Designed and tested a watertube boiler and associated steam & controls system for firing synthetic gas (syngas) generated by a solid waste gasifier.
Co-fired propane and syngas.
Combustion controls adapted to variations in syngas output.
Emissions data obtained for EPA permitting.
Demonstrated continuous, automated operation up to 30 million Btu/hr.
Developed automatic design program for custom-manufactured heat exchangers to produce complete set of fabrication drawings using only basic sizing input.
Basic inputs included tube diameters and lengths, number of rows deep, tube pitch, header size, etc.
Reduced drafting time from several days to less than 1 day.
Utilized SolidWorks® software to automatically generate 3-D model and 2-D drawings.
Output: All 2-D drawings needed for fabrication of entire heat exchanger assembly (including casing & support structure).
NOTE: Image quality is intentionally reduced to protect proprietary information.
Kiln performance evaluation for a lumber mill to determine reason for slow heat-up times and methods for improving:
Entire kiln heating system was evaluated, including heat exchangers and boilers.
Analysis showed boilers were undersized, but heat exchangers could take the additional heat required.
Recommended improvements included increasing boiler size and converting boilers to wood-waste firing.
Improvements shown to reduced operating costs and improved mill throughput, saving customer time & money.
Developed boiler and heat exchanger sizing computer programs for single phase & two phase fluids (including steam), combustion and radiant heat transfer models, convection and fin tube performance prediction and design:
Programming languages included Visual Basic, Excel Spreadsheets & Mathcad.
Included combustion analysis, and combined radiant, convection and conduction heat transfer modes.
Single phase and 2 phase fluids, bare and fin tube, superheater & economizer sizing and design.
Designed shipping container for electronic power converter with the following features:
Ultra-strong casing made from molded interwoven Carbon-fiber and Kevlar composites.
Custom microprocessor-controlled self-powered heat exchanger.
Custom foam packaging to protect sensitive contents from specified mechanical shock and vibration.
Maintained cargo temperatures within precise range of 60°C for environmental conditions of -40°C to +40°C.
Developed passive heat pipe array to cool a heat source to within 1°C of upper temperature limit for external conditions otherwise result in source temperatures of 220°C above upper temperature limit. Transient 3D heat transfer analysis performed using only "hand calculations."
Developed various manufacturing process improvements, including:
Vibratory powder packing system for specified density and time constraints.
Various methods for boiler construction to reduce labor & material costs.
Developed complete set of fabrication & inspection procedures to ASME NQA-1 & 10CFR-50 App. "B" in support of the the manufacturing of nuclear reactor core components.
Designed and arranged fabrication for various waste heat recovery boilers and single phase heaters from 4 million Btu/hr up to 60,000 lb./hr saturated steam for pressures up to 500 psig.
