US2499670A - Boiler device - Google Patents

Description

G. S. NEELEY BOILER DEVICE March 7, 1950 Filed. May 17, 1944 Patented Mar. 7, 1950 f UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BOILER DEVICE George S. Neeley, Pacific, Mo. Application May 17, 1944, Serial No. 535,922

3 Claims. l

This invention relates to a boiler device, and more particularly it relates to an apparatus and method for eliminating the pitting, corrosion and foaming that frequently characterize boiler operations, or, to a lesser degree, metallic liquid containers.

It is an object of the invention to provide a method of and a means for accomplishing the foregoing objectives, including the resultant increase in efliciency of the boilers.

More particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide a method and means that are inexpensive and that have no parts to be moved or adjusted.

More particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide a means to control electric potentials that are present in a metallic liquid container, such especially as a boiler, and to do so without introducing additional undesirable electric potentials.

It is a further object to provide a means of this kind designed to cooperate with a foam trough installation on a boiler.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional View, partly broken away, of a conventional locomotive boiler with the installation therein,

Fig. 2 is a partial section on the line 2-2 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a partial section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

This application is a continuation in part of application Serial No. 413,712, filed October 6, 1941 (now abandoned).

The boiler shown includes an outer sheet I0, a re box casing I2 having an end sheet I3, a flue sheet I4 and a crown sheet I5. There is a mud ring I1 to which the crown sheet I5 and the outer sheet I are secured. The usual tubes I8 are secured to the flue sheet I4. A steam dome I6 is attached at the top of the outer sheet I0 in conventional fashion.

The water in the boiler is indicated at W, above which is a steam space S.

Many locomotives are equipped with foaming troughs 20 secured as by straps 2I to the outer sheet above the water line and beneath the steam dome I6. These parts are conventionally made of sheet material of the same composition as that of the outer sheet, the parts usually being sheet steel.

The present invention comprises an electrode unit 25 comprising two tubes 26 and 21 formed of the same material as the tubes I8 of the boiler, and, in deed, which may be made of sections of discarded tubes. The two tubes 26 and 21 are permanently and electrically united to a U- shaped supporting strap 28, the legs of which are turned over the upper part of the trough 20 `and tightly and electrically secured thereto. The parts should be welded. The strap 28 is similarly made of sheet material of the same chemical composition as that of the tubes 2B and 21.

It will be seen that the tubes 26 and 2l are disposed below the water line and in close proximity to the boiler tubes I8, but are spaced therefrom. The spacing is desirably about 21/2 inches from the tubes. The only direct connection between the electrode 25 and the tubes I8 is through the water itself. Tests have shown that the most desirable location for the electrode 25 in an installation such as that illustrated is immediately below the steam dome I6.

In setting up the apparatus, observation is made of the location of scale. This is expected to be at the heat-receiving areas, and principally around the tubes in boilers. At this area an electrode is inserted into the water, then cold, in close proximity to the said area, and held away from the metal parts. It may be supported by insulated legs or straps. An electric lead, duly separated from the metal parts of the boiler, is brought outside the shell. Then with a millivoltmeter, with one terminal connected to the lead, spot readings are taken to various metallic parts of the boiler. At the point of maximum potential thus discovered, the lead from the electrode is fastened electrically. The installation is then complete, and thereafter no changes need be made. Or, if desired and convenient, supporting means, such as those here illustrated, may be employed for the joint functions of support and conduction. Thus, for the illustrated installation, the foregoing test showed maximum scaling at the tubes and the points of highest potential to be around the steam dome I6. In conformity with the teachings of the invention, therefore, the electrode 25 is located with respect to the tubes I8, as shown and described, and the straps 28, the trough 20, and the straps 2I form, in addition to supporting structures, an electrical conductor connecting the electrode 25 to the outer sheet I0. The points at which the straps 2I are connected to the outer sheet I0 are approximately those observed to exhibit the highest potential under the above-described tests.

It is, of course, not absolutely essential that the connection be made at the point of maximum reading, although such is desirable. Also, when the optimum point is known, a rigid supporting connection may be made, whereby the supporting means for the electrode and the electrical connection are both embodied in the same structural elements, without repetition of the voltage testing.

In most boilers, the point of maximum potential is found to be between the electrode and the shell above the water line and adjacent the steam outlet.

It has also been determined that the electrode must be of substantial coverage by way of area.

`offered the operators only The tests further show a substantial saving in fuel consumption and the elimination of the need for boiler compounds, which, without the apparatus, constitute an item of substantial expense ou the rods, or the use of mesh electrodes. A 5 in boiler operation.

convenient rule of thumb is to embrace within the limits of the electrode an area equal to about one-third of the area of the metal parts ythat scale. Also it is desirable to extend the electrode to within a few inches of the ends of the tubes.

