US1378125A - Gas-generating apparatus - Google Patents

Description

F. D. MOSES.

GAS GENERATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG- 8, 1919.

Patented May 17 1921'.

' 2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

A TTORNE Y WITNESS:

'F. 0. MOSES.

GAS GENERATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FlLED'AUG-8, 1919.

Patented May 17, 1921.

2 SHEEI$SHEET 2.

. BY M 5%,,

A TT ORNE Y FRANK D. MOSES, OF TRENTON, NEW JERSEY.

. GAS-GENERATING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 17, 1921.

Application filed August 8, 1919. Serial No. 816,240.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK D. Mosns, a citizen of the United States, residin at Trenton, county of Mercer, State of ew Jersey, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Gas-Generating Apparatus, and declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanyin drawings, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to gas generating apparatus, and the general object of the invention is to provide a construction of a water gas generating set and a boiler-superheater construction in which the heat developed by the successive blasts of the generator may be utilized in the generation of steam and super-heating thereof nearly to a point of disassociation of its elements prior to contact with the fuel bed.

In the manufacture of waterrgas both thev blast gas and the manufactured gases leave the apparatus at a high temperature, thereby carrying with them a large amount of sensible heat that, if utilized in the production of steam, would generate a suflicient quantity of steam for the purpose of watergas manufacture thus conserving the boiler fuel now employed in the usual apparatus 101 this purpose. Numerous attempts have been made to accomplish this result which have heretofore met with little success due to the fact that the gases are produced at intermittent intervals, and that the temperature thereof fluctuates from about 800 degrees F. to about 2500 degrees F. during the production and further, that the demand for steam in such apparatus arises at a time when the heat for its production is not available, therefore requiring excessively large boilers and producing internal strains that render the boilers unsafe and subject to constant inspection and repair.

An object of my invention is to provide boilers that will utilize the waste heat under the described conditions and of a construction that will not be subjected to undesirable strains arising from such conditions. A further object is to provide a novel means and method of super-heating steam prior to its application for the manufacture of gas or for other purposes. The invention further consists in the several novel features of construction of boiler-superheaters and the arrangement of the several parts of a gas generating set as is hereinafter more fully described and claimed. A form of construction and arrangement of parts involving my lnventlon 1s shown in the accompanying drawlngs 1n which Figure 1 is a cross section of a gas generlike is placed, and on one side of this gen erator is what I have termed aboiler-superheater 2 through which the blast gas passes, and on the opposite side is a somewhat similar boiler'3 through which the manufactured gas passes to the line to a storage tank.

As before stated, the generator is of the ordinary type having-the usual grate 5 near.

the bottom to support the fuel bed A conduit 6 leads from the boiler-'superheater 2 to below the fuel bed in which conduit is a valve 7, and a conduit 8 leads from beneath the ate to the bottom of the boiler 3. This con wt 8 is also provided with a valve 9 for closing the same tothe-bottom of the generator. The generator is provided with the usual fuel door 10 and at the upper end is provided a conduit 11 leading into the conduit 6 between the valve 7 and the boilersuperheater 2. v This conduit 11 is provided with a valve 12 by means of which it may be closed and a vent pipe 13 is provided in the conduit 11 between the valve 12 and the A conduit 14 leads top of the generator. from the top of the generator to the conduit 8 between the valve 9 in the said conduit and the boiler 3. This conduit 14 is also provided with a shut-off valve 15. The vent 13 is provided with a valve 16 at the'top,

and the boiler 3 is valve 17 at the top.

The boiler-superheater 2 consists. of an outer shell 18 providing a water and steam provided with a similar chamber closed at the top by a header 19. 110.

An inner or fire shell 20 is provided op en at the lower end to the conduit 6 and air is 1ntroduced into the bottom of the inner shell 20 by means of a valved conduit21. A similar conduit 22 leads into the bottom of the generator below the grate and both the conduits 21 and 22 are provided with simllar valves 23 and 24 respectively for controlling the air flow and both the conduits are connected with a common supply conduit 25.

The upper end 26 of the shell 20 provides a header for the vertical tubes 27 extending from the header 26 to the header 19 through which gases of combustion may ass when the valve 17 is open. As a protection for the tubes I provide the inside of the header with a shield 28 of refractory material and the lower ends of the tubes are also rovided with refractory material 29 exten ing into the tubes for a short distance which completely covers the ends of the tube head as will be understood from the detall Fig. 3. I also provide a heat absorbing element within the fire shell 20 which consists of a checkerwork 30 preferably formed of rows of bricks of refractory material, one series of rows extending preferably at a right angle to the two adjacent series and practically the entire shell is filled with these superimposed rows of bricks, the purpose of which is more full described hereinafter.

