Electric heating – Metal heating – By arc
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-20
2004-04-20
Paschall, Mark (Department: 3742)
Electric heating
Metal heating
By arc
C219S121590, C219S121480, C204S241000, C204S252000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06723946
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
U.S. Patent Office Disclosure Documents No. 437867 (filed May and stamped Jun. 12, 1998), entitled
MultiCell Reactors
, documents the conception of the invention in the winter of 1997. Different configurations of the invention were documented in U.S. Patent Office Disclosure No. 454163 (filed February and stamped Apr. 15, 1999) entitled
Surface
-
Flux MultiCell Reactors
. Since then embodiments of the invention have been demonstrated. Methods for constructing MultiCell is given in Disclosure Document No. 446749 (filed October and stamped Nov. 2, 1998), entitled
Metal
-
Film Patterns Produced by Ink
-
Jet and Metal
-
Reduction Processes.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention generally relates to reactors, and more particularly to a thermo-electrochemical reactor where stored potential energy is activated by electrical charge.
BACKGROUND—PRIOR ART
Batteries and electrolytic cells are two different types of electrochemical reactors. Batteries combine chemicals and convert potential chemical energy to electricity. Whereas, electrolytic cells use electricity to produce metals (e.g., copper and sodium) and gases (e.g., hydrogen and chlorine). Neither batteries nor electrolytic cells have historically produced large quantities of heat. In general, heating results from the joule heating of the electrolyte.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore the object of this invention to utilize a reactor of MultiCell type construction for the efficient production of non-joule heat.
It is yet another object of this design to reduce the overall resistances within the reactor to reduce nonproductive joule heating and increase fluxes so that more of the voltage drop around the surface of the cathode to encourage efficient heating.
It is yet another object of this design to encourage efficient heating by further increasing the voltage overpotential near the surface of the cathode via inducing a charged-particle boundary layer at the cathode.
It is yet another object of the invention to promote quick charging and production of non-joule heat by using a small cathode size and high fluxes.
It is yet another object of this invention to demonstrate that tungsten, nickel, platinum and other possible electrically conductive materials can work as cathode materials.
It is yet another object of this invention demonstrate that platinum and other possible electrically conductive materials can work as anode materials.
It is yet another object of this invention to supply hydride or hydrogen ion (H
+
) forming electrolyte to complete the electrical circuit between the anode and cathode.
It is yet another object of this design to utilize a reactor of MultiCell type construction having a small cathode, large anode, small gap, and of arrangement to focus and channel fluxes, etc. that are capable of repetitive replication within a reactor for increased total power output.
It is yet another object of this invention to show that the anode and cathode patterns can be made by etching, plating, and other mechanical methods.
It is yet another object of this invention to show that the anode and cathode patterns can be made by a unique method of printing the patterns with an ink-jet printer apparatus.
It is yet another object of this invention to show that the anode and cathode patterns can be made by yet another unique method of using a metal-compound paint that reduces to the metal via application of heat.
It is yet another object of this invention to show that further metal can be plated on the patterns mentioned above by electroplating methods and selective plating can be accomplished by applying current only to parts of the pattern.
It is yet another object of this invention that the heat will be in the useful form of heated or boiling water-based electrolyte solution and steam.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention will frequently be referred to as a “reactor” hereafter to distinguish from traditional batteries and electrolytic cells and their designs. The present invention concentrates on cathode generated heat. The desired cathodic processes occur at the surface or in boundry layers at the cathod. In this disclosure, these are referred to as “desired cathodic”, “desired boundry layer” or “non-joule” heating processes or reactions.
The present invention discloses various embodiments that provide high electron (e
−
) and hydrogen ion (H
+
) fluxes and focus these fluxes around the cathode electrode. The high fluxes can quickly produce and maintain a high equilibrium concentration of hydrogen and hydride(s) near the surface of the cathode, which is considered to be important in the production of large quantities of useful heat that will be referred to as “efficient heating” hereafter. The high current (electron flux) and the high hydrogen-ion recombination rate near the surface substantially increase the voltage overpotential and can exponentially increase internal pressures near the surface of the cathode which also encourage efficient heating. The invention configurations presented concentrate fluxes by focusing fluxes through narrow bridgeways, forcing a collection of fluxes to pass through common channels, and/or passing the fluxes through thin layers of electrically conductive material at the surface. The high fluxes allow rapid heat production with essentially no charge-up time (seconds or less).
Desired conditions for efficient heating are considered to be (1) high electron flux, (2) high hydrogen-ion (proton) flux, and (3) high voltage overpotential around the electrode surface to produce high hydrogen recombination pressures that drive the reactions. The present invention does this while reducing less productive, joule-heating (resistance heating) losses in the cell. Joule-heating losses increase exponentially to the formula in Equation 1.
P
joule heating
=V
2
/R
(Equation 1)
Where:
P
joule heating
is joule-heating losses
V is the overall voltage across the cell
The joule-heating losses are exponential and can easily overshadow desired heating processes in the reactor. However, and fortunately, if enough voltage (depending system internal resistances) is applied and the current (electron flux) is high enough, a gaseous or a charged-particle (plasma) boundary layer develops at the electrode's surface. Formation of the boundary layer is characterized by a blue glow at the electrode and a sharp increase in the overall resistance of the cell (e.g., amperage drops with increased voltage). This resistance via the charged-particle region directs more of the voltage drop around the surface of the cathode, which can increase more of the desired overpotential near the surface of the cathode. The present invention further takes advantage of the phenomena by reducing cell resistance and forcing voltage drop (with the desired fluxes) around the electrode surface, where it is desired. These combinations, in the case of the invention, appear to overcome the joule-heating losses and allows for more efficient heating.
Noting the above-described scenarios, a reactor's design should be designed for the lowest voltage possible and have most of the voltage drop near the surface of the cathode. This implies making significantly smaller cathodes and larger anodes than used in standard cells and moving the anodes and cathodes closer together. This increases the efficiency, but the total output may decrease because of the smaller cathode. However, putting multiple cells in parallel can offset this. Also, for economical reasons and even greater efficiency, the cells are designed as compact units for mass production much like a printed circuit board.
The present invention, also referred to as MultiCell hereafter, because the unique design of a “single” MultiCell (or a MultiCell unit) takes credit for efficiencies due, in part, to its small size but, again because its unique design, allows repetitive replication of the unit (much like a component on a circuit board or computer chip) to acquire the desired power output. MultiCells have been
Cravens Dennis J.
Frick John S.
Gimpel Rod F.
Golubic Vince F.
Letts Dennis G.
Bryan John F.
Paschall Mark
LandOfFree
Multicell reactors does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Multicell reactors, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Multicell reactors will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3186772