Emission technology

Claim 2

An emission system comprising support structure having front and rear surfaces, said support structure having a plurality of passages that extend therethrough from said rear surface to a plurality of ports in said front surface, a multiplicity of elongated emitter members extending through said passages of said support structure, said emitter members being in spaced array and extending outwardly from said surface with end portions of said emitter members spaced from one another and from said support structure, bonding material at said rear surface securing said emitter members to said support structure, and thermal excitation structure for establishing a combustion condition adjacent said surface to heat said emitter members to thermally emissive temperature.

Claim 3

The system of claim 1 wherein said emitter members are of ceramic material.

Claim 4

The process of claim 1 wherein said emitter members are selected from the group of selective emitters of rare earth metal oxide material, visible radiation emitters of rare earth metal oxide material, broad band radiation emitters of perovskite material, and gray body emitter material.

Claim 5

The system of claim 1 where said emitter members are of material selected from the group consisting of alumina, calcia, ceria, erbia, holmia, lanthanum chromite, lanthanum nickel oxide, magnesium chromite, neodymia, praseodymia, terbia, thoria, ytterbia, and zirconia.

Claim 6

The system of claim 1 wherein said emitter members are composed of multi-filament ceramic strands that have cross-sectional dimensions in the range of 0.005-0.03 millimeter.

Claim 7

The system of claim 1 wherein said front surface of said support member is planar.

Claim 8

The system of claim 1 wherein the tips of said emitter members are disposed less than about one centimeter from said front surface.

Claim 9

The system of claim 1 wherein said emitter members extend generally perpendicularly outwardly from said front surface.

Claim 10

The system of claim 1 and further including a photocell array in spaced juxtaposition to said support structure to provide a thermophotovoltaic system.

Claim 11

The system of claim 9 wherein said emitter members are of the ytterbia type and said photocell array is of the silicon type.

Claim 12

The system of claim 9 wherein said emitter members are of the erbia type and said photocell array is of the germanium type.

Claim 13

The system of claim 1 wherein said thermal excitation structure includes a first group of channels for supplying fuel to a first group of said discharge ports in said support member front surface and a second group of channels separate from said first group of channels for supplying oxidant to a second group of discharge ports in said support member front surface to establish a diffusion flame condition at said support member front surface.

Claim 14

The system of claim 1 wherein said emitter members are disposed on said support structure at a density of at least ten per square centimeter of said support member front surface.

Claim 15

The system of claim 1 wherein said support structure has a plurality of flow passages that extend therethrough to a plurality of ports in said front surface, and each said port in said surface has a flow area of about one square millimeter.

Claim 16

The system of claim 1 wherein there are at least twice as many emitter members as said ports in said front surface.

Claim 17

The system of claim 1 wherein a plurality of said emitter members are disposed generally orthogonally to adjacent emitter members and extend outwardly at acute angles from said front surface.

Claim 18

The system of claim 1 wherein said emitter members are of loop-type configuration.

Claim 19

The system of claim 17 wherein said emitter members are disposed on said support structure at a density of at least ten per square centimeter of said support member front surface, said support structure has a plurality of flow passages that extend therethrough to a plurality of ports in said surface, and said front ports are disposed on said support structure at a density of at least two per square centimeter of said support member front surface.

Claim 20

The system of claim 18 wherein each said port in said front surface has a flow area of about one square millimeter.

Claim 21

The system of claim 18 wherein said emitter members are of ceramic material selected from the group consisting of alumina, calcia, ceria, erbia, holmia, lanthanum chromite, lanthanum nickel oxide, magnesium chromite, neodymia, praseodymia, terbia, thoria, ytterbia, and zirconia.

Claim 22

The system of claim 20 wherein said emitter members are composed of multi-filament strands that have cross-sectional dimensions in the range of 0.005-0.03 millimeter.

Claim 23

The system of claim 21 wherein said front surface of said support member is planar, said emitter members extend generally perpendicularly outwardly from said front surface, and the tips of said emitter members are disposed less than about one centimeter from said front surface.

