Thermal regenerative sorption device
AssigneeUniversity of Warwick
InventorRobert Edward Critoph
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The thermal regenerative compressive device 20 has a plurality of sorbent vessels 10 arranged circumferentially about a rotational axis X partly within a toroidal conduit 21. A heat carrier fluid flows from an inlet 22 of the conduit to the outlet 23 in counterflow with respect to the rotational movement of the sorbent vessels 10. Separate fluid channels 29, 30 encase the evaporation/condensation zones 15 of the vessels 10 to enable transfer of heat between the vessels 10 and the fluid flowing in channels 29 and 30. With the compressive device 20 heat is regenerated in a particularly simple and convenient manner. As a result the compressive device is capable of achieving greater efficiencies than existing adsorption devices.
Claims22
A compressive device comprising:
- a plurality of sorbent vessels each vessel containing a sorbent material and a sorbate fluid;
- at least one fluid conduit in which at least a portion of each of the plurality of sorbent vessels is located and in which a heat carrier fluid flows, the conduit having an inlet and an outlet;
- and driving means for causing relative cyclical movement of the sorbent vessels with respect to the conduit inlet position, thereby establishing a direction of vessel relative motion, such that the heat carrier fluid is predominantly in counterflow with respect to the sorbent vessels and such that bulk fluid relative motion is maintained from one sorbent vessel towards its nearest neighbor in a direction opposite to that of vessel relative motion.
A compressive device comprising:
- a plurality of sorbent vessels each vessel containing a sorbent material defining a sorbent-rich region and a sorbate fluid wherein the sorbent-rich region is in fluid communication with a sorbate fluid reservoir via a substantially adiabatic intermediate region;
- at least one fluid conduit in which at least a portion of the sorbent-rich region of each of the plurality of sorbent vessels is located and in which a heat carrier fluid flows, the conduit having an inlet and an outlet;
- and driving means for causing relative cyclical movement of the sorbent vessels with respect to the conduit inlet position such that the heat carrier fluid is predominantly in counterflow with respect to the sorbent vessels.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.