WO1995023942A1

WO1995023942A1 - A method of and device for producing energy

Info

Publication number: WO1995023942A1
Application number: PCT/EP1995/000786
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ladislao Pompei; Guido U. Parisi
Original assignee: Pendolo Corporation N.V.
Priority date: 1994-03-03
Filing date: 1995-03-03
Publication date: 1995-09-08
Also published as: RU2142094C1; AU705673B2; ATE184982T1; DE69512388D1; DE69512388T2; ES2138194T3; CA2184609A1; AU1948395A; EP0746731B1; CA2184609C; EP0746731A1; DK0746731T3

Abstract

The application concerns a method and a device for producing heat energy by contacting water with hot oil in a reaction vessel (11), which leads to a violent reaction outputting a flame-like eruption of very hot gases, the generated heat energy being more than can be obtained by simply burning only the oil.

Description

A Method of and Device for Producing Energy

The invention refers to a method of producing heat energy and to a device for carrying out the method.

It is known to burn oil for producing heat, and to extinguish any fire by hosing water on it.

The inventors have detected a new method of producing heat energy using oil and water, wherein a much higher energy can be gained and a much higher temperature is obtained than when only burning the oil. The method of the invention is characterized in that water is contacted with the oil, which beforehand has been heated to a temperature that depends on the nature of the respective oil. By such handling, an eruption of heat is caused which is comparable to an enormous and very hot flame-like exhaust. This means that an extremely strong combustion with heat release takes place. Thus the producing of energy is a transformation of energy and a production of heat. The method has proved very effective if. in a special chamber, the water is sprayed over the upper surface of the hot oil, which beforehand has been heated e.g. electrically, which heating can be terminated upon the beginning of the process that keeps the oil sufficiently hot by itself. For the chamber, a vessel conically tapering to a top opening is preferred. Moreover, it has proved advantageous to also introduce air into the chamber or vessel. An ordinary oil burner supplied with water instead of oil can be used, e.g. for spraying water and introducing air into the vessel.

The oil to be used for the purpose is preferably a fat oil, such as fat animal or fat vegetable oil. Vegetable oil has proved particularly effective, the neccessary starting temperature in such case being 310^"" C or more. But also light vegetable oil has been proved to be successful. The starting temperature, on the other hand, should not be too high so that the oil may not be chemically desintegrated beforehand, e.g. for the above oil not more than 340...350°C.

For a rough process control, the relation of the oil to the water should be approx. 40:60 per weight, a relation which, however, can be shifted to approx. 10:90, i.e. using less oil. if the process parameters such as the supply with oil, water and air and the output- jet diameter are finely, particularly electronically, controlled.

The use of sea water could increase the performance of the system, probably due to the presence of salts and Deuterium in said water.

The reason for the enormeous development of heat by this rather simple method has not yet been fully penetrated. Since chemical processes can hardly be the reason for setting free such an amount of heat, an explanation would be to assume nuclear energy, e.g. a cold fusion, combined with some hydrogen-oxygen-reaction. Also a hypothesis has been considered that the isotope C¹⁴ contributes to the phenomenon.

The device of the invention was checked with a Geiger-Mueller counter and no radio¬ activity was found, probably due to the aneutronic reaction which is supposed to take place. On the Earth the first aneutronic reaction was discovered in England in 1932 by the Nobel Prize Winners 1936 Cokroft and Walton. An instance of the aneutronic reaction is that of the star energy generated in the cycle "proton-proton", that is in fact aneutronic and is the primary source of the solar energy. In detail:

As a result of a long period of study and research, the inventors assume a very advanced technological process concerning aneutronic thermonuclear processes (not neutronic and therefore not radioactive), to obtain the energy contained in the atomic nucleuses and with the generation of free radical hydrogen or diatomic hydrogen and metastable helium, through a change of the molecular atomic structure of the water under certain process starting conditions obtained by means of a catalyst/reactor (even though it is not a real catalyst but more a reactor as it takes pan in the reaction). The aneutronic nuclear reaction exists, and an istance of that is the star energy generated in the cycle "proton- proton" that is in fact aneutronic and the primary source of the solar energy.

The following assumptions are necessary: The atomic hydrogen or free radical (H) is obtained splitting a normal diatomic hydrogen molecule (H-,). When the hydrogen atoms combine again to form the diatomic molecule, an input of energy which is the equiva- lent to a Isp of 21 10 s takes place.

