Fluid purification system
AssigneesState of Oregon acting by and through the State Board of Higher Education on behalf of Oregon State University, Home Dialysis Plus, Ltd.
InventorsRichard B. Peterson, James R. Curtis
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Certain disclosed embodiments concern systems and methods of preparing dialysate for use in a home dialysis system that is compact and light-weight relative to existing systems and consumes relatively low amounts of energy. The method includes coupling a household water stream to a dialysis system; filtering the water stream; heating the water stream to at least about 138 degrees Celsius in a non-batch process to produce a heated water stream; maintaining the heated water stream at or above at least about 138 degrees Celsius for at least about two seconds; cooling the heated water stream to produce a cooled water stream; ultrafiltering the cooled water stream; and mixing dialysate components into the cooled water stream in a non-batch process.
Claims36
A fluid purification system having an inlet and an outlet, and defining a fluid flow pathway, comprising:
- a pump;
- a single fluid microfluidic pasteurizer downstream of the pump and coupled to the fluid flow pathway and configured to heat the fluid to a pasteurization temperature, maintain the fluid at the pasteurization temperature for a period of time effective to pasteurize fluid flowing through the pathway, and cool pasteurized fluid to a temperature lower than the pasteurization temperature;
- and
- a throttling valve downstream of the pasteurizer, wherein the pump and the throttling valve operate in a closed loop control setup to maintain the fluid at a desired pressure and flow rate as the fluid passes through the pasteurizer.
A method for purifying a fluid, comprising:
- introducing a fluid stream into a fluid pathway;
- passing the fluid stream through a pump configured to achieve a predetermined fluid pressure in the fluid flow pathway;
- passing the fluid through a single fluid microfluidic pasteurizer that heats the fluid to a pasteurization temperature, maintains the fluid at the pasteurization temperature for a period of time effective to pasteurize the fluid, and cools pasteurized fluid to a temperature lower than the pasteurization temperature;
- and
- passing the fluid stream through a throttling valve after the fluid exits the pasteurizer, wherein the pump and the throttling valve operate in a closed-loop to collectively maintain the fluid at a flow rate and pressure that inhibits the fluid from undergoing a phase change in the pasteurizer.
A fluid purification system having an inlet and an outlet, and defining a fluid flow pathway, comprising:
- a reverse osmosis element coupled to the fluid flow pathway;
- a pump downstream of the reverse osmosis element;
- a single fluid microfluidic pasteurizer downstream of the pump and coupled to the fluid flow pathway and configured to heat the fluid to a pasteurization temperature, maintain the fluid at the pasteurization temperature for a period of time effective to pasteurize fluid flowing through the pathway, and cool pasteurized fluid to a temperature lower than the pasteurization temperature;
- a throttling valve downstream of the microfluidic pasteurizer, wherein the pump and the throttling valve operate in a closed loop to maintain the fluid in the system at a desired pressure and flow rate selected for fluid pasteurization as the fluid passes through the microfluidic pasteurizer;
- an ultra-filtration element downstream of the throttling valve;
- and
- de-gassifier system downstream of the ultra-filtration element.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.