JPH0519043B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

The present invention relates to a heat generating device that burns vaporized gas of liquid fuel or gaseous fuel. Generally speaking, liquid fuel is combusted by bundling cellulose materials such as cotton, glass wool, or asbestos, or by sucking it up with a so-called "core" made of textiles, etc., and using a separate ignition source at the tip of the core material. A method in which a part of the fuel sucked up is vaporized and combusted, and the next fuel is vaporized and combusted using that heat to continue combustion, or a separate method in which the fuel is ejected in the form of a spray. A commonly used combustion method is one in which a combustion flame with a large calorific value is obtained by ignition using a provided ignition source. However, while the combustion method described above produces a relatively large amount of heat, it requires a larger combustion device and the need to be equipped with an ignition source.
It has many disadvantages, such as the high risk of inducing a flame due to the generation of flames, and the inability to obtain inexpensive equipment that allows continuous combustion for long periods of time by completely combusting minute amounts of heat. It was difficult to burn it efficiently. The present invention is a heat generating device developed in view of the above, which is small and lightweight, can burn safely for a long time, and burns fuel efficiently. Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram of the device of the present invention, in which 1 is a fuel tank for storing fuel 2, 3 is a fuel outlet porous body arranged so that its lower part is immersed in the fuel 2, and this fuel outlet porous body is Body 3 is 50 per square inch
Porous with ~500 pores
It is composed of a bundle of ceramics, asbestos, glass wool, carbon fiber, etc.
Further, numeral 4 is a shutter for adjusting the amount of fuel delivered from the fuel deriving porous body 3 or for stopping the supply. Reference numeral 5 denotes a ceramic porous body, and the ceramic porous body 5 may be a honeycomb-shaped body with a large number of pores such as triangular, square, hexagonal, or circular, or a three-dimensional net-like body with irregularly shaped pores. It is sufficient that the pores are connected and the ventilation resistance is relatively small.
It is configured to hold about 0.5 to 5 g per capacity. Furthermore, 6 is a container for storing the object to be heated, and the shape of this container 6 may be the most suitable shape depending on the amount, properties, etc. of the object to be heated. Next, the operation of the heat generating device configured as described above will be explained. Now, since the lower part of the fuel derivation porous body 3 is immersed in the fuel 2 stored in the fuel tank 1, the liquid fuel 2 is sucked up by capillary action, and in this sucking process, the fuel Most of the fuel becomes vaporized fuel, and when the shutter 4 is open, it rises and is sent to the ceramic porous body 5 disposed above the shutter 4 and carrying catalyst components. Therefore, the vaporized fuel undergoes an oxidation reaction, that is, combustion, in the ceramic porous body 5 due to the action of platinum, which is a catalyst component. As combustion heat is generated as a result of the oxidation reaction of the vaporized fuel, the oxidation reaction of the vaporized fuel continuously sent from the fuel derivation porous body 3 is promoted and expanded in the ceramic porous body 5, and the vaporized fuel is continuously oxidized. The combustion action continues, so that the generated combustion heat heats the container 6, thereby heating the heated object (not shown) placed in the container 6. On the other hand, a ceramic porous body 5 carrying platinum group metals
If the capacity to cause the oxidation reaction in is sufficiently large, the amount of heat generated is approximately proportional to the amount of vaporized fuel supplied, so the amount of heat generated and the heating temperature can be controlled by adjusting the opening degree of the shutter 4. Furthermore, by closing the shutter 4, the heat generating operation can be stopped. By the way, as mentioned above, the liquid fuel used for combustion in the apparatus of the present invention has a boiling point of 30
Methanol (64℃), ethanol (78℃) above ℃
It is preferable to use a flammable organic liquid with a relatively low boiling point, such as ether (34℃) or acetone (54℃).In addition, gasoline, kerosene, etc. may also be used, but if the liquid has a relatively high boiling point, such as kerosene, is the second
As illustrated in Figures a and b, a heater H is embedded in each of the fuel derivation porous body 3, ceramic porous body 5, etc., and the heater H is energized from the battery B to heat it, thereby further oxidizing combustion. It can accelerate the reaction. Furthermore, the fuel used for combustion is not limited to alcohol, ether, and acetone, which are liquid at room temperature and pressure, but also fuels such as butane, ethane, and methane, which become liquid under pressure and are gas at room temperature and pressure. In this case, a porous fuel outlet body 3 may be provided to rectify the flow of the supplied gaseous fuel, but in that case, it is not necessarily required. Further, in the above embodiments, liquid fuel or gaseous fuel is used as the fuel, but solid fuel such as methanol may also be used. Next, Table 1 lists experimental examples for the apparatus of the present invention. In these experimental examples A to G, in particular, the rise of the fuel reaction was set at approximately 50% directly above the center point of the ceramic porous body 5.
The graph in Figure 3 is a plot of the temperature at the mm position and the elapsed time from the start of supply of fuel to the ceramic porous body 5.As is clear from this, when the same fuel is used, the fuel The derived porous body 3 and the ceramic porous body 5 having a high porosity, that is, those having a large number of cells and a large volume, especially those equipped with the ceramic porous body 5, have a faster temperature rise and can achieve higher temperatures. There is a tendency for this to occur. This is experimental example A, B,
As is clear from C, it supports vaporized fuel and catalyst components.

