US295550A - hatden - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-'Sheet 1.

H. PHAYDEN.

A PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR VAPORIZING HYDROGARBON OILS. No. 295,550. Pa'tenLedMarr 25, 1884.

. 2 Sheets Sheet 2'.

(No Model.)

H. P.'HAYDEN. PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR VAPORIZING HYDROCAR'BON OILS. No. 295.550.

Patented Mar. 25. 1884;

JV A HVVE/VTOR W/T/VPSSES (5f @ufiu A A fforney N PFIERS. PllclmLlUwgmphnr. Washington I16 possible to apply the generator, were consec utively vaporized and mingledwith the su lJNrrmD STATES PATENT @rrrce.

HENRY F. HAYDEN, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR VAPORIZING HYDROCARBON OILS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 295,550, dated March 25, 1884.

Application tiled August 20, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom it) may concern: I

Be it known that I, HENRY F. HAYDEN, a citizen of the United States, and residingat Washington city, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Process of and Apparatus for Vaporizing Hydrocarbons and Combining the same with Steam, for use as a fuel andfor like purposes; and I do hereby declarethe following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, as illustrating apparatus adapted to the carrying out. of my invention, wherei11 Figurel is a vertical central section of a combiner and portion of a furnace for burning the vapors. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the furnace. Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the combining chamber. Fig. 4 is alongitudinal sectional view, showing a modified arrangement of the combining-chamber with relation to the furnace; and Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical section of the arrangement shown in Fig. 4. I

Like letters refer to like partswherever they occur.

Prior to my invention, so far as I am aware, in all cases where superheated steam and hydrocarbons have been combined in a generator to form a combustible vapor or temporary gas to be used for fuel, the steam or superheated steam and the hydrocarbons have been introduced either separately or combined, and at various points in the generator, and the combined vapors or temporary gas has been withdrawn from the upperpart of the chamber or generator, so that the process has been almost wholly in the nature of a distillation, wherein the lighter products of the oil first, and afterward those products capable of being volatilized at the highest temperature perheated steam to form the combustible vapors. As a result of such distillatory process certain objectionable features were met with: First, the combustible vapors were not uniform in character or quality, but varied from time to time, just as frequently occurs in the old method of manufacturing coal-gas, being first rich in hydrocarbons, carbureted jected, detracted greatly from the practicatutility and value as well as the benefits to be derived from using liquid fuels; finally, the withdrawing of the gas from the upper part of the generator reduced the pressure in the generator and the pressure at the burner, so as to ma measure facilitate the separation of the vapor and the deposit of the heavier oils.

I have discovered that in order to avoid the loss and difficulties above set forth the process employed must not be one of distillation, as has been heretofore commonly practiced, but must have for its object the supersaturation of the superheated steam with the hydrocarbon vapors, so that the steam and lighter hydrocarbon products shall act as carriers to the heavier oily matters, which would otherwise deposit in the combining-chamber, become. carbonized, and not only cause waste, but arrest the operation of the apparatus.

In order to obtain the best results, several things should be attended to: First, the steam and hydrocarbons should be admitted to the combining-chamber at the point where the temperature is lowest, and the combined vapors taken off where the temperature is highest. This tends to the gradual volatilization of the hydrocarbon, as well as to gradually increase the pressure or volume of the vapors. Next, a vertical retort or chamber should be used, and the hydrocarbons and steam be admitted above and taken off below. This causes the lighter vapors or more volatile matter,

which would naturally rise to the top of the combining-chamber, to be forced back, passed through, and become intermingled or supersaturated with the heavier vapors and oils which accumulate in the lower part of the com biningchamber. And, finally, it is desirable IOO to alternately compress and permitthe expanchamber into two compartments, the upper of sion of the vapors in their passage through the combining-chamber and while subjected to heat, so as to insure the homogeneity of the temporary gas or vapors.

I will now proceed to describe my invention more specifically, so that others skilled in the art to which it appertains may apply the same.