The free series of radicals are very difficult to preserve, being extremely reactive and tending therefore immediately to combine again.

This basic process that can be further developed is an applicable valid alternative without pollution to the fusion process today under experimentation all over the world, but starting from a completely different point of view; obtaining nuclear reactions through self-collision instead of heat input and reproducing processes that take place in the stars and approximately for example:

1. -H¹ +,H' D² + e^* + V + energy

,H^: +,H' ₂He³ +γ (gamma radiation)

,He'+,He* ,He⁴ +2^,H

2. Formula that cannot be expressed at this early presentation phase, but only after further studies and experimentations.

The atomic nucleuses are positively charged and they repel each other naturally, having the same charge. The success of the process is assumed to result in the elimination of the repulsion so that they can collide. This can be obtained invecting some neutralizing electrons in the ions mixture and creating in that way a synthetic plasma consisting of trapped ions at high energy that move in a sea of electrons.

A feasibility study for the use of this basic process in endothermic type engines has been carried out with entirely satisfying parameters and the loss in the energy transformation process can be maintained with minimum values building a special type engine or water energy converter. The final appliances can be very wide ranging from planes, rockets, helicopters, hovercrafts, tanks, automobile cars, boats and conveyance means or any other appliance related to the combustion process while this basic process can be applied, as described, to burners of heating systems for home and industry as well as burning furnaces for industry processes. Therefore this highly advanced and innovative process is the first due to the splitting of the hydrogen molecules and oxygen atoms and also to the splitting of the hydrogen atoms into hydrogen molecules and generation of metastable helium.

T e metastable helium is an excited state of normal helium in which an electron in the atom is in an excitation state, that is a level of greater energy (as in the case of the laser pumping). When the electrons go back to their lower level of energy, the energy so released corresponds to a Isp of 3.150s.

Unfortunately the excitation state of the atom can exist only for a very short period of time ( 10 ^:4s) before going back to its normal state, but this problem is in practise overco- me by the ongoing generation of new atoms of metastable helium. Besides, the average life can be extended applying a strong electromagnetic field on the excited atom or forming a molecular complex between a normal atom and another at an excitation level (He^"-,). So. a combination of both can be obtained, and if the series H-, remains stable for a long period of time it can produce a Isp 2230s.

Through the process itself helium, oxygen and hydrogen cannot be produced as chemical products because inteacting among themselves at once after their generation process thev produce energy. In that way as a final product hydrogen and helium and small quantities of other gases as supporters of combustion through an electromagnetochemical reaction with a cataly¬ sing mixture or additive in a converter designed and shaped for the purpose can be obtained. This is the reason why the energy is released from the water through various reaction stages following one another and of course the energy is produced only in case of necessity through the control device which is the apparatus itself (controlled reaction).

The first stage of reaction is the combination of the H atom in H, and the release of energy caused by the passage of the excited electrons from the state of metastable helium to that of helium and also at last the reaction of pressure derived from the change in volume from the liquid state, as water, to the gaseous one and the subsequent combustion of the compound. So, a further expansion force is obtained in the process in addition to the many advantages and innovations of the process.

The losses in the transformation from the process to active work can be reduced to a minimum which means a high efficiency process so that even though every single reaction is not efficient to 100%, the sum of the various effects enhances the general efficiency level if compared to the use of a single process, as it generally happens, to above the 300% also compared to a rocket engine and of course much more than any other type of existing energy converters.

In that way the old technology of hydrogen production, its conservation and use as an energy source has been completely outdated, without mentioning all dangers linked to the handling of liquid hydrogen and oxygen because of their inflammability and the costs linked to the maintainance of an effective cooling system related to low temperatu¬ re preservation necessary. This very advanced and innovative technological process is a direct conversion of the water to hydrogen and metastable helium and other gases with energy release inside the converter with a very high degree of safety, as the products put into the converter are water and the catalyst/reactor (oil) and therefore not reactive in themsel ves until the process starting conditions are reached inside the apparatus or water energy converter. In that way the power obtained from the process is huge also because of the change of state from liquid (water), at the moment of the input into the converter, to gas (hydrogen, metastable helium and subsequently helium) released inside the converter and it is so that the expansion results by far greater than in any other converter (sum of the resulting effects), compared to a rocket engine because of the effect obtained by the metastable helium plus the energy obtained by the aggregation of the atoms of H in H₂ and at last the expansion force due to the change of state from water to normal helium through the passage to the metastable state or excited state at the level of the electrons and the following combustion of the compound mixture.

