Back to results
US 2003/0192431 A1Published application
Gas concentrating method and apparatus using pressure swing adsorption
AssigneeOxus Co., Ltd.
InventorsTae Soo Lee, Yoon Sun Choi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
AssigneeOxus Co., Ltd.
InventorsTae Soo Lee, Yoon Sun Choi
Estimating the term…
A gas concentrating method and apparatus is provided in which equalization is accomplished below two sieve beds, to thereby save compression energy, to reduce exit noise, and to obtain a gas whose gas purity with respect to an amount of flow has been enhanced. The gas concentrating method makes two sieve beds communicate with each other at their bottoms when a pressure difference between a pressurized pressure and a decompressed pressure is maximized in the multi-bed type sieve beds which alternately operate between pressurization and decompression, to equalize an internal pressure in the sieve beds. The gas concentrating apparatus includes a compressor (50), sieve beds (60-1, 60-2), solenoid valves (40-1, 40-2), an orifice (90), check valves (90-1, 90-2), a storage tank (100), a pressure controller (70), a flow meter (80), a controller (110), and a muffler (20).
A gas concentrating method using pressure swing adsorption in which external air is pressurized and supplied through an air intake filter, an air intake muffler and an air compressor, and the pressurized air is circulated and adsorbed, to thereby concentrate a gas, the gas concentrating method comprising the steps of:
A gas concentrating apparatus using pressure swing adsorption (PSA), the gas concentrating apparatus comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Backward citations are indexed for grants only.
Drawings are temporarily unavailable. Open the PDF at USPTO
With stationary adsorbents: pressure swing adsorption
Pressure swing adsorption: with storage or buffer vessel
Silica or silicates: zeolites
Main component in the product gas stream after treatment: oxygen
Term end not estimated
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a gas concentrating method and apparatus using pressure swing adsorption (PSA), and more particularly, to a gas concentrating method and apparatus in which a high-pressure gas concentration is performed in a system (which means a two-adsorption-bed system, which is hereinafter referred to as a multi-bed system) where two adsorption beds (hereinafter referred to as sieve beds) alternately repeat concentration of a weak adsorption matter and washing of a strong adsorption matter, and then the two sieve beds are made to temporarily communicate with each other through a solenoid valve, at their bottoms, in such a manner that a high-pressure raw material gas moves from a high-pressure sieve bed to a low-pressure sieve bed to thus equalize pressures in the two sieve beds and perform washing and discharging of the two sieve beds.
2. Description of the Related Art
The above objects and other advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing the preferred embodiments thereof in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an example of an apparatus performing a conventional oxygen concentrating method;
FIG. 2 is a graphical view showing a pressure variation process of a conventional oxygen concentrating method;
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Prior to describing a control method according to the present invention, an oxygen concentrating apparatus embodying a control method in an oxygen concentrating apparatus according to the present invention will be described.
The oxygen concentrating apparatus according to the present invention includes an air intake filter 10 installed at the entrance for filtering the air, a muffler 20 for preventing noise during sucking the air, a compressor 50 for compressing the air up to a predetermined pressure, two sieve beds 60-1 and 60-2 connected with two branch lines in order to distribute the air compressed in the compressor 50 alternately, for adsorbing nitrogen with a predetermined nitrogen adsorption material embedded therein, a pressure controller or regulator 70 for maintaining the pressure of the discharged concentrated oxygen to be at a low pressure, a flow meter or needle valve 80 for supplying a predetermined amount of concentrated oxygen, 3/2 solenoid valves 40-1 and 40-2 installed on the bottom of each sieve bed 60-1 or 60-2 in order to achieve pressure equilibrium using the discharged air and recollect the mechanical energy, and a controller 110 for controlling the solenoid valves and compressor to be turned on and off. In FIG. 3, a reference numeral 100 denotes a storage tank, reference numerals 90-1 and 90-2 denote counter-current preventive check valves, a reference numeral 90 denotes an equilibrium valve, and a reference numeral 30 denotes air discharging muffler.