ELECTRICAL COMBUSTION CONTROL SYSTEM INCLUDING A COMPLEMENTARY ELECTRODE PAIR

• US 20150345780A1
• Filed: 11/15/2013
• Published: 12/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Clearsign Combustion
• Original Assignee: Clearsign Combustion
• Inventors: KRICHTAFOVITCH, IGOR A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,677,454 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: F23C 99/001 Applying electric means or magnetism to combustion for combustion engines F02B51/04, F02M27/04
• CPC Class Codes: F23M 11/04 Means for supervising combustion, e.g. windows
• CPC Class Codes: F23N 5/16 using noise-sensitive detectors

Abstract

Two or more unipolar voltage generation systems may apply respective voltages to separate but complementary electrodes. The complementary electrodes may be disposed substantially congruently or analogously to one another to provide bipolar electrical effects on a combustion reaction.

Claims

1. A system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction, comprising:

at least two electrodes including a first electrode and a second electrode operatively coupled to a combustion reaction in a combustion volume including or at least partly defined by a burner;

a first unipolar voltage converter operatively coupled to the first electrode and configured to output a first voltage for the first electrode;

a second unipolar voltage converter operatively coupled to the second electrode and configured to output a second voltage to the second electrode; and

a controller operatively coupled to the first and second unipolar voltage converters and configured to control when the first voltage is output by the first unipolar voltage converter for delivery to the first electrode and when the second voltage is output by the second unipolar voltage converter for delivery to the second electrode.

2. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 1, further comprising the burner.

3. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 1, wherein at least the combustion volume and the burner comprise portions of a furnace, boiler, or process heater.

4. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 1, wherein the first and second electrodes are configured to apply the electrical energy to the combustion reaction from substantially congruent or analogous locations.

5. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 1, wherein the first and second electrodes are configured to respectively apply substantially antiparallel electric fields to the combustion reaction.

6. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 1, wherein the first and second electrodes are configured to respectively eject oppositely charged ions for transmission to the combustion reaction.

7. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 1, wherein the first and second electrodes are configured to at least intermittently cooperate to form an arc discharge selected to ignite the combustion reaction.

8. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 1, wherein the first voltage output by the first unipolar voltage converter is a positive voltage.

9. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 1, wherein the first voltage is a positive polarity voltage having a value of greater than 1000 volts.

10. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 9, wherein the first voltage is a positive polarity voltage having a value of greater than 10,000 volts.

11. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 1, wherein the first unipolar voltage converter includes a voltage multiplier or a charge pump configured to output a positive voltage.

12. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 1, wherein the second voltage output by the second unipolar voltage converter is a negative voltage.

13. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 1, wherein the second unipolar voltage converter includes a voltage multiplier or a charge pump configured to output a negative voltage.

14. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 1, wherein the second voltage is a negative voltage having a value of greater than −

1000 volts negative magnitude.

15. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 14, wherein the second voltage is a negative voltage having a value of greater than −

10,000 volts negative magnitude.

16. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 1, further comprising at least one voltage source operatively coupled to the first and second unipolar voltage converters.

17. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 16, wherein the at least one voltage source includes an alternating polarity (AC) voltage source.

18. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 16, wherein the at least one voltage source includes at least one constant polarity (DC) voltage source;

wherein the controller is configured to control pump switching of a first polarity voltage from the at least one constant polarity (DC) voltage source to the first unipolar voltage converter, and to control pump switching of a second polarity voltage from the at least one constant polarity (DC) voltage source to the second unipolar voltage converter; and

wherein the pump switching is selected to cause stages of the first and second unipolar voltage sources to increase the magnitudes of the first and second polarity voltages output by the one or more voltage sources respectively to the first and second voltages output by the first and second unipolar voltage sources.

19. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 16, wherein the at least one voltage source is configured to output less than or equal to 1000 volts magnitude.

20. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 19, wherein the at least one voltage source is configured to output less than or equal to 230 volts magnitude.

21. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 20, wherein the at least one voltage source is configured to output less than or equal to 120 volts magnitude.

22. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 21, wherein the at least one voltage source is configured to output a safety extra-low voltage (SELV).

23. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 22, wherein the at least one voltage source is configured to output less than or equal to 42.4 volts magnitude.

24. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 23, wherein the at least one voltage source is configured to output less than or equal to 12 volts magnitude.

25. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 24, wherein the at least one voltage source is configured to output less than or equal to 5 volts magnitude.

26. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 1, wherein the controller includes a control logic circuit configured to determine when to operatively couple at least one voltage source to the first unipolar voltage converter and when to operatively couple the at least one voltage source to the second unipolar voltage converter.

27. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 26, wherein the control logic circuit comprises a timer.

28. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 26, wherein the control logic circuit comprises a microcontroller.

29. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 26, wherein the control logic circuit includes a data interface configured to communicate with a human interface or an external computer-based control system.

30. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 26, further comprising:

a computer control system operatively coupled to a data interface portion of the control logic circuit.

31. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 26, wherein the controller includes at least one switching element operatively coupled to the control logic circuit;

wherein the control logic is configured to;

control the at least one switching element to make electrical continuity between the at least one voltage source and the first unipolar voltage converter and break electrical continuity between the at least one voltage source and the second unipolar voltage converter during a first time segment, and

control the at least one switching element to break electrical continuity between the at least one voltage source and the first unipolar voltage converter and make electrical continuity between the at least one voltage source and the second unipolar voltage converter during a second time segment.

32. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 31, wherein the first and second time segments together form a bipolar electrical oscillation period applied to the first and second electrodes.

33. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 32, wherein a bipolar electrical oscillation frequency applied to the first and second electrodes is between 200 and 300 Hertz.

34. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 31, wherein the at least one switching element includes a pair of relays or a double-throw relay.

35. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 32, wherein the at least one switching element includes an electrically controlled single pole double throw (SPDT) switch.

36. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 32, wherein the at least one switching element includes one or more semiconductor devices.

37. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 36, wherein the at least one switching element includes an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT).

38. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 36, wherein the at least one switching element includes a field-effect transistor (FET).

39. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 36, wherein the at least one switching element includes a Darlington transistor.

40. The system configured to apply time-varying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 36, wherein the at least one switching element includes at least two sets of transistors in series.

41. An electrode assembly for applying electrical energy to a combustion reaction, comprising:

a complementary electrode pair configured to apply a time-varying electrical waveform to a combustion reaction, the complementary electrode pair including a first electrode configured to receive a first polarity voltage during a first time interval and a second electrode, electrically isolated from the first electrode and configured to receive a second polarity voltage during a second time interval;

wherein the first and second electrodes are configured to cooperate to apply respective first and second polarities of electrical energy to the combustion reaction during respective first and second times.

42. The electrode assembly for applying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 41, wherein the first and second electrodes are configured to apply the electrical energy to the combustion reaction from substantially congruent locations.

43. The electrode assembly for applying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 42, wherein the first and second electrodes are configured as field electrodes capable of applying antiparallel electric fields to the combustion reaction.

44. The electrode assembly for applying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 42, wherein the first and second electrodes are toric.

45. The electrode assembly for applying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 41, wherein the first and second electrodes are configured to apply the electrical energy to the combustion reaction from analogous locations.

46. The electrode assembly for applying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 45, wherein the analogous locations of the first and second electrodes are axisymmetric locations.

47. The electrode assembly for applying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 41, wherein the first and second electrodes are ion-ejecting electrodes.

48. The electrode assembly for applying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 41, wherein the first and second electrodes are configured to apply a majority charge to the combustion reaction.

49. The electrode assembly for applying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 41, further comprising:

an electrode support apparatus configured to support at least the first and second electrodes within a combustion volume.

50. The electrode assembly for applying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 49, wherein the electrode support apparatus includes at least one insulator configured to insulate voltages placed on the electrodes from one another.

51. The electrode assembly for applying electrical energy to a combustion reaction of claim 49, wherein the electrode support apparatus includes at least one insulator configured to insulate voltages placed on the electrodes from ground.