Clean coal power system
AssigneeThermacore, Inc.
InventorGeorge Y. Eastman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A coal burning power plant which produces electricity at high efficiency and with very low levels of atmospheric contamination. A fluidized bed of limestone and coal is used to burn the coal with little air pollution, and a large quantity of specially constructed heat pipes transfer the heat to a closed cycle gas turbine with very low temperature loss. The preferred embodiments of the heat pipes are constructed with steel casing, have a thin aluminum oxide layer on their surfaces to prevent hydrogen permeation into the casing and have a plasma sprayed coating of ceramic on the portion within the fluidized bed to prevent erosion of the heat pipe casing by the solid particles within the bed.
Claims13
An apparatus for the production of mechanical power comprising:
- a fluidized bed combustor into which air, coal and limestone are introduced and in which the coal is burned to create heat and the limestone chemically combines with any sulphur in the coal to produce solid compounds;
- means attached to the combustor to remove the solid compounds produced by combination of the limestone and sulphur;
- a closed cycle gas turbine using hot gas furnished to its input to create mechanical energy;
- and
- a heat exchanger, a first part of which is connected to the fluidized bed combustor and a second part of which is attached to the gas turbine input, heating the turbine gas prior to entry into the turbine, comprising multiple heat pipes constructed with casings with a coating of a continuous impermeable layer of oxide of approximately one micron thickness and a second ceramic coating of between 0.010 and 0.125 inch thickness, covering at least that portion of the heat pipes immersed in the fluidized bed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.