Patent GB-1014848-A (GB)
Title: Method of and means for conveying combustible gases through pipelines over long distances
Inventor: FONO ALBERT
IPC: G05D7/06
Filed: 1963-07-08
Abstract: 1,014,848. Gas distribution. KOMPLEX NAGYBERENDEZESK EXPORT-IMPORT VALLALATA. July 8, 1963, No. 27015/63. Heading F4X. A method of conveying a combustible gas through a pipeline section comprises the steps of compressing the gas to an elevated pressure greater than the pressure required at the entrance of the section to produce the output pressure required by the consumer at the exit, and passing the gas at said elevated pressure to the exit end of the section where its pressure would be greater than that required, and heating a part of the gas at the exit end by burning the remaining portion of the gas under pressure in the presence of air and transporting the combustion heat to said part of the gas. In Fig. 4, combustible gas may be divided from a pipeline 18 to pass through a compressor 1 where its pressure is raised to one greater than required for normal flow through the pipeline 18 to obtain the output pressure required by the consumer. Generated heat due to compression may be withdrawn by a thermocouple 50 into a storage battery 51 connected to a load 52. The gas passes through the pipeline 18 to an expansion station B wherein the major part of the gas flows through a pipe 23 to a heater 21, a small portion of the total passing by conduit 25 to be burnt within the heater. The heated and compressed gas passes through a conduit 32 into the first stage 20a of a turbine 20 through a second heater 22 where a minor portion is burnt in burner 31 together with combustion air supplied through a line 30. The gas, still at a pressure higher than that finally required, expanded in the second stage 20b of the turbine with combustion air supplied thereto through a line 29 before entering the service line 19 by way of a conduit 36. Valve 13 is opened and closed manually or by means according to the excess pressure available at this end of the pipeline. Turbine 20 drives a synchronous generator 5 supplying a three-phase network 38 energized by an alternating current from a polyphase source 54. The compressor motor at the start of the pipeline is driven by this supply, as well as the compressor motor 28 which supplies compression combustion air to the two heaters at pressures equalling the gas pressures at these points. The rate of expansion of the gas in the high pressure turbine stage 20a is determined by their valves 33, 33<SP>1</SP> and 3311 controlling in known manner the admission of gas to three rotating impeller vanes spaced along the driving shaft, and the rate of expansion is controlled by a pressure senser 42 according to the pressure drop required. The rate of combustion at the burners of the heaters is controlled by a thermometric device 43 to maintain a substantially constant outflowing gas temperature. The invention may be used with an internal combustion engine, the cylinder 44 of which also serves as a combustion chamber for gas obtained through conduit 25<SP>1</SP> mixed with air obtained through a port 29<SP>1</SP>. After ignition by such means as a spark plug, the waste gases are discharged into chamber 46 wherein gases in conduit 23<SP>1</SP> are heated before their entrance into the turbine 20. The gases may either bypass the expansion or the compression and expansion stages and pass directly to the consumer. Heating of the gas in the heaters 21, 22 may be through a tube wall within the heater instead of by direct contact with the combustion gases, as shown.