US2750735A - Apparatus for the generation of driving gases by explosion and process for operating the same - Google Patents

Description

June 9; 1956 A. H. SCHlLLi NG 2,750,735 APPARATUS FOR THE GENERATION OF DRIVING GASES BY EXPLOSION AND PROCESS FOR OPERATING THE SAME Filed Dec. 24, 1951 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR.

Au 1152, H. Schz'l/in BY g g ATTORNEY June 19, 1956 A, H, SCHILLING 2,750,735

APPARATUS FOR THE GENERATION OF DRIVING GASES BY EXPLOSION AND PRGCESS FOR OPERATING THE SAME Filed Dec. 24, 1951 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 7920c Fig. 2 64 I A V A 0.0595 00595 I-- 00595 0.0595 sec. Expansion I Expansion]! ScaMC/zary/hg ZqnExp/osion INV EN TOR. August H. Schilling k uw ATTORNEY Jun 19-, 1956 A. H. SCHILL APPA TU R 1wv GE T EX L S AND PRQC F ING 2,750,735 NERA ION OF DRIVING GASES BY ESS OR OPERATING THE SAME 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec, 34, 1951 E 7 mm H Real/11m 3 UP: I 6 N :21.

V INVENTOR. A ugusa H Jcfizl/Phg ATTORNEY 6 Wm WM 9m Y e h SS $5 A G J n 1955 A. H. SCHILLING APPARATUS FOR THE GENERATION 0F DRIVING EXPLOSION AND PROCESS FOR OPERATING THE SAME Filed Dec. 24, 1951 INVEN TOR. August H. Schilling ATTORNEY June 19, 1956 H, SCHILLING 2,750,735 APPARATUS FOR THE GENERATION OF DRIVING GASES BY EXPLOSION AND PROCESS FOR OPERATING THE SAME Filed Dec 24, 1951 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 IN V EN TOR. A ugust H Schilling Y A 77 ORNE Y United States Patent APPARATUS FOR THE GENERATION OF DRIVING GASES BY EXPLOSION AND PROCESS FOR OP- ERATING THE SAME August H. Schilling, Atherton, Califi, assignor to Schilling Estate Company, San Francisco, Calif., a corporation of California Application December 24, 1951, Serial No. 263,113

Claims. (Cl. Gil-39.02)

The present invention relates generally to explosion gas turbine power plants, and more particularly to a process and apparatus for generating pressure gases by combustion under constant volume for use in turbines and other machines and devices driven or operated by hot gases under pressure.

It is known to generate driving gases of high temperature and pressure under constant volume and then discharge the gases through nozzles and utilize their energy for driving a gas turbine. Theoretically, the explosion gases produced under constant volume are capable of yielding considerably larger amounts of available energy for conversion into mechanical work than gases generated by combustion under constant pressure. However, in actual practice, difficulties arose from the peculiar character of the gas discharge from the constant volume explosion chambers. This discharge during each cycle was attended by a sharp drop in the gas pressure in advance of the nozzles, with resultant variations of temperature in advance of the nozzles, causing widely fluctuating energy or enthalpy drops in the turbine from the moment that the discharge or nozzle valve was opened to the moment of closing. An immediately recognizable efiect of this variation in enthalpy drop through the turbine was the wide fluctuation in the velocity of the gases discharging through the nozzles during each cycle. Because velocity turbines are designed for most efficient operation within a rather limited range of gas velocities, and because the velocity fluctuations of the gases extended much beyond such optimum range, the efficiency of the velocity turbine suffered correspondingly.

In the further development of the explosion turbine, the charging and hence the explosion pressures were increased, and the total enthalpy drop of the gases was divided between two or more turbine stages. In these known arrangements, the total volume of live gases (of a pressure above the charging pressure) generated by each explosion in the individual explosion chambers was passed through each of the plurality of turbine stages in succession. However, the use of a plurality of turbine stages still failed to raise the individual rotor efficiencies to the desired degree.

The effort was also made to improve the rotor efliciency of the second and subsequent turbines by equalizing the pressure of the gases exhausting from the first turbine, and to increase the overall efficiency by utilizing the more efficient multi-stage reaction or Parsons turbine as against the velocity or Curtis rotor. To this end, a pressure equalizer was arranged between the first and second turbines. However, equalizers of reasonable dimensions failed to keep the pressure as uniform as was desired. In fact, equalization of the counterpressure tended to decrease the effic-iency of the first turbine by increasing the enthalpy drop differential between the first and last portions of a gas discharge.

It is accordingly the general object of the present invention to provide an improved process and apparatus for realizing on the practical plane the theoretically higher efficiencies which are possible with explosion turbine Patented June 19, 1956 plants as compared with constant pressure combustion turbine plants, regardless of whether the total available energy of the explosion gases is all utilized in an integrated turbine plant, or part of the energy is used in what may be called a gas generator plant and the remainder in another plant.

More specifically, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for the utilization of high pressure combustion gases generated under constant volume whereby the energy or enthalpy drop in one or more velocity turbines is maintained substantially constant so that high rotor efiiciencies are obtained.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for utilizing combustion gases generated under constant volume wherein the counterpressure acting on a rotor or on each of a series of rotors, is controlled by the discharge of live combustion gases into the exhaust space of the rotor or rotors directly from one or more explosion chambers, whereby substantially constant pressure and enthalpy drops in each rotor are secured, the expression live gases herein indicating explosion gases of a pressure above the charging pressure of the explosion chambers and prior to their performing work in a rotor.

It is also an object of the invention to provide an explosion turbine plant capable of delivering combustion gases under pressure to a place of use and characterized by greater compactness, reduced weight and lower costs as compared with prior explosion turbine plants.

A still further object is to provide an explosion turbine plant useful particularly for the drive of land, sea and air vehicles which is devoid of the usual heat exchangers for converting into useful form the waste heat of the plant, such as the cooling heat withdrawn from various parts of the plant, or the sensible heat contained in the pressure gases delivered by the plant, while yet providing a plant having a satisfactory degree of efficiency.

Still another and important object of the invention is so to interrelate the individual sections of the cycle of each of the explosion chambers and the number of explosion chambers, that continuous impingement of the rotor or rotors is obtained, while simultaneously providing for the rapid periodic increase of the counterpressures acting on each of the rotors, followed by an expansion in each case which, in the Q-V diagram (whose ordinates represent the heat content Q of the combustion gases in kcal./nm. and whose absci-ssae correspond to the percentage portions of the outflowing combustion gas mass or weight based on the total gas mass cyclically generated in each explosion chamber), substantially parallels that in the anterior nozzle and rotor assembly, whereby substantially uniform enthalpy drops are obtained, while, preferably, the demand on the compressor supplying compressed air to the explosion chambers is at the same time maintained substantially continuous and uniform.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a pressure combustion gas generating apparatus and meth- 0d of operating the same, wherein the efficiency is increased by the afore-mentioned measures to such a degree that, particularly in the case of power plants for vehicles of various kinds, the heretofore employed bulky and heavy heat exchange apparatus for utilizing the Waste heat of the plant and/ or excessive heat of the gases can be eliminated without impairing the commercial practicability of the gas generating apparatus or of the integrated turbine plant which utilizes also the gases delivered by the gas generating apparatus.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description thereof and the features of novelty will be set out in the appended claims.

