Gas and liquid contact apparatus – Contact devices – Injector type
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-14
2001-09-25
Chiesa, Richard L. (Department: 1724)
Gas and liquid contact apparatus
Contact devices
Injector type
C044S639000, C220S088300, C244S129200, C244S13500B, C261S093000, C261S119100, C261S121100, C261S123000, C261S124000, C261SDIG002
Reexamination Certificate
active
06293525
ABSTRACT:
OVERVIEW OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
In co-pending patents (by two or more of the inventors of the present invention), practical methods are shown to provide and/or control safety-enhanced fuel and also improved combustion fuel in various types of fuel receptacles and fuel systems, including fuel systems of engine-powered vehicles and fuel-burning devices. These co-pending patents disclose the values of hydrocarbon fuel that is mixed with an inert gas (such as CO
2
). The present invention discloses an economical method to produce safety-enhanced fuel comprising the incorporation of a hydrocarbon fuel and inert gas mixing apparatus which mixes highly absorbable inert gas(es) in hydrocarbon fuel.
2. Background of the Invention
Engine-powered vehicle safety is an important concern for all who travel. Numerous agencies, domestically and abroad, have been created and continue to operate with the sole purpose to monitor and improve systems, guidelines, and procedures, relating to the manufacture, maintenance and operation of travel and transportation vehicles. Most of these vehicles utilize some form of hydrocarbon fuel. The enormous power of hydrocarbon fuel is widely known, and when channelled properly it provides one of our most efficient sources of energy for travel, transportation and the like. However, the power of the fuel occasionally averts the safety designs of the systems that were created to control it, sometimes with tragic consequences. Some of these consequences, or their severity, may be significantly reduced or avoided completely, by the incorporation of a fuel within engine-powered vehicles which contains a high enough concentration of highly absorbable inert gas--within the fuel--as to be ‘self-inerting fuel’. Indeed, in the wake of the tragic outcome of TWA Flight 800 out of New York, the FAA recently announced their desire to see aircraft incorporate some form of fuel inerting system, perhaps with the poignant realization that had the central fuselage tank of that 747 had a sufficient volume of inert gas therein, it would not have been able to support the ignition and combustion of the tank's volatile contents. Such public outcry for such a solution has typically implied a costly retrofitting of 25,000+ aircraft and/or manufacturing of expensive on-board aircraft ‘hardware’ solutions for new planes. The present invention requires little or no retrofitting of engine-powered vehicles and discloses an economical and efficient method to produce safety-enhanced fuel. For example, an inert gas such as CO
2
, is highly absorbable in hydrocarbon fuel, and depending on various conditions can be absorbed into a hydrocarbon fuel up to a 3:1 ratio (and higher using positive pressures during mixing and/or storing). One volume of such hydrocarbon fuel can contain three times its own volume of absorbed CO
2,
with a range of 1-2 times the CO
2
absorbable in many commercial fuels representing a more typical range (with higher mixing pressures additional absorption is possible). The molecular mixing of the fuel and the inert gas is highly efficient and synergistic in that the volume of the safety-enhanced fuel and its weight is minimally altered within the various ranges of gas-absorption. According to mixing parameters that are controllable, such as the amount of pressure with which the inert gas is mixed into the fuel, the inert gas will desorb from the fuel into a fuel receptacle's ullage over time at predictable rates. It has been shown that a fuel receptacle ullage concentration of inert gas such as CO
2
in the range of 40-50% is, under most circumstances (including abnormally high temperatures), sufficient to prevent ignition or combustion of the remaining vapor and air mixture within the ullage. Since the volume of gas which can be absorbed in the fuel can readily exceed the volume of the fuel itself (without significantly altering the fuel volume or weight), it is possible to meet and exceed the 40-50% ignition-preventative range of inert gas needed in the fuel receptacle ullage as the fuel is used and as the inert gas contained in the remaining fuel continues to desorb from the fuel. Thus, little or no alteration is required of vehicles incorporating such safety-enhanced fuel, and an efficient and economical method to retrofit and increase the safety of vehicle's utilizing such fuels is provided. An additional benefit occurs with the presence of absorbed gas in fuel droplets allowing the gas to desorb as pressure falls or temperature rises, whereby the expanding gas bubbles (in the droplets) cause a separation of the droplets into microdroplets which promotes better combustion of the fuel including substantial decreases in emissions and soot particulates.
In the case of an engine-powered vehicle such as a commercial jet for example, an aircraft will receive fuel containing a substantial volume of inert gas such as CO
2
, as the plane awaits departure and then taxiis, factors such as time, fuel temperature increases and the mild agitation of taxiing and the subsequent take-off roll of the aircraft, assist in the desorption of CO
2
from the fuel. The inert gas will tend to stratify above the fuel and prevent the development of a potentially volatile layer of fuel vapor and air mixture. As the concentration of CO
2
within the ullage increases through desorption, the lighter volatile layer above it is forced out of the ullage through the fuel tank vents. Further purging is facilitated by the increase of altitude and the relative negative pressures associated therewith, which serve to draw out the uppermost layer of ullage-content. During the ascent phase and cruising phase of the aircraft, an additional gas-desorbing factor is introduced as the relative negative pressure of the surrounding air assists in drawing out CO
2
from the fuel into the ullage. With flights of longer durations (at cruising altitudes), the fuel and ullage are also cooled over time, which increases fuel ignition-preventative safety and increases the ability of the fuel to absorb and/or retain CO
2
therein until the descent phase of the flight where the warming of the fuel, and the agitiation of the fuel during landing and subsequent taxiing, are additional factors which assist in the purging of remaining CO
2
from the fuel. As previously mentioned, mixing conditions such as temperature of the fuel and the pressure with which the inert gas is mixed into the fuel, affect absorpsion and desorption rates of the gas into and out of the fuel. Thus, it is possible to mix the inert gas with the hydrocarbon fuel under higher pressures for flights of shorter durations whereby the gas contained therein will desorb at a faster and optimal rate, and conversely to mix gas with fuel at lower pressures (including negative pressures whenever advantageous) for flights of longer durations. Alternatively, a conduit-receptacle having at least one controllable fuel inlet and at least one controllable inert gas inlet (including control of variable gas pressure ranges), with at least one controllable outlet, leading to a vehicle re-fueling station, can transmit any one, or combination, of: fuel and highly absorbable inert gas; or safety-enhanced fuel; and improved combution fuel to the vehicle, or fuel-burning device. For example, with aircraft having flights of shorter durations (where the fuel tanks are intentionally only partially filled to minimize weight), it can be advantageous to first fill ullage(s) with inert gas before taking on safety-enhanced fuel. Higher pressure absorpsion rates are also employable for flights of shorter durations, thus the ullage of such tanks are quickly filled with the faster desorbing gas which can be optimally time-released for the flight's duration. Further, the control of inert gas mixing pressures can be used to facilitate the mixing of inert gas such as CO
2
into hydrocarbon fuels, e.g. diesel fuel, so that micro-droplets of fuel (facilitated by the absorbed CO
2
molecules) are obtained in the combustion phase of an engine to increase c
Ginsburgh Irwin
Metcalf Darrell Jay
Tichenor Clyde LeRoy
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