In the apparatus shown in the drawings, which is one of many which may be employed in carrying out my invention, A indicates the brick-work of a suitable furnace, provided at its front with an air-well or closed chamber, a, into which delivers the air supply conduit B.

For the purpose of starting the generator, a fire basket or grate, 0, may be arranged in the upper part of the air-well, and in the wall thereof a door, D, may be provided, for supplying fuel to the grate for an initial fire, and for igniting the vapors at the burners.

The air well or chamber a of the furnace and the working-hearth E or other point of utilization of the heat are connected by a passage in which is arranged at the front the burners F and at the rear the checker-work or mix.- ing chamber G.

The burners F are preferably hollow cylinders of fire-clay or other suitable refractory material, arranged in a row or rows across the passage, and perforated, so as to deliver the combustiblevapors or gas in three directionsviz., toward each other, to intensify the heat of the cylinders, and toward the air-well or air-supply, so as to facilitate the proper admixture of the air and gases or vapors.

The mixing-chamber G, located back of the burners F, is composed of a series of columns, of refractory material, arranged in rows and alternating, as shown, which serve to store heat, break up .and intermingle the air and gas or vapor, and insure complete combustion. Such or a similar device maybe employed for burning the vapor.

For generating the combustible vapor or temporary gas, the simpler the devices employed the better they are for all practical purposes, provided they may be operated as hereinbefore specified. For this purpose the steam, or preferably superheated steam, is conducted from the boiler or superheater through -a pipe, H, provided with a T -coupling, h, which receives a nozzle, n, on the oil-supply pipe N. The pipe H is then continued down until it enters the combining chamber M, where it branches into a perforated T-head, m. The combining-chamber M is preferably ellipsiform, or in form of a cylinder rounded at its ends, and divisible longitudinally and centrally, each section being provided with a flange, by which the two may be bolted togeth er.

Arranged centrally within the combiningchamber is a perforated or reticulateddiaphragm, 0, which may be secured in place by bolting it between the flanges of the sections of the combining-chamber M, and divides the which, or receiving chamber, connects directly with the steam and oil supply, while the lower or delivery compartment is connected directly with the burners or point of utilization of the combustible vapors by one or a series of eduction pipes. This combining-chamber may be variously placed with relation to the furnace for the consumption of the vapors-for instance, as shown in Fig. 1, wherein it is located in the upper part of the air-well a, directly in front of and in line with the burners F, and over the auxiliary fire basket or grate 0, where it can be subjected to an initial fire in starting the apparatus,and will be within the influence of the heat radiated from the burners and walls of the firechamber; or it may be located over the crown of the furnace, and its vapor-eduction pipes may pierce the crown and deliver into the top of the hollow cylindrical perforated burners F. In the latter arrangement I prefer to inclose the combining-chamber in a sand-bath, P, which may be heated from the crown of the furnace, or to surround the chamber by some good non-conductor, to avoid the chilling ofthe vapors.

Apparatus such as hereinbefore described,

or its equivalent, may be operated as follows: Superheated steam, being admitted to pipe H, is allowed to flow thcrethrough and through the combining-chamber M until the apparatus has been raised to the desired temperature; and if an auxiliary fire basket 0 has been provided, a fire of coke, charcoal, or like material may be lighted therein and urged by a hot-air blast admitted through air-supply pipe 13. When the whole apparatus has reached the desired temperature, the valve in oil-supply pipe N is opened, and the oil allowed to flow into pipe H, where it is caught up, vaporized, and forced along by the steam-pressure. As the flow is downward and awayfrom the oil and steam induction pipes, the lighter oils, which are first volatilized, will be forced along with the heavier oils,which fall by gravity and are less rapidly volatilized, and as the gradual volatilization of the'heavier oils increases the volume of the vapors or temporary gas, the pressure will gradually increase, so that the tendency to repulsion in the vapors, due to theincreasing temperature, will be met by the increasing pressure in the apparatus, and the two forces, coacting, will insure a perfect saturation of the superheated steam and non-condensable vapors by the heavier vapors, and all chance for condensation or deposition of the heavier matters will be avoided, as the tendency of the flow is in the direction of gravitation. The combined superheated steam and hydrocarbon vapors, on reaching the combining-chamber M, will escape from the perforated T-pipe m, being delivered in. all directions into the upper compartment of the combiningchamber. When this limited expansion takes place, any slight condensation or deposit which -might occur will be counteracted, in themaroe j ority of cases, by the increased temperature;

