Method for continuously producing hydrogen using an eight-port wave reformer
AssigneeNew Wave Hydrogen, Inc.
InventorsPejman Akbari, Colin D. Copeland, Stefan Tuchler, Mark Davidson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An improved hydrogen generation system comprising a multi-port wave reformer in which shock and expansion waves are created in a manner causing head-on colliding shock waves and multi-stage compression where reacting gases within a eight port wave reformer are heated and compressed to thermally crack or decompose one or more fuel sources, such as hydrocarbon fuels, to generate a fuel product containing hydrogen.
Claims9
A hydrogen generation system comprising a multi-port wave reformer, including a rotor rotating within an outer casing and supporting end walls at opposite ends thereof, in which shock and expansion waves are created at two spaced apart locations in said rotor and in a manner causing head-on colliding shock waves and multi-stage compression where reacting gases within the wave reformer are heated and compressed to thermally crack or decompose one or more fuel sources to generate a fuel product containing hydrogen, wherein the multi-port wave reformer comprises an eight-port wave reformer including a reactant inlet port on one of said opposite end walls for admitting a reactant fluid and a reactant exhaust port on the same said one of said opposite end walls and spaced from said reactant inlet port for exhausting processed reactant fluid, whereby the reactant fluid can enter and be exhausted from the same end of the rotor, separate inlet ports on each of said opposite end walls for inputting a first driver fluid, as well as separate exhaust ports on each of said opposite end walls for exhausting the first driver fluid, and a second driver fluid inlet port on the other of said opposite end walls for inputting a second driver fluid, as well as a separate second driver fluid exhaust port on said other of said opposite end walls spaced from said second driver fluid inlet port.
A hydrogen generation system comprising an eight port wave reformer, including a rotor rotating within an outer casing and supporting end walls at opposite ends thereof, a reactant fluid input port at one of said opposite ends of the rotor for inputting a reactant fluid into the reformer in which shock and expansion waves are created in the rotor following the input of each of a first driver fluid through each of the end walls at both opposite ends of the rotor, and next following the input of a second driver fluid through the other of said one of said opposite end walls, thereby causing multi-stage shock compression at spaced apart locations in said rotor where reacting fluids gases remain for a longer time within the eight port wave reformer and are heated and compressed to thermally crack or decompose one or more fuel sources to generate a fuel product containing hydrogen that is thereafter exhausted from said rotor from a processed reactant fluid exhaust port located on said one of said opposite ends of the rotor and spaced from said reactant fluid input port.
An eight-port wave reactor having a plurality of inlet ports and exhaust ports provided in a pair of opposing end walls thereof, with a first pair of spaced apart inlet and exhaust ports on one of said pair of opposing end walls of the wave reactor that collectively allows a driven reactant fluid to enter and leave as a processed reactant fluid that includes hydrogen from said one of said pair of opposing end walls of the wave reactor, an additional pair of spaced apart inlet and exhaust ports on the each of said pair of opposing end walls of the wave reactor that collectively allow a first driver fluid to enter and leave from each of said pair of opposing end walls of the wave reactor, and an additional pair of spaced apart inlet and exhaust ports on another one of said pair of opposing end walls of the wave reactor that collectively allow a second driver fluid to enter and leave from said another one of said pair of opposing end walls of the wave reactor to thereby cause shock waves to be created as a consequence of inputting of each of the first and second driver fluids to thereby compress and thermally crack or decompose fuel sources to generate said processed reactant fluid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.