Claim 24

The system of claim 22 and further including a photocell array in spaced juxtaposition to said support structure to provide a thermophotovoltaic system.

Claim 25

The system of claim 22 wherein there are at least twice as many emitter members as said ports in said front surface.

Claim 26

The system of claim 22 wherein said thermal excitation structure includes a first group of channels for supplying fuel to a first group of said discharge ports in said support member front surface and a second group of channels separate from said first group of channels for supplying oxidant to a second group of discharge ports in said member front surface to establish a diffusion flame condition at said support surface.

Claim 27

A process of manufacturing and operating a radiant emission system comprising the steps of providing support structure having front and rear surfaces, said support structure having a plurality of passages that extend therethrough from said rear surface to a plurality of ports in said front surface, disposing a multiplicity of elongated members of organic material imbibed with a nitrate compound extending through said passages of said support structure with portions of said members projecting outwardly from said front surface of said support structure, heating said support structure and said elongated members to convert said nitrate compound to a ceramic emitter material with concurrent decomposition and removal of said organic material, said ceramic emitter members being replicas of said elongated members of said organic material, said emitter members being in spaced array and extending outwardly from said front surface with end portions of said emitter members spaced from one another and from said support structure, and thermally exciting said emitter members by establishing a combustion condition adjacent said front surface to heat said emitter members to thermally emissive temperature.

Claim 28

A process of manufacturing and operating a radiant emission system comprising the steps of providing support structure having front and rear surfaces, said support structure having a plurality of passages that extend therethrough from said rear surface to a plurality of ports in said front surface, disposing a multiplicity of elongated members of organic material imbibed with a nitrate compound extending through said passages of said support structure with portions of said members projecting outwardly from said front surface of said support structure, heating said support structure and said elongated members to convert said nitrate compound to a ceramic emitter material with concurrent decomposition and removal of said organic material, said ceramic emitter members being replicas of said elongated members of said organic material, said emitter members being in spaced array and extending outwardly from said front surface with end portions of said emitter members spaced from one another and from said support structure, and thermally exciting said emitter members by establishing a combustion condition adjacent said front surface to heat said emitter members to thermally emissive temperature.

Claim 29

The process of claim 26 wherein said nitrate compound includes a material selected from the group consisting of aluminum, calcium, cerium, erbium, holmium, lanthanum, magnesium, neodymium, nickel, praseodymium, terbium, thorium, ytterbium, and zirconium.

Claim 30

The process of claim 26 wherein said support structure includes passage structure, and said emitter members are thermally excited by flowing fuel through said passage structure and igniting said fuel to establish a combustion condition adjacent said support structure surface.

Claim 31

The process of claim 26 wherein said emitter members are thermally excited by establishing a diffusion flame condition adjacent said surface of said front support structure.

Claim 32

The process of claim 26 wherein said emitter members are thermally excited by establishing a combustion energy density of at least twenty watts per square centimeter of the area of said front surface of said support structure.

Claim 33

The process of claim 26 wherein said process has a radiative efficiency of at least thirty percent.

Claim 34

The process of claim 26 wherein said imbibed elongated members of organic material are of elongated fiber type and extend in loop configuration through said passages of said support structure.

Claim 35

The process of claim 26 wherein said emitter members are selected from the group of selective emitters of rare earth metal oxide material, visible radiation emitters of rare earth metal oxide material, broad band radiation emitters of perovskite material, and gray body emitter material.

Claim 36

The process of claim 33 wherein said emitter members are thermally excited by establishing a combustion energy density of at least twenty watts per square centimeter of the area of said front surface of said support structure, and said process has a radiative efficiency of at least thirty percent.

Claim 37

The process of claim 34 wherein said support structure includes passage structure, and said emitter members are thermally excited by flowing fuel through said passage structure and igniting said fuel to establish a combustion condition adjacent said support structure front surface.

Claim 38

The process of claim 34 wherein said emitter members are thermally excited by establishing a diffusion flame condition adjacent said front surface of said support structure.