Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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The present invention relates to a method of improving
the energy yields of reactions, particularly combustion.
In reactions such as the combustion of hydrocarbons, it
has been known for a long tir.le that the reaction between the
combustible or fuel and the combustion supporting gas occurs
progressively with the destruction of particles or droplets of
the fuel, formation of intermediaries in chains and, normally,
the production of unburnt residues. If said production is
eliminated by using an excess of the combustion supporting gas,
(air) it results in a loss in the energy yiéld.
It is also known, and it makes good sense, that a
reaction is more complete and faster when the reactants are
mixed better initially. It has been proposed to improve the
mixing of the reactants by vlbrations of variable frequency,and
; yet, here again, the complications of the equipment override in
` general the corresponding gain; only simple improvements relat-
ive to the shape and arrangements of the tuyeres, for ameliora-
ting the turbulence, have really been accepted in practice.
~ or some time it has also been known that it is possible
to improve a combustion process by adding a substance in the
presence of the fuel which partially dissociates, at a temper-
ature below that of the combustion reaction, the products of
dissociation recorbiDine in the
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vicinity of the flame, with themselves and the intermediary
~~ products of combustion. The si~plest such additive is water.
Nevertheles~ the energy gain afforded ~y water is very substan-
tially less than might be hoped, therefore hardly compensating
for the added complication due to the addition of water;
accordingly, such a ~ethod has not achieved wide acceptance~
The preceding is not only true for a combustion process
but also for all other similar reactions.
The idea which was the starting point for the present
invention i5 -that additives such as water are far from as
effective as they could be because the motion imparted to the
molecules of the solid or liquid reactants has been heretofore
very small and inadequate to dislodge the particles and droplets
to the point of permitting them to react fully w;th the additive.
We have surprisingly and unexpectedly discovered that
the maximum thermal or ionic motion imparted to substantially
all the substances capable of reacting i5 located in the fre-
- quency band of the so-called ~yperfreguenciesUbetween 1 GigaHertz
and 100 GigaHertz (that is between 1 and 100 billions of cycles/
second and, prefera~ly in the band of 8800 Mc/s + 20%).
Up until the present day it was not easy to obtain such
elevated frequencies, but recently apparatus have been made
available enabling the production and transmission of such
super high frequencies, in the radar range, economically, at
suitable levels of power.
According to one aspect of this invention, there is
provided a method of improving the energy yield of a reaction
between reactants, comprising providing electromagnetic radiation
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the frequency of which is in the range of 1 GigaHertz to 100
GigaHertz and substantially corresponds to the maximum thermal
or ionic motion of the molecules of said reactants, and directing
said electromagnetic radiation towards said reactants while '~
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allowing the reaction to proceed. Th~ frequency of the electro-
- magnetic radiation is prefera~ly in the band of 88~0 Mc/s + 20~.
According to another aspect of this invention, there
is provided an apparatus for improving the energy yield of a
com~ustion process compri~ing a com~ustion chamber, a burner
extending inside said com~ustion chan~er for spraying fuel and
a combustion supporting gas into a reaction zone in said com-
bustion chamber, means for supplying fueI and combustion support-
ing gas to said burner, means-for generating frequency in the
band of 8800 Mc/s + 20% and means for directing said frequency
towards said comoustion zone.
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In the method according to the invention, before react-
ing the reactants, possibly with the addition of an additive
whose products of dissociation are capable of recombining at
least in part with themselves or with the reactants, the react-
ants are subjected to an electromagnetic field whose frequency
is selected in the band of 8800 Mc/s + 20% which corresponds
to a maximum thermal or ionic motion imparted to the reactants.
In case of the combustion of hydrocarbons, the preferred
additive is water to which a surface active agent such as
10 "Teepol", a trademarked product distributed by "Compagnie
Franc~aise des Produits Chimiques", Shell, Paris, France is added.
When the reaction is principally or secondarily intended
for the recovery of heat, for example the burning of fuel in a
boiler for heating, the transmission of heat to recovery
surfaces, e.g., the walls and tubes of the boiler,is greatly
improved by subjecting the reaction zone or area to an electro-
static field at a voltage ranging between 300 and 15,000 V.
The effect of such a field is to cause an ionic dispersion, in
'- the reaction zone then towards the walls, of the mixture of
20 reactants which has been highly ioniæed due to the simultaneous
effect of the electromagnetic field and reaction. ~ potential
below 300 V is not very effective, whereas a potential above
15,000 V generates premature and incomplete combustion after a
apont6neou6
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ionization~ ln an internal combus,tion engine, potentials may
range up to 25 ,ao~ v.
One of the effects of the addition of water in such
a case is that since the dielectric constant of the hydrocarbon
fuel and combustion supporting gas is- in general even less
than about 1/40 that of ~ater, a molecular focusing is brought
about by the effect on the rate of propagation of the electro-
magnetic wave which'is given by the formula:
v = 1 / ~ E ~
where E is the absolute dielectric constant of the medium and
~ is the magnetic permeability of the medium.
! From another standpoint, the specific heat of the
- combustion supporting gases i5 in general very much less than
that of water and hydrogen, the presence of water, whether
dissociated or not improves the transmission of energy.
The accompanying drawing schematically illustrates a
preferred embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention.
Referring to the drawing, a heating system including a
- boiler utilizing fuel oil comprises a conventional burner 1
which injects fuel and air into a combustion chamber 2 and an
injector 3 which injects water, to which a surface active agent
has been added, as a pressurized spray phase. The flow rate of
the sprayed water is at most 20% by weight that of the fuel
injected.
, A frequency generator set at a central frequency of
,, 8800 Mc/s comprises an isolation voltage transformer 4 which is
oonnected via a fixed voltage rectifier S and an oscillating
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cavity 6 to a horn type waveguide antenna 7 ~hich extends into
the combustion chamber to the ~icinity of the burner 50 that its
axis 8 intersects the axis of the ~urner in the middle of the
flame. The consumption of the frequency-generator is about
215 volt-amperes for domestic use.
An electrostatic generator comprises a special isolation
voltage transformer 4a, a special voltage rectifier 9, a voltage
and current limiter la, and an insulated metal ring 11 disposed
in front of the tip of the burner and having a diameter 15 mm
larger than the maximum cross-sectional dimension of the conical
spray of combustion reactants in the same plane_ The output
voltage is adjustable bet~een 500 and 15,000 V, the current
variable between 0.1 and 0 5 milliamps. The power consumed is
17 volt-amperes for domestic use.
Although the preceding example is relative to a boiler
of a heating system it is to be noted that the invention is
particularly well suited for internal combustion engines where
- it is possible to achieve, in addition to an improved energy
yield, an appreciable gain in the regularity of combustion and
nearly total elimination of unburnt residues.
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According to a preferred em~odiment of the invention, ~F
the electro-magnetic radlati~on is puls-ed with a frequency between
0.1 Hz and 2 MHz. This embodi`ment permits obtaining a higher
peak power with the same effectlve power and particularly
improves the evacuation of heat. The length and the form of
the pulses are to be determ~ned for each case, the shorter is
the percentage of time of emission in each pulse the higher the
peak power may be.
As an example, a test has been carried out using a
conventional automobile motor functioning with gasoline, with
a high frequency generator, regulated at 8875 MHz, pulsed at
12.000 Hz, the radiation being emitted during 1/3 of each pulse
period of time. The fuel consumption was reduced by about 20%.
The flow of air with gasoline vapour was subjected to
the electro-magnetic radiation do~nstream of the carburetor, in
the admission pipes.
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