Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 8
Claim 1
Independent Claim
229 words
An ammonia control system for controlling a flow of ammonia into an exhaust of a fuel combustion apparatus to enable reaction of NO x in said exhaust with said ammonia in a catalyst for reduction of NO x effluent into the atmosphere, including a controller effective to produce a predicted NO x signal related to parameters in said combustion apparatus and at least one NO x setpoint signal representing a desired NO x condition downstream of said catalyst, a NO x analyzer producing a measured NO x signal related to a relative volume concentration of NO x downstream of said catalyst, comprising: means for converting said measured NO x signal in terms of relative volume concentration into a NO x flow rate in terms of moles of NO x per unit time; said at least one NO x setpoint signal being in terms of moles of NO x per unit time; means for differencing the converted measured NO x flow rate and the NO x setpoint signal to produce a NO x error signal; means for producing a mole ratio signal of ammonia to NO x in response to said NO x error signal; means for multiplying said mole ratio signal by said predicted NO x signal to produce an ammonia command signal; and an ammonia supply responsive to said ammonia command signal for injecting ammonia into said exhaust.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
229 words
An ammonia control system for controlling a flow of ammonia into an exhaust of a fuel combustion apparatus to enable reaction of NO x in said exhaust with said ammonia in a catalyst for reduction of NO x effluent into the atmosphere, including a controller effective to produce a predicted NO x signal related to parameters in said combustion apparatus and at least one NO x setpoint signal representing a desired NO x condition downstream of said catalyst, a NO x analyzer producing a measured NO x signal related to a relative volume concentration of NO x downstream of said catalyst, comprising: means for converting said measured NO x signal in terms of relative volume concentration into a NO x flow rate in terms of moles of NO x per unit time; said at least one NO x setpoint signal being in terms of moles of NO x per unit time; means for differencing the converted measured NO x flow rate and the NO x setpoint signal to produce a NO x error signal; means for producing a mole ratio signal of ammonia to NO x in response to said NO x error signal; means for multiplying said mole ratio signal by said predicted NO x signal to produce an ammonia command signal; and an ammonia supply responsive to said ammonia command signal for injecting ammonia into said exhaust.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
141 words
An ammonia control system according to claim 1, wherein said at least one NO x setpoint signal includes a first setpoint signal in terms of NO x relative volume concentration and a second setpoint signal in terms of moles of NO x per unit time, further comprising: means for decorrecting said first setpoint signal for an amount of oxygen in said effluent to produce a decorrected signal; means for time aligning a flow rate in said combustion apparatus with a response time of a NO x analyzer device to produce a time-aligned flow rate signal; means for multiplying said decorrected signal by said time-aligned flow rate signal to produce a corrected first setpoint signal; and a setpoint selector effective to apply whichever one of said corrected first setpoint signal and said second setpoint signal is larger to said means for differencing.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
64 words
An ammonia control system according to claim 2, wherein said means for time aligning includes a time delay having a delay time equal to a difference between a transport time of gas flow from a point where said flow rate is measured to a point where a sample for said NO x is taken and a response time of said NO x analyzer device.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
47 words
An ammonia control system according to claim 1, wherein said means for producing a mole ratio signal includes a non-linear amplifier having an output proportional to a mole ratio of ammonia to NO x before reaction in said catalyst in response to said measured NO x signal.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
43 words
An ammonia control system according to claim 1, wherein said means for producing a mole ratio signal includes a temperature corrector effective to modulate said mole ratio signal according to an efficiency of said catalyst with respect to a temperature of said catalyst.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
201 words
A method for controlling a flow of ammonia into an exhaust of a fuel combustion apparatus to enable reaction of NO x in said exhaust with said ammonia in a catalyst for reduction of NO x effluent into the atmosphere, said apparatus being effective to produce a predicted NO x signal related to parameters in said combustion apparatus and at least one NO x setpoint signal representing a desired NO x condition downstream of said catalyst, a NO x analyzer producing a measured NO x signal related to a relative volume concentration of NO x downstream of said catalyst, comprising the steps of: converting said measured NO x signal in terms of relative volume concentration into a NO x flow rate in terms of moles of NO x per unit time; differencing the converted measured NO x flow rate and the NO x setpoint signal to produce a NO x error signal; producing a mole ratio signal of ammonia to NO x in response to said NO x error signal; multiplying said mole ratio signal by said predicted NO x signal to produce an ammonia command signal; and injecting said ammonia into said exhaust in response to said ammonia command signal.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
201 words
A method for controlling a flow of ammonia into an exhaust of a fuel combustion apparatus to enable reaction of NO x in said exhaust with said ammonia in a catalyst for reduction of NO x effluent into the atmosphere, said apparatus being effective to produce a predicted NO x signal related to parameters in said combustion apparatus and at least one NO x setpoint signal representing a desired NO x condition downstream of said catalyst, a NO x analyzer producing a measured NO x signal related to a relative volume concentration of NO x downstream of said catalyst, comprising the steps of: converting said measured NO x signal in terms of relative volume concentration into a NO x flow rate in terms of moles of NO x per unit time; differencing the converted measured NO x flow rate and the NO x setpoint signal to produce a NO x error signal; producing a mole ratio signal of ammonia to NO x in response to said NO x error signal; multiplying said mole ratio signal by said predicted NO x signal to produce an ammonia command signal; and injecting said ammonia into said exhaust in response to said ammonia command signal.