1. A catalytic engine comprising the process steps of
a) Introducing a fuel mixture into a reaction zone of a fuel processor (reformer),
i). Said fuel mixture comprising of hydrocarbons (or bio-fuels), steam, recycled exhaust gas, and supplemental air, and said fuel mixture having a controlled amount of % fuel, H2OC ratio >1.0, O2C ratio >1.0 and CO2C ratio up to 1.0,
ii) Said the reaction zone including one or more catalysts with each catalyst’s compositions comprising one or more supported or unsupported metal andor oxide oxidation catalysts,
b) Reacting said fuel mixture in said reaction zone of the fuel processor at a temperature between 150-1200\xb0 C. and a pressure between 1 to 100 atmosphere to produce a reformate stream comprising mainly of steam, CO2, O2 and N2,
c) Using the high temperature and high pressure reformate stream to drive a steam turbine, turbo charger or any type of gas turbine.
2. The process of claim 1, adjust individually or simultaneously the H2OC, CO2C and O2C ratios and the % fuel to obtain the optima operating condition for a given fuel mixture, and to control the maximum reactor temperature constantly below 1200\xb0 C. (preferably <1100\xb0 C.) and pressure between 1 to 100 atmosphere.
3. The process of claim 1, wherein the residence time of the reactants inside the reaction zone of the fuel processor is <1 second, preferably <300 milliseconds (to reduce the reactor volume).
4. The process of claim 1, wherein said the Pt group metal and other metal catalyst composition comprises one or more metals of platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, osmium, cobalt, nickel, iron, and ruthenium, and said the catalyst is either unsupported as gauge, screen, wire mesh, foil or foam, or a total metal amount of >0001 wt % is supported on various ceramic or metallic substrates in the shape of monolith, pellet, bead, porous foam, plate, or static mixer.
5. The process of claim 1, wherein said the oxide catalyst comprises one or more oxide of Al, Ca, Fe, Co, Mo, V, Ti, Cu, Ce, Zr, Zn, Re, Mg and Ni, and the oxide catalyst can contains other rare earth metal oxides andor alkaline oxides as promoters or as thermal stabilizers, particularly oxides of lanthanum, praseodymium, yttrium, calcium, rhenium, barium, strontium, potassium, magnesium or the mixtures thereof.
6. The process of claim 1, wherein said the Pt group metal andor the commercial oxidation catalyst is supported on one or more mixture of washcoat materials, and the washcoat materials can consist of (1). One or more high surface area oxides of aluminum, copper, vanadium, cobalt, nickel, iron, cerium, zirconium, cerium-zirconium oxide, cerium-zirconium oxide composite, and (2). One or more washcoat thermal stabilizers such as rare earth metal oxides andor alkaline oxides, particularly oxides of lanthanum, praseodymium, yttrium, calcium, rhenium, barium, strontium, Zinc, potassium and magnesium.
7. The process of claim 1 and claim 6, wherein said the catalyzed washcoat containing of Pt group metal andor commercial oxidation catalyst is further supported on various type of ceramic substrates selected from alumina, alumina-silica, alumina-silica-titania, mullite, cordierite, zirconia, zirconia-ceria, zirconia-spinel, zirconia-mullite or silicon carbide, and the substrate is in the shape of monolith, pellet, bead, porous foam, plate, or static mixer.
8. The process of claim 1 and claim 6, wherein said the catalyzed washcoat containing Pt group metal andor the commercial oxidation catalyst is supported on any metallic substrate which can sustain a temperature between 500 to 1100\xb0 C. and is in the shape of monolith, screen, mesh wire, foil, foam, static mixture, plate or heat exchanger.
9. The process of claim 1, wherein said fuel consists of one or any combination of the fuels which theoretically can be vaporized and can be converted completely over a Pt group metal andor a commercial oxidation catalyst to CO2 and water, and the typical fuels are: C1-C16 hydrocarbons (methane, LPG, gasoline, diesel, jet fuels etc), natural gas, sugar, glucose, animal fats, C1-C8 alcohols, vegetable oils, soybean oil, corn oil, olive oil, jatropha oil, bio-ethanol, bio-diesel, biobutanol, bio-methane, bio-fuels derived from biomass or from agricultureindustrialanimal wastes, or an industrial exhaust containing volatile organic compounds (VOC, mainly organic solvents).
