Electrochemically driven pump
AssigneeDionex Corporation
InventorsHamish Small, Yan Liu, Christopher A. Pohl
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A continuous electrochemical pump comprising a water generator compartment, an anode compartment on one side of said generator compartment, a cation exchange barrier, separating the generator compartment from the anode compartment, a first electrode in electrical communication with the anode compartment, a cathode compartment adjacent the generator chamber, an anion exchange barrier, separating the generation compartment from the cathode compartment, and a second electrode in electrical communication with the cathode compartment. Use of the pump as a sample concentrator. A feedback loop for the pump. A reservoir, with or without an intermediate piston, on the output side of the pump.
Claims11
A continuous electrochemical pump comprising:
- (a) a water generator compartment having an outlet,
- (b) an anode compartment disposed adjacent one side of said generator compartment,
- (c) a cation exchange barrier, with exchangeable ions predominantly in the hydronium ion form, separating said generator compartment from said anode compartment, said cation exchange barrier being capable of passing cations but not anions and of blocking bulk liquid flow,
- (d) a first electrode in electrical communication with said anode compartment,
- (e) a cathode compartment disposed adjacent said generator chamber,
- (f) an anion exchange barrier, with exchangeable ions predominantly in the hydroxide ion form, separating said generation compartment from said cathode compartment, said anion exchange barrier being capable of passing anions but not cations and of blocking bulk liquid flow, and
- (g) a second electrode in electrical communication with said cathode compartment.
A method for generating water using an electrochemical pump comprising an aqueous liquid generator compartment, and having an outlet;
- an anode compartment containing water and disposed adjacent to said generator compartment;
- a cation exchange barrier separating said generator compartment from said anode compartment;
- said cation exchange barrier being capable of passing cations but not anions and of blocking bulk liquid flow, a first electrode in electrical communication with said anode compartment;
- a cathode compartment containing water and adjacent to said generator chamber;
- an anion exchange barrier separating said generator compartment from said cathode compartment;
- said anion exchange barrier being capable of passing anions but not cations and of blocking bulk liquid flow, and a second electrode in electrical communication with said cathode compartment, said method comprising:
- (a) passing an electric current between said first and second electrodes through said water in said anode and cathode compartments, and through said cation and anion exchange barriers, to generate hydroxide ions in said cathode compartment and hydronium ions in said anode compartment,
- (b) passing said generated hydroxide ions through said anion exchange barrier and said generated hydronium ions through said cation exchange barrier into said generator compartment to electrochemically generate water, and
- (c) flowing said generated water in a stream out of said generation compartment.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.