T e chamber 31 between the shell 18 and 20 and about the tubes 27 is the water and steam space of the boiler. ,A valved water inlet is provided at the bottom of the shell 18, and a steam outlet is provided about the top of the shell 18 beneath the header 19. To the steam outlet 33 is connected a steam pipe 34, having a valve 35, which enters the top of the fire chamber just beneath the tube head 26.

The boiler 3 is used to cool the enerated gases and to conserve the heat 0 the said gases and is similar in construction to the superheater 2. The boiler 3 consists of the outer shell 36, the inner or fire shell 37 and a series of tubes 38 extend from the upper end of the fire shell 37 to a header 40 above which is a chamber 41 from which the gaspipe 33 as indicated at the left of Fig. 1, a portion only of the pipe 44 being shown.

In operation the fire is started 1n the generator which, as heretofore stated, is filled with a combustible material. To bring the 7 fuel bed in the generator to a state of incandescence, air under pressure is admitted through the valve 24 and tube 22 which opens beneath the grate of the generator as indicated at 45 inFi 1. At this time the Vent valve 17 of the hoiler-superheater 2 is open and the valve 16 closed and the valves 7, 9 and 15 are closed and the valve 12 is open. The products of combustion pass through the conduit 11 and the checkerwork 30 of the su erheater 2 and through the vent controlled y the valve 17. In this operation carbon mon-oxid' (CO) is usually present in the products of combustion and to conserve this, as well as the sensible heat of the combustion gases, air is admitted through the valve 23 and through the openmg 46 beneath the checker-work for the purpose of burning the CO. During this 0 eration, wh1ch lasts about four minutes, t e blast gases reach the checker-work or brick at about 800 degrees F. at the beginning of the blast and increase in temperature to about 2500 degrees F. at its end. For the purpose of conserving this heat, I have employed the checker-work described and with refractory material covering the tube head and extending into the tubes a short distance. By positioning the checker-work before the tube head through which the blast gases must necessarily pass, the heat is absorbed and the temperature reduced to a considerable extent before the gas reaches the tubes, and the tubes are not subjected to excesslve fluctuations of temperatureas would otherwise exist. Furthermore, the heat absorbed bythe checker brick in this manner will be later transmitted to the boiler proper during the period between blasts when steam is required for gas generation.

After the gas makin apparatus has become properly heated t e air valves 23 and 24 are closed, the valve 17 is closed and the valve 7 is opened and the valve 9 closed. Thereafter, the steam produced b the heating of theboiler2 is admitted t rough the valve 35 and passes down through the hot fire brick or checker-work 30 and becomes intensely heated nearly to the temperature at which it will disaxociate and combine with the carbon of the fuel bed when it comes in contact therewith. In this case the oxygen of the steam (H O) combines with the carbon (C) of the fuel bed forming carbon dioxid 90,). at first and releasing the hydrogen The resulting gases then pass throu h the zones of the generator indicated at and J where the carbon dioxid (00,) takes up carbon and becomes carbonmon-oxid (CO) and passes out throu h the valve 15 to the boiler 3. This as as a temperature from 800 to 1400 (agrees F. and in assing through the checkerwork in the re shell 37 the said checker-work absorbs the heat from the gas reducing its temperature prior to contact with the tubes period of the apparatus continues for a' the boiler above and surrounding this checker-work. At the beginning of the next run the gas entering the boiler 3 at a temperature of about 800 degrees F. absorbs some of the heat of the checker-work? which is conducted by means of the tubes to the water of the boiler. A comparatively even .temperature is thus maintained in the boiler 3. This checker-work or fire brick utilized in boilers or superheaters 2 and 3 has the function of taking up part of the heat and reducingthe temperature of the gases of combustion or the generated gas as the case may be and the quantity of the fire brick fOImIII the checker-work vides a sufficient Eody to maintain the boiler under nearly constant temperature throu hthe last zone. By the apparatus described out the period of operation. The sensi le heat of the gases is consequently conserved and utilized and thus, during the periods in which no gases of combustion for instance are 2, t e intensel heated fire brick of the checker-work serves to maintain the temperature of the boiler while the gas making run occurs. The checker-work also in case of the boiler-superheater 2 serves to prevent the flame of the blast from impinging directly against the tubehead and avoids the disastrous results of intermittent heating and coolin By the use of t e boiler-superheater described, longer and better runs can be made as the steam is superheated for both the up and down runs by using the valves 7, 9, 12 and 15. The apparatus increases the production of gas as the steam is heated nearly to the oint of disassociation upon contacting the Fuel bed. In apparatus heretofore used, saturated steam entering the fuel bed has to be brought to the temperature of disassociation within the bed, which requires the utilization of practically one fourth the fuel bed before CO is formed, and this takes up the carbon and becomes carbon mon-oxid (GO) .in passing through the reaction to carbon dloxid- (00,) .takes place immediately upon the steam contactmg the fuel bed.

