1. A method for producing hydrogen and carbon by sustainable, in-situ decomposition of hydrocarbon feedstock over carbon aerosol particles using a continuous process comprising the steps of:
a) selecting a reactor vessel consisting essentially of two compartments, a first reaction compartment for generating in-situ catalytically active aerosol carbon particles connected to a second reaction compartment that is a catalytic reactor for in-situ dissociation of hydrocarbon feedstock into hydrogen gas and elemental carbon;
b) selecting a carbonaceous material that can be converted to catalytically active aerosol carbon particles;
c) transporting the carbonaceous material of step b) to the first reaction compartment where the carbonaceous material is exposed to an energy input that produces an outgoing steam of catalytically active aerosol carbon particles that become airborne;
d) directing the outgoing stream of airborne, catalytically active aerosol carbon particles to the second reaction compartment;
e) sending a stream of hydrocarbon feedstock to the second reaction compartment where in-situ dissociation of the hydrocarbon feedstock occurs over the surface of catalytically active aerosol carbon particles from step d) acting as catalyst for the dissociation of the hydrocarbon feedstock; and
f) collecting hydrogen gas from a first outlet and elemental carbon from a second outlet of the second reaction compartment in a continuous process without catalyst regeneration.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the carbonaceous material is a substance rich in carbon and is readily converted to carbon particles when exposed to an energy input that achieves temperatures in a range from approximately 100\xb0 C. to approximately 5000\xb0 C. in the first reaction compartment.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the energy input is provided by at least one of a non-oxidative means, an oxidative means, and mixtures thereof.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the non-oxidative means of energy input includes at least one of a high temperature source, non-thermal plasma, and irradiation.
5. The method of claim 3, wherein the oxidative means of energy input is an oxidant selected from at least one of air, oxygen, ozone and nitrous oxide.
6. The method of claim 2 wherein the carbonaceous material is a substance with a formula of CpHqXr, where X is an element including, at least one of oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, and p\u22671, q\u22670, r\u22670.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein carbonaceous material is selected from the group consisting of hydrocarbons and oxygen-, nitrogen-, sulfur- and phosphorus-containing organic compounds, including, at least one of methane, ethylene, propylene, acetylene, benzene, toluene, acetic acid, propanol, carbon disulfide and mixtures thereof, carbon monoxide (CO), carbohydrates and biomass.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the hydrocarbon feedstock is a hydrocarbon with the formula CnHn wherein n\u22671, and (2n+2)\u2267m\u2267n.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the hydrocarbon feedstock is selected from the group consisting of methane, natural gas, propane, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), naphtha, gasoline, kerosene, jet-fuel and diesel fuel.
10. A method for producing hydrogen and carbon by sustainable, in-situ decomposition of hydrocarbon feedstock over carbon aerosol particles using a continuous process comprising the steps of:
a) selecting a reactor vessel consisting essentially of two compartments, a first reaction compartment for generating in-situ catalytically active aerosol carbon particles connected to a second reaction compartment that is a catalytic reactor for in-situ dissociation of hydrocarbon feedstock into hydrogen gas and elemental carbon;
b) selecting a hydrocarbon feedstock that is capable of in-situ conversion to catalytically active aerosol carbon particles and capable of in-situ dissociation into hydrogen gas and elemental carbon;
c) dividing the hydrocarbon feedstock of step b) into a first stream and a second stream;
d) transporting the first stream of hydrocarbon feedstock of step c) to the first reaction compartment where the hydrocarbon is exposed to an energy input that produces an outgoing stream of catalytically active aerosol carbon particles that become airborne;
e) directing the outgoing stream of airborne, catalytically active aerosol carbon particles to the second reaction compartment;
f) sending the second stream of hydrocarbon feedstock from step c) to the second reaction compartment where in-situ dissociation of the hydrocarbon feedstock occurs over the surface of airborne, catalytically active aerosol carbon particles from step e) acting as a catalyst for the dissociation of the hydrocarbon feedstock; and
g) collecting hydrogen gas from a first outlet and elemental carbon from a second outlet of the second reaction compartment in a continuous process without catalyst regeneration.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the hydrocarbon feedstock is a compound with the formula CnHm wherein n\u22671, and (2n+2)\u2267m\u2267n.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the hydrocarbon feedstock is selected from the group consisting of saturated hydrocarbons, unsaturated hydrocarbons, and aromatic hydrocarbons.
