Coke burning engine

A coke burning engine for generating power from the burning of carbonaceous fuel with compressed air, and comprising:

• a source of carbonaceous fuel chunks, a portion of which are porous;
• a receiver of ashes;
• at least one two step coke burning means for reacting carbonaceous fuel chunks with compressed air, each said two step coke burning means comprising:
• a coke reactor comprising a pressure vessel shell enclosing a coke reactor chamber, refuel means for periodically transferring carbonaceous fuel chunks from said source of carbonaceous fuel chunks, into said coke reactor chamber, ash removal means for periodically transferring ashes from said coke reactor chamber into said receiver of ashes,
• a coke reactor air intake pipe,
• a primary reacted gas discharge pipe;
• a secondary air chamber comprising a pressure vessel shell enclosing a secondary air chamber,
• a secondary air chamber air intake pipe,
• a secondary air chamber air delivery pipe;
• a final reactor comprising a pressure vessel shell enclosing a final reaction chamber, an igniter means for igniting fuel air mixtures, to react into fully reacted gases within said final reactor, a fuel air mixture inlet pipe with a fuel air mixture blowdown cycle valve, a final reactor air inlet pipe, a final fully reacted gas outlet pipe with an expander inlet blowdown cycle valve;
• a common air intake manifold connected to said coke reactor air intake pipe, said secondary air chamber air intake pipe, and said final reactor air intake pipe;
• wherein said air delivery pipe of said secondary air chamber is connected to said primary reacted gas discharge pipe of said coke reactor via a secondary air blowdown cycle valve to form a fuel air mixture delivery pipe;
• and,
• wherein said fuel air mixture delivery pipe is connected to said fuel air mixture inlet pipe of said final reactor via said fuel air mixture blowdown cycle valve;
• an air compression means for compressing air, from the atmosphere, into each said two step coke burning means, during a compression cycle time period for each two step coke burning means said air compression means comprising:
• at least one piston and cylinder air compressor means for compressing air, and each said piston and cylinder air compressor comprising at least one air compressor stage, and each air compressor stage comprising a piston sealably reciprocal within one closed end of a cylinder, said closed end of said cylinder comprising an air compressor air intake pipe and a suction check valve, and an air compressor air delivery pipe and a delivery check valve;
• each said piston and cylinder compressor means comprising, one first low pressure stage, and one last high pressure stage, these two stages being the same stage for (a) the piston and cylinder compressor means which comprises but a single stage, the air intake pipe of said first low pressure stage is connected to a source of air such as the atmosphere;
• drive means for reciprocating all said pistons within said cylinders via cranks on an air compressor crankshaft rotated by said drive means, wherein each said piston carries out a compression stroke when moving toward said one closed end of said cylinder, and each said piston carries out a suction stroke when moving away from said one closed end of said cylinder, a fixed clearance volume exists between said piston and said closed end of said cylinder volume at the end of each compression stroke in order to avoid mechanical interference;
• wherein (a) the coke burning engine comprises a number of two step coke burning means at least equal to the number of piston and cylinder air compressor means within said air compression means;
• a number of compression cycle valves equal to the product of the number of two step coke burning means multiplied by the number of piston and cylinder air compressor means;
• each said compression cycle valve connects one common air intake manifold, of one two step coke burning means, to the air delivery pipe of the last high pressure stage of said one piston and cylinder air compressor means, when opened during each compression cycle time period of said connected two step coke burning unit;
• a cycle timer and control means for opening and closing said compression cycle valves, and said blowdown cycle valves, so that:
• said common air intake manifold of each two step coke burning means is connected to the air delivery pipe of the last high pressure stage of each piston and cylinder air compressor means, only one last stage at a time, only during said compression stroke of each last stage, in time order of increasing last stage pressure, each said sequence of compression cycle connections constituting a compression cycle time period, for each two step coke burning means;
• all said blowdown cycle valves of each two step coke burning means are concurrently opened only during a blowdown cycle time period, for each two step coke burning means;
• for each two step coke burning means, each compression cycle time period is followed by a blowdown cycle time period, and each blowdown cycle time period is followed by a compression cycle time period;
• said cycle timer and control means are driven by said crankshaft of said air compression means, and is timed relative to said cranks on said crankshaft;
• an expander engine for producing a useful work output, by the expansion of the fully reacted gas, from each final reactor of each two step coke burning means, during each blowdown cycle time interval, with pressure decreasing, while fully reacted gas flows through said expander engine, from maximum pressure at start of each blowdown cycle time interval, down to atmospheric pressure at expander engine exhaust, when the fully reacted gas flows out of the engine and into the atmosphere;
• wherein a primary air is compressed into the coke reactor of each two step coke burning means to react therein by a primary reaction with carbonaceous fuel chunks, and form a primary reacted gas during each compression cycle time interval;
• and further wherein said primary reacted gas is mixed with secondary air from said secondary air chamber and is ignited and reacts therewith, by a secondary reaction, in said final reactor chamber to form fully reacted gas during each blowdown cycle time interval;
• and,
• further wherein said fully reacted gas flows out of said final reactor, and through said expander engine, and into the atmosphere, while generating a useful work output from said expander engine during each blowdown cycle time interval.