The present invention provides a new and improved w construction and mode of operation of driving gas generators for the production of combustion gases by explosion with conversion of the combustion gas drops at increased efficiency in a plurality of nozzle and blading aggregates or arrangements without intermediate equalization of pressure and, in fact, with deliberately produced but controlled fluctuation of pressure intermediately of the turbine stages, and 'f desired, also after the last stage. According to the invention, generators of combustion gases of high pressure are constructed and operated in such manner that pressure equalization between turbine stages is eliminated and instead there is produced a gradient (in the Q,-V diagram) for the gases in the exhaust space of a turbine stage which is substantially parallel to the gradient of the gases admitted to such turbine stage. As a result, the gas velocity fluctuations in a turbine stage whose counterpressure is controlled in this manner are kept within a narrow range which the rotor can utilize with high efiiciency.

The invention is carried out by causing the counterpressure acting behind a blading arrangement (viewed in the direction of gas flow) quickly to rise to, and then to fall from, a controlled maximum in a predetermined manner during or approximately during the period of expansion of the gases in such nozzle and blading arrangement, whereby a constant or practically constant combustion gas or enthalpy drop occurs in the blading arrangement under consideration. The deliberate and planned fall of the counterpressure during or approximately during the expansion of the combustion gases in the anterior nozzle and blading assembly occurs in particular in such manner that the line of counterpressure in the QV diagram ap pears as more or less continuously equidistant or approximately equidistant from the expansion line. The invention accordingly contemplates causing the pressures in the exhaust space following any nozzle and turbine aggregate (either of a driving gas generator, which is designed to deliver pressure gases to another plant, or of a complete or integrated gas turbine power plant), to pulsate rhythmically with the charges of gases delivered to such aggregate and in such manner that in the Q-V diagram the expansion line and the counterpressurc line have the same or nearly the same inclination or curvature.

The control of the counterpressure or counterpressures can be effected in various ways. Thus, a piston mechanism can be connected to the counterpressure spaces lying behind the blading, so that, after an initial, rapid pressure stroke, the counterpressure is reduced by a regulated outward or suction stroke. More simple, however, is the control of the counterpressure through the expansion of lower pressure gases charged into the counterpressure space from one explosion chamber synchronously with the expansion of the higher pressure gases from another explosion chamber in the nozzle and blading arrangement. Such lower pressure gases are available in multichamber explosion turbine plants in the form of live combustion gases, so that use can here suitably be made of these gases for causing the rapid initial rise which is followed by the synchronous fall of the counterpressure, as explained in detail hereinafter.

In a further development of the invention, the process is characterized by subdivision of the working cycle of each explosion chamber into a number of working cycle sections corresponding to the number of explosion chambers. These working cycle sections are preferably arranged in continuous series, that is, without any time pauses between them, and substantially without any time overlapping among the chambers; in other Words, the working cycle sections are preferably all of substantially the same duration. If now the working cycle sequences of the explosion chambers of the driving gas generator are displaced progressively re a h s e t each o h r b he d ation of a working cycle section, then there results a particularly favorable mode of operation in that the result is obtained that at least one chamber at each operating instant charges explosion gases into the associated nozzle and blading system, and in this manner a pause-free impingement can be realized.

The process of the present invention makes it possible for the first time to utilize efliciently impulse wheels With a single ring of blading in explosion turbine plants. Heretofore, it was necessary to employ rotors in the form of Curtis wheels with two rings of blades, so that fixed guiding or reversing blades had to be provided which, because of the absence of the pauses between impingements which every rotating blade experiences, presented difficulties in operation and construction because of excessive heating. In the explosion turbine plant or gas generator of the present invention, however, the individual enthalpy drops in each turbine stage can be so determined that they can be utilized in single-ringed wheels whose peripheral velocities are above 250 m./sec., preferably about 300 m./sec., so that rotor efficiencies between 75 and can be realized.

On the accompanying drawings are shown constructional embodiments of the present invention by way of example, with driving gas generators operating with two partial expansions, the illustrated plants being equipped with four explosion chambers. In said drawings,

Fig. 1 shows schematically a construction of an oiloperated driving gas generator built in accordance with the invention, the same being a horizontal view, partly in section, and various parts being shown only schematically;

Fig. 2 shows the associated pressure-time diagram;

Fig. 3 illustrates the Q-V diagram of the same plant,

Fig. 4 is a Q-V diagram drawn to a different scale and illustrating a modified operation of the chambers;

Fig. 5 is a view in elevation, partly in section, of a plant similar to that of Fig. l but showing improved forms of the charging, nozzle and outlet valves;

Fig. 6 is a transverse section through the structure shown in Fig. 8; while Figs. 7 and 8 show schematically two modified constructions wherein the residual combustion gases are directed against a further turbine rotor.

Referring to Fig. 1, which shows a driving gas generating plant in accordance with the invention, there is shown at 24 the shaft to which the turbine rotors 25 and 26 are fixed, the rotors each having a single row of blading and both forming the two turbine stages of the gas generating plant. The nozzle assembly I is disposed in advance of the blading 25a, such nozzle assembly being in communication with each of the explosion chambers, such as the chambers 27 and 28 shown schematically on the drawing, and forming part of the gas generating plant.

The connections are shown on the drawing at 29 and 30 and are controlled by automatically operated nozzle valves 31 and 32. For the sake of simplicity, the control mechanism for the valves is not illustrated, such mecha nism being known. The ignition devices are shown at 5, while the air charging valves are indicated at 2. The turbine illustrated being one operated with oil, there are PI Yided fuel charging conduits, shown at 33, terminating in spray nozzles built directly into the heads of the air valves 2. An annular conduit 34 supplies the explosion chambers with charging air from a compressor plant, not shown. Special post-charging air valves are not provided as the explosion turbine plant, which is constructed primarily for the generation of driving gases, is intended to operate according to the so-called open charging process, described more in detail in the copending application of August H. Schilling and Hans Holzwarth, Ser. No. 263,114, filed December 24, 1951, and entitled Apparatus for Generating Driving Gases. In such open charging process, the outlet valve, described hereinafter, is ep p n no onl d r n h Whole p d d ri g h h.

the air charging valve is open in a chamber to efiect scavenging of the combustion gas residue, but also during the beginning of the fuel injection (or of a fuel gas admission where the plant is operated with gaseous fuel). With this open-chamber charging there are obtained especially favorable mixing conditions for the air on the one hand and for the liquid or gaseous fuel on the other. As so far described, but excepting the open-chamber charging process itself, the construction of the explosion turbine corresponds in the main to the known explosion turbine construction.

