Chemistry: electrical and wave energy – Processes and products – Electrostatic field or electrical discharge
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-13
2001-02-27
Mayekar, Kishor (Department: 1741)
Chemistry: electrical and wave energy
Processes and products
Electrostatic field or electrical discharge
C123S538000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06193851
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a highly combustible fuel and a process for producing such fuel; more especially the invention concerns such a fuel for motor driven vehicles such as automobiles, trucks and boats which traditionally employ gasoline as fuel, as well as aircraft fuel and furnace applications, and which fuel exhibits low exhaust pollutant levels and high efficiency.
BACKGROUND ART
Motor driven vehicles such as automobiles and aircraft are fueled by a mixture of gasoline and air. Automobiles employ a carburetor or a fuel injection which produces an explosive mixture of gasoline and air by spraying the gasoline into air. The mixture may be swirled through an intake manifold and delivered to the engine cylinders of an internal combustion engine; or the gasoline may be injected or inducted directly into the cylinders and the air may be delivered separately through the intake manifold. Whichever way the mixture is formed it is crude and unstable and if not combusted immediately droplets of liquid gasoline fall from the mixture.
Aromatic hydrocarbons are included in gasoline to slow the combustion process and reduce knocking in the cylinders.
Such mixtures also result in significant levels of pollutants when combusted.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
This invention seeks to provide a highly combustible fuel for motor driven vehicles, more efficient and exhibiting lower levels of exhaust pollutants than conventional mixtures of gasoline and air.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention there is provided a process of producing a combustible fuel comprising exposing a gaseous hydrocarbon fuel to an electrical field or plasma or to ultraviolet radiation, microwave radiation or laser to produce a fuel of improved combustibility as compared with said hydrocarbon fuel.
More especially the exposure is at an elevated temperature and charged particles are derived from the gaseous hydrocarbon fuel, the charged particles being fed to the engine cylinder. The charged particles may bear a negative charge or a positive charge but negatively charged particles are preferred.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a combustible fuel produced by the aforementioned process of the invention.
In accordance with a specific embodiment of the invention there is provided a process of producing a combustible fuel comprising: a) introducing a gaseous, oxygeneous fluid into an atmosphere of gaseous hydrocarbon fuel maintained under vacuum, and b) establishing an electrical potential difference across said atmosphere or irradiating said atmosphere with ultraviolet radiation, microwave radiation or laser to produce a combustible fuel of said oxygeneous fluid bound to said gaseous hydrocarbon fuel.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention there is provided a combustible fuel which is a homogeneous composition produced by a) introducing a gaseous, oxygeneous fluid into an atmosphere of gaseous hydrocarbon fuel maintained under vacuum, and b) establishing an electrical ionization potential difference across said atmosphere or irradiating said atmosphere with ultraviolet radiation, microwave radiation or laser to produce a combustible fuel of said oxygeneous fluid bound to said gaseous hydrocarbon fuel.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
i) General Process
In the process of the invention a gaseous hydrocarbon fuel is exposed to an electrical field or plasma, more especially an electrical ionization potential difference, or to ultraviolet radiation, wave radiation or laser.
The exposure may be carried out in the presence of a gaseous carrier fluid, for example, an oxygeneous fluid such as oxygen and/or air, or a mixture of oxygen and/or air and steam or gaseous water vapor. Other gaseous carrier fluids include nitrogen and the inert gases, for example, argon and helium.
While not wishing to be bound by any particular theory as to the mechanism of combustible fuel production, it is postulated in one theory that the electrical ionization potential difference, or the radiation activates the gaseous hydrocarbon fuel to a high energy state, more especially the hydrocarbon molecules or ions of the fuel are thought to be electronically excited to a state in which they are more reactive or more susceptible to combustion than the hydrocarbon fuel in the non-excited state.
Another theory is that the process generates an extremely finely divided aerosol having a particle size far smaller than that achieved with a normal carburetor or fuel injector equipped system. Under the conditions of formation, the droplet particles are initially formed in a strongly electrically-charged condition. This is a metastable condition, leading immediately to the disruption of the highly charged droplets by internal coulombic repulsion and the formation of much more finely divided droplets each of which carries a portion of the charge initially held by the original droplet. These second generation droplets may then rapidly and similarly undergo further disruption and dispersion and so on until the fuel—air mixture enters the combustion chambers and is ignited. Mutual electrostatic repulsion between these fuel particles prevents them from coalescing back to larger droplets. Furthermore, the droplets enter the combustion chambers relatively more finely divided than in a normal carburetor or fuel injector equipped system. Since burning of the fuel in the combustion chambers occurs at the fuel particle surface, its rate is therefore dependent upon the surface area. Burning at high engine speeds is incomplete before normally-sized droplets in the normal carburetor or fuel injector equipped systems are ejected as exhaust, and therefore completeness of combustion is compromised if the droplet size is large. On the other hand, an extremely finely divided dispersion provides a huge increase in the surface area for burning and leads to much more complete combustion with the resulting decrease in carbon monoxide and unburnt hydrocarbon emissions which are observed with this invention.
A reactor employed in the invention was modified to incorporate a very fine mesh screen in the out flow stream of the reactor; the screen was insulated from the reactor components but electrically connected to an external detector of electrical current. In operation electrical charging of the screen was detected and it is likely that this results from partial collection and discharging of the charged droplets.
The presence of the charge on the droplets of the aerosol likely enhances the ease with which the fuel dispersion is combusted, especially when the droplets are negatively charged, since the negatively charged droplets would have an increased affinity, for oxygen adduction.
It is also possible, but not confirmed that this excited state or charged droplets of the hydrocarbon molecules or ions may become bound to the gaseous carrier fluid, especially when the carrier fluid is an oxygeneous fluid, such as by forming an adduct between the oxygeneous fluid and the charged droplets.
In order to expose the atmosphere to the ultraviolet or microwave radiation or to laser beam, the chamber housing the gaseous hydrocarbon fuel may include a window transparent to the radiation or laser beam whereby the radiation or beam may be directed to the atmosphere of the gaseous hydrocarbon fuel.
ii) Specific Process
In a particular process within the aforementioned General Process, a gaseous, oxygeneous fluid is introduced into an atmosphere of gaseous hydrocarbon fuel maintained under vacuum.
The gaseous, oxygeneous fluid is suitably oxygen and/or air, or a mixture of oxygen and/or air and steam or gaseous water vapor.
The hydrocarbon fuel is suitably gasoline by which is to be understood the various grades of gasoline motor fuel; hydrocarbon fuel may also be diesel oil, natural gas or propane.
Conveniently the atmosphere of gaseous hydrocarbon fuel is formed by vaporizing a liquid hydrocarbon fuel, for example, gasoline, under vacuum or a slight pressure in a chamber. The use of a vacuum facilitates formation of the gase
Campagna Marc Jean
Colt Richard Herbert
Mayekar Kishor
Swabey Ogilvy Renault
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