US1432472A

US1432472A - Method and apparatus for determining the calorific value of gases

Info

Publication number: US1432472A
Application number: US306149A
Authority: US
Inventors: Charles H Lanphier
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1919-06-23
Filing date: 1919-06-23
Publication date: 1922-10-17
Anticipated expiration: 1939-10-17

Description

c. H. LANPHIER. METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DE-TERMINING'THE cALoRIFlc vALu E 0F GASES APPLICTIQN FILED AJUNI-I 23, 1919.

Patbnd @et 117, 1922.

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Patented @et 17, 12922;v

unir-an stares maar enterar CHARLES I-I. LANPHIER, 0F SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.

METHOD, .AND .APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING THE CALORIEIC VALUE 0F GASES.

Application filed June 23,

To @ZZ wlw/mi t may concert,

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. LANPHmR, a citizen of the United States, residingat Springfield, .county of Sangamon, and State of Illinois, have invented .certain new and usefulImprovements in Methods and Apparatus for Determining the Calorific Value of Gases, of which the following is a specication. j y

My invention relates to a method and apparatus for determining the calorific value utilizes the kno-wn fact that the bright blue y flame of illuminating gas burned in a burner of the type known as the Bunsen burner indicates practically complete combustion resulting from an adequate supply of oxygen from the air, and that when the air supply in the mixing chamber is insufficient a yellow p vtip will appear in the inner cone of the flame and will indicate incomplete combustion. In .carrying out my invention, I introduce a gas of known calorific valuey hereinafter referred toas the laboratory gas, to a Bunsen burner, ignite the same, and then adjust the burner so that the yellow tip in theinner cone of the flame will just disappear, the parts of the burner which are rovided with graduations indicating stan ard thermal units yhaving been previously set to correspond to the laboratory gas. I then shut off the supply oflaboratory gas and introduce tothe burner ,the gas to be tested, hereinafter referred to as the commercial gas, and after igniting the same adjust the graduated portion of the burner until theluminous tip disappears. The reading of the graduations on the burner will then indicate the caloriiic value of the gas being tested.

M yinvention will be more'readily understoodI by v'reference to the accompanying drawings forming apart of this specification and in which,- I

, Figure 1 is a vertical sectional viewofithe preferred form of apparatus embodying my 1919. serial No. 306,149.

Figure 3 is a similar section on the line 1 3-3 of Figurel.

Figure et is an elevation of a key used in calibrating the instrument, and

Figure 5 is a side elevation of a modied form of the device.

Referring now t0 the drawings, 1 indicates the base ofthe device which is preferably cylindrical and supported upon suitable legs 2. In the upper part of the base 1 is an air chamber 8 which is in .communication with the atmosphere through a plurality of apertures 4. A closure 5 is provided for they upper end of the chamber and vis preferably threaded into the upper end of the base -as indicated. A burner tube 6 has its lower end threaded into the base 1, as at 7 and extends upwardly through the chamber 3 and closure 5. n-elongated aperture 9 is provided in the tube 6 within the chamber Bfo-r 'a purpose hereinafter described. A plug 10 is threaded into the lower end of the tube 6 and the base 1. This is provided with a bore 11 communicating with a passage 12 in the lowerfportion of the base,A said assage communicating' with a supply pipe 13 for admitting gas to the apparatus. The

upper end of the bore 11 of the plug 10 lis reduced in diameter, terminating in a minute orifice 141 for the discharge of the gas into the mixing chamber 15, the lower portion of the bore of the ltube 6 comprising such chamber. 'A needle valve 16 controls the passageway through the orifice 111 and has its stem threaded through the bottom of the base 1, as indicated at 17. The stem of the needle valve terminates in a knurled head 18 to facilitate adjusting said valve. The upper end of the plug 10 is provided with mortises 19 to accommodate tenons 20 on the end of a key 21. The key 21 is of greater length than the tube 6 so that the same may be inserted through said tube and used to adjust theplug 10 as will be described hereinafter.

vThreaded upon the lower end of the tube 6 is a sleeve 22 which extends through'the closure 5, vforming a snug joint therewith,

and is adapted to control the admission of lairthrough the aperture 9 from 'the air vmitted, and as it is screwed downwardly that the supply of air will be diminished.

