Electric field control of two or more responses in a combustion system

Abstract

A combustion system may include a plurality of heated volume portions. At least two of the plurality of heated volume portions may include corresponding respective electrodes. The electrodes may be driven to produce respective electric fields in their respective volumes. The electric fields may be configured to drive desired respective responses.

1 . A method of selecting two or more responses from a combustion system, comprising:
 driving at least one first electric field in a first portion of a heated volume proximate to a burner that produces charged species produced during combustion; and   driving at least one second electric field different from the first electric field in a second portion of the heated volume farther away from the burner than the first portion of the heated volume.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one first electric field is controlled to drive a first response and the at least one second electric field is controlled to drive a second response different from the first response. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the first portion of the heated volume corresponds to at least one combustion reaction zone, and the second portion of the heated volume corresponds to at least one selected from the group consisting of a heat transfer zone, a pollution abatement section, and a fuel delivery section. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first electric field is driven to maximize a combustion efficiency and the second electric field is driven to perform at least one selected from the group consisting of selecting a heat transfer channel, cleaning combustion products from a heat transfer surface, maximizing heat transfer to a heat carrying medium, precipitating an ash, minimizing nitrogen oxide output, and recycling unburned fuel. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first and second responses each include a physical or a chemical response. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first response includes at least one selected from the group consisting of swirl, mixing, reactant collision energy, frequency of reactant collisions, luminosity, thermal radiation, and stack gas temperature. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second response includes at least one selected from the group consisting of directing heat to a heat transfer surface, precipitation, driving an oxide of nitrogen producing reaction to minimum extent of reaction, and fuel particle recycling. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 modifying at least one of the first or second electric fields responsive to detection of at least one input variable.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the at least one input variable includes fuel flow rate, electrical demand, steam demand, turbine demand, fuel type, carbon footprint value, and emission credit value. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the heated volume includes a combustion volume corresponding to the first portion and at least one of a heat transfer zone or a pollution abatement section corresponding to the second portion. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein driving the first and second electric fields includes delivering first and second drive pulse trains. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 receiving first and second input variables from respective sensors responsive to physical or chemical conditions in the first and second portions of the heated volume; and   performing respective feedback or feed forward control algorithms to determine one or more parameters for the first and second drive pulse trains.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein driving the first and second electric fields includes driving corresponding first and second drive waveforms. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the drive waveforms include at least one selected from the group consisting of a DC signal, an AC signal, a pulse train, a pulse width modulated signal, a pulse height modulated signal, a chopped signal, a digital signal, a discrete level signal, and an analog signal. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing an electronic controller operatively coupled to drive the electric fields.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing an electronic controller configured to select at least one electric field parameter for each of the first and second electric fields.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 forming the first and second driven electric fields with respective at least one electrodes in the heated volume;   wherein the first portion of the heated volume includes a substantially atmospheric pressure combustion volume including at least one burner.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first and second electric fields are substantially non-overlapping. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first and second electric fields are operatively coupled to different portions of a boiler combustion volume and flue. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one parameter of the first and second electric fields are interdependent. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving at least one response value from the heated volume;   calculating at least one first parameter of the first electric field responsive to the at least one response value; and   calculating at least one second parameter of the second electric field responsive to the at least one response value and the at least one first parameter.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a fuel flow rate to at least one burner in the first portion of the heated volume;   determining at least one of a first electric field amplitude and a first electric field pulse width responsive to the fuel flow rate; and   determining at least one of a second electric field amplitude and a second electric field pulse width responsive to the at least one of a first electric field amplitude and a first electric field pulse width.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the second electric field is configured to recycle unburned hydrocarbon fuel to the first portion of the heated volume. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first electric field is configured to drive combustion of a fuel to an extent of reaction in a flame supported in the first portion of the heated volume; and wherein the second electric field is configured to recycle unburned particles of the fuel from a flue included in the second portion of the heated volume back into the first portion of the heated volume for further combustion. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first and second electric fields substantially do not directly interact. 
     
     
         26 - 62 . (canceled)