US1400549A - Combustion-regulating means - Google Patents

Description

J. M. HOPWOOD.

OMBUSTION HEGULATING MEANS. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 4, 1919.

INVENTOR UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN M. HOPWOOD, OF DQRMONT, PENNSYLVANIA.

COMBUSTION-REGULATING MEANS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 20, 1921.

Application filed October 4, 1919. Serial K 5328563.

To all whom it may) concern:

Be it known that. I, JOHN M.- Horwoon,

residing at'Dormont, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, a citizen of the United States, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Combustion-Regulating Means,:of

which improvements the following is aspecification. I

It is the purpose inemploying automatic combustion regulating means to insure an increase inthe rate of combustion in case the supply of steam is insuflicient and to decrease the rate of combustion when the rate of supply is greater than required, or in other Words, to regulate combustion so that the rate of eneration shall always be proportional to t e demand, 21. 0., shall rise and fall with the demand.

It is the present practice to connect the.

motors of the combustion accessories, such as stoking mechanism, blowers, etc., directly to the boiler or to a header connected to all ,the units of a plant so that the pressure of the steam supplied to these accessorieswill var with changes of pressure in the boiler eader, except 1n cases where 1t is de-'.

or sired to operate the blower at 'a constant rate, in which case'the flow of steam to the blower motor is controlled by a governor, andthe supply of air-to the furnace or furnaces is regulated by a valve or damper. A governor, however, cannot be employed for regulating the fiow' of steam to the stoker en ines, as the operation of the lat ter shoul vary in accordance with the load in the boiler. In cases where the fan speeds are regulated to suit load requirements, it is the practice to control the flow of steam to the fan engine by a valve mechanism,

which tends to close the valve when the.

steam pressure rises and to open the valve when the pressure falls.

Practice has shown that the degree of regulation attained by the employment of such valve mechanism for regulating the operations of stokers, e'tc., is very unsatisfactory, as no' provision is made for compensating for the variation of the pressures of the steam; only the quantity of steam flowing to the stoker .and fan engines is varied. Hence although the quantity of steampassed by such valve mechanism will vary as the pressure in the boiler rises or falls, the pressure of the steam so admitted will rise or fall, and only a partial regulation is effected, and experience has shown .that as a matter' 'of fact the operations of the stokers and fans do not respond with substantial exactness to changes of load on the boiler, when their engines .are directly connected to the boiler or header connected to a plurality of boilers.

The invention described herein has for its object the provision of suitable means whereby the pressure of the steam supplied to the motors of the accessories will not vary with the pressure of the steam supplied by the boiler or boilers, or in other words, it is the object of theinvention to supply, the motors of the accessories with steam at an unvarying predetermined pressure, so that the operation of the stoker and' boiler will respond with substantial exactness to changes of load in the boiler or boilers. The invention-is hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing vforming a part of this specification is shown diagrammatically a plurality of boiler units with accessories such as fuel feeding means, and means for supplying air for combustlon 1n combinatlon with means for supplylng sure to the motors of such accessories. 1

In the practice of the invention, the boiler is provided with its usual outlet extending to point of use, or to the header 1 forming the outlet for a plurality of boilers, and leadin to the engine or other point of use. In or er to provide-for supplying steam to the accessories at a uniform pressure, an

steam at a predeterminedand uniform presduit 6, and also to the cylinders of the stoking mechanism, diagrammatically indicated at 7.

provement described herein can be'used in connection with any known system for regulating the feed of fuel and air for combustion whether such system operates to adjust combustion conditions by and in ac- It will be readily understood that the imcordance With ,changes in pressure of the steam, as shown and described in Letters Patent No. 817438, dated April 10th, 1906 or in accordance-with the rate of flow and pressure of steam from the generator to the point or points of use as set forth in Letters Patent No. 1,338,922 granted May 4: 1920, to John M. Hopwood, it being the purpose of this invention to insure that any changes in pressure or rate of flowof the steam shall be followed by changes in th operation of the accessories almost exactly proportional.

to such changes, and all irregularly actin influences eliminated.

I claim herein as my invention: 1. The combination of a steam generator,

" means for controlling the rate of combustion of fuel in the furnaceof said generator,

motors for operating said means, connec-- tions from the generator to the motors of 2. The combination of a battery of steam generators, a header connected to-such battery, means for malntaming a constant pressure ofsteam in said header, means for controlling the rate of combustion of fuel in the furnaces of said battery, motors for operating said controlling means and connec- I tions from said header to the motors of the.

. combustion controlling means.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

= JOHN M. HoPWooD.

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