Thus, the invention provides a hybrid integrated system which has never been realized as a converter. Moreover the danger of a possible explosion has been completeley eliminated with great advantages if considering safety, since the single components are not inflammable until the precise starting conditions of the process are reached (min. temperature of 350 degree centigrade) and only inside the energy converter (fuels storable on the ground). This process can be employed for a greater trust in the rockets so that heavier materials can be loaded and/or higher speed can be reached as a conse- quence of the increase of the jet ejection speed.

Another important feature is that being the process at extremely low radioactivity levels and with difficulty to detect them and as there is therefore no pollution related to it, it would be possible to employ this type of process both within the atmosphere and outside it as for example on orbiting spacecrafts. The compression can be generated by the conversion from the liquid phase (water) to the gaseous, while the ignition takes place only when the precise conditions are reproduced in the special combustion chamber of the converter causing so a further boost of pressure that increase the ejection speed of the burst gas. As it is generally known, the force produced in the state change (from liquid to gaseous) is enough to let a motor work without provoking burst in the combu¬ stion chamber. If we add the following expansion due to the combustion of the com¬ pound, the energy produced by the metastable helium, the production of energy from the aggregation of the H in H_;, we realize how huge the power developed in the process would be. without mentioning the thermonuclear reactions that can be foreseen in the short ran in addition to that.

The importance of a high value of Isp is given by the following formula:

' SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26 Wo V = e where:

We g .Isp

Wo = weight in kg at the moment of the take off We = weight in kg at the end of the flight e = natural number = 2,718 g = ground acceleration = 9,81 m/sec² V = speed at the end of the flight m/s (circular orbit) Isp = specific thrust

In the engine or energy converter of the water, also energy as electricity can be obtained from the direct conversion of the plasma of the gas with a more complex system (MHD) or more easily and mechanically through a dynamo connected to the driving shaft of the energy converter applied to an engine. So the hydrogen production, metastable helium and then helium and other supporters of the combustion is only the transformation process at an atomic level related to the conversion process in the water to energy inside the converter. In order to better understand the concept of electricity production it is important to understand that all the nuclear energy released during these reactions is carried out by charged particles (electrons and positive ions) that come together in beams and it is possible to obtain generators on the cycle steam/turbine with an obtaina¬ ble efficiency of about 90%.

In this new innovative process there is also present a very low level of NO_x generally no more than 8-10 ppm in the combustion, while in general this level is much higher like no less than 50 ppm.

Therefore the invention relates to an energy converter or special combustion shaped chamber as later described extracting energy from water in a special process and using part of this energy for the dissociation itself. Further steps will be electronically con¬ trolled converters for increased efficiency, for example to increase or decrease water quantity in proportion with the required quantity of catalyst/reactor.

^_BSτm ; ^^ϊ M ^i'L^n Further details, advantages and developments of the invention will be seen from the following description of preferred embodiments and of an equipment to carry out the method, with reference to the enclosed drawings.

The method of the invention can be used primarily to generate heat energy, and secon¬ darily to supply with driving energy an engine such as a turbo-engine or an endothermic engine.

Fig. 1 shows a heating furnace set equipped to exploit the method of the invention; Fig. 2 and 3 show schematic elevational sections through reactor vessels also useable in the equipment for carrying oμt the invention.

The equipment of Fig. 1 comprises a furnace 1 having an exhaust flue 2, e.g. a furnace as used for a boiler or for a heating, and a usual burner 3 of the type usually used to spray heating oil and air into the furnace. The burner 3 is connected to a tank 4 which may be a tank like a usual oil tank as used for heating boilers, and is equipped with a nozzle 5 spurting off the material the burner 3 receives from tank 4.

In the described equipment, the burner 3 is not directly connected to the furnace 1 but is connected to a reaction vessle 1 1 containing a reaction chamber 12 into which a supply line 13 opens which comes, via a control valve 14, from a further tank 15.