10. The process of claim 1, wherein said the inlet feed stream of the reformer (fuel processor) contains >20% water (steam), oxygen, fuels and other inert gases, and liquid water can optionally be injected into the reaction zone to absorb more reaction heat.
11. The process of claim 1, wherein said the inlet fuel mixture of the reaction zone contains a re-circulated catalytic engine’s exhaust gas, which contains steam and CO2.
12. The process of claim 1, wherein said any external heat source such as heat exchanger, hot wire, glow plug, spark plug or plasma device can be used to initiate the oxidation reactions during the start-up of the catalytic engine.
13. The process of claim 1, wherein said the inlet fuel mixture of the reaction zone contains HC fuels, water andor alcohols with optional amount of surfactants blended together to form a single phase aqueous mixture, and preferably the fuel mixture contains at least one chemical compound such as alcohol, unsaturated hydrocarbons, or other low boiling point starter fluid which can initiate the oxidation reactions in the reaction zone over the catalyst at a temperature <250\xb0 C.
14. The process of claim 1, wherein thermocouples or temperature sensing elements are installed inside or outside of the reaction zone to function as feed back controllers for regulating the O2C ratio and for optimizing the performance of this engine.
15. The process of claim 1, wherein a catalytic engine is used directly as a driving device for industrial, transportation, utility and household equipments such as lawn mower, chainsaw, weed eater, motorcycle, automobile, bus, truck, train, folk lift truck, weed eater or battery charger.
16. The process of claim 1, wherein two or more fuel processors which are arranged in parallel to each other can simultaneously provide each reformate gas to drive a single steam turbineturbo chargergas turbine.
17. The process of claim 1, wherein a single fuel processor can provide the reformate gas to drive simultaneously several steam turbinesturbo chargersgas turbines which are arranged in parallel to each other.
18. The process of claim 1, wherein the recycled exhaust gas line of the catalytic engine is connected to a waste fuel concentrator to form an integrated pollution removal system.
19. The process of claim 1 and claim 18, wherein a fixed or fluidized bed concentrator can use various high surface area adsorbents andor absorbents such as aluminum oxide, silica oxide, zeolite, activated carbon andor other oxides to collect and to remove any combustible volatile organic pollutants or waste fuels from a contaminated gas or liquid stream.
20. The process of claim 1 and claim 18, wherein the adsorbedabsorbed waste fuels in the pollutant concentrator can be purged out of the system and the adsorbentsabsorbents can be regenerated in situ by passing a hot recycled exhaust gas through the concentrator and then by injecting the gas stream into the catalytic engine’s reaction zone to produce heat as well as to remove the pollutants.
21. The process of claim 1, wherein the catalytic engine is connected to an electrical generator and a battery bank to form an integrated system as a stand alone stationary or mobile power station.
22. The process of claim 1 and claim 21, wherein the integrated system can provide electricity to power the electrical devicesequipments used in industrial, transportation, utility and household applications, such as battery charger, electric car, truck, bus, motorcycle, lawn mower, folk lift truck, weed eater or train.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An apparatus, comprising:
a fluid container;
a dielectric fluid mixture disposed within the fluid container, the dielectric fluid mixture including at least two dielectric components having different relative dielectrics;
a pair of electrode plates oriented so that, when energized with an electric potential, causes at least one of the dielectric components to be placed in motion; and
means for controlling the electric potential to counteract the effects of an applied acceleration.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the dielectric components is placed in motion upon being subjected to an acceleration.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controlling means comprises a voltage control block.
4. An accelerometer, comprising:
a voltage source; and
a fixture electrically connected to the voltage source, the fixture including:
a fluid container;
a low dielectric fluid disposed within the fluid container;
a high dielectric element suspended in the fluid; and
a pair of electrode plates that can be charged by the voltage source through the electrical connection to center the high dielectric element therebetween at least until an acceleration is applied.
5. The accelerometer of claim 4, wherein the fluid has a relative dielectric constant of nearly 1.
6. The accelerometer of claim 4, wherein the fluid comprises at least one of alcohol and silicone oil.
7. The accelerometer of claim 4, wherein the high dielectric element comprises at least one of a fluid and a solid.
8. The accelerometer of claim 7, wherein the solid, high dielectric element comprises at least one of a distributed solid and a unitary solid.
