HYDROCARBON ANALYZER COMPRISING STABILIZED COOL FLAME GENERATOR WITH SERVO-POSITIONED FLAME FRONT

摘要

1,084,844. Measuring octane rating of fuels. UNIVERSAL OIL PRODUCTS CO. July 4, 1966 [July 13, 1965], No.29899/66. Headings G1D and G1N. In order to measure a characteristic e.g. octane rating boiling point, vapour pressure of a hydrocarbon, e.g. gasoline, it is partially oxidized to generate a stabilized "cool flame" and any one of the variables of the oxidation process is controlled so as to maintain the flame front at a predetermined distance from the burner. The value of the controlled variable is then later as an indication of the octane rating etc. In one embodiment, Fig. 1, the hydrocarbon is fed through a flow controller 34 to a burner jet 32 to which air is also supplied at above atmospheric pressure via a flow controller 27. The air is pre-heated by passing through a coil 31 surrounding a combustion tube 17 within which the "cool flame" is generated. The burner apparatus is contained within a jacketed housing 10 through which a thermostatically controlled heating fluid is circulated. The position of the flame front of the "cool flame" is detected by a differentially connected pair of thermocouples (or resistance thermometers, or radiation pyrometers, or photo-electric pyrometers, or a flame ionization sensitive capacitor, or a direct current ionization gap) and any deviation is caused to control the back-pressure on the exhaust line 39 to restore the flame front to its correct position. The pressure in the exhaust line is taken as a measure of octane rating etc. In other embodiments, Figs. 5 to 7 (not shown) the flame position is restored by control of the rate of flow of the hydrocarbon, the rate of flow of air or the temperature of the fluid that heats the jacket. The measured valve may be used for automatic process control.