US790253A - Gas producing and consuming apparatus. - Google Patents

Description

.No. 790,253. PATENTED M Y 16, 19,05. c. ELLIS.

GAS PRODUGINGAND OONSUMING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION IILED NOV. 22, 1904.

Z@ A ATTORNEYS N0. 790,253. I l I if Patented May 16,1905.

7 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CARLETON ELLIS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO EIIDRED PROCESS COMPANY, OF. NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

GAS PRODUCING AND coNsuwuNe. APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 790,253, dated May 16, 1905.

Original application filedOctober 18,1904, Serial No. 228,915. Divided and this application filed November 22, 1904. Serial TO y 607206771: secondly, the use of gases deficient in carbon BeitknownthatI,CARLEToNELLIs,acitizen dioxid without substantial. cooling; thirdly, of the United States, residing at New York .the employment of draft-accelerating means 5 city, county and State of New York, have inhaving inadequate provisions for .regulating vented certain new and useful Improvements the oxygen and endothermic constituents of in Gas Producing and Consuming Apparatus, the draft-currentindependently and in the of which the followingspecification and accom correct proportions. panyingdrawing discloseasanillustrationone I find that the ordinary run of furnace- 55 embodiment thereof which I now regard as the gases, especially when the furnaces are oper- IO best out of the various forms in which the ated, as usual, with a large excess of air in principles of my invention may be applied. order to secure complete combustion, are so This apparatus is especially intended to weak in carbon dioxid that their endothercarry out the method of making weak gas by mic action within the fuel-bed of the pro- 60 the producer process as described in my 00- ducer is insuflicient to overcome the high 5 pending application, Serial No. 228,915, of temperature at which it has been proposed to which the present application is a division. introduce them, and as a consequence the pro-' Its main object is to dispense'witlr the use of ducer either runs so hot as to produce large steam asa cooling agent within the producer, quantities of soot, .melted slag or clinkers, to secure a better quality of gas,'to permit and carbon dioxid, or it becomes necessary the employment of'accelerated draft Without to employ steam in large quantities in an incurring excessive temperatures, and to perefiort to reduce the temperature to a practimit the producer to be operated at a lower cal working point. These devices have also temperature, as well as to secure a greater suffered from the inflexible control afforded 7 operative range and increased flexibility of by a jet of air or steam which they were com- 5 adjustment to meet the varying conditions pelled by their high temperature to employ arising with different grades and kinds of as a draft-accelerator in lieu of a fan or fuel. To this end I employ a draft-current equivalent mechanical device, since such a jet composed in part ofa neutral endothermiadds its own' quota of reacting fluid to the 75 cally-reacting fixed gas,such as carbon dioxid draft-current, and when used in the way pro- 3 which may conveniently be derived-from the posed a variation in the propelling power of stack-gases of a furnace or other available the jet, fails to result in maintaining the com-' source. position of the draft-current in the correct Prior attempts have been made to devise a proportions with reference to the temperasystem for utilizing the gasified carbon of ture of the stack-gases and their richness in the waste stack-gases and secure the benefits carbonic acid. It is also necessary to take of that economy in fuel consumption which into account the velocity reactions on account theoretically results from the fact that less of which the fuel under forced draft will heat is required to reduce CO2 to CO than is slag even with stack-gases theoretically rich 5 needed in first gasifying solid fuel and then enough in CO2 to maintain a non-slagging 4 reducing the CO2. Such systems have necestemperature, because probably of the fact sitated the employment of steam as a cooling that at high temperatures carbon manifests a agent. .The failure to devise a practical sysselective aflinity for oxygen in preference to tem for utilizing the waste gases without carbon dioxid, which is not so apparent when 9 usingsteam to cool the producer has, I apthe draft-current is cooled, the exothermic prehend, been due to the following principal and endothermic reactions in the latter case causes: first, the employment of the furnaccoccurring at speeds more nearly approximatgases at an extremely high temperature; ing each other.