9. The accelerometer of claim 8, wherein the distributed, solid, high dielectric element comprises a plurality of ceramic beads.
10. The accelerometer of claim 4, wherein the high dielectric element comprises at least one of a distributed high dielectric element and a unitary high dielectric element.
11. The accelerometer of claim 4, wherein the fixture includes a second pair of electrode plates that can be charged by the voltage source alternately with the first pair through the electrical connection to center the high dielectric element therebetween at least until an acceleration is applied.
12. The accelerometer of claim 11, further comprising a voltage control block capable of controlling electrode plate voltages to counteract the effects of an applied acceleration.
13. The accelerometer of claim 11, further comprising:
an integrated circuit capable of determining a differential voltage across the first and second pairs of electrode plates; and
an integrated circuit capable of averaging the differential voltage over time.
14. The accelerometer of claim 4, further comprising a second pair of electrode plates that can be charged by the voltage source through the electrical connection to center the high dielectric element therebetween at least until the acceleration is applied.
15. An apparatus, comprising a plurality of sensors oriented to measure acceleration in a plurality of axes, each sensor comprising:
a housing;
a wafer disposed with the housing and including an electrical connection; and
a plurality of cells in the wafer, each cell comprising a fixture including:
a fluid container defining a fluid chamber;
a non-conducting, low dielectric fluid disposed within the fluid chamber;
a high dielectric element suspended in the fluid; and
a pair of electrode plates that can be charged by a voltage source through the electrical connection to center the high dielectric element therebetween at least until an acceleration is applied.
16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the fluid has a relative dielectric constant of nearly 1.
17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the fluid comprises at least one of alcohol and silicone oil.
18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the high dielectric element comprises at least one of a fluid and a solid.
19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the high dielectric element comprises at least one of a distributed high dielectric element and a unitary high dielectric element.
20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the fixture includes a second pair of electrode plates that can be charged by the voltage source alternately with the first pair through the electrical connection to center the high dielectric element therebetween at least until an acceleration is applied.
21. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the fixture further includes a second pair of electrode plates that can be charged by the voltage source through the electrical connection to center the high dielectric element therebetween at least until the acceleration is applied.
22. A method for measuring acceleration, comprising:
positioning a high dielectric element suspended in a low dielectric fluid contained between a pair of charged electrode plates;
determining a change in capacitance across the charged electrode plates as an acceleration is applied; and
determining from the capacitance change a magnitude of the acceleration.
23. The method of claim 22, wherein positioning the high dielectric element includes centering the high dielectric element between the charged electrode plates.
24. The method of claim 22, wherein determining from the capacitance change the magnitude of the acceleration includes determining the magnitude of the acceleration from a rate of change of the capacitance.
25. The method of claim 22, further comprising charging a second pair of electrode plates alternately with the first pair of electrode plates to position the high dielectric element therebetween alternately with the positioning the high dielectric element between the first pair of charged electrode plates.
26. The method of claim 25, wherein determining from the capacitance change the magnitude of the acceleration includes determining the magnitude of the acceleration from a rate of change of the capacitance.
27. The method of claim 22, further comprising controlling the plate potential of the pair of charged plate electrodes to counteract the effects of the acceleration.
28. The method of claim 22, wherein positioning the high dielectric element, includes positioning a solid dielectric element or positioning a fluid dielectric element.
29. The method of claim 22, wherein positioning the high dielectric element includes positioning a unitary dielectric element or positioning a distributed dielectric element.
30. An apparatus, comprising:
a fluid container;
a fluid mixture disposed within the fluid container, the fluid mixture including at least two components having different relative permeabilities;
means for imparting an electromagnetic force across the fluid mixture to cause at least one of the components to be placed in motion; and
means for controlling the electromagnetic force to counteract the effects of an applied acceleration, the means including a pair of magnetic gaps oriented so that, when energized with a magnetic field, causes at least one of the components to be placed in motion.
31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the electromagnetic force is the effect of the electric potential.
32. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the imparting means comprises a pair of wound ferrite cores oriented so that, when energized with an electric current, causes at least one of the components to be placed in motion.
33. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the electromagnetic force is the effect of the electric current.