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US 5,512,141 AGranted
Distillation apparatus
AssigneeKeeran Corporation N.V.
InventorsPeter Koistinen, Reijo Rantala
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AssigneeKeeran Corporation N.V.
InventorsPeter Koistinen, Reijo Rantala
Estimating the term…
The invention relates to a distillation apparatus (1) which is suitable in particular for the distillation of sea water into fresh water. The apparatus comprises a plurality of flat, bag-like elements (3) formed from a thin film material such as plastic film and placed one against the other, the elements serving as heat exchangers between a vaporizing liquid flowing along the exterior surfaces of the element and a condensing vapor directed to the inside of the element, and a compressor (15) for increasing the pressure and temperature of the generated vapor before it is directed to the inside of the elements. The essential idea of the invention is that the inside of each element (3) is divided into parallel vapor ducts (12) extending vertically from one end of the element to the other, into which ducts the vapor is fed from apertures (25) at the upper edge of the element. At the upper end of each elements there may be a honeycomb-structured end strip (4) which contains parallel ducts (25) separated from each other by partition walls, the ducts feeding vapor to the inside of the element over the entire width of the element end. The strip (4) may also contain similarly formed ducts (26) which direct the liquid to be evaporated over the entire width of the element surface. At the lower end of the element there may additionally be a honeycomb-structured end strip (7) for collecting the produced distillate and for removing any unvaporized liquid.
In a distillation apparatus for the evaporation of a liquid for its subsequent condensation, the apparatus comprising a housing, a plurality of flat, bag-like heat exchange elements formed from thin film material and provided in the housing, the heat exchange elements having exterior surfaces for evaporating vaporizing liquid to generate vapor, interior spaces for condensing the vapor into a condensed liquid, an upper end, and a lower end opposing the upper end, the heat exchange elements being placed one against the other;
In a distillation apparatus for the evaporation of a liquid for its subsequent condensation, the apparatus including a housing, a plurality of vertically disposed heat exchange elements within the housing, each of the heat exchange elements defining an upper end, an evaporating surface for evaporating vaporizing liquid and a condensing surface for condensing vapor generated from the vaporizing liquid into a condensed liquid, the improvement comprising:
In a method of evaporating water from an aqueous solution for its subsequent condensation in a distillation apparatus, the distillation apparatus including a housing having a vapor feeding chamber, a plurality of vertically disposed heat exchange elements within the housing, each of the heat exchange elements being defined by an upper end and a lower end, and having at least an evaporating surface for evaporating vaporizing liquid and a condensing surface for condensing vapor generated from the liquid into a condensed liquid, the condensing surface communicating with the vapor feeding chamber, the improvement comprising:
A distillation apparatus comprising:
A distillation apparatus comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.