Driven separator for gas seal panels
AssigneeDresser-Rand Company
InventorPhilippe Auber
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for supplying clean dry gas to gas seals of a compressor. The system uses a rotary separator magnetically coupled to a source of rotational power, along with a gas stream cooling unit configured to condensate liquids out of a wet gas stream before the wet gas stream is supplied to the rotating separator. The system may further include a gas stream pressure booster, a heating unit to heat a dry gas stream generated by the rotary separator, and a controlled recirculation loop configured to continually recirculate the wet gas through the driven rotary separator until a desired amount of condensates are removed from the wet gas stream.
Claims20
A system for supplying dry gas to machinery seals, comprising:
- a cooling unit configured to cool a gas stream to a temperature below a dew point of a liquid in the gas stream;
- a driven rotary separator configured to receive a gas stream from the cooling unit;
- a booster in communication with the driven rotary separator and configured to increase a pressure of the gas stream;
- a source of rotational force in communication with the driven rotary separator;
- and
- a heating unit in communication with the booster and configured to heat the gas stream to a temperature above the dew point of the liquid,
- wherein the cooling unit, driven rotary separator, and booster form a gas recirculation loop.
The system of 1, further comprising a control valve positioned in the recirculation loop, wherein the valve is configured to control an amount of gas recirculated in the loop.
A method for providing clean dry gas to gas seals in machinery, comprising:
- flowing a wet gas stream through a cooling unit;
- flowing the cooled wet gas stream through a driven rotary separator;
- flowing a dry gas output from the driven rotary separator through a booster;
- recirculating the dry gas stream through the cooling unit, driven rotary separator, and booster until the dry gas stream reaches a desired dryness;
- and
- flowing the dry gas stream through a heating unit after the recirculation.
A system for providing clean dry gas to gas seals for compressors, comprising:
- cooling means for cooling a wet gas stream to a temperature below a dew point of a liquid in the gas to generate liquid condensates in the wet gas stream;
- a driven rotary separator means for separating liquid condensates from the wet gas stream, the driven rotary separator being in communication with a source of rotational power;
- a pressure boosting means for boosting the pressure of a dry gas stream exiting the driven rotary separator means;
- a heating means for heating the dry gas stream to a temperature sufficient to convert any condensates in the dry gas stream into a gas state;
- and
- a recirculation loop for recirculating the dry gas stream back through the driven rotary separator means until a desired percentage of liquid condensates have been removed from the gas stream.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.