GB901022A - Method of and apparatus for producing reactions on gaseous, vaporous or finely dispersed liquid and solid substances under electrical action - Google Patents

Abstract

901,022. Treating gases with discharges. ELEKTROPHYSIKALISCHE ANSTALT B. BERGHAUS. May 13, 1959 [May 16, 1958; May 20, 1958], No. 16392/59. Class 39 (1). In apparatus for carrying out chemical reactions in gases, vapours or finely dispersed solid or liquid substances by means of an electric glow discharge, the substances are introduced into the reaction chamber in the form of a jet and cathode rays are injected into the jet at its periphery. In Fig. 1, a glow discharge is formed on the inner surface of the ring anode 13, and generated electrons are directed radially into the jet 12. In Fig. 3, the glow discharge is formed on the interior of the rim 28 of nozzle body 24. A metal sleeve electrode 34 surrounds the rim 28 to leave a neutral gap 35. The nozzle body and the anode 37 have interior cooling ducts 25, 40. A.C. or D.C. may be used. Suitable voltages and frequencies are given and the speed of the jet may vary from one hundredth up to a multiple of the speed of sound. The anode 37 is slidable and an initial starting up procedure is described. The nozzle body and anode may be of metal or semiconductive material, e.g. germanium, silicon or sintered metal/non-metal, or of insulating material, e.g. ceramic or china or boron nitride, or coated with insulating material, e.g. a silicone lacquer. In a modification, Fig. 9 (not shown), the electrode 34 forms a second anode and the rim 28 is perforated, or two anodes may be provided, one adjacent the rim of the nozzle body. Further shield electrodes and neutral gaps may be provided in the nozzle structure, Fig. 7 (not shown). Preliminary ionization may be provided by establishing a glow discharge within a nozzle antechamber. In other modifications the anode 53, Fig. 5, is within a spherical electrode 52 which concentrates the charge carriers to a point on the axis of the jet. In Fig. 6, the nozzle aperture 65 is of spherical shape and in further modifications multiple nozzles may be used, the nozzle openings being parallel, converging or diverging and the anode provided with corresponding apertures, Figs. 8 to 12, 15, 16, 22 and 23 (all not shown). The nozzle openings may be radial, Fig. 14 (not shown), and may have various shapes such as shown in Fig. 17, 18 or 19, or may be annular, Fig. 20 (not shown). Specifications 716,869, 743,120, 780,850, 804,916 and 818,413 are referred to.