Justia Patents Patents Examined by Ronald Capossela
Patents Examined by Ronald Capossela
Device for closing and connecting to external conduits a reservoir of cryogenic fluid, and reservoir provided with such a device
Abstract: The device comprises a monobloc subassembly (1) of cast stainless steel comprising a principal portion in the form of a disc (4) mounted on a collar (2) of the reservoir (3) and defining at least two channels (8, 9) for the passage of fluid, typically for filling, communication with the atmosphere, and withdrawal of liquid and gaseous phases reheated by atmospheric reheaters (23; 30) for the supply (31) of a controlled gaseous flow. Application particularly to cryogenic reservoirs for medical oxygen for oxygen therapy.
Assignee: L'Air Liquide - Societe Anonyme a Directoire et Conseil de Surveillance pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Procedes Georges Claude
Inventor: Guillaume Boucher
Material for the controlled vaporization of a liquid cryogen
Abstract: A shaped article is capable of at least one of containing and delivering a cryogenic fluid. The article has a porous structure that restricts the passage of cryogenic fluid in the liquid phase while permitting the passage of cryogenic fluid in the gaseous phase. The article may be in the form of a tube or container. The article permits a liquid cryogen to be transported to a specific site, and then cool the site by means of conduction from the cold article and convection of cold gas, the phase change of the evaporating liquid greatly enhancing the heat loss.
Assignees: Gore Enterprise Holdings, Inc, W. L. Gore & Associates (UK) Ltd.
Inventors: Mark John Robbie, David Myers
Assignees: Gore Enterprise Holdings. Inc., W. L. Gore & Associates (UK) Ltd.
Nitrogen generation process
Abstract: A process for producing a nitrogen-enriched vapor product from a supply of a nitrogen-rich liquid uses a purifying device and a distillation column having a distillation zone. The process includes the steps of: feeding at least a portion of the supply of the nitrogen-rich liquid to the distillation zone at a first location; feeding a stream of a gas containing nitrogen and at least one contaminant to the purifying device, wherein the gas is cooled by a cryogenic liquid whereby at least a portion of the at least one contaminant condenses, solidifies, or dissolves; eventually feeding at least a portion of the cool gas from the purifying device to the distillation zone at a second location below the first location; withdrawing a stream of the nitrogen-enriched vapor product from the distillation zone; and withdrawing a stream of an oxygen-enriched liquid from the distillation zone.
Assignee: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
Inventors: John Louis Griffiths, Adam Adrian Brostow, Declan Patrick O'Connor, Swaminathan Sunder, Patrick Alan Houghton
Compression apparatus for gaseous refrigerant
Abstract: An apparatus for compressing gaseous refrigerant for use in a refrigeration circuit of a liquefaction plant, which refrigeration circuit has an inlet, a first outlet for refrigerant at low pressure, a second outlet for refrigerant at intermediate pressure, a third outlet for refrigerant at high pressure and a fourth outlet for refrigerant at high-pressure, which apparatus comprises a first and a second compressor, wherein the first compressor has a main inlet connected to the first outlet, a side-inlet connected to the third outlet and an outlet connected to the inlet of the refrigeration circuit, and wherein the second compressor has a main inlet connected to the second outlet, a side-inlet connected to the fourth outlet and an outlet connected to the inlet of the refrigeration circuit.
Assignee: Shell Research Limited
Inventor: Hendrik Frans Grootjans
Method for adjusting the pressure in a cryogenic tank and corresponding device
Abstract: In a prior-art method to regulate the pressure inside a cryogenic tank containing cold gas when a main stream for a consumer is withdrawn, heated gas in the form of a heating gas secondary stream, which is regulated as a function of the tank pressure, is fed through the cryogenic tank via a pipe. In order to start on this basis and to provide a simple and safe operating method to regulate the main stream and the secondary stream while also providing a cost-efficient device for this purpose, it is proposed by the method according to the invention that the secondary stream and the main stream be fed to a pressure-control means equipped with a first adjustable throttle for the secondary stream and with a second adjustable throttle for the main stream, whereby the throttles are coupled to each other in such a way that they can be opened and closed in opposite directions as a function of the pressure in the tank.
Assignee: Messer Griesheim GmbH
Inventors: Friedel Michel, Heinz Koser, Rainer Schmitt
Two-stage inter-phasing pulse tube refrigerators with and without shared buffer volumes
Abstract: Disclosed are two-stage inter-phasing pulse tube refrigerators with and without shared buffer volumes.
Filed: January 8, 2002
Assignee: SHI-APD Cryogenics, Inc.
Inventors: Jin Lin Gao, Ralph C. Longsworth
Assignees: Gore Enterprise Holdings, Inc., W. L. Gore & Associates (UK) Ltd.
Intravascular microcatheter with embedded helical coil reinforcement member and methods and apparatus for making same
Abstract: A unitary intravascular microcatheter with a continuous embedded helical coil reinforcement member and a method for making same are provided. Multiple catheters are manufactured from a continuous feedstock to reduce manufacturing time and labor cost. A selected length of a cylindrical tube is held stationary between a pair of spaced apart chuck members while a reinforcement wire is wrapped onto the stationary portion. The wire wrap portion of the cylindrical tube is advanced relative to the chuck members to hold a second selected length of no-wrap cylindrical tube stationary for wire wrapping of the second portion. The steps of advancing the cylindrical tube through the chuck members and then wrapping the reinforcement wire onto the tube is repeated for substantially the entire length of the elongate cylindrical tube to form a wire wrapped cylindrical tube with multiple wire wrapped sections spaced from one another by unwrapped sections.
Inventor: Robert C. Stevens
Method and apparatus for adjusting device used at low temperature without deterioration thereof
Abstract: A method and apparatus for adjusting a device is provided in which characteristics of the device used at low temperature such as a high temperature superconductive filter are measured and adjusted without deterioration of the device. The device used at low temperature is disposed within an atmosphere of substitutional gas such as nitrogen and the like. The device is cooled by using cryogen, for example, liquid nitrogen, stored in a bath which is disposed in a glove box. The cryogen has a temperature near the temperature at which the device is used. The device is placed on a cooling stage which is partially soaked in the cryogen, thereby said device is cooled by the cryogen having a temperature near the temperature at which the device is used. Characteristics of the device are measured and adjusted while cooling the device by using the cryogen.
Assignee: NEC Corporation
Inventor: Wataru Hattori
Process and apparatus for producing krypton and/or xenon by low-temperature fractionation of air
Abstract: In a process and apparatus used to produce krypton and/or xenon by low-temperature fractionation of air, compresses and clean charge air (1) is introduced into a rectification system for nitrogen-oxygen separation. The rectification system includes at least a high-pressure column (2) and a low-pressure column (3). A krypton- and xenon-containing fraction (13, 14, 15, 16) is removed from the high-pressure column (2) and introduced into the evaporation space of a condenser-evaporator (17), where it is partially evaporated. A purge liquid (26) is extracted from the evaporation space of the condenser-evaporator (17) and fed to a krypton-xenon enrichment column (24). A krypton-xenon concentrate (30) is removed from the krypton-xenon enrichment column (24). A liquid from the lower region of the krypton-xenon enrichment column (24) is introduced into a second condenser-evaporator (27), which is separate from the first condenser-evaporator (17).
Assignee: Linde Aktiengesellschaft
Inventor: Dirk Schwenk
Controlled fill station for delivery of a measured amount of cryogenic gas to a cylinder
Abstract: The present invention is an integrated unit liquified gas fill station attached to a cryogenic storage tank and pump which provides for a controlled delivery of a programed weighted amount of a cryogenic liquified gas, primarily carbon dioxide, to empty transfer tanks at the time of initial filling or subsequent refilling, to prevent dangerous overfilling of the tanks resulting in over-pressure explosions of the transfer tanks, the liquified gas fill station providing a programmable tare scale upon which the transfer tank is positioned, a cryogenic liquified gas bypass circulating system and a cryogenic liquified gas delivery system wherein the station operator selects a weighed amount of liquified gas appropriate for the capacity of the transfer tank to be programmed into the station, delivering the measured amount of cryogenic liquified gas to the attached transfer tank resting on the tare scale, and filling the transfer tank with the precise measured and weighed amount of cryogenic liquified gas after whic
Inventor: Louis A. Morgan
Thermoacoustic cogeneration system
Abstract: A method for operating a thermoacoustic engine which produces acoustic energy which may be used to generate refrigeration wherein energy delivery fluid from a hot energy source, which provides heat to the thermoacoustic engine, is used to provide heat to a first heat sink such as a Kalina cycle and then at a lower temperature to a second heat sink.
Assignee: Praxair Technology, Inc.
Inventors: Bayram Arman, Dante Patrick Bonaquist, John Henri Royal
Thermal link assembly and cryostat using same
Abstract: A thermal link assembly provides thermal connection between a first thermally conductive part to which it is secured, and a second thermally conductive part which is generally disk-shaped and has a peripheral cylindrical surface. The thermal link assembly includes an annular ring made of thermally conductive material, generally in a shape of a revolution with respect to an axis, including an annular base portion to be secured to the first part and a series of contact tongues arranged along the base portion. Each contact tongue has a stem and a head. The stem has i) a longitudinal axis extending generally parallel to the axis of the annular ring, ii) a first longitudinal end connected to the base portion, and iii) a second longitudinal end connected to the head. The head has a contact surface to be in contact with the peripheral cylindrical surface of the second part.
Assignees: Japan as represented by Director-General of National Astronomical Observatory, Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd., Oshima Prototype Engineering Co., Ltd.
Inventors: Yutaro Sekimoto, Katsuhiro Narasaki, Kazufusa Noda
Matching an acoustic driver to an acoustic load in an acoustic resonant system
Abstract: A method for matching an acoustic load and an acoustic driver in a resonant acoustic system, and the acoustic system so formed. The load and driver may be independently designed. The invention provides, inter alia, a matching volume positioned between the acoustic driver and load that is substantially greater than a stroke volume of the driver. The matching volume is sized such that, in combination with the moving mass, the characteristic stiffness of the acoustic driver and the characteristic load impedance, a resulting pressure wave produces an operating resonant frequency substantially equal to the preferred operating frequency of the load. Alternatively, or in addition thereto, a stroke volume of the acoustic driver can be adjusted.
Assignees: Clever Fellows Innovation Consortium, Mesoscopic Devices
Inventors: John A. Corey, Jerry Martin
Balloon catheter with irrigation sheath
Abstract: The present invention is directed to a balloon catheter having an irrigation sheath. The balloon catheter has a first expandable membrane forming an occluding balloon. A second membrane forms a sheath about the occluding balloon for providing irrigation to a body lumen. Fluid is provided to the occluding balloon to position the catheter and/or occlude the flow of blood. Fluid is then passed through the sheath to irrigate the target site. In one embodiment of the present invention, the sheath has a plurality of fluid releasing pores.
Assignee: CardioFocus, Inc.
Inventors: Edward L. Sinofsky, Lincoln S. Baxter
Methods and apparatus for high propane recovery
Abstract: Methods and configurations for improved propane recovery plant employ an absorber column, and a deethanizer column with an overhead condenser that produces a reflux condensate. The reflux condensate is recycled to both the absorber column and the deethanizer column, and a third recycling loop feeds propane from the absorber column into the deethanizer column in a gaseous form. The overhead condenser employs cold reject gas from the absorber and/or propane as a refrigerant, and preferred deethanizer columns include an integral water removal contactor.
Date of Patent: August 5, 2003
Assignee: Fluor Corporation
Inventors: Eh Deng, John Mak, Richard B. Nielsen
Process and apparatus for separating a gas mixture with emergency operation
Abstract: The process and the apparatus serve for separating a gas mixture in a separation plant. A feed gas (18) is introduced into a compressor system (6, 16) and then into the separation plant. In the event of loss or partial loss of the compressor system (6, 16) of the first feed gas compressor (6), a first auxiliary stream (91, 92) which has approximately the composition of the first product stream or approximately the composition of the feed gas is compressed (78, 89) to at least approximately the first pressure and is recirculated to the separation plant.
Inventors: Gerhard Zapp, Christian Kunz
Combined process and plant for producing compressed air and at least one air gas
Abstract: The plant comprises, on site, a compressed-air provision and distribution system (LA) with at least one dedicated air compressor (CO2, CO3), an air-gas production and provision system (LG) comprising an air treatment unit (S), with a reservoir R of the said air gas and normally fed by a compressor (CO1). In temporary operating mode, with one air compressor (CO2) off-line, the compressed air from the compressor (CO1) of the air gas provision system (S) is at least in part diverted (C), typically with pressure reduction (D), to sustain the production of the compressed air system (LA), the air gas then being at least in part provided by the reservoir (R).
Assignee: L'Air Liquide, Societe Anonyme pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Georges Claude
Inventors: Xavier Vigor, Patrice Ollivier, Antoine Willemot, Lionel Barry