Automatically regulated combustion process

• US 4,959,010 A
• Filed: 08/20/1984
• Issued: 09/25/1990
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/1983
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Matter + Siegmann AG
• Original Assignee: Matter + Siegmann AG
• Inventors: Schmidt-Ott, Andreas, Siegmann, Hans-Christoph, Burtscher, Heinz
• Primary Examiner(s): Kamen, Noah P.
• Application Number:
  US06/642,346
• Time in Patent Office: 2,227 Days
• Field of Search: 431/12, 431/76, 431/78, 431/79, 324/464, 250/373, 250/423 P, 250/283, 250/504, 55/151, 55/154, 55/102, 436/35, 436/55, 436/137, 436/905
• US Class Current: 431/12
• CPC Class Codes: F23N 5/006 the detector being sensitive to oxygen
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/66 and measuring current or voltage

Abstract

In a combustion process a fuel is mixed with an oxygen-containing gas in an adjustable ratio. This fuel-gas-mixture is burned and thereby an exhaust gas is produced. At least a part of the exhaust gas is collected and exposed to an ultra violet radiation source, thereby generating positive and negative charge carriers in the exhaust gas by means of a photoelectric charge separation process. The kind or amount of the positive and/or negative charge carriers is detected to produce a measurement value which reflects the amount and/or the charge of the carriers. Therefrom a control signal is derived and the mixture-ratio of the oxygen-containing gas and the fuel, the so-called λ-factor, is adjusted in response to said control signal in order to improve the efficiency of the combustion and to reduce the emission of toxic substances.

Claims

1. A combustion process comprising the steps of mixing an organic fuel with an oxygen-containing gas in an adjustable ratio, burning said fuel-gas mixture and thereby producing an exhaust gas containing a plurality of finely dispersed aerosol particles, collecting at least a part of said exhaust gas containing said finely dispersed aerosol particles and exposing said collected exhaust gas and thereby also said finely dispersed aerosol particles at least intermittently to an ultraviolet radiation source, thereby generating positive and negative charge carriers in said exhaust gas solely by means of photoelectrically charging said aerosol particles contained in said exhaust gas, detecting said positive or negative charge carriers to produce a measurement value which reflects the amount of charge of said positive or negative charge carriers, generating a control signal from said measurement value, and adjusting said ratio of said oxygen-containing gas and said fuel to an optimal value in response to said control signal.

2. A process according to claim 1, further comprising the step of cooling at least that amount of the exhaust gas which is exposed to said ultra violet radiation source prior to being subjected to ultraviolet radiation.

3. A process according to claim 2, wherein said amount of exhaust gas is cooled below the thawing point, and further comprising the step of removing the condensates thereby generated prior to exposing said exhaust gas to said ultra violet radiation source.

4. A process according to claim 1, further comprising the step of filtering-out particles suspended in said exhaust gas, which have a certain size range, from said exhaust gas prior to exposing said exhaust gas to said ultra violet radiation source.

5. A process according to claim 1, further comprising the step of removing already charged suspended particles from said exhaust gas prior to exposing said exhaust gas to said ultra violet radiation source.

6. A process according to claim 1, further comprising the step of feeding at least a part of said exhaust gas with a photoelectrically inert gas prior to exposing said exhaust gas to said ultra violet radiation source, in order to prevent any parts susceptible to contamination, corrosion etc. as e.g. the ultra violet radiation source, electrical insulators etc. from a contact with the exhaust gas.

7. A process according to claim 6, wherein said photoelectric inert gas is ambient or pre-cleaned air.

8. A combustion process comprising the steps of mixing an organic fuel with an oxygen-containing gas in an adjustable ratio, burning said fuel-gas-mixture and thereby producing an exhaust gas containing a plurality of finely dispersed aerosol particles, collecting at least a part of said exhaust gas containing said finely dispersed aerosol particles and exposing said collected exhaust gas and thereby also said finely dispersed aerosol particles at least intermittently to an ultraviolet radiation source, thereby generating charge carriers of positive and negative polarity in said exhaust gas by means of photoelectrically charging said finely dispersed aerosol particles contained in said exhaust gas, depositing said charge carriers of at least one of both polarities on at least one corresponding electrode, detecting the amount of charge collected by said electrode, and adjusting said ratio of said oxygen-containing gas and said fuel so as to at least approximate an optimal value in response to the measured amount of charge collected by said electrode.

9. A combustion process comprising the steps of mixing an organic fuel with an oxygen-containing gas in an adjustable ratio, burning said fuel-gas mixture and thereby produced an exhaust gas containing a plurality of finely dispersed aerosol particles, collecting at least a part of said exhaust gas containing said finely dispersed aerosol particles and exposing said collected exhaust gas and thereby also said finely dispersed aerosol particles at least intermittently to an ultraviolet radiation source, thereby generating charge carriers of positive and negative polarity in said exhaust gas by means of photoelectrically charging said finely dispersed aerosol particles contained in said exhaust gas, depositing said charge carriers of at least one of both polarities on at least one corresponding electrode, detecting the amount of charge collected by said electrode, and adjusting said ratio of said oxygen-containing gas and said fuel so as to at least approximate a minimum amount of hydrocarbons in said exhaust gas in response to the measured amount of charge collected by said electrode.