【table】

[Table] This is thought to be because the oxidation reaction is rapidly promoted because the catalytic area is large. However, as in Experimental Examples D to G, when the ceramic porous body 5 has a small volume, even if the number of cells is large, the rise of the oxidation reaction is slow, and in this case, the temperature rise value is also about 70 It can be seen that it is suitable for the configuration of a heat generating device for heating to a relatively low temperature of about .degree. Further, in the case of using a fuel having a low concentration as in Experimental Examples F and G, the oxidation reaction takes place extremely slowly, and the temperature rise remains within the range of 20 to 40°C. Therefore, it can be seen that even if the heat generating devices are the same, it is possible to control the amount of heat generated and the temperature rise by changing the concentration of the supplied fuel. Note that although the experimental examples listed in Table 1 above are based on the case where only methanol is used as the fuel, this is not the only example, and when other heat-generating organic liquids such as ethanol and acetone are used, almost the same temperature rise, i.e. It showed a tendency to have an oxidation (combustion) reaction. Furthermore, we investigated the onset of the oxidation reaction by supplying a gaseous fuel such as butane to the ceramic porous body 5 at room temperature and normal pressure, and found that almost the same tendency was observed even when such a gaseous fuel was used. However, as in the case of using a liquid fuel with a high boiling point, the oxidation reaction can be caused by heating it in advance with the heater H embedded in the ceramic porous body 5 as shown in Fig. 3b in order to cause the initial oxidation reaction. It was easy to continue. By the way, the ceramic porous body 5 for oxidizing (combusting) the fuel should have as large a volume as possible in order to cause a sufficient reaction, and should contain at least a platinum group metal as an oxidation catalyst per volume.
Although 0.5 to 5 g was supported, a cell number of 20 to 600 cells/in ² was suitable for the construction of the thermal device of the present invention and was convenient for use. In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, the fuel derivation porous body 3
Although the ceramic porous body 5 and the ceramic porous body 5 are constructed as separate bodies, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, an integrated ceramic porous body may be used, immersed in the fuel 2 in the fuel tank 1, and sucking up the fuel 2 to vaporize it. The lower half may not support a platinum group metal, and the upper half may support a platinum group metal in order to cause an oxidation reaction (combustion) of the vaporized fuel in the lower half. In this case, to start and stop the combustion operation, the supply of oxygen (air) to the part of the ceramic porous body that undergoes the oxidation reaction must be cut off, or the part that forms the fuel derivation porous body must be immersed in liquid fuel. The entire porous ceramic body may be raised up and down so that it is separated from the fuel liquid level. The shape of the container 6 placed above the ceramic porous body that causes the oxidation reaction does not need to be specified and can be of any shape as long as it is suitable for containing the object to be heated in the container 6. Just use something. As described above, the present invention is a device that utilizes the excellent oxidation catalytic action of platinum group metals in which gaseous fuel or liquid fuel is supported on a ceramic porous body.
It is possible to provide at low cost a heat generating device that is small and lightweight, does not require an ignition source, can burn efficiently for a long time, and is safe and can be used in many ways without the risk of causing a fire. It has many excellent features.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a heat generating device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2a and 2b are broken sectional views showing other embodiments of only the fuel deriving porous body 3 and the ceramic porous body 5 in FIG. 1, respectively. be. FIG. 3 is a graph showing the relationship between increased temperature and reaction time in an example using the apparatus of the present invention. 1: fuel tank, 2: liquid fuel, 3: fuel derivation porous body, 4: shutter, 5: ceramic porous body, 6: container.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Supporting platinum group metals such as platinum and palladium through a fuel tank containing fuel such as methanol, ethanol, ether, acetone, methane, ethane, butane, and a fuel outlet porous body that guides the fuel in the fuel tank. A ceramic honeycomb porous body having a cell count of 20 to 600 cells/in ² is disposed, and the vaporized fuel released from the upper end of the fuel deriving porous body is combusted by the ceramic honeycomb porous body. A heat generating device featuring: