U.S. patent application number 10/015719 was filed with the patent office on 2003-06-19 for gas stream apparatus and method.
Invention is credited to Dandalides, James W., Daum, Ronald J., Wheat, William S..
Application Number | 20030110945 10/015719 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 21773180 |
Filed Date | 2003-06-19 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030110945 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Wheat, William S. ; et
al. |
June 19, 2003 |
GAS STREAM APPARATUS AND METHOD
Abstract
Described is a method of conditioning a gas stream comprising
passing the gas stream into a vessel 10 which contains a rotating
enclosure 12 and which contains an apparatus 18 to rotate the
enclosure, which enclosure is pressure sealed from the surrounding
atmosphere and which is divided into a plurality of modulating
zones 14, 16; treating the gas to modify its properties within the
enclosures due to the presence of modulating materials 68 within
the zones in the enclosure; and passing the modified gas to an
outlet 24, 25 of the vessel. Also described is an apparatus for
conditioning a plurality of gas streams comprising a vessel 10
which contains an enclosure 12 capable of rotating therein, which
enclosure is pressure sealed from the surrounding atmosphere an
which is divided into a plurality of modulating zones 14,16; the
zones having the ability to modify the properties of the gas
streams coming in contact with the zones due to the presence of
modulating materials 68 therein; a motor 18 within the vessel
capable of rotting the enclosure within the vessel to facilitate
the contacting of the gas streams and a plurality of outlets 24, 25
from the vessel to pass the modulated gas streams whereby the gas
streams passes through the inlets to the vessel and then to the
enclosures and are modified in the zones as the enclosure is
rotated and exits from the enclosure zones in a modified form and
then exit from the vessel.
Inventors: |
Wheat, William S.;
(Rochester, NY) ; Daum, Ronald J.; (Bloomfield,
NY) ; Dandalides, James W.; (Webster, NY) |
Correspondence
Address: |
CARY W. BROOKS
General Motors Corporation
Legal Staff, Mail Code 482-C23-B21
P.O. Box 300
Detroit
MI
48265-3000
US
|
Family ID: |
21773180 |
Appl. No.: |
10/015719 |
Filed: |
December 13, 2001 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
95/113 ;
96/125 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B01D 2257/80 20130101;
B01D 53/06 20130101; B01D 2253/3425 20130101; B01D 2253/108
20130101; B01D 53/261 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
95/113 ;
96/125 |
International
Class: |
B01D 053/06 |
Claims
1. A method of conditioning a gas stream comprising passing the gas
stream into a vessel which contains a rotating enclosure and which
contains an apparatus to rotate the enclosure, which enclosure is
pressure sealed from the surrounding atmosphere and which is
divided into a plurality of modulating zones; treating the gas to
modify its properties within the enclosures due to the presence of
modulating materials within the zones in the enclosure; and passing
the modified gas to an outlet of the vessel.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the apparatus that rotates the
enclosure is comprised of a motor and shaft extending from the
motor which shaft extends from the top to the bottom of the
enclosure and the shaft is pressure sealed from the enclosure.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein the shaft is sealed from the