13. The method of claim 10, wherein the hydrocarbon feedstock is readily converted to carbon particles when exposed to an energy input that achieves temperatures in a range from approximately 100\xb0 C. to approximately 5000\xb0 C. in the first reaction compartment.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the energy input is provided by at least one of a non-oxidative means, an oxidative means and a mixture thereof.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein the non-oxidative means of the energy input includes at least one of a high temperature source, non-thermal plasma, and irradiation.
16. The method of claim 14, wherein the oxidative means of energy input includes an oxidant selected from at least one of air, oxygen, ozone and nitrous oxide.
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 for controlling a mobile body that travels around a sound source which generates a sound, the apparatus comprising:
a direction estimator estimating a direction in which the mobile body is located in a first position and a direction in which the mobile body is located in a second position with respect to the sound source;
a traveling information producer producing traveling information about traveling of the mobile body from the first position to the second position;
a traveling direction determiner determining a traveling direction of the mobile body using the estimated direction in the first position;
a traveling controller moving the mobile body a predetermined distance to the second position in the determined traveling direction; and
a position determiner determining a position of the mobile body using the traveling information and the estimated directions in the first and second positions.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the position of the mobile body includes a distance between the mobile body and the sound source, the distance being determined using the traveling information and the estimated direction.
3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the position determiner calculates the distance between the mobile body and the sound source using the following equation:
l
2
=
l
\xd7
sin
\u2062
\u2062
(
\u03b8
1
\u2033
)
sin
\u2062
\u2062
(
\u03b8
2
\u2033
–
\u03b8
1
\u2033
)
,
and
wherein l denotes a distance by which the mobile body travels from the first position to the second position and is included in the traveling information, l2 denotes a distance between the second position to which the mobile body has traveled and the sound source, and \u03b81\u2033 and \u03b82\u2033 denotes directions of the mobile body estimated by the direction estimator when the mobile body is located at the first and second positions with respect to the sound source.
4. The apparatus of claim 2, when the mobile body continuously travels from the first position to the second position, further comprising a position corrector correcting the distance between the second position to which the mobile body is moved and the sound source or the estimated direction of the mobile body that has reached the second position using a power distribution of the sound and a triangonometry,
wherein the position of the mobile body includes the distance or the estimated direction.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, when the position corrector comprises:
a real position search unit searching for a real position for the determined position of the mobile body on a path between a third position where the direction of the mobile body starts being estimated and a second position where the estimation of the direction of the mobile body ends, using the power distribution of the sound;
a distance error calculation unit calculating a distance between the real position and the second position and outputting the distance as a distance error;
a distance calculation unit calculating a distance between the real position and the sound source by triangonometry using a result obtained by subtracting the distance error from the traveling distance between the first and second positions, the direction of the mobile body located at the first position, and the estimated direction of the mobile body located at the second position;
a distance correction unit correcting the distance calculated by the distance calculation unit using the distance error calculated by the distance error calculation unit and the estimated direction of the mobile body at the second position; and
a direction correction unit correcting the estimated direction of the mobile body located at the second position using a ratio between the corrected distance and the calculated distance.
6. The apparatus of claim 4, when the real position a position on the path between the third and second positions where the sound power satisfies the following equation:
\u2211
n
=
N
–
N
2
+
1
N
\u2062
P
\u2061
(
n
)
1
N
\u2062
\u2211
n
=
1
N
\u2062
P
\u2061
(
n
)
=
0.5
, and
wherein N denotes a number of frames existing between the third and second positions and is N1+N2, N1 denotes a number of frames existing between the third position and the real position, N2 denotes a number of frames existing between the second position and the real position, and P(n) denotes a power of each of the frames.
7. The apparatus of claim 5, when the distance error calculation unit calculates the distance error using the following equation:
l
N
\u2062
\u2062
2
=
N
2
N
\u2062
l
N
,
and
wherein lN denotes a distance between the third and second positions by which the mobile body travels, and lN2 denotes the distance error.
8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein:
the distance calculation unit calculates the distance between the real position and the sound source using the following equation:
l
2
\u2032
=
(
l
–
l
N
2
)
\u2062
sin
\u2062
\u2062
\u03b8
1
\u2033
sin
\u2062
\u2062
(
\u03b8
2
\u2033\u2032
–
\u03b8
1
\u2033
)
in which l2\u2032 denotes the distance between the real position and the sound source, l denotes a traveling distance between the first and second positions, lN2 denotes the distance error, \u03b8\u20332 denotes the estimated direction of the mobile body located at the first position, and \u03b8\u2032\u20332 denotes the direction of the mobile body estimated at the second position;
the distance correction unit corrects the distance calculated by the distance calculation unit using the following equation:
l
2
=
l
N
2
2
+
l
\u2032
2
2
–
2
\u2062
l
N
2
\u2062
l
2
\u2032
\u2062
cos
\u2061
(
\u03b8
2
\u2032\u2032\u2032
)
in which l2 denotes the corrected distance; and
the direction correction unit corrects the estimated direction of the mobile body using the following equation:
\u03b8
2
\u2032\u2032
=
asin
\u2061
(
sin
\u2061
(
\u03b8
2
\u2032\u2032\u2032
)
\u2062
l
2
\u2032
l
2
)
in which \u03b8\u20332 denotes the corrected direction.
9. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a sound detector determining whether a predetermined sound has been detected and outputting a result of the determination as a sound detection signal,
wherein the direction estimator estimates the direction of the mobile body in response to the sound detection signal.
10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the sound detector comprises:
a noise removal unit removing noise from the generated sound;
a component extraction unit extracting a signal component at a level at least equal to a predetermined level from a result of the noise removal; and
a sound recognition unit determining whether the extracted signal component is the predetermined sound and outputting a result of the determination as the sound detection signal.
11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the sound detector comprises:
a band pass filter filtering a predetermined band component from the generated sound;
an envelope detection unit detecting an envelope corresponding to a result of the filtering; and
a level comparison unit comparing a level of the detected envelope with a critical level and outputting a result of the comparison as the sound detection signal.
12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the sound detector comprises:
a first band pass filter filtering a first predetermined band component out of the generated sound;
a second band pass filter filtering a second predetermined band component out of the generated sound;
a first envelope detection unit detecting an envelope of a result of the band pass filtering by the first band pass filter;
a second envelope detection unit detecting an envelope of a result of the band pass filtering by the second band pass filter;
a first level comparison unit comparing a level of the envelope detected by the first envelope detection unit with a first critical level;
a second level comparison unit comparing a level of the envelope detected by the second envelope detection unit with a second critical level; and
a level recognition unit determining whether the first and second predetermined band components are alternately detected using the results of the comparisons by the first and second level comparison units and outputting a result of the determination as the sound detection signal.
13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the traveling controller moves the mobile body toward the sound source using the estimated direction and the determined distance.
14. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a comparator comparing the determined distance with a critical value,
wherein the traveling direction determiner renews the traveling direction in response to a result of the comparison by the comparator.
15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the position determiner predicts a current position of the mobile body using the traveling information, corrects the predicted current position using the estimated direction, and outputs a result of the correction as the determined position of the mobile body.
16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the position determiner comprises:
a direction prediction unit predicting a direction of the mobile body from the predicted position of the mobile body and outputting the predicted direction of the mobile body;
a direction error production unit subtracting the predicted direction from the estimated direction and outputting a result of the subtraction as a direction error value;
a position correction unit correcting the predicted position of the mobile body using the direction error value and outputting a result of the correction as the determined position of the mobile body;
a time delay unit delaying the result of the correction; and
a position prediction unit predicting the position of the mobile body from the result of the delay and the traveling information.
17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the traveling information is at least one of a traveling velocity of the mobile body, a directional angular velocity of the mobile body, and a traveling distance of the mobile body.
18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the position correction unit corrects the predicted position of the mobile body using the direction error value defined by the following equation:
m(k|k)={circumflex over (m)}(k|k\u22121)+K(k)\u03b8(k)\u2212h({circumflex over (m)}(k|k\u22121))
in which m(k|k) denotes a result obtained by estimating the state of m(k) at current time k, m(k) denotes a determined position of the mobile body at current time k, {circumflex over (m)}(k|k\u22121) denotes the predicted position of the mobile body, \u03b8(k)\u2212h({circumflex over (m)}(k|k\u22121)) denotes the direction error value, \u03b8(k) denotes the estimated direction of the mobile body, h({circumflex over (m)}(k|k\u22121)) denotes the predicted direction of the mobile body, K(k) denotes a Kalman gain and is defined by:
K(k)={circumflex over (P)}(k|k\u22121)HT(k)Re\u22121(k), {circumflex over (P)}(k|k\u22121)
is equal to FP(k\u22121|k\u22121)FT+Q, F(k) is defined by:
F
\u2061
(
k
)
=
\u2202
f
\u2061
(
u
\u2061
(
k
)
)
\u2202
m
,
u
\u2061
(
k
)
denotes the traveling information, P(k|k) is defined by:
P(k|k)={circumflex over (P)}(k|k\u22121)\u2212{circumflex over (P)}(k|k\u22121)HT(k)Re\u2212(k)H(k){circumflex over (P)}(k|k\u22121),T
denotes a transpose, Q denotes a process noise covariance matrix and is defined by:
Q=Ew*wH,
w denotes process noise, H(k) is defined by:
H
\u2061
(
k
)
=
\u2202
h
\u2061
(
m
\u2061
(
k
)
)
\u2202
m
,
Re(k) is defined by:
Re(k)=R+H(k){circumflex over (P)}(k|k\u22121)HT(k),
R denotes a measurement noise covariance matrix and is given by: R=Ev* vH, and v denotes measurement noise.
19. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the direction estimator comprises:
a real number transformation unit receiving a multi-channel sound expressed as a complex value and transforming the complex value into a real number;
a sound estimation unit estimating the sound using the multi-channel sound expressed as the complex value and a predicted state vector of the mobile body;
a sound prediction unit predicting the sound using the sound estimated by the sound estimation unit and the predicted state vector of the mobile body;
a sound error production unit subtracting the sound predicted by the sound prediction unit from a result of the transformation by the real number transformation unit and outputting a result of the subtraction as a sound error value;
a state vector correction unit correcting the predicted state vector of the mobile body using the sound error value and the estimated sound received from the sound estimation unit and outputting the estimated direction of the mobile body from a result of the correction;
a time delay unit delaying the result of the correction; and
a state vector prediction unit predicting the state vector using the result of the delay and outputting the predicted state vector.
20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein:
the sound estimation unit estimates the sound using the following equation:
\u015d(k)=(AH({circumflex over (\u03b8)}(k|k\u22121))A({circumflex over (\u03b8)}(k|k\u22121)))\u22121AH({circumflex over (\u03b8)}(k|k\u22121))zarray(kT)
in which \u015d(k) denotes the sound estimated by the sound estimation unit, A(\u03b8(t)) is given by: A((\u03b8(t))=a(\u03b8(t)), a denotes a steering vector, H denotes Hermition, zarray(kT) denotes the multi-channel sound expressed as a complex value, and T denotes a sampling time;
the sound prediction unit predicts the sound using the following equation:
z
^
\u2061
(
k
|
k
–
1
)
=
h
\u2061
(
x
^
\u2032
\u2061
(
k
|
k
–
1
)
,
s
^
\u2061
(
k
)
)
=
Real
\u2062
\u2062
{
A
\u2061
(
\u03b8
^
\u2061
(
k
|
k
–
1
)
)
\u2062
s
^
\u2061
(
k
)
}
Image
\u2062
\u2062
{
A
\u2061
(
\u03b8
^
\u2061
(
k
|
k
–
1
)
)
\u2062
s
^
\u2061
(
k
)
}
in which {circumflex over (x)}{circumflex over (\u2032)}(k|k\u22121) is the predicted state vector, x\u2032(k) denotes a state vector and is equal to
\u03b8
\u2061
(
k
)
,
\u2146
\u03b8
\u2061
(
k
)
\u2146
k
,
z
^
\u2061
(
k
\u2758
k
–
1
)
is the predicted sound, z(kT) is equal to
Real
\u2062
\u2062
(
z
array
\u2061
(
kT
)
)
Image
\u2062
\u2062
(
z
array
\u2061
(
kT
)
)
,
Real{i} denotes a real number of i, Image{i} denotes an imaginary number of l; and
the state vector correction unit corrects the predicted state vector using the following equation:
x\u2032(k|k)={circumflex over (x)}{circumflex over (\u2032)}(k|k\u22121)+K\u2032(k)z(k)\u2212{circumflex over (z)}(k|k\u22121)
in which x\u2032(k|k) denotes the state vector corrected by the state vector correction unit, z(k)\u2212{circumflex over (z)}(k|k\u22121) denotes the sound error value produced by the sound error production unit, K\u2032(k) denotes a Kalman gain and is defined by:
K\u2032(k)={circumflex over (P)}{circumflex over (\u2032)}(k|k\u22121)H\u2032T(k,\u015d(k))R\u2032e\u22121(k), {circumflex over (P)}{circumflex over (\u2032)}(k|k\u22121)
is defined by:
{circumflex over (P)}{circumflex over (\u2032)}(k|k\u22121)=F\u2032P\u2032(k\u22121|k\u22121)F\u2032T+G\u2032Q\u2032G\u2032T,
F\u2032 is given by:
F
\u2032
=
1
T
0
1
,
G
\u2032
is given by:
G
\u2032
=
1
2
\u2062
T
2
0
0
T
,
P
\u2032
\u2062
\u2062
(
k
\u2758
k
)
is defined by
P\u2032(k|k)={circumflex over (P)}{circumflex over (\u2032)}(k|k\u22121)\u2212{circumflex over (P)}{circumflex over (\u2032)}(k|k\u22121)H\u2032T(k,\u015d(k))R\u2032e\u22121(k)H\u2032(k,\u015d(k)){circumflex over (P)}{circumflex over (\u2032)}(k|k\u22121)
by:
H
\u2032
\u2062
\u2062
(
k
,
s
^
\u2061
(
k
)
)
is equal to
Real
\u2061
(
\u2202
\u2202
x
\u2032
\u2062
(
A
\u2061
(
\u03b8
\u2061
(
k
)
)
\u2062
s
^
\u2061
(
k
)
)
)
Image
\u2061
(
\u2202
\u2202
x
\u2032
\u2062
(
A
\u2061
(
\u03b8
\u2061
(
k
)
)
\u2062
s
^
\u2061
(
k
)
)
)
,
R\u2032e(k) is defined by:
R\u2032e(k)=R\u2032+H\u2032(k,\u015d(k)){circumflex over (P)}{circumflex over (\u2032)}(k|k\u22121)H\u2032T(k,\u015d(k))
21. A method of controlling a mobile body that travels around a sound source which generates a sound, comprising:
estimating a direction in which the mobile body is located in a first position with respect to the sound source;
determining a traveling direction of the mobile body using the estimated direction of the mobile body;
moving the mobile body a predetermined distance to a second position in the determined travelling direction;
