The Boeing Company

Gas Technology Institute

James A Hartung

Jeffrey A Mays

Albert E Stewart

Ganesan Subbaraman

Kenneth Michael Sprouse

Thomas H Lynch

Robert Kezerian Wilde

John Keith Branom

A reactor system includes a fluidized-bed. A fuel and a sulfur absorbent material are eluted through the fluidized-bed. The reactor system may include a heat exchanger having a heat-exchanging portion within a heating zone of the reactor that is hermetically sealed from the heating zone. The reactor may include loose particles of an inert bed material for forming the fluidized-bed. A feed system may be provided to inject a solid fuel composite that includes a mixture of a solid, carbonaceous fuel and a solid reagent into the reactor.

Reactor system and solid fuel composite therefor

There is provided a low-emission, staged-combustion power generation system and associated method for generating power. The power generation system and method combust a carbonaceous fuel with an oxidizing fluid, both of which are substantially free of nitrogen and sulfur, to generate power, for example, in the form of electricity, without the formation of nitrous oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx). Efficiency is enhanced using a multi-staged combustion, in which the carbonaceous fuel is partially combusted before passing through a first power take-off device and subsequently reheated and passed through one or more additional power take-off devices. Additionally, exhaust gases from one or more of the power take-off devices can be extracted and processed to provide quantities of useful products such as hydrogen and methanol.

Low-emission, staged-combustion power generation

An improved string switching apparatus and method is provided for controllably connecting a plurality of solar array strings to an output power bus. The string switching apparatus can include a plurality of field effect transistors electrically connected in parallel with respective solar array strings and a digital controller for controllably switching the field effect transistors between on and off states to thereby control the power level of the output power bus. The field effect transistors can be switched between an on state in which the output of the respective solar array string is shunted and an off state in which the output of the respective solar array string is delivered to the output power bus. In addition to merely providing power to an output power bus, the string switching apparatus and method can controllably connect the plurality of solar array strings to either an output power bus or an auxiliary power bus, such as a battery charging power bus. In addition to the plurality of shunt regulators, the string switching apparatus can include a plurality of coupling switches electrically connected between respective solar array strings and one of the output power bus and the auxiliary power bus for controllably directing the power to a selected one of the power buses.

String switching apparatus and associated method for controllably connecting the output of a solar array string to a respective power bus

Growing community of inventors

West Hills, CA, United States of America

James A Hartung