In accordance with the present invention the following additional measures and features are provided:

Reference is had first to the pressure-time diagram of Fig. 2, which the above-described turbine plant follows in known manner. In this diagram, A indicates the instant in which the highest explosion pressure has developed after the previous ignition. Upon opening of the nozzle valve 31 or 32, the expansion begins, proceeding from the point A. In the absence of the measures provided by the present invention, this expansion would proceed to the point C by way of the nozzle assembly I. At such point the valve under consideration closes, and one of the air charging valves opens, and simultaneously the outlet valve opens. There then occurs, under the action of the incoming charging air, the expulsion of the residual combustion gases along the line C-E. At the instant E, the air charging inlet valve and the outlet valve close. There previously occurred at the instant D the injection of the fuel by way of the conduit 33, so that the already mentioned open charging with open air charging and outlet valves has been realized. At the point E there is present in the chambers a homogeneous thoroughly mixed and ignitable mixture, so that upon ignition at the instant 15 the sharp pressure rise occurs which leads to the highest explosion pressure at the point A of the next working cycle.

The above-referred to equidistant counterpressure line with respect to the expansion line A-B is realized by the present invention and is shown at 35 in Fig. 2. Its position is determined in such manner that a series of further advantageous conditions is satisfied. For first of all, the average temperature stress of a blading system working with such a counterpressure course may not exceed the value which can reliably be mastered with known wheel constructions, rotor casings and available modes of cooling without causing the stresses on the materials to approach too closely to the limiting value of the creeping strength of the building materials. The distance of the two equidistant diagram lines is furthermore to be so chosen, that drops arise which make possible the use of single ringed wheels with peripheral velocities which are higher than 250 m./sec., and which can, for example, amount to about 300 m./sec. Finally, so far as possible, the counterpressure line must run below the line of the critical counterpressure, which in the case of combustion gases lies between 0.5 and 0.6 of the pressure in the explosion chamber. This has the advantage that Laval nozzles can be used in which the flow conditions in advance of the narrowest cross-section (throat) of the nozzle may with the same nozzle efficiencies be more turbulent than with non-diverging nozzles. As the counterpressure line 35 is to satisfy these advantageous assumptions, there is thereby characterized also the narrower technical problem posed by the present invention. What has been said in connection with the nozzle arrangement I and the turbine wheel arrangement 25 applies also to the nozzle arrangement II and the turbine wheel arrangement 26, so that with reference to the latter a counterpressure line is to be obtained in the diagram of Fig. 2 which is characterized by the dotted line 36. v

The measures proposed by the present invention have made it .possible to realize the course for the counterpressures shown diagrammatically in Fig. 2. The present invention is characterized by a deliberate and planned cyclic variation in the pressure-time diagram of Fig. 2, of the counterpressures 35, 36 generated behind the blade arrangements 25a, 26a, viewed in the direction of flow, during or approximately during the expansion of the combustion gases, proceeding from A, in the nozzle arrangements I, II whereby constant or practically constant combustion gas drops occur in the blading arrangement 25a, 26a, indicated by the equidistance of the expansion line proceeding from A and the counterpressure lines 35, 36.

In order to realize constructively the invention illustrated in the pressure-time diagram, the driving gas generator according to Fig. 5 has been changed in comparison with the heretofore known construction of explosion turbines in the following manner:

In addition to the nozzle valves, 31, 32, additional nozzle valves 37, 38 (Fig. l) are provided in the explosion chambers 27, 28 which are in communication with the nozzle pre-chambers 39, 40 by way of the connections 41, 42. Furthermore, outlet valves 43, 44 have been provided which by way of the conduits 45, 46 discharge directly into the rotor space of the turbine rotor 26, or into the corresponding exhaust housing 47. The latter communicates by way of the conduit 48 with a power turbine (not shown), which can be constructed as a multi-stage Parsons turbine. In place of the power turbine, there can be employed any other mechanism which can utilize the pressure, temperature and/ or the heat content of the driving gases discharging from the exhaust housing 47. For the sake of simplicity, the cooling and insulating jackets are indicated only partially on the drawing.

As can be seen from Fig. 2, the counterpressure line 35 would reach the line of the air charging pressure p0 at a definite instant. Were the counterpressure line to be driven further beyond this instant, that is, if the combustion gases were allowed to expand in the nozzles I beyond the instant which corresponds to the intersection of the counterpressure line with the charging air pressure line, in order to obtain also in the interval beginning from this intersection point on, a constant or approximately constant combustion gas drop, then, viewed in the direction of gas flow, there would prevail in advance of the nozzles II a lower pressure than in the exhaust housing 47, since the latter is charged with residual combustion gases of the pressure of the charging air pursuant to the chosen method of charging the chambers. Back flow and braking action on the turbine rotors would therefore arise, which are obviously undesirable. For this reason, the expansion of the gases in the nozzles I must be interrupted at an instant which is in advance of this point of intersection of the counterpressureline 35 with the line of the charging air pressure 10. This instant is preferably advanced some what with respect to the point of intersection for reasons of safety. It is indicated in Fig. 2 at B. At the point B, therefore, the nozzle valves 31, 32 are closed and the nozzle valves 37 and 38 are opened. The latter nozzle valves close at the instant C and the outlet valves 43, 44 are opened, such latter valves being closed at the point E.