but .if not so in every instance, the liquid will accumulate in a thin film on the perforated diaphragm 0, to be again taken up by the vapors, &c., as they are forced through the fine perforations. From the lower compartment of the combining-chamber M the superheated steam and light products, surcharged with the vapors of the heavier hydrocarbons, pass directly to the hollow cylindrical perforated burners (or equivalent burners) F, whence they are projected, under great pressure, in three directions-first, against the blast of hot air issuing from air-well a, and, secondly, in opposite directions against the other burners of the series. This projecting of the hydrocarbon vapors in fine jets into and against the current of the air-blast is very effective in insuring an intimate intermingling of the vapors and the oxygen or air essential to obtain complete combustion, while the forcing of the flame back upon and between the cylindrical burners raises them to a high temperature, which materially assists the operation of the-devices.

It is possible, and probable, that in the process herein described some slight distillation takes place, and light carbureted hydrogen is formed, which is non-condensable and unites with the steam to form a carrier or vehicle for the heavier vapors; but such is not the characteristic feature of my present process, which aims at the formation of a dense inflammable vapor of mechanicallymixed superheated steam and hydrocarbons, and depends for its accomplishment on the following forces coacting, viz: the pressure due to the superheated steam and the expansion of the volatilized hydrocarbons, the repulsion in the particles incident on the applied heat, whereby an internal circulation is maintained in the mass of vapor, and the conduction of the flow of Vapors in the direction of gravity, so that the heavier vapors shall flow with and intermingle thoroughly with the lighter vapors.

In burning a temporary gas or vapor-such as hereinbefore describedan abundance of air is essential; otherwise a smoky flame, with loss of fuel and heat, will result.

I do not herein claim the hollow perforated burners of refractory material arranged in a row to deliver the combustible gases toward each other, or the mixing chamber located back of the burners, as the same forms the subject-matter of an application filed September 11, 1883, by myself and John H. Morgan, Serial N 0. 106,208.

Having thus described the nature, operation, and advantages of my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

l. .The method herein described for generating hydrocarbon vapors for immediate use as fuel and for like purposes, which consists in combining superheated steam and hydrocarbon oils under gradually-increasing pressure and heat, together with rapid and continuous expansion and compression, and conducting entering the combining-chamber above thediaphragm, and a vapor-eduction pipe so ar-' ranged with relation to the induction-pipes and combiningchamber that the vapors shall escape by gravity aswell as pressure, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

3. In an apparatus for combining hydrocarbon oils andsteam for generating combustible vapors, the combination of the su perheated-steam-induction pipe, the oil-pipe delivering thereinto, the combining-chamber divided into two compartments by a perforated or a reticulated diaphragm, and a vaporeduction pipe leading from the lower compartment of the combining-chamber, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

4. The combining-chamber composed of the longitudinal flanged separable sections and the interposed centrally-arranged perforated or reticulated diaphragm, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

5. The combination of a combiningchamber having a central perforated diaphragm, with oil and steam pipes delivering thereinto above the diaphragm, and ednction-pipes leading from the opposite side of the diaphragm to aseries of burners, said combining-chamber being arranged in the air-well of the furnace, with a series of vertically-arranged hollow perforated burners, which deliver against the combining-chamber and toward the air-well, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in presence of two witnesses, this 18th day of August, 1883.

HENRY F. HAYDEN.

wan esses:

J NO. H. MORGAN, O. O. L. DrLLAwAY.

I re

Images