It has been observed that the potential difference between the electrode and the shell will diminish after connection to the shell of `the terminal from the electrode until it becomes zero. Thereafter it will remain zero as long as the equipment is in place. An illustrative time period for this elimination of potential is thirty minutes to one hour.

In a typical water storage tank illustration, a pipe, connected electrically to the top of the tank (by integrally attaching it directly into the top of the tank with an integral connection-of the type described above) and depending centrally to adjacent the bottom, has provedsatisfactory. The electrode should be of substantially the same metal as the tank, to avoid introducing additional electrolytic conditions into the tank.

Tests made on a number of dierent boilers have shown that upon installing this equipment a marked reduction in pitting, foaming and scaling has resulted, along with a substantial increase in boiler efciency.

To illustrate, a certain boiler had continually sufferedfrom corrosion despite the use of chemicals and various other devices on the market for correcting the same. City authorities finally one more limited period to correct this condition before insisting upon reducing the capacity of the boiler greatly. Without guarantee, this device wasinstalled in the boiler. The installation was the same .as shown herein, except that .the strap.28 was secured directly and electrically to the outer sheet lll above the water line, an obvious alternative used when the boiler does not already have ythe foam trough. Thereafter, the foaming in this particular installation was reduced substantially to zero, and the boiler was permitted by the city oflicials to continue operation at its high rating.

In another boiler, scaling, corrosion, and foaming were giving serious trouble. After .this device had been in use for several months, these problems were all eliminated, anda fuel saving of S31/3% was found.

The apparatus has been installed Von many other boilers during the course of the preceding months with uniform good results and with a complete lack of necessity for any adjustments or attention whatever. This is in contradistinction to the use of external electrical power devices, and to the use of devices inserted into the boiler, of metals substantially different from the metal of the boiler. In the latter, according to one authority, an electrical action is produced, but with the trouble that the diierent metal itself introduces additional reactionsthat-are too frequently deleterious. In the present case, the evidence indicates that there is an ele-ctrical action involving ionization of the impure water, but that this electrical action is reduced tozero by the presence of theapparatus, this latterbeing in contradistinction tothe introduction of other and diiTerent electrical action, as .by external cells or an internal cell formed by the presence .of ldissimilar metal.y

What is claimed is:

1. A protector device for metallic containers for holding liquid to a predetermined liquid level with a space within the container above the liquid, comprising a metal collector, means supporting the collector within the container below the liquid level, and with the metal of the collector'separated from the metal of the container below the liquid level, electrical conducting means connecting the collector to the interior of the container above the water line, and integral joints between the conducting means, the container and the collector forming them into van integral group, the metal portions of the device below the liquid level having substantially the sameelectrolytic `properties as the metal oi the container to which the device is connected.

2. A .protector apparatus for boilers having a metallic shell adapted to contain water to a level, and .having a space above the water, in-

.cludinga metal collector, means supporting the collector below the water line of the shell, and with the metal of the Collector and the metal of theshell below the water level, separated from each other, means electrically connecting the collector and the interior of the shell above the water line, said means rincluding at least one electrical conductor Vintegrally joined to the collector and integrally joined to the interior of the shell above the water line, the metal portions of the device belowthe water level, including that of the collector and that of the connecting means, having substantially the same electrolytic properties as those of the shell.

3. A protector device for metallic containers vfor holding liquid to a predetermined level with a space within the container above the liquid, the protector device comprising `a collector `formed ofmetal of substantially the same electhecollector having a portion disposed below the liquid level of the container, but with the metal of the portion out of electrical contact with metal of the container below the liquid level, the collector having a portion integral with the firstnamed portion, extending above the liquid level, and means integrally connecting the last-named `portion to the metal of the container above the liquid level, whereby that portion of the collector below the `liquid level andthe container above thev liquid level are integrally connected .for transmission `of electric energy of minute character, between them.

GEORGE S. NEELEY.

CHTED Thefollowingreferences are oi record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 Number Name Date 110,553 Dick Dec.27, 1870 1,579,454 Neeley Apr. 6, 1926 1,773,275 Neeley Aug. 19, 1930 1,984,210 Gunderson Dec. 11, 1934 0 `2,251,426 Schmid Aug. 5, 1941 2,282,776 Gunderson May 12, 194.2 OTHER REFEREN CES Transactions of The Electrochemical So- 5 ciety, vol. 75 .(1939) page `34.

trolytic properties as those of the container,

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