Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 10
Claim 1
Independent Claim
144 words
A pollutant destruction system, comprising: a capacitive corona discharge chamber (2; 60; 68a, 68b; 72a, 72b, 72c) having a flow path (12, 4, 16) for a pollutant containing fluid and being energizable to produce a pollutant remediating corona discharge (54), characterized by an inductive element (16; 66; 70; 74) electrically coupled to said discharge chamber (2; 60; 68a, 68b; 72a, 72b, 72c) to establish a resonant circuit, and a power supply (18, 20, 22) connected to supply intermittent energizing signals (34, 34', 40, 50) to said resonant circuit to induce corona discharges (54) by said chamber (2; 60; 68a, 68b; 72a, 72b, 72c), with said resonant circuit responding to said energizing signals (34, 34', 40, 50) by initiating additional corona discharges (36, 38, 36',38', 46) by said discharge chamber (2; 60; 68a, 68b; 72a, 72b, 72c) between said energizing signals (34, 34', 50, 50).
Claim 2
Independent Claim
42 words
The system of claim l, characterized in that said resonant circuit has a resonant frequency (1/τ), and said power supply (18, 20, 22) supplies said energizing signals (34, 34', 40, 50) at a frequency less than half of said resonant frequency (1/τ).
Claim 3
Independent Claim
42 words
The system of claim l or 2, characterized by said discharge chamber (2; 60) comprising a dielectric enclosure (4) with a distributed electrode (16; 66; 70; 74) outside said enclosure (4) and an elongate electrode (8; 58; 62) inside said enclosure (4).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
28 words
The system of claim 3, characterized in that said discharge chamber (2; 60) has an inner wall, and said elongate electrode (58; 62) extends along said inner wall.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
47 words
The system of any of claims l - 4, characterized in that said resonant circuit has a resonant period (τ), and the energizing signals (34, 34', 40, 50) provided by said power supply (18, 20, 22) have durations (32) less than 10% of said resonant period (τ).
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
71 words
A pollutant destruction method, characterized by: applying an energizing signal (34, 40) to initiate a corona discharge (54) by a capacitive pollutant remediating corona discharge chamber (2; 60; 68a, 68b; 72a, 72b, 72c) that is connected in a self-resonant circuit, and to initiate a self-oscillation by said circuit, terminating said energizing signal (34, 40), and allowing said circuit to self-oscillate and produce additional corona discharges as a result of said self-oscillations.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
46 words
The method of claim 6, characterized by the step of applying additional energizing signals (34', 50) to said discharge chamber (2; 60; 68a, 68b; 72a, 72b, 72c), with said energizing signals (34, 34', 40, 50) mutually spaced in time by at least one self-oscillating corona discharge.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
48 words
The method of claim 7, characterized in that said discharge chamber (2; 60; 68a, 68b; 72a, 72b, 72c) is arranged to receive the exhaust from an engine (28), and the application of said additional energizing signals (34', 50) is varied in accordance with accelerations of said engine (28).
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
50 words
The method of claim 7 or 8, characterized by the step of sensing (24) the pollutants in a fluid flowing through said discharge chamber (2; 60; 68a, 68b; 72a, 72b, 72c), wherein the application of said energizing signals (34, 34', 40, 50) is varied in accordance with the sensed pollutants.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
48 words
The method of claim 7 or 8, further comprising the steps of sensing the termination of corona discharges (54) by said discharge chamber (2; 60; 68a, 68b; 72a, 72b, 72c), and applying said additional energizing signals (34', 50) in response to a sensed termination of corona discharges (54).