The control phases of the valves 31, 32 or 37, 38 or 43, 44, and hence the working cycle sequences of the explosion chambers 27, 28, etc. associated with nozzle and blading arrangements I, 25a and II, 2611, are time-displaced with respect to each other in such manner that, during the time interval of the expansion ABin the nozzle and blading arrangement I, 25a, of a combustion gas portion of higher pressure, withdrawn from the explosion chamber 28, a combustion gas portion of lower pressure withdraw from the explosion chamber 27 is utilized for creating the initially increased and then diminishingcounterpressure, shown by line 35, in nozzle pre-chamber 39, 40; and that, during the time interval of the expansion in the nozzle and blading arrangement II, 26a of a combustion gas portion withdrawn from the explosion chamber 27, a combustion gas portion of still lower pressure withdrawn from. a third explosion chamber is utilized for producing'the' initially raised and then diminishing counterpressure 36' in the exhaustspace 47. Accordingly, the nozzle valves 32 and 37 are in the open condition, while the nozzle valves 3-1 and 38, as well as the outlet valves 43 and 44, are in the closed condition; a further outlet valve (of a third chamber) corresponding to the outlet valves 43, 44 is to be imagined as being open, so that the third explosion chamber discharging the combustion gas portion of lowest pressure during such interval is in communication with the discharge housing 47. During the expansion A-+B (-Fig. 2) of the highest pressure combustion gas portion of the total gas quantity generated by explosion in the explosion chamber 28 and conducted through the open nozzle valve '32 to the nozzle assembly I and the blading 25a, the counterpressure in the nozzle pie-chambers 39, 40, which to this end are connected in a manner not shown in detail, for example by making them of annular form, runs according to the counterpressure line 35, corresponding to the simultaneously occurring expansion B*C of the lower pressure gas portion of the total combustion gas mass generated in the explosion chamber 27 and introduced into the nozzle pre-chambers 39, 40 through the opened nozzle valve 37. It will accordingly be understood that the partial expansion BC of the diagram of Fig. 2 and referred to in the preceding sentence in actuality belongs to another diagram which reproduces thepressure course in another chamber, such as 27, and that, therefore, the partial expansion B-C of a lower pressure combustion'gas portion discharging from the explosion chamber 27 and producing the counterpressure line 35 to the partial expansion A-B in the explosion chamber 28, does not belong to the diagram of Fig. 2 but rather to the pressure-time diagram of explosion chamber 27 which, iii-contrast to the pressure-time diagram of explosion chamber 28 shown in Fig. 2, is so advanced that during the time interval of the partial expansion A-'B of the higher pressure combustion gas portion discharged through nozzle valve 32 from explosion chamber 28, the explosion chamber 27 is already discharging a lower pressure combustion gas portion whose expansion line, according to its own pressure-time diagram, is advanced by the time interval AB with respect to the diagram of Fig. 2, and lies'directly under the partial expansion line A-B. This applies correspondingly to the combustion gas portion of lowest pressure which yields the counterpressure line 36 and which in the embodiment of the invention described expands into the exhaust housing 47 during the time interval C-E as a residual combustion gas mass expelled out of an explosion chamber by the charging air; the pressure-time diagram of this not illustrated chamber discharging the residual combustion gases precedes the diagram of Fig. 2 of chamber 28 by the time interval A-C. In other words, the course of the Working cycles in the chamber 27 is so advanced in time with reference to the course of the working cycles in chamber 28, that during the production of the counterpressure course 35 in the nozzle pre-chamber 39g 40 with the aid of the lower pressure combustion gas portion discharging through the opened nozzle valve 37 into the pre-chamber 39, 40 the higher pressure combustion gas portion discharged from explosion chamber 28 by way of nozzle valve 32 is expanded along the partial expansion line A-B. Corresponding to this time-displacement of the working cycles, the counterpressure in the exhaust housing 47 develops according to the line 36 during the counterpressure course 35 in the nozzle pre-chamber 39, 49. It will thus be evident that the gas discharges represented by the lines -A'-B, BC and C-E occur simultaneously from three diiterent chambers. In this way the general objective of the invention is fulfilled: the combustion gas portion conducted to the nozzle and blading system I, 25 through the opened nozzle valve 32 is utilized with approximately uniform enthalpy drop, which is characterized by the expansion line -A'B and the approximately equidistant counterpres'sure' line 35; the lower pressure combustion gas portion "brought into action on the nozzle 8 and blading system II, -26 is simultaneously converted in such nozzle and blading system with approximately uni form enthalpy drop, since the line 35,-now to be regarded as the expansion line of this lower pressure combustion gas portion, runs substantially equidistant to the counterpressure line 36 of the exhaust housing 37.

For a clearer understanding of the energy distribution and individual enthalpy drops throughout the plant, reference is had to the QV diagram shown in Fig. 3.

In this diagram, there is again'shown the course of the ordinates proceeding from A, while the discharged com bustion gas quantities are to be read ofi on the abscissa axis. The pressure and temperature line diagram is only indicated, and again is valid only for the double line proceeding from A. This double line represents the changes of condition during the expansions. These changes appears in the QS diagram as vertical adiabatic lines, but only in the ideal machine, in which no change of entropy appears during the expansion, that is, no heat is lost to the walls and no heat is absorbed from the friction heat of the rotors and blades. In the practical machine, however, both of these phenomena occur. Careful investigations on the heat interchange at the walls on the part of the combustion gases, and calculations of the ventilation losses of the wheels and blades show that in carefully designed plants the methodsof operation which from the practical standpoint come chiefly into consideration, there is substantial equality between the heat delivered and the heat absorbed. It is, therefore, approximately correct to assume that the changes in combustion gas conditions during the expansions are adiabatic changes in condition also for the practical machine, and these appear in the Q-S diagram as vertical lines. There is further included the dot and-dash counterpressure line 35 and the dotted counterpressure line 36. These lines, in combination with the ordinates through the points B and C, determine the following areas: Ia, Ib, II and III. The area Ia below the curve of the partial expansion A-B corresponds to the work of the'combustion gas portion discharging from the nozzle assembly I exerted upon the rotor 25. The dotand-dash dividing line (35) between the areas Ia and lb corresponds to the counterpressure in the nozzle prechamber 3?, 40-and thus corresponds to the counterpressure in the rotor space 25. This counterpressure line is in the main dependent upon the number of working explosion chambers, the number and size of the nozzle prechambers, and the narrowest nozzle cross-sections. The rotor efiiciency of the explosion turbine can be extensively influenced by the shape of this counterpressure line in the QV diagram. It is influenced in the most favorable way when it is possible with the measures of the present invention to make it run equidistant to the line A-B or nearly so. A small deviation from the equidistant relationship must be taken into account when the nozzle precharnbers 39, 40 are being filled with the gases of intermediate pressure discharging through nozzle valves 37 and 38, but this deviation is toosmall for it to operate unfavorably on the efiiciency to any substantial degree.

The reference character lb designates an area which corresponds to the work of the originally higher pressure combustion gas portion in the nozzle and blading arrangement II, 26 and delivered by way of the nozzles I. The working area Ib is bounded below by a dotted countel-pressure line 36 which corresponds to the condition of the combustion gases in the discharge housing 47 or in the exhaust space of rotor 26. There is also recognizable the approximate equidistance between the dot-and-dash counterpressure line 35 and this dotted line 36, so that also those ethalpy drops are maintained approximately constant to which the combustion gas portion conducted by way of the nozzle arrangement I is subjected on being caused to do Work in the second turbine stage.

There is also shown the working area II which corre' sponds to the available work which the lower pressure combustion gas .portion discharged through one of the nozzle Valves 37, 38 develops in the turbine arrangement II, 26. Also this lower pressure combustion gas portion, in consequence of the equitlistance between the curve BC and the dotted counterpressure line 36 along the major portion of the course of the counterpressure line, experiences approximately uniform combustion gas drops, so that both turbine stages convert approximately constant individual drops. It thus becomes possible to utilize with optimum efliciency a rotor or a suitable rotor group designed as far as possible for these uniform pressure or enthalpy drop conditions, and thereby to bring the explosion turbine into the field of turbines operating with uniform drops. This applies also to the working area III of the power turbine (not shown).