' that feature generically.

My invention involves control of the temperature and proportions of the cooling agent with reference to its richness in endothermic constituent, and for the practice of said invention the following conditions are essentialnamely, supplying the diluent gas in such a condition, effected either by cooling it or deriving it of a composition sufficiently rich in endothermic constituent, as to maintain the temperature of the producer below the point at which soot, slag, or 'clinkers form in objectionable quantities and the predetermined independent regulation or adjustment of the respective proportions of free oxygen and neutral or endothermic gas in the draftcurrent. For the latter result I prefer to employ a mechanical draft-accelerator. such producer through a long pipe subject to radiation and convection of heat or subjected to artificial cooling by deportation of heat from its surface or contents. Both methods may be employed in conjunction for very weak products of combustion, small regenerators, &c., and I have shown both in the drawing.

I am aware of patent to Eldred, No. 692,257, in which the employment of neutral stackgases cools the fuel-bed; but I do not claim My present invention relates specifically to the production from a thick bed of fuel of combustible gas, which, owing to the potential properties of its heatgiving constituents, may, if desired, be carried to a distance from the producer and burned at any desired point.

My invention is particularly adapted, though not necessarily confined, to an organization in which the gas-producer is functionally and structurally remote from the consuming apparatus, because from the fact that I operate the producer at a low temperature there is little need of attempting to utilize the sensible heat of the producer-gas, and the necessary length of the return-conduit for the products of combustion in many cases may dispense with other special provisions for cooling these products.

The accompanying drawing represents a sectional view of an apparatus constructed and arranged in accordance with my invention and embodying a gas-producer and a regenerative furnace, together with other features necessary to effect the object above stated.

1 indicates the gas-producer, comprising a generating-chamber adapted to contain a deep bed of fuel 2 and having suitable inlet-apertures for feeding fuel from the top and a water seal at the lower end, from which the ashes are removed.

3 is a gas-pipe connecting the upper end of the producer with a reverberatory furnace 4, of which 5 is the hearth-chamber, and 6 7 the gas and air entrances in pairs at each end, the air-entrance being superimposed upon the gas-entrance.

8 and 9 are respectively the gas and air regenerators, two of each connected with the entrances 6 7 and containing brick checkerwork. Their lower ends connect by passages 10 11 with the reversing-valve mechanism embodying valves 12 13, whereby the regenerators are alternately placed in the air and gas lines leading to the furnace and in the path of the products of combustion leading from the furnace to a stack-passage 15.

From a point between the gas-regcnerators and the trunk of the stack-passage 15 a pipe 16 leads back to the boshes of the producer 1 and enters the same by twyers 17 whereby products of combustion may be returned from the furnace to the hottest part of the fuelbed and passed therethrough. This conduit contains a,fan-blower 18, and back of said blower there is an air-inlet 19 to the conduit for supplying air to the stack-gases for supporting combustion and cooling the gases. The air-inlet and the trunk of the pipe 16 are equipped with valves or dampers 20 21, whereby the proportions of air and products of combustion in the draft-current may be accurately and independently regulated with especial reference to the temperature of the stack-gases and their richness in CO2 and the slagging-point of the particular fuel which is being burned, so as to give the desired results in maintaining combustion within the producer at a temperature below the slagging and sooting points. These valves are adjusted to provide an air-supply insuflieient for the combustion of the gas after it emerges from the bed of fuel, so that the output of the producer shall be a combustible gas which may be conducted to any desired point of use and there burned with oxygen. The pipe 16 also has a series of heat-radiating fins 22 for reducing the temperature of the gases.

The furnace L is operated in the usual way, the products of combustion passing out to the regenerators from one end of the laboratory and yielding their heat to the checkerwork, while producer-gas and air are passed in at the opposite end through the other pair of regenerators, from which they absorb heat. Upon reversal of the valves 12 13 the air and gas pass through the first said regenerators and the products of combustion through the last said pair. A portion of the products is drawn from the discharge end of the regeneratorthrough the pipe 16 by the fan 18 and forced through the producer under accelerated draft in company with free oxygen, which is supplied through the inlet 19 and may be furnished in part from the excess of uncombined oxygen in the furnace 4. The remaining portion passes out through the stack-passage 15. That part of the products which goes through said pipe to the producer is cooled in passing through the regenerators in common with the rejected products, and the cooling action is supplemented by dissipation of heat to the atmosphere from the surface of the pipe 16 and the radiating-fins 22 thereon. These fins may, however, be omitted where the regenerators themselves or the length of the return-pipe afford a sufficient diminution in the temperature, and either the pipe alone or the regenerator alone may effect the required cooling. The regenerators when used may be relied on to cool the gases to a temperature of from 500 to 800 Fahrenheit, or thereabout. It will be noted that owing to the location of the inlet of pipe 16 between the gas-regenerators 8 and the stack-passage 15 the waste gases are taken mainly or wholly from said gas-regenerators, where the products of combustion are richer in carbonic acid, owing to the superincumbency of the air within the furnace and the preponderence of carbonaceous gases in the lower portions thereof. The endothermic reaction of this ingredient with the incandescent fuel, consistingin its conversion into carbon monoxid, exerts an important influence in maintaining the temperature of the producer at a point low enough to avoid the production of soot and clinkers and clogging of the producer from the latter cause.

It will be observed that this apparatus avoids the use of steam, which has heretofore been a requisite in keeping down the temperature, especially with forced draft. Besides the other advantages enumerated a very considerable saving is effected in the consumption of fuel hitherto required to make steam for cooling the producer. The quantity of steam needed to run the engine for driving the fan is a very small proportion of that heretofore used for cooling. The presence of steam in moderate amounts would not interfere with the continuance of my process; but the necessity of employing it as a primary cooling agent is entirely done away with.

It is to be noted that the heat abstracted in the regenerator from that portion of the products of combustion which goes to the producer is shunted or side-tracked around the producer and returned to the furnace by way of the en-' In this way I am en-' abled to save a large. part of the heat result-:

tering producer-gas.

ing from the cooling of the producer-draft when theinvention is applied to a reverberatory' furnace.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an apparatus of the character specified, the combination of a gas-producer, a gas-furnace having a regenerator heated by its waste gases, and a conduit for products of combustion connecting the waste-gas outlet of saidfurnace supplied thereby and having checkerwork, means to intermittently pass the prodnets of combustion from said furnace through the checker-work, and means for returning the products of combustion which have passed through the checker-work to the combustion zone of the producer for cooling the latter.

4. The combination of a regenerative furnace having two-regenerators, means to alternately pass combustion-supplying fluid and products of combustion through said regenerators, a gas-producer connected to supply combustible gas to said furnace, and means to return to said gas-producer the cooled products of combustion which have traversed one or the other of said regenerators.

5. The combination of a furnace having regenerators one of which is so located as to receive products of combustion containing a larger proportion of carbon dioXid than another, a gas-producer supplying said furnace, and means for returning to said producer waste gases from the first said regenerator.

6. The combination of a furnace having at each end a gas-entrance and an air-entrance, air and gas regenerators connected with said entrances, an outlet-passage for products of combustion which havetraversed said regenerators, reversing-valve mechanism for alternately directing products of combustion and air and gas through said regenerators, a gasproducer connected to furnish gas to the furnace through the gas-regenerators, and a return-conduit for products of combustion connecting said outlet-passage with the combus- I With said entrances, valve mechanism for alternately directing products of combustion and air and gas through said regenerators, a gas-producer connected to supply gas to the furnace through said gas-regenerators, and a return-conduit connected to receive products of combustion from the gas-regenerators and supply the same to the producer.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, before two subscribing witnesses, this 10 18th day of November, 190 1.

(JARLETON ELLI S.

Witnesses:

M. F. MANGnLsDoRFr, W. E. DIXON.

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