated in the presence of a catalyst, such as activated charcoal. The CO and Cl.sub.2 react exothermically to form COCl.sub.2 (phosgene) with the liberation of 26 keal per mol of phosgene formed. The heat evolved from this reaction is released across a heat exchanger for the boiling of water and superheating of the resultant steam to a temperature in the 400.degree.-500.degree.C range for use as process heat or the generation of electricity. The phosgene produced is cooled and then returned to the heat source end via a second pipeline for repetition of the closed loop process described.