Fig. 4 shows a QV diagram, drawn to scale, of a modified process in which more or less constant pressure combusion is combined with combustion under constant volume. In the process forming the basis of the diagram of Fig. 4, combustion is initiated in close proximity to the nozzle valve 31 or 32 through which the combustion gas portion of highest pressure is discharged into the first or high pressure nozzle assembly. This nozzle valve is opened prior to the completion of the combustion, that is, prior to the attainment of the maximum pressure peak A which corresponds to the point A of the diagram of Fig. 3. Those gases whose combustion has been more or less completed will then pass out of the combustion chamber before the end of the combustion phase which, nevertheless, proceeds to completion. This modified process thus substitutes for purely constant volume combustion a peak phase wherein the combustion occurs at essentially constant pressure. By this mode of operation, after the gases in the completely closed combustion chamber have attained a certain pressure, by combustion under constant volume, they are discharged through the prematurely opened nozzle valve under more or less constant pressure which is maintained by the continuing combustion of the gas in regions more remote from the nozzle valve. While the combustion continues, the pressure in the chamber tends to increase slightly at first and then approaches a true, constant pressure combustion and as the burning enters its final stage, the pressure commences to drop. At this time, the pressure-time curve crosses and then approaches the expansion line which is obtained on the discharge of gases produced entirely under constant volume. The curve x in Fig. 4 indicates the expansion line for the highest pressure gas portion when the nozzle valve is opened at the instant at which the constant volume cumbustion has produced a pressure of 50 atmospheres absolute instead of the 64 atmospheres absolute that can be obtained with combustion completely under constant volume. It will be seen that the curve x is approximately horizontal for a very large fraction of the total volume of gas discharged during the first expansion. It will be noted that the curve x follows more closely the outline of the counterpressure line than does the line AB, so that even during the very first period of this first expansion, the expansion line and the counterpressure line are very nearly equidistant. Investigation has established that despite the loss of the area above the curve x, the available energy from this combined constant volume and constant pressure process is practically the same as that of the pure expansion process. On the other hand, because of the more uniform heat drop effected by this combined process, the turbine blades can be designed for more constant conditions, and thus, with the increase in rim speed, the average wheel efiiciency is raised very considerably, for example, from 70 to 76%.

Somewhat similar results can be obtained by a premature opening of the nozzle valve combined with the injection of additional fuel into the chamber while the nozzle valve is open. This process is indicated by curve y in Fig. 4 which shows the condition of the gases after opening of the nozzle valve at the instant at which the pressure in the closed combustion chamber has reached 42 atmospheres absolute. Upon the supplementary injection of fuel, the gas pressure quickly rises, and this rise is followed by an approximately horizontal peak, the curve y, like the curve x, crossing the expansion line AB and then meeting it at the point B. This latter method increases the amount of combustion taking place at approximately constant pressure, but while the' peak pressure is reduced, improvements in the mechanical efficiencies are made possible.

What has been said upon the basis of the constructional example of Fig. 1 for the discharge of a high-pressure combustion gas portion by way of the opened nozzle valve 32, for the simultaneous discharge of a lower pressure combustion gas portion by way of the opened nozzle valve 37, and for the likewise simultaneous discharge of the combustion gas residue from a third explosion chamber through its outlet valve, applies in cyclical interchange for all the combustion gas portions of all of the chambers. Thus, for example, during the previous opening of the nozzle valve 31 of the explosion chamber 27 for discharging the higher pressure combustion gas portion, the nozzle valve 32 of the explosion chamber 28 and of the other chambers was closed, but the nozzle valve of another chamber, corresponding to the valves 37 and 38, was open, so that in the nozzle pro-chamber 39, 40 (which, as already stated, can be of annular form but which can also be semi-annular or approximately so, and is fed from all of the valves 37, 38), a rapid rise followed by gradual lowering of the counterpressure occurred, which provided that the higher pressure combustion gas portion brought into action by Way of the opened nozzle valve upon the nozzle and blading system I, 25a experienced a substantially uniform enthalpy drop in consequence of the equidistant course of the expansion and counterpressure lines. This cyclic interchange correspondingly applies to all the nozzle valves discharging the lower pressure combustion gas portions and to the outlet valves discharging the residual or lowest pressure combustion gases.

The invention is in no way limited to the two-stage turbine shown in Fig. 1. The lowering of the counterpressure in the manner described can take place even with a single stage turbine arrangement in order to produce therein a uniform pressure drop. This applies correspondingly for aggregates with more than two turbine stages, and with more than two partial expansions out of the chamber (at initial pressures above the charging pressure); however, an increase of the average stressproducing temperatures accompanies an increase in the number of turbine stages or partial expansions, so that the number of partial expansions which can be realized in a practical plant is limited by the availability of suitable building materials.

In addition to the pressure, the temperature and heat content of the combustion gases are also controlling for the combustion gas condition which results in a definite enthalpy drop with reference to another condition. It would therefore be theoretically possible to effect the lowering of the drop limiting lines 35 and 36 in Fig. 3 without altering the pressure of the combustion gases, that is, the counterpressure, in relation to an anteriorly arranged nozzle and blading sysem. As in this way the essence of the invention would not be departed from, the expression, counterpressure is to be understood in this further sense of the line in the QV diagram corresponding to this counterpressure.

' According to a further feature of the invention, the number of chambers is related to the number of partial expansions insuch manner that continuous impingement of the rotor is obtained while at the same time the ob tainment of the above-described substantially uniform enthalpy drop-producing counterpressure lines is insured. Despite the fact that the individual procedures or phases of a chamber cycle develop partially according to physical and chemical laws as, for example, the dura tion of the explosion-like combustion, it is possible by the control of the explosion chamber and through the at first arbitrary fixing of the control instants to impart to the working cycle sections themselves a definie time inerval and to determine at will their position in relation to the whole working cycle, considered from the time standpoint. Thus, with reference to the duration of the explosion, it is necessary only to adjust the mo ment of termination of the changing of the explosion chamber with an ignitable mixture in such manner that up to the opening of the nozzle valve which discharges the combustion gases of highest pressure, there elapses a time interval which is greater than the time interval between the ignition and the development of the highest explosion pressure or the selected pressure at which the valve is to be prematurely opened, taking into account the ignition delay and other factors bearing on this time interval.

Considering the working cycle sections in detail, it will be evident that three working cycle sections play especially important roles in the operation of explosion chambers. Assuming a completely evacuated chamber, such as exists only on first setting a driving gas generator into operation, there is first to be produced in this chamber an ignitabie mixture. To this end there are available a great variety of possibilities, among which that charging process is to be preferred which involves the shortest charging periods, so that maximum working cycle frequencies can be attained. This is possible only when the working cycle sections develop in the theoretically and practically shortest times. Such a charging process is characterized by the fact that at the beginning of the charging cycle section, the air inlet and residual combustion gas outlet members of the explosion chamber are opened and that both members are closed at the end of such working cycle section. After the discharge of the high pressure explosion gases there remain behind in the chamber residual combustion gases which are at the counterpressure existing at the time of closing of the nozzle valve, which residual gases must be removed to prepare the chamber for the reception of the new charge; in other words, the chamber must be scavenged. If the residual combustion gases are displaced by the entering charging air itself, the period of preparation of the chamber for the new charge is reduced to the charging period itself, that is, to the time interval during which the charging air must be admitted in order that at the instant of ignition the chamber may be filled completely with an ignitable mixture. For the same reason, the fuel is introduced during a time interval which extends over a portion of the time allotted for the air charging, particularly by the injection of a liquid fuel. Thereby the advantage arises that the charging air which is still in motion seizes the fuel and distributes it uniformly over the whole length of the chamber.

Upon the charging cycle section just considered there follows the likewise important section which includes the ignition and explosive combustion. This section is characterized, in a further development of the invention, by the fact that at the beginning thereof the charging air inlet and residual combustion gas outlet members are closed, while at its termination a nozzle valve is opened for combustion gases which are initially at the maximum explosion pressure.