The vessel 1 1. and thus also the chamber 12. is conically shaped tapering towards its upper end which opens into some sort of a flue 16 ending as a jet 17 into the furnace 1. The flue 16 contains a flap valve 18.

At the bottom of the vessle 1 1, electric heating wires 23 conntected to a (not shown) power source are arranged. Alternatively, a gas burner or another heating facility may be provided.

For carrying out the invention, the tank 4 is filled with water and the tank 15 is filled with a vegetable oil. According to a particular way of carrying out the method, the vegetable oil may be a usual cooking oil. Under control of the valve 14, a limited amount of the oil is allowed to pass into the vessel 1 1 , which in the depicted arrange¬ ment happens by gravity, in other arrangements by a pump. In the vessel 1 1 , an amount of oil 24 is collected up to a level of e.g. 3 to 5 mm, so as to cover the heating wires 23. The amount of oil 24 in the vessel is heated to a temperature of approx. 330° C, the minimum for the used oil being 320^" . A thermometer 25 serves for observing the temperature. If vegetable oil is used, a lot of little blue flames can be seen on the surface of the oil 24 collected in the chamber 12 upon reaching the starting temperature. Then, the burner 3 is started to spray water over the surface of the oil 24, at the same time supplying some air into the chamber 12. The water contacts the heated oil and leads to a very violent reaction with the consequence of an eruption of very hot material being discharged from the jet 17. The eruption consists of a flame-like bulb 29 of a white or blue glowing luminescent gas having a temperature of between 1200 and 2000° C, developing out of some sort of a non-luminant stem 30 of some limited length, e.g. 20 to 50 mm, which appears immediately behind the jet 17. The existence of stem 30 depends on the control and regulation of the arrangement.

For experimental purpose, a gas analyser 31 is inserted into the exhaust flue 2. By means of the gas analyzer 31 , it has been found out that the process exhaust gas flow causes a minimum of pollution, typically 5 to 10 ppm for CO and 10 to 1 1 ppm for NO.., in the case of a ratio wateπoil = 6:4. But the measured values will be lowered to about zero when the ratio 9: 1 will be realized by an electronic control system.

As concerns the continued reaction, the power supply for the heating wires 23 may be switched off since the reaction itself causes sufficient heat to keep the oil hot and to heat the further supply of oil coming from the tank 15.

Though it is supposed that the water is the main energy source, there is some consump¬ tion of oil. It is assumed that by a thorough control of the equipment, i.e. of the water and air supply by the burner 3 and of the valves 14 and 18, the consumption of oil with relation to water can be made to be approx. 1 to 9. The optimal process parameters will ha\e to be found out by tests. In case of manual control and without much ambition to obtain the optimum, the percentage of oil has to be selected higher, e.g. oihwater = 4:6 per weight. The critical point is keeping the temperature of the oil 24 in the vessel 1 1 above the minimum. The flap valve 18 which can also have a different valve con¬ struction assists to keep the temperature within vessel 1 1 at a value of not less than 320^;C. It is possible to voluntarily stop the process by closing the valve 14; in doing so, the relative quantity of. water continuously added will cool the reaction chamber below the starting temperature whereby the process is stopped. For an automatic control of the process, it will be necessary to continuously measure the temperature of the oil 24 in vessel 1 1 and in dependency of this temperature to control the supply with oil and water as well as with the air supplied by the burner.

The level of the oil 24 in chamber 12 should be maintained to a minimum of 3 to 4 mm to be sure that the process will continue; however, also a level of 1 mm of oil has been found working, however, with the risk of a sudden stop.

The reaction vessel 1 1 in Fig. 1 is supposed to be shaped as a truncated cone. This is not absolutely necessary, alternative possibilities would be e.g. a truncated pyramid or, though less preferable, a cylinder.

Fig. 2 shows a shape of the vessel 1 1 combined of a cylinder and a cone. The con- struction is different from the construction of Fig. 1 in that a plurality of nozzels 5 exist which spray alltogether onto the level of the oil.

In Fig. 3. there are provided one nozzel 5 and a separate air supply 32 above the level of oil 24 into the chamber 12 in vessel 1 1 , which chamber in this case is combined of a parallelepiped and a pyramid.

According to Fig. 3, there are no electric heating wires 23 like in Fig.s 1 and 2, but for the initial heating of the oil, a gas flame 33 is used.