The 'threads 23 between the tube 6 and sleeve 52E-are preferably forty tothe inch and the tube 6 above the upper end `of the sleeve 22 is provided with-,graduations 9.4

, arraned fort to the inch so that one comfrom drafts and dirt.

plete revolution of the sleeve will raise or lower the same the distance of one graduation on the scale 24.' The upper end ofthe sleeve 22 is provided with a micrometer scale which vis divided into twentyelive equal parts, so that when the sleeve 221s `turned the dista-nce between two adjacent graduations on the micrometer scale, the sleeve will'be moved upwardly or downwardly one one-thousandth of an inch.

Each complete revolution of the sleeve will measure twenty-live B. T. `U.,"and therotation measured by one of the graduations 25 will measure one B. T. j j By providing the chamber surrounding the lower portonofthe tube and sleeve, a shield is provided toprotect the air inlet air to enter the barrel or tube 6' at a uni.- form pressure and also prevents the-hands "of the operator from coming; incontact'with ing of the orifice and'causel a wrong reading of the device. v

ln carrying outv my .method by means of the apparatus above described,r the said ap p'aratus is'lirst Aadjusted approximately to vcompletely burn a gas of `known caloric value. Tomthis end, the sleeve 22 is screwed upwardly7 until the upper end thereof registers with the graduation indicating the calori'c value of said f laboratory gas, and then the plug l() is screwed upwardly in the base to reduce the opening); 9 to a size which, as nearly as can beA determined'in advance,

adapted 't,o'supplythe right quantity of air for perfect combustion of the laboratory gras. The gas isA then introduced through the pipe l'and ig'nitedat the upper end of the ytube G. lf a yellowtip appears in the inner flame cone, theneedle valve'is first vregulated to adjust lthe supply' of gas.

When this reduces the supply of gas too much before the luminous tip disappears, the plug` ,l0 must beY screwed downwardly to admit more air through the aperture 9. lf, on the other hand, the yellow tip does not show inthe inner cone flame, I first increase the gas supplybyfopening the needle valve until a faint yellow tip shows in the inner flame cone; if, however, that adjlust lt also 'permits they ment interferes with the full flame body,

which should bel about fourl inches in height,

the plug l0 is screwedv upwardly until the yellow tip appears in the inner liame cone and isthen justl eliminated by the method above described. When the parts have been been just eliminatedv from the flame as described, theA instrument will be ready to test the commercial gas. To dor this thejcommercial gas is introduced through the plug` *l0 and.' ignited at the upper endfof the tube -6. IThe tube 22 is `then screwed upwardly "or downwardly as required untilthe luminousv tip in the liameis just 'eliminated and" the' reading' of the instrument as lpefere` described willgive the'value of the'commercial gasv 1n terms of the thermal units indicated on vthe scales, in the form illustra'ted'inI B. T. U. I "For illustration only, letJ 'itbe assumed vthat the value lof the standard gas has been found' to be 500 B. T. U. and that the instrument has beenadjusted and setV accordingly, and that in' testingthe commercial v'gas vvthe yellow t'1`p yis visible' in lthe inner cone'of the flame, thus indicating that the caloriiic value of the commercial gas "is greater than the caloriiic value of thelaboratory or standard gas; low tip vthe sleeve 22v has made two and lone.- fith (22,-) counter-clockwise rotations, kthe one-'nth rota-tion beingiindicated by the numeralf'fof the scale 25, then the readin will be: 500 B. T. UQ-l- 55 B. T. Ujzn" T.

U., the Ytrue value of the'gas as compared V'with the standard. In the "above example the commercial gas is 55 B. T. Ufabove the (standard.

Reversely, if upon igniting'the commercial gas the yellow tip 1s not visible inthe `inner cone ofthe flame', the absence-of theyellow Atip will indicate thatA thewca'loritic value of the commercial gasis no greater 'but preferably below the caloriilicvalue of1 the laboratory or standard gas. To undy the true value of the :commercial gas compared with the standard gas: Assume as in theI preceding;` example, that 500 B. T. U. is thec'alorific value of the laboratory or standard gas 'and that at the start the upper edge of thesleeve isv at the graduation 500 of the scale 24. lTo test the commercial gas it will benecessary first'to reduce the supply of air ysuch eX? tent that the yellow tip will appear inthe 'inner coneof'the flame and then gradual-ly 'increasefthe supply of air just enough to eliminate the yellow tip and then note'lthe readings of the scales 2e' and 25.

