Planting – Liquid or gas soil treatment – Treating substance includes ammonia
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-23
2002-03-26
Batson, Victor (Department: 3671)
Planting
Liquid or gas soil treatment
Treating substance includes ammonia
C111S123000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06360681
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
This invention relates to the accurate application of NH3 on agricultural fields.
DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART
NH3 or anhydrous ammonia is a low cost and a physically difficult material to comprehend. It is out of sight and out of mind and seldom understood. The pressure increasing direct injection system requires reverse thinking for the designer and user. The new method and application system applies NH3 without freezing the fines. This is opposite the old pressure reducing system since the unfrozen or melted lines mean no NH3 is being applied. In fact a frozen line on the new pressure increasing system is the visual indication of a partially plugged line.
Anhydrous ammonia expands almost 100 times its stored volume as a gas. When it boils at −28 degrees F approximately 85% remains liquid and the balance is given off as a gas. Yet it looks like water when observed in its liquid state. NH3 has a flow resistance of 0.85 X's water. NH3 superheats when combined with water to form aqueous ammonia at 24% nitrogen. A tremendous amount of heat is given off when NH3 converts to NH4 and thus vapor is often observed on high humidity days. This vapor is quite insignificant and is said to be less than 0.01% (100 PPM) of the material applied with the NH3 applicator. NH3 is lighter than air and has a specific gravity of 0.590 as a gas and a specific gravity of 0.662 as a liquid.
The NH3 molecule becomes NH4 by attracting the hydrogen atom from the H20 molecule producing beat and releasing hydrogen and oxygen back into the atmosphere. By weight NH3 is 82.5% nitrogen as applied into the soil. This is the highest analysis of any commercial fertilizer. The material is the source for other types of fertilizer whether liquid or dry. It is the most economical material to transport from the natural gas production fields of the world.
NH3 is also used as a refrigerant as it is highly compressible and low cost. Most of the ice found at grocery stores comes from centrally located ice companies that use compressors and NH3 as the refrigerant.
Small doses of the material are medicinally used to revive the unconscious person. However, the material is lethal and can maim anyone who comes in contact with the material. Safety concerns are well documented and goggles, protective clothing, gloves and water are mandatory when working with the material.
Anhydrous ammonia or NH3 has been widespread use in agricultural crop production since the early 1950's. NH3 was initially priced quite low and by the 1960's was adapted so broadly that it became a major component in the cost of production for all major cereal crops. The price of the material dropped to 2 to 3 cents per lb. of Nitrogen in 1963 and 64 as several new plants went on line utilizing train compressors. This new technology was so efficient that the cost of producing NH3 was reduced to all time lows. The NH3 production plants, which typically produced 250 tons per day, were now capable of up to 1,500 tons per day. Thus a significant oversupply occurred. Today the industry contributes up $2 billion annually to the economy. No new plants are under construction due to high initial cost of erection and startup. Most NH3 plants are simply upgraded to improve efficiency. Almost all NH3 plants operating today use train compressors developed by Kellogg Corporation.
NH3 is priced at about
{fraction (1/2+L )} the cost of the liquid and dry sources of nitrogen. Commercial fertilizer manufacturers utilize NH
3 as a base material to build urea, ammonium nitrate, ammoniated phosphate, and ammonium sulfate. Utilizing NH3 as the primary source of nitrogen results in the lowest cost of production historically.
Approximately 85% of the NH3 is consumed in the Midwestern cornbelt at 4,000,000 tons annually. The Pacific states consume about 220,000 tons annually.
Terms
Nonaberrant: No boiling or expansion of the material from the liquid pressurized state to the gaseous pressurized state. This wandering or errant flow is difficult to meter and the NH3 gas will flow in an irregular path. Previous pressure reducing systems have aberrant flow.
Transitional flow: At a given pressure and temperature NH3 will begin to convert from a liquid state to a gas state. This will occur when distribution or injection line pressure begins to drop below tank pressure. The pressure increasing system of direct injection denies transitional flow. Pressure reducing systems common to the fertilizer systems of today allow transitional flow to occur immediately after the metering pump, the pressure reducing valve, or the meter.
Tank pressure: The pressure observed at the NH3 pressure vessel or the tank varies with the ambient temperature.
Predictable Tank Pressures At Ambient
(Vapor Transfer)
−28F
0.0
psi Tank Pressure
0
15.7
psi
32
47.6
psi
42
50.0
psi
50
75.0
psi
60
92.9
psi
68
110.0
psi
77
130.0
psi
100
197.2
psi
Manifold Pressure: The pressure observed in the distribution cavity of the manifold. Pressure reducing systems always have manifold pressures below the tank pressure. The new direct injection pressure increasing system meters NH3 very accurately at the manifold since the manifold pressure is below the tank pressure, at the tank pressure or above the tank pressure at normal seeding speed.
Line Pressure: Varies significantly with pressure reducing systems and line pressure is lower than manifold pressure due to expansion of NH3 in the oversized lines. This is primarily due to the extra volume found in the lines. Thus external freezing of the lines is observed since line pressure is below tank pressure. The lines accumulate dew. The lines are operating well below freezing to −28 degrees F. The unique pressure increasing system has line pressures at or above tank pressure and the lines do not freeze or collect frozen dew.
Terminal Expansion Point: Ideally is located at the point of injection of the material into the ground. A final orifice located at this point allows for precise metering and uneven line lengths. Pressures are elevated above tank pressure at this injection point allowing for a solid non-gaseous stream flow and less vaporization. Pressure reducing systems require equal line lengths. The final injection point with pressure reducing systems is about 15% NH3 gas and 85% is a nonuniform NH3 liquid since injection pressure is well below vapor or tank pressure.
In Line Orifice or Range Orifice: The range orifice is located after the manifold and is inserted into the injection line at the high-pressure adapter. This orifice is selected by picking the maximum rate in the band at the maximum ground speed. For maximum accuracy line lengths must be equal if no terminal expansion orifice is used. This system set up is easier to use for changing orifices but it does have some aberrant flow if the terminal expansion orifice is not used. However, temperature drop is seldom significant enough to observe line freezing or dew accumulation.
Terminal Injection Orifice: The orifice is located at the end of the small inside diameter black nylon line by inserting it into the line and clamping it with a stainless steel compression clamp. The terminal injection orifice is designed to allow for a solid stream flow. Unequal line lengths can be used. Port to port variance can be a little as 1% if precision calibrated orifices are used. The range orifice is not required, but should be utilized to support the high pressure clamping aspect of the ferrule. Terminal expansion orifices can be utilized as range orifices. The terminal expansion orifices can also be sized one size larger than the range orifices which allows stream particulate escapes to plug the smaller range orifice which is more serviceable at the manifold. The range orifices and terminal expansion orifices are identical by design. Only the location of the part is different.
The orifices are selected by (1) Band spacing, (2) Ground speed, (3) above tank pressure desired at application speed, (4) Gallons per acre to be applied. Generally speaking once the correct orifice size has been sele
Batson Victor
Exactrix Global Systems
Hovey Williams Timmons & Collins
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