Patent Application
20070281258
Reference is hereby made to the following drawings in which like reference numerals correspond to like elements throughout, and in which:
Referring to
Accumulator loop 36 includes an accumulator 40, preferably in the form of a bladder accumulator, that may be isolated from a remainder of accumulator loop 36 via valve 34. Downstream of accumulator 40 and valve 34 are a normally open two-way relief solenoid valve 42 and a gauge 44 designed to relieve pressure in the accumulator loop 36 as the high flash point liquid 13 collected in accumulator 40 is delivered back to reservoir 14. Additionally, all pressure in burner head supply line 38 will be relieved upon removing power to the relief valve 42.
Referring now to burner head supply line 38, a regulator 46 is included having a 4,000 pound per square inch (psi) maximum pressure inlet and a pressure gauge 48 designed to indicate the pressure at regulator 46. Downstream of regulator 46 is a low pressure switch 50. As will be described in detail below, a control panel 52 is included to control pumping system 50.
Referring now to
An additional accumulator 61 may be included that along with the high flash point liquid 13 delivered via burner head supply line 38, delivers high flash point liquid 13 through a filter 62 and ball valve 64 associated with each burner head 56, 58, 60. A normally closed solenoid valve 66 is arranged as a last barrier to the high flash point liquid 13 before passing beside housing 68 of the burner heads 56, 58, 60. Along side each burner head housing 68, a nozzle 70 is arranged within an expelling port 72 so as to align an orifice 74 of nozzle 70 with an igniter 76 that is also disposed with expelling port 72. Igniter 76 includes a pair of electrodes 78 arranged in a configuration commonly found in spark plug systems such as utilized in automobiles and the like. Also, an optical sensor 80 and relay 82 that form an ignition verification sensor 83 are at least partially arranged within each burner head housing 68. Accordingly, as will be described, ignition verification sensor 83 communicates an ignition confirmation signal back to control panel 52 before control panel 52 opens valve 66.
Referring now to
In either case, when initiated via control panel 52, pump 12 draws the high flash point liquid 13 from reservoir 14 through filter 15. According to one embodiment, the high flash point liquid 13 is designed to remain in the liquid state under normal atmospheric pressures and at normal operating temperatures. Hence, the high flash point liquid 13 is drawn from reservoir 14 and is pumped under pressure toward check valve 16. It is contemplated that check valve 16 may be designed to operate under pressures between 0 psi and 3,000 psi as pumping system 10 is designed to pump the high flash point liquid 13 under pressures of, preferably, approximately 500 psi, but up to pressures in excess of 1,500 psi. Should bypass valve 20 be tripped, the high flash point liquid 13 drawn by pump 12 will be permitted to flow past bypass valve 20 through bypass hose 18 and back into reservoir 14.
Under normal operating conditions, high flash point liquid 13 will pass through check valve 16 toward normally closed two-way solenoid valve 22. In this regard, normally closed two-way solenoid valve 22 may be controlled via control panel 52 to halt the flow of the high flash point liquid 13 from reservoir 14. Accordingly, as will be described, normally closed two-way solenoid valve 22 serves as one of numerous isolation valves for both pumping system 10 and burner system 54.
Under normal operating conditions, normally closed two-way solenoid valve 22 will permit high flash point liquid 13 to continue to manifold 24. Associated with manifold 24 is high pressure switch 26 and gauge 28 that is designed to indicate the pressure sensed by high pressure switch 26. High pressure switch 26, according to one embodiment, is designed to have a normal operating range of approximately 180 psi to 3000 psi. Accordingly, gauge 28, according to one embodiment, has an operating range of 0 psi to 3,000 psi with 50 psi increments indicated thereon. Therefore, should operating conditions reach an excess of 2000 psi, via gauge 28, high pressure switch 26 will indicate an excessive operating pressure and high pressure switch 26 will provide a signal to control panel 52 that, in turn, provides an alarm to the user by way of, for example, an audible or light-based alarm signal. Substantially simultaneously therewith, normally closed two-way solenoid valve 22 will be automatically closed and normally open two-way solenoid relief valve 42 will open in order to remedy the excessive operating pressure via accumulator loop 36 back to the reservoir 14.
Generally, excessive operating pressures will not occur, and high flash point liquid 13 will pass through manifold 24 and ball valve 30 where it will be stored in accumulator 40. Accumulator 40, for example a ten gallon bladder accumulator, is designed to receive excess high flash point liquid 13 that, as will be described, may not be consumed during the generation of effects flames. This excess high flash point liquid 13 can then be utilized in subsequent firings.
Ball Valve 34 shall always be opened during operation whereby high flash point liquid 13 can pass through normally open two-way solenoid relief valve 42 into accumulator relief loop 36 back to reservoir 14 when necessary. For example, it may be desirable to allow the high flash point liquid 13 to pass through normally open two-way solenoid relief valve 42 into accumulator relief loop 36 back to reservoir 14 when an over pressurization is indicated by high pressure switch 26 or in the case of an emergency shut-off situation indicated at control panel 52. By reading gauge 44, the operator can determine when all pressure has been removed from the system.