producing traveling information about the traveling of the mobile body;
estimating a direction in which the mobile body is located in the second position with respect to the sound source after the mobile body has moved; and
determining a position of the mobile body using the traveling information and the estimated directions in the first and second positions.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein the determined position includes a distance between the mobile body and the sound source determined using the traveling information and the estimated directions.
23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:
determining whether a predetermined sound has been detected and proceeding to the operation of estimating the direction of the mobile body when it is determined that the predetermined sound has been detected; and
after performing the operation of producing the traveling information, determining whether the predetermined sound has been detected and proceeding to the operation of estimating the direction of the moved mobile body when it is determined that the predetermined sound has been detected.
24. The method of claim 21, further comprising moving the mobile body toward the sound source using the estimated direction and the determined distance.
25. The method of claim 21, further comprising:
determining whether the determined distance is smaller than a critical value; and
renewing the traveling direction using the estimated direction and proceeding to the operation of moving the mobile body by the predetermined distance, when it is determined that the determined distance is at least equal to the critical value.
26. The method of claim 21, when the mobile body continuously travels to the second position from the first position, further comprising correcting the distance between the mobile body at the second position and the sound source or the estimated direction of the mobile body traveled to the second position using a power distribution of the sound and a triangonometry.
27. The method of claim 26, wherein the correcting comprises:
searching for a real position for the predetermined position of the mobile body on a path between a third position, where a direction of the mobile body starts being estimated, and the second position, where the estimation of the direction of the mobile body ends, using the power distribution of the sound;
calculating a distance between the real position and the second position and determining the distance as a distance error;
calculating a distance between the real position and the sound source by triangonometry using a result obtained by subtracting the distance error from the traveling distance between the first and second positions, the estimated direction of the mobile body at the first position, and the estimated direction of the mobile body moved at the second position;
correcting the determined distance using the calculated distance between the real position and the sound source, the distance error, and the estimated direction of the mobile body traveled to the second position; and
correcting the estimated direction of the mobile body located at the second position using a ratio between the corrected distance and the calculated distance,
wherein the position of the mobile body includes at least one of the distance and the estimated direction.
28. The method of claim 21, wherein the determining of the position of the mobile body comprises predicting a current position of the mobile body using the traveling information, correcting the predicted current position using the estimated direction, and determining the corrected position as the position of the mobile body.
29. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with processing instructions for causing a processor to perform a method of controlling a mobile body that travels around a sound source which generates a sound, the method comprising:
estimating a direction in which the mobile body is located in a first position with respect to the sound source
determining a traveling direction of the mobile body using the estimated direction of the mobile body;
moving the mobile body a predetermined distance to a second position in the determined travelling direction;
producing traveling information about the traveling of the mobile body;
estimating a direction in which the mobile body is located in the second position with respect to the sound source after the mobile body has moved; and
determining a position of the mobile body using the traveling information and the estimated directions in the first and second positions.