The valve 16. heretofore mentioned in the upright flue 13 is an emergency valve and.

should, for any reason, the boiler superheater 2 be out of commission, the apparatus could be operatedb using the valve 16 and cutting out the boi er super-heater by closin the valve 12.

t is evident from the operation described proassing through the boiler-superheater that the apparatus could, with slight modification and by use of another bo' er superheater similar to the super-heater 2, be used to re-heat air as well as steam.

t is also to be noted that reversal of the direction of flow of steam through the fuel bed can be accomplished b openin the valves 12 and 9 and-closing t e valves% and 15. The resultant gas, by this arrangement,

is discharged at the bottom of the generator and passes into the bottom of thev superheater 3 as is the caseif steam is introduced H1130 the bottom of the fuel bed.

I have here shown boilers or super-heaters -with vertical fire tubes but itis to be understood that I do not limit myself to this type 0 of boiler as the rinci le of oonservin the waste heat may e applied to boilers 0% an type, either fire tube or water tube and wit horizontal or inclined as well as vertical tubes. While I have shown a single gas generator in connection with j the boiler super-heater, the principles of the invention may be applied equally well to a series of shells .suc as generator, oarbureter and super-heater of a carbureted water gas set or the blue gas and hydrogen generators o a hydrogen'gas machine. From the foregoingdescri 'tion it becomes evident that the eificlency o the gas generating apparatus is secured principally through the use of peculiar constructed boilers and super-heaters 2 and 3, employing achecker-work in the fire chambers through which the heated gases may pass,

which serves to absorb and conserve the heat of the gases in the roduction and superheating of steam an the principal feature of the invention, therefore, consists in the construction of' the super-heaters or waste heat boilers as well as in the gas generating set as a whole as set forth in the appended claims. l

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is v 1. Apparatus for the manufacture of com- I bustible or other gases consisting of a generator and a boiler-superheater, means for producing combustion in the generator, a conduit at the tgp of the generator to the bottom of the boiler-superheater, a valve in the said conduit, a second conduit from the bottom of the. generator to the bottom of the boiler-superheater, a valve in said conduit, a discharge conduit for the generator f at the top thereof and at the bottom thereof, a valve in each of the said last. named discharge conduits, and a steam conduit I leading from the boiler of the boiler-superheater and dischargin through the bottom thereof, and thence se ectively to the top or bottom of the generator through the first and secondnamedconduits of the generator.

. conduit'tvith which t e steam chamber of the other boiler is'connected, the steam conduit discharging to the generator through the conduits leading to the last named boiler.

3. Water-gas generating apparatus comprising the com ination with a generator, of a boiler su erheater for the production of steam by the gases of combustion,a second boiler in communication at the bottom with the generator, the steam space of the second boiler being connected with the steam space of the boiler of the boiler-superheater, a conduit for discharging steam from the boiler of the boiler-superheater through the fuel bed of the generator to the second boiler, and a discharge conduit for the generated gases passing through the second boiler.

4. Water-gas enerating apparatus comprisin the com ination with a enerator, of a oiler-superheater, a condult leading from the generator to the boiler through which the gases of combustion may pass, a steam conduit from the boiler of the superheater discharging into the generator to pass entirely through the fuel bed thereof, a second boiler having heat absorbing refractory material for retaining and storing heat, a conduit connecting the ame wit the generator whereby the gen "ated gas passing through the refractory material and second boiler may transmit its heat thereto, a discharge conduit for the cooled gases from the said second boiler, the steam space of the second boiler being connected with boiler-superheater and oiler, both having a fire chamber provided with heat absorbin refractory material therein, the gases 0 combustion during the blast of the generator being passed through the boiler-superheater to produce steam, means for discharging the steam through the refractory material to raise the temperature practically to the point of disassociation of its elements, a conduit for discharging the super-heated steam into the fuel bed, means for passin the resultant hot generatedas through t e second boiler, the heat being utilized. to produce steam and the steam of the second enerator being connected with the steam c amber of the first generator,

the refractory material serving to maintain the temperature of the boilers nearly uniform during the successive periods of gas and blast generating respectively.

6. Water-gas enerating apparatus comprising the com ination with a generator, of a boiler-superheater, comprising a boiler shell having a chamber at the bottom provided with heat absorbing and retaining material, the boiler shell extending about the chamber providing a water jacket for the superheater portion of the boiler-superheater, a conduit leading from the top and bottom of the generator to the bottom of the superheater chamber, and a steam conduit leading from the steam space of the boiler to the up er end ofthe superheater chamber to discharge through the bottom of the superheater chamber to the generator through the gas conduits.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specification.

FRANK D. MOSES.

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