However, under normal flame effects generating operation, ball valve 34 will remain open and normally open two-way solenoid relief valve 42 will remain energized, closing off accumulator relief loop 36 in favor of ball valve 32. Accordingly, high flash point liquid 13 will flow along burner head supply line 38 and through regulator 46. According to one embodiment, regulator 46 has an operating range of approximately 0 psi to 2,000 psi with a max inlet psi of 4,000. After passing regulator 46, high flash point liquid 13 is monitored by low pressure switch 50. According to one embodiment, low pressure switch 50 has an operating range of approximately 30 psi to 600 psi. Accordingly, should the pressure along the burner supply line 38 drop below a desirable pressure, as determined by the low pressure switch 50, control panel 52 will remove the power supplied to all of the burner heads 56, 58, 60 until the low pressure condition can be remedied.
Under normal operating conditions, high flash point liquid 13 will continue to flow along burner supply path 38 and into burner system 54 of
According to one embodiment, normally closed two-way solenoid valve 66 is designed to have an operating pressure of approximately 1,100 psi such that the high flash point liquid 13 enters nozzle 70 under substantial pressure. In this regard, high flash point liquid 13 is forced through orifice 74 at such a rate and pressure that it is either atomized or vaporized. Accordingly, it is contemplated that high flash point liquid 13 when either atomized or vaporized enters a volatile state such that it will be ignitable when exposed to a spark generated by igniter 76.
In this regard, according to one embodiment, high flash point liquid 13 is a material commercially available as Isopar. Isopar is a registered trademark owned by Exxon Mobile Corporation of Texas. Specifically, high flash point liquid 13 may be Isopar type M and, preferably, may be Isopar type G. By utilizing Isopar G, high flash point liquid 13 may be forced through a nozzle 70 at pressures of approximately 500 psi and still sufficiently atomize or vaporize so as to enter a volatile state to be, preferably, completely consumed by the explosion resulting from exposure to a spark formed between electrodes 78 of burner 76.
In order to achieve substantially complete consumption of high flash point liquid 13 under pressures as low as 500 psi, it is contemplated that orifice 74 may be sized from approximately 1/16 of an inch to 1/32 of an inch. In this regard, it is contemplated that since, as will be described, each burner head 56, 58, 60 can be independently supplied with high flash point liquid 13, varying orifice sizes may be utilized across burner system 54 to generate various flame or explosion sizes and heights, for example, from between a few feet to tens of feet. To provide further flexibility, it is contemplated that nozzle 70 may be an interchangeable nozzle such that varying orifices may be presented throughout burner system 54.
As a further check against undesired operating conditions, prior to normally closed two-way solenoid valve 66 allowing high flash point liquid 13 to enter an associated burner head 56, 58, 60, the igniter 76 is caused to generate a spark that can be detected by optical sensor 80 to verify that, when atomized or vaporized high flash point liquid 13 is expelled through orifice 74 of nozzle 70, it will be properly ignited. That is, optical sensor 80 is arranged to monitor the gap between electrodes 78 of the burner 76, and upon sensing an ultra violet light increase within the expelling ports 72 indicative of an ignition spark, sends a signal to relay 82. Relay 82 in turn, sends an ignition confirmation signal to control panel 52. As such, burner system 54 is controlled via control panel 52 to preclude high flash point liquid 13 from even entering a burner head 56, 58, 60 when igniter 76 has not been energized or has failed to produce a spark. Accordingly, burner system 54 is highly modular such that a supply of high flash point liquid 13 to any of the burner heads 56, 58, 60 can be independently controlled, maintained, and operated, according to preset safety protocol, predesigned display patterns, and/or manually actuated firing sequences. In this regard, it is contemplated that control panel 52 may control normally closed two-way solenoid valve 66 according to a DMX-512 protocol. In particular, a remotely located DMX control console including control panel 52 controls normally closed two-way solenoid valve 66 to open using a DMX-512 protocol signal only after optical sensor 80 and relay 82 have provided a positive indication or confirmation that a spark has been generated between electrodes 78 of burner 76.
It is contemplated that the pumping system 10 and burner system 54 may be incorporated into a permanent or semi-permanent installation, such as a stage for live acting or an amusement ride. Furthermore, it is contemplated that the pumping system 10 and burner system 54 may be arranged in a mobile installation to be readily transported. In this regard, the pumping system 10 and burner system 54 may be utilized in touring arrangements, such as touring stage shows.
Therefore, a system and method for generating flame effects is created utilizing a pumping system and burning system having a plurality of valve points configured to feed a material that is combustible when atomized or vaporized to an array of independently controllable burners. In accordance with one embodiment, the material is Isopar G, which can be sufficiently atomized or vaporized to substantially prevent fallout (i.e. liquid not completely consumed by the combustion of the high flash point fluid 13) by passing it through an orifice of approximately 1/16 of an inch at pressures as low as 500 psi.
A controller is provided that controls the elements of the pumping system and burner system according to preset safety protocol. A control console is provided that has been programmed with predetermined firing patterns, and/or manually actuated firing patterns. To this end, a sensor system is arranged to confirm proper ignition of an igniter in each burner prior to the controller allowing any atomized or vaporized material to be ejected from the system. As such, a sustainable pattern of firings mapped to a desired sequence is achievable under conditions compliant with various safety standards such as National Fire Protection Act 160. To further control operation of the system, a variety of additional valves and switches may be included. In this regard, the system may automatically isolate portions of the flow path upon detection of low or high pressure conditions.
The present invention has been described in terms of the preferred embodiment, and it should be appreciated that many equivalents, alternatives, variations, and modifications, aside from those expressly stated, are possible and within the scope of the invention. Therefore, the invention should not be limited to a particular described embodiment.
