Hughes Electronics Corporation

Hughes Aircraft Company

Hughes Aircraft

Eun-Hee Cirlin

Weldon S Williamson

Robin J Harvey

Franklin A Dolezal

John J Vajo

John Dalton Williams

Leroy J Miller

Frank A Dolezal

A pollutant destruction system connects a capacitive corona discharge chamber in a self-resonant circuit with an inductive element. Intermittent energizing signals are furnished from a power supply to induce corona discharges within the chamber, with the resonant circuit responding to the energizing signals by initiating additional corona discharges between energizing signals in a highly energy efficient operation. One or more discharge chambers can be provided in the resonant circuit, with each discharge chamber comprising a dielectric enclosure with a distributed electrode outside and an elongate electrode inside the enclosure. The inner electrode can extend either along the chamber axis, or along the inner chamber wall for better support and heat dissipation. The energizing pulse frequency can be controlled in various ways, such as in response to a termination of corona discharges, an increase in the pollutant concentration or an acceleration of an engine whose exhaust is being treated, or the pulses can be applied at a fixed rate.

Pollutant remediation system

Pollutant remediating corona discharge chamber

Gaseous pollutant destruction method using self-resonant corona discharge

Contaminant levels in a fluid such as air or water are reduced by producing a pulsed electron beam having an average primary electron energy of from about 90 to about 110 thousand electron volts (corresponding to an average injected electron energy of from about 45 to about 55 thousand electron volts in a preferred case) and directing the electron beam through the fluid. The contaminant compounds may include organic compounds and certain inorganic compounds such as NO.sub.x and SO.sub.x. The fluid is preferably contained in a contaminant reduction cell that is separated from an electron beam source by an electron-transparent window.

Destruction of contaminants using a low-energy electron beam

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Malibu, CA, United States of America

Eun-Hee Cirlin