Assume that the yellowtip hasbeen just summed 'and that 0n the Sea-e ai theme-adyingis units and on the scale`25 the readingv's 5 units, then the calore value of the tested gaswould be the Vvalue vof.thestandantigas,` v500i-2B..

and "that to just eliminate the yel-l properly adjusted and? theyellow tip-l has "fio l 44:5 B. T. U. and so on for the various tests which may occur in practice.

l have found by experiment that the length of Bunsen tube most suitable for a caloroptic or' the preferred form is at least twelve times the d iameter of the tube, because the gas and air traversing the unusual length of the tube become thoroughly dil'-4 fused and miXed and consequently producey a more even and constant flaine-body than could be produced by a tube in which the ratio of length to diameter is less than l2 to l. l have also found by experiment that a minute gas orilice as 'compared with the area of the bore of the Bunsen tube,-in practice about 1 to 6 is best adapted to check the velocity of the air and gas mixture beyond the point of air admission and is- .also best adapted for use with a Bunsen tube of a length not less than twelve times the diameter of its bore. Y

In Figure 5, l have illustrated a slightly modified form of device in which 26 indi cates the base, `flared at the bottom, as at 27, Jforming an extended looting and a recess 2S into which extends the lower end oi2 the adjusting screw 29 for the needle valve 16. A plug 10 is threaded into the upper end of the base 26 and a gas inlet port 12 communicates with the device between the plug 10 and adjusting screw 29. rllhe upper end of the base 26 is shouldered, as at 30, to receive the shell 31 forming a main admission chamber 32, said shell beingl provided with air admission ports 4l. The burner tube 6 is threaded into the base and threaded upon the same is the sleeve 22. The lower end ol" the tube 6 is providedk With the ail admission port 9 which is controlled by sleeve 22 as in the foregoing modification. The operation of the device is identical with that of the alors-described form.

I claim i 1. rl`he method of measuring the caloric value of gas which consists in supplying a gas of known caloriic value to a Bunsen burner, adjusting said burner until the flame becomes non-luminous, shutting oil' the supply of gas of known value, and introducing Jche gas to be tested, adjusting the burner to eliminate the luminous flame and noting the difference between the former and latter adjustments of the burner, substantially as described.

2. The method of measuring the calorilic value of gas consisting of introducing the gas in a Bunsen burner previously adjusted to completely burn the gas of a known caloric value, adjusting the burner to eliminate the luminous flame and noting the reading on the graduated scale, 'substantially as described. l

3. A device for measuring the caloric value of gases comprising a Bunsen burner, a sleeve threaded thereon and controlling the air admission port to said burner, there being co-operating graduations on said burner and said sleeve, substantially as described.

d. A device for measuring the caloriic value of gases, comprising lunsen burner, including a burner tube having a graduated scale extending longitudinally thereof, a sleeve threaded on-said tube and controlling the air admission rport to said burner, and the upper edge or sleeve cc-operating with said scale, substantially as described.

5. A device asset :forth in claim l furtherv characterized by having graduations on the upper `edge oi said tube, as and for the purpose specified.

6. A device as set forth in claim 3, in combination with means for initially Calibrating the instrumentv to a gas of known caloric value. substantially as described.

7 A device of the class described comprising a base provided with a gas admission passageway, a burner tube entending up-` wardly from said base and provided with an air admission port. an air chamber on said base surrounding the lower end of said tube., a sleeve threaded on said burner tube and controlling the air port therein, there being cci-operating graduations on said sleeve and said tube, substantially as described.

8. .d device as set forth in claim 7. in combination with a gas jet plug threaded in said base and extending into the lower end of said burner tube and adapted to vary the size of the air admission port in said tube, and a needle valve .controlling the orifice in said plug, substantially as described.

9. A device as set forth in claim 8 in which the cross sectional area of the orifice in said plug andthe cross sectional area ot the burner tube passageway are approximately proportionately in a ratio. ot 1 to 60.

10. A. device as set forth in claim 7, in which the length of the tube is to its diameter in the ratio of not less than 12 to 17 substan tially as described.

v ln testimony whereof l have signed my name to this speeication in" the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES H. LANPHIER.

Witnesses l FRANK H. HAMILTON, J. S. SUTTON.