Electrically driven high voltage ozonator

Abstract

A method and apparatus for generating high concentrations of ozone using a solid state high voltage power supply and a specially designed ozonator. The power supply comprises a rectifier and voltage doubler to which commercial AC line current is applied to produce a 300 volt DC output which, in turn, is applied across a solid state switching device to chop the DC output at an adjustable high frequency rate. The switch means is controlled by a timing and trigger circuit and the output of the switch means is applied to the input of an auto-transformer of the automotive ignition coil type which raises the high frequency output of the switch to a very high voltage level in the range of 30,000 to 50,000 volts peak to peak. This is applied to the high voltage electrode of each cell of a concentric electrode type ozone generator. The heat limiting problems encountered in the prior art are ameliorated both by elimination of iron core transformers or choke coils and by utilizing a counter-flow gas feed principle in the ozonator to cool the inner high voltage electrode by the incoming air or oxygen flow before it is passed through the corona discharge gap. This counter flow is achieved by passing the feed gas through the inside of the hollow inner electrode before entering the gap. The AC field of the inner core thus also deionizes the gas before it is passed through the corona discharge thereby achieving further energy savings. Power consumption in the power supply may be further reduced by using a single limiting impedance to drive a plurality of similar output channels, each of which is connected to its corresponding ozonator generator in a manner such as to achieve maximum power transfer. The combined effect of these features is to minimize electrical power consumption per pound of production of ozone.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.