Taking into account the two basic working cycle sections of charging (with scavenging), and ignition (with explosion), the total number of cycle sections in my preferred mode of operation is n+2, wherein n is the number of partial expansions (with initial pressures above charging pressure). Accordingly, the number of chambers is likewise n+2, However, the invention is not restricted to a process involving only two non expansion cycle sections or phases. Thus, separate working cycle sections can, for example, be provided for the residual gas displacement at any instant of operation.

12 (scavenging) and for the charging with a combustible mixture. In such case, and with the use of two partial expansions, there would result, in all, five cycle sections of equal duration for whose development five chambers would be required with cyclic displacement of the chambers each by a working cycle section. If the expansion is not subdivided, then four cycle section processes will arise, for whose development four chambers are required. On the other hand, it is possible to compress the residual combustion gas displacement, charging, ignition and explosioninto a single working cycle section and to provide at least one further working cycle section for the expansion. However, this mode of operation becomes restricted to lower cycle numbers per unit of time; also, certain reactions upon the charging air supply cannot be avoided.

When it was stated above that the invention contemplat-es a subdivision of the working cycle into a number of working cycle sections corresponding to the number 'of explosion chambers, it is to be understood that in the calculation of the number of explosion chambers only those explosion chambers are to be counted which, corresponding to the time displacement of the working cycles by a working cycle section, develop working cycle sections which vary from one another, that is, are out of phase, t is naturally also possible, as for limiting the chamber size, to provide parallel-operating chambers, that is, chamber groups, which in relation to the cyclic displacement of the working cycles behave no differently from a single large chamber and thus belong in the same working cycle section. In such case, in counting the explosion chambers, the number of groups of chambers is taken in place of the individual chambers.

Figs. 5 and 6 show two views of a four-chamber explosion turbine gas generator operating in the manner just described and illustrating commercially satisfactory forms of nozzle valves and associated parts. The explosion chambers operate with four working cycle sections which follow upon each other without gaps and without overlapping and have the same time periods. Assuming a control shaft speed of 252 R. P. M. there occur 252 complete working cycles per minute, that is, the working cycle period amounts to 0.238 sec., so that the duration of each cycle section is 0.0595 sec.

In Fig. 6 there are shown four explosion chambers 62, 63, 64, and 65 which are associated with nozzle and blading systems common to them. The explosion chamber 65 is shown in longitudinal section in Fig. 5, while the chamber 64 is seen in elevation. Each chamber is equipped with a charging air inlet valve 66, into which is built the fuel injection valve 67 to which the supply conduit 68 leads, while the charging air supply is indicated at 69. The control mechanism for the air charging valves is indicated at '70. The fuel conduits 63 lead to a 4-plunger fuel pump of usual construction (not shown) or other fuel feeding mechanism. The explosion chamber itself has a Venturi nozzle-like inlet end as shown at 71, the diifusor 72 being constructed with a very slight taper so that the entering charging air spreads out in piston-like fashion and is able to push out the residual combustion gases without forming whirls to any substantial degree. The outlet valve for the residual combustion gases is shown at 73. In addition to such valve, there is shown also the nozzle valve 74 which is designed to discharge the combustion gases of maximum pressure. Fig. 6 shows at the right side the nozzle valves 74 associated with the explosion chambers 64 and 65. The valves 74, which are constructed as substantially unloaded piston valves, pass over into the nozzle pre-chamber 76 at the seat 75, the nozzles 77 being connected with such pro-chamber. The nozzles 77 are arranged in advance of the blading 78 of the rotor 79 of the first turbine stage.

Each explosion chamber has in addition to the nozzle valve 74 a second nozzle valve 80 whose construction is fundamentally the same as that of valve 74. Separate nozzles can be associated with the nozzle valves 80, as is shown in Fig. 6 for the nozzle valves 74. In the illustrated example, however, a different construction is shown in that gas conduits 81 are connected to the seats of the nozzle valves 80, the conduits leading to a collecting chamber 82 arranged between the two turbine stages of the plant shown in the drawing. This collector chamber not only receives combustion gases by way of the nozzle valves 80 and conduits 81, but is provided in addition with a catch nozzle assembly 83 for the combustion gas portion exhausting from the first turbine stage 77, 78, 79.

The collecting chamber 82 is provided at its end lying opposite to the catch nozzle assembly 83 with an outlet nozzle assembly 84 which is arranged as impinging nozzle in advance of the blading 85 of wheel 86 of the second turbine stage. With the blading 85 there is associated a second catch nozzle arrangement 87 which is in open communication by way of conduit 88 with the mouth of the driving gas withdrawal conduit 89. Conduit members not shown in the drawing debouch at the same point and conduct the residual combustion gases to the withdrawal conduit 89, which gases are discharged through the outlet valves 73. The turbine stages 77, 78, 79 and 84, 85 and 86 transmit their mechanical output by way of the shaft 90 of rotors 79, 86 to a work-absorbing machine 91 which can be constructed as a compressor for charging air and, if required, also for fuel gases. The Q--V diagram of the process conducted in the apparatus of Figs. and 6 is the same as that shown in Fig. 3.

In the constructional examples of Figs. 7 and 8, the

features and advantages discussed in connection with the other figures are essentially retained. Similar parts are designated with the same reference characters as in Figs. 5 and 6. There exists, however, the difference that a separate nozzle and blading system 96, 97 is arranged after the outlet valve 73 of the constructional example according to Fig. 7, whereby by the arrangement of a third wheel 98 a third turbine stage arises. The turbine stages 84, 85, 86 and 96, 97, 98 have a common exhaust housing section 99, so that the advantages obtained with the structures of Figs. 1, 5 and 6 with reference to the course of the counterpressure are retained. This is also the case in the constructional example of Fig. 8, as here in place of the common exhaust housing section 99 a collector chamber 100 is provided which by reason of the fact that the conduit connected to the outlet valve 73 opens into it, remains subjected to the counterpressure course indicated by the upper boundary line 36 of the whole area III in Fig. 3. Thereby the second turbine stage 84, 85, 86 remains subjected to a counterpressure course which is not essentially different from that of the example according to Figs. 5 and 6, so that the improvements which are apparent from Fig. 3 are retained also in the embodiment according to Fig. 8. As in Fig. 1, the rotors in Figs. 5, 7 and 8 can be and preferably are constructed with single rows of blades, this simplified construction being favored by the fact that the explosion gases are withdrawn from each explosion chamber in a plurality of successive portions, so that the utilization of each portion involves only a relatively small fractional enthalpy drop.

While the volume subdivision of the live explosion gases represents and at present preferred form of the invention, it will be evident that the feature of so determining the periods of duration of the several phases or sections of a working cycle and the number of explosion chambers (or parallel-acting explosion chamber groups) and the displacement of the working cycles of the chambers with respect to each other that a continous discharge of gases to the nozzle and blading systems occurs, with the result that the turbine shaft is continually under the action of a driving torque, can be utilized without such volume subdivision. This result is independent of the manner in which the live explosion gases are discharged during each cycle, it being necessary only that the discharge of explosion gases from one chamber begins immediately upon the end of the discharge from another chamber. Nor is the invention restricted to a process in which charging of the explosion chambers with air and fuel is accompanied by simultaneous scavenging; for the scavenging step can be effected during a separate cycle section or phase preceding the charging phase in any chamber.

It will be understood that the gases exhausting from the first turbine rotor and the gases discharged from one of the nozzle valves 37 or 38 in the collector chamber 39, 40 enter simultaneously, so that the nozzles 11 charge a mixture of such gases at their resultant pressure. In the foregoing discussion in connection with Figs. 6 and 7, these two gas portions have been treated separately only in order to be able to represent on the diagram the amount of work performed in the second turbine stage 26 by each of such portions. The diagram is, therefore, not neces sarily to be interpreted as indicating that these two gas portions, i. e., that exhausting from the first turbine stage and that discharged by a nozzle valve 37 and 38, operate in the second turbine stage independently of each other.

The shaded areas of Figs. 3 and 4, as already indicated, present a measure of the available work which the individual gas portions are able to deliver in the stages of the plant. While the outputs corresponding to the surfaces Ia, Ib and II are to be developed in the two stages of the actual explosion turbine, the area III represents the available working capacity of the combustion gases which enter the withdrawal conduit 48 as driving gases. Through such conduit the gases reach the ultimate stage of use which can be constructed in any desired manner, such as a multi-stage Parsons turbine for driving an electric generator, a pump, or other work-absorbing machine. The driving gases can, however, also be utilized purely thermally, chemically, pneumatically, or in any desired combinations of these possible uses.

From the ratio of the area III, which is a measure of the net output of the plant, to the sum of the areas Ia, Ib and II, which can be regarded as representing the work required to operate the auxiliary devices of the explosion turbine plant (operating as a pressure gas generator), such as the compressor, it can be seen that the plant opcrates with high efficiency. Thus, because of the high efliciency of the explosion turbine plant itself, the output of such plant, represented by the areas Ia, Ib and II, suffices for driving all auxiliary machines, particularly the charging air compressor, without its being necessary to utilize the waste heat of the plant to aid in providing the required compression work. This makes it possible for the first time to realize an explosion turbine plant operating with a practical degree of efiiciency without the utilization of the waste heat of the plant, including the excess heat of the delivered pressure gases or of the final exhaust gases. The cooling agents of the plant employed for cooling the chambers, nozzles, bladings, rotors, shafts and valves are, in the simplified form of the invention, accordingly drawn off after absorbing the cooling heat without utilizing the cooling heat for purposes of power generation. As in most cases, however, special cooling agents with high boiling points are employed, it would be uneeonomical to withdraw such cooling agents from the plant; in such case, the re-cooling apparatus is retained, but the re-cooling agent for the cooling media is discharged after absorption of the re-cooling heat, such recooling agents consisting generally of water or air. There is likewise abandoned the utilization of the sensible heat of the exhaust gases of the last turbine stage; the exhaust gases are discharged from the plant with their sensible heat without utilizing the excess heat for the purposes of the explosion turbine stage of the plant or for the drive of the auxiliary machines. Pursuant to this feature of the invention, the combustion gas conduits within and after the explosion turbine stages are constructed with completely. open cross-section; they are neither to be enlarged for maintaining uniform gas velocities as is necessary in the insertion of heat exchangers, nor is their'open cross-section 'to be reduced by the insertion of heat exchangers. The combustion gas conduits between'the individual stages of the explosion turbine are all arranged inside of the turbine housing to which only the driving gas withdrawal conduit is attached for conducting the generated driving gases to a place of use.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that by reason of the improved mode of operation above described, increase in efficiency of the explosion turbine stage itself, i.-e., the apparatus shown in Figs. 1 and 5 to 8, is so high that the whole integrated power plant, by which term I include the ultimate work-absorbing machine or the like, operates at an over-all etficiency which enables such plant to compete successfully with other modes of generatmg power without'the necessity for utilizing the waste heat of the plant. By'thi's elimination of the conversion of the waste heat of the'plant into a source of additional power, the plant is greatly simplified in construction and thereby the initial investment cost reduced. Also, by the elimination of bulky heat exchangers, the plant has been made more compact and lighter in weight and, therefore, highly suitable for the drive of various types of vehicles.

While, in the preferred manner of carrying out the invention, all of the cycle sections are of equal duration, this is not absolutely essential, it being necessary only that the cycle sections of the partial expansions out of the explosion chambers be of substantially equal duration, and that the duration of each such section be substantially equal to the total cycle period divided by the number of explosion chambers operating out of phase to insure continuous impingement.

It will be understood that the values of temperatures, pressures, cycle numbers, rotor rim speeds, etc., specifically mentioned above, are given only by way of example and that the invention is not to be regarded as limited thereto.

It will be recognized that the proper control of the various valves forms an essential part of the above-described process and apparatus. Valve control mechanisms of hydraulic, mechanical, and hydraulic-mechanical types suitable for use with the above-described apparatus are, however, well known. Such control devices and the timing means therefor have, therefore, not been illustrated, as they form no part of the present invention. The suitable control and timing devices are, for example, shown in United States Patents Nos. 1,756,139, 1,763,154, 1,786,946, 1,933,385, 2,010,019, and 2,063,928.

Certain novel structural features shown in the drawings of this application do not form part of the present inven' tion and are not claimed herein, the same being claimed in various applications being filed simultaneously herewith.

I claim:

1. Process for the operation of a driving gas generator for producing combustion gases for use externally of the generator, said generator including at least one nozzle and rotor blading assembly and explosion chamber means for providing explosion gases which are charged into said nozzle and rotor assembly, the pressure of the gases in the nozzle assembly falling as the discharge of gases from an explosion chamber th reinto proceeds, said process comprising periodically raising the counterpressure behind the blading, viewed in the direction of gas flow, and then causing the counterpressure to fall, approximately during and synchronously with the expansion of the gases in the nozzle and blading assembly, whereby a substantially uniform change in enthalpy occurs in said nozzle and blading assembly.

2. Process according to claim 1, wherein the lowering of the counterpre'ssu're is efiected by expanding the gases producing the counterpressure synchronously with the expansion of the gases in the nozzle and bladrng assembly, and withdrawing such counterpressure-producing gases successively from a plurality of explos on chambers associated with the same nozzle and blading assembly and charging the same "as live gases into the counterpres-Z sure-space.

3. Process according to claim 1, wherein the counterpressure is controlled by charging, into the counterpressure space, combustion gases discharged from an explosion chamber associated with the nozzle and blading assembly at a moment in which there appears in such chamber a gas pressure corresponding approximately to the gas pressure which the gases have at the end of the expansion in the nozzle assembly.

4. Process for the operation of a driving gas generator for producing combustion gases for use externally of thegencrator, wherein the combustion gases are generated in a plurality of explosion chambers in which combustible mixtures are formed, ignited and exploded, and then discharged, the chambers being provided with air charging valves, nozzle valves for discharging high pressure explosion gases from the chambers, and with outlet valves for discharging the residual combustion gases, said process comprising dividing the working cycle of each explosion chamber into a number of working cycle sections corresponding to the number of explosion chamhers, and elfecting explosion in the chambers under constant volume in succession.

5. Process according to claim 4, wherein the working cycle sections of each chamber are made to follow each other in series Without intervening time intervals.

6. Process according to claim 4, wherein the working cycle sections of each chamber follow each other in series without mutual overlapping in time.

7. Process according to claim 4, wherein the working cycle sections of each chamber follow upon each other and are of the same duration.

8. Process according to claim 4, including the step of displacing the Working cycle section sequence of the explosion chambers progressively by the duration of one working cycle section.

9. Process according to claim 4, wherein the working cycle of each explosion chamber is divided into at least n+2 working cycle sections, it being a whole number at least equal to l, and including the step of subjecting the explosion gases to expansion during a time interval which is equal to n times the duration of a working cycle sectiomsaid n+2 working cycle sections including a section for charging and scavenging an explosion chamber and at least one further section for ignition and explosion.

10. Process according to claim 1, wherein except for unavoidable heatlosses, the balance of all the heat and pressure energy of the explosion gases utilized in the gas generator is contained in the gases discharged by the generator.

11. Apparatus for the production of pressure combustion gases, comprising a plurality of explosion chambers, a nozzle and blading assembly, a gas collecting space behind said assembly, viewed in the direction of gas flow, a plurality of controlled valves in each of said explosion chambers, means connecting a valve of eachchamber with the nozzle assembly and another valve of each chamber with the collecting space behind the blading, and means for controlling the outlets to cause discharge of live explosion gases into said space during the expansion of explosion gases in the nozzle assembly.

12. Apparatus for the production of pressure combustion gases, comprising a plurality of explosion chambers, means for charging the same with compressed air and fuel, a nozzle and rotor assembly, each of said explosion chambers having a nozzle valve for discharging the explosion gases to said nozzle and rotor assembly, a gas collector behind the said assembly, viewed in the direction of gas flow, and into which the partially expanded gases exhaust, said explosion chambers each having also a discharge valve for charging combustion gases into said collector, means for withdrawing gases from said collector, and means for operating the valves of said chamber's in time-displaced relation in such manner that while the nozzle valve of one chamber is open, the nozzle valve of a second chamber is closed and its discharge valve is opened at an instant in which the pressure in the explosion chamber is substantially higher than in said collector, whereby the gases in the collector undergo a compression with subsequent expansion approximately simultaneously with the expansion in the nozzle assembly and a substantially constant change in enthalpy occurs in said assembly.

13. Apparatus according to claim 12, including a second nozzle and rotor assembly receiving the gases from the collector, an exhaust chamber behind the second nozzle and rotor assembly, said explosion chambers each having also an outlet valve connected with said exhaust chamber, said valve operating means opening the outlet valve of a third chamber substantially simultaneously with the opening of the discharge valve of the second chamber and at an instant at which the pressure in said third chamber is substantially higher than in the exhaust chamber, whereby a compression with subsequent gas expansion occurs in the exhaust chamber substantially simultaneously with the expansion in the second nozzle assembly, whereby a substantially constant change in enthalpy occurs also in said second assembly.

14. A driving gas generator for producing and delivering combustion gases under pressure, comprising a plurality of explosion chambers each provided with compressed air and fuel charging valves, with at least one nozzle valve for the discharge of high pressure explosion gases following the ignition of a combustible mixture in said chambers, and with an outlet valve for the residual combustion gases of the chambers, and nozzle and rotor blading systems arranged to receive the explosion gases discharged by said chambers, said valves being adapted to be operated in predetermined sequence to determine the working cycle sections of the explosion chambers, the number of explosion chambers associated with said nozzle and blading systems being at least equal to the number of working cycle sections in each working cycle of the chambers.

15. Apparatus according to claim 14, wherein each explosion chamber is provided with at least n+1 controlled outlet members for the combustion gases, n being a whole number at least equal to 1, said apparatus including a nozzle and blading system arranged to receive the residual combustion gases discharged by the outlet valves and suited to the energy condition of such gases, a conduit for conducting the residual combustion gases to the last mentioned nozzle and blading system and a collecting chamber arranged to receive the explosion gases exhausting from the nozzle and blading system which is impinged by the next higher pressure explosion gas portion, said conduit opening into said collecting chamber.

16. A driving gas generator for producing combustion gases, comprising a plurality of explosion chambers provided with compressed air and fuel charging valves, nozzle valves for the discharge of high pressure explosion gases following the ignition of a combustible mixture in said chambers, and outlet valves for the residual combustion gases of the chambers, nozzle and rotor blading systems arranged to receive the explosion gases discharged by said chambers, said valves being adapted to be operated in predetermined sequence to determine the working cycle sections of the explosion chambers, the number of explosion chambers associated with said nozzle and blading systems being equal to the number of working cycle sections in each working cycle of the chambers, said working cycle sections being of equal duration and following each other without intervening pauses and without overlapping of such sections, and mechanism for operating said valves.

17. A driving gas generator for producing and delivering combustion gases under pressure, comprising four explosion chambers each provided with a compressed air charging valve and a fuel valve, two nozzle valves for the discharge of high pressure explosion gases following the ignition of a combustible mixture in the chamber, and an outlet valve for the residual combustion gases, two nozzle and rotor blading systems arranged to receive the explosion gases discharged by said nozzle valves in sequence, a third nozzle and rotor blading system provided with means for conducting the residual combustion gases of the chambers thereto, said valves being adapted to be operated in predetermined sequence to cause discharge of the explosion gases in two portions through the said nozzle valves in sequence, followed by the discharge of the residual combustion gases, and said valves operating according to a cycle which includes four time sections of equal duration, the operation of the valves in the four chambers being displaced progressively by a cycle section, and means for operating the valves.

18. Apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the three rotors are each provided with only a single row of blading.

19. An explosion turbine plant comprising a plurality of turbine stages, nozzles for charging explosion gases against the blading of such stages, explosion chambers for generating combustion gases by explosion under constant volume, and combustion gas conduits disposed Within and after the explosion turbine stages, said conduits being constructed and arranged to conduct the gases directly from the explosion chambers to the nozzles, and directly from one stage to the next stage Without the interposition of heat-withdrawing apparatus.

20. Process according to claim 1, wherein the combustion chamber means comprises a plurality of chambers equal to the number of cycle sections in the working cycle of the chambers, at least two of the sections being assigned to partial expansions of the explosion gases, said process including displacing the cycles of the chambers progressively by one cycle section, and maintaining said partial expansion sections of substantially equal duration and the duration of each substantially equal to the cycle period divided by the number of explosion chambers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,931,545 Holzwarth Oct. 24, 1933 1,933,385 Noack Oct. 31, 1933 1,969,753 Holzwarth Aug. 14, 1934 1,988,456 Lysholm Ian. 22, 1935 2,010,823 Noack Aug. 13, 1935 2,603,063 Ray July 15, 1952

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