The size of vessel 1 1 is to be designed depending on the heating power. More particu¬ larly, it is recommended to dimension the vessel 1 1 directly proportional to the desired heating power. For example, in the arrangement of Fig. 1 , for a heating power of the furnace and the burner of 400.000 J/h. the base. diameter of the conical vessel shall be 200 to 250 mm. Larger diameters will lead to a higher heating power but at the same time to larger consumptions while smaller diameters will produce less heat but will lead to lower consumption of the oil and water. The consumption is directly proportional to the diameter of the vessel 1 1 or of the chamber 12 therein. The cone shape has the advantage of reflecting part of the generated heat back to the oil 24 so as to easier keep it hot. Also little drops of the water-oil mixture thrown around in the chamber 12 are reflected by such cone shape. It has to be taken into consideration that a too large size of the jets could possibly reduce the process temperature below the process activation temperature of the system which is about 320⁵C, in which case the process will be stopped.

Anyhow, due to the relation between diameter and power, which relation may be based on the dissociation volume of the water involved, it is possible to experimentally determine the exact size of the vessel 1 1 for different calorimetric potentials of different burners and furnaces.

When starting the process, as mentioned, the oil quantity in vessel 1 1 has to be heated to e.g. 320' G. This temperature is slightly lower than the temperature of flammability of the oil, which represents a safety point because the oil can be stored safely without any problem or cooling necessity. As mentioned, the temperature depends on the oil used, other oil having e.g. a starting temperature of 350° C.

The shown embodiments describe the use of the process for heating purposes. Of course, the generation of heat energy can also be exploited in different manner, e.g. for driving an engine such as a hot air engine or also standard engines or turbines modified for the purpose.

The following examples show possible applications:

The method can be used with a usual turbine in the following way: a turbine has burners with combustion chambers on the external toroidal diameter and in this case the system can be easily applied with great advantage, taking in consideration the usually very high fuel consumption of such machines with an high NO_x output in the exhaust gases. A diesel engine can be modified like this: two injection pumps, one for the oil, one for the water (air comes in the intake manifold as standard engines); modification of pump timing: second pump injects water after few degrees after maximum height of the piston exactly a fraction of time after combustion; the engine must be positioned on a reverse basis 180°, i.e. the crankshaft is placed above of the pistons. This reverse position is required to allow a formation of a level of oil at the basis of the reversed cylinder. This level must be of the quantity necessary in the burning cycle because a too large quantity will raise excessively the compression ratio. This set up embodiment will work also for a gasoline injected engine.

Claims

1. A method of producing heat energy upon the use of oil, characterized in that water is contacted with the oil which beforehand has been heated to a temperature of more than 250° C.

2. Method according to claim 1 , characterized in that for the contact of the water with the oil, the water is sprayed over the upper surface of the hot oil.

3. Method according to claims 1 or 2, characterized in that before start of the water supply, the oil is heated to the neccessary temperature, and after beginning of the water supply, such separate heating is no longer continued.

4. Method according to claim 2 or to claim 3 if referred to claim 2, characterized in that a level of hot oil is maintained within a reactor vessel (1 1 ) having an output jet (17) opening and at least one nozzle (5) in the wall above the oil (24) level, and that the water is sprayed from the nozzle(s) over the oil and a heat eruption is taken from the output jet.

5. Method according to claim 4, characterized in that air is also introduced into the vessel.

6. Method according to claims 4 or 5. characterized in that such a vessel (1 1) is used that tapers conically from a lower full-section part to an upper opening which is the or which is connected to the output jet ( 17).

7. Method according to any of the claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the oil used is a fat oil.

8. Method according to any of the claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the oil used is a vegetable oil. 9. Method according to claim 8, characterized in that the oil has beforehand been heated to a temperature of more than 310'C.

lO.Method according to any of the claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the water and the oil are supplied in a relation from 10 to 50 parts per weight of the oil to from 90 to 50 parts per weight of the water.

1 1. Method according to any of the claims 1 to 10, characterized in that sea water is used.

12. Device for carrying out the method of any of claims 1 to 1 1, characterized in that it comprises a vessel (1 1 ) containing a reaction chamber (12) into which a controlled supply inlet (13) for oil and a controlled supply inlet (5) for water open and which has an exhaust opening (16, 17) for the exit of a heat eruption.