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US 2015/0099416 A1Published application
System and Method for Xenon Recovery
AssigneeAir Products and Chemicals, Inc.
InventorsChristopher Michael Albright, Andrew David Johnson, David Charles Winchester
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Xenon is contained within articles of manufacture such as light bulbs. Described herein are an apparatus, system, a method to capture and collect the xenon contained in articles of manufacture such as defective light bulbs for recovery and/or reuse.
Claims7
An apparatus for capture and recovery of a process gas from an article of manufacture comprising;
- (a) a feed hopper to receive feed comprising articles of manufacture having the process gas contained therein and having a conduit to a pressure vessel wherein the process gas comprises xenon (Xe);
- (b) the pressure vessel having a lid with an opening to receive the feed, a bottom which is in communication with a collection vessel, and a crusher contained therein wherein the pressure vessel is in fluid communication with a vacuum pump wherein the crusher crushes the articles of manufacture to provide a crude gas comprising Xe and glass residue;
- (c) the collection vessel to receive the glass residue from the pressure vessel;
- (d) optionally a bulk dust collector in fluid communication with the pressure vessel to remove any residual dust that arises from the glass residue;
- (e) a recovery line having a connection to the pressure vessel capable of removing the crude gas comprising xenon from the pressure vessel and sending it to a recovery vessel;
- (f) an automatic valve in the recovery line having a signal connection to a process controller;
- (g) a process controller;
- and,
- (h) the recovery vessel in electrical communication with the process controller wherein the recovery vessel comprises the crude xenon.
6 more elements
A system for the capture and recovery of a xenon from an article of manufacture having xenon contained therein, comprising;
- a pressure vessel capable of being sealed, comprising an input for receiving articles of manufacture having xenon contained therein, a crusher which takes the articles of manufacture and forms a glass residue, wherein the pressure vessel is provided with one or more lines in fluid communication with a vacuum pump, an optional bulk dust collector, and in electrical communication with a process controller;
- a recovery line from the pressure vessel capable of removing crude xenon from the pressure vessel and sending it to a recovery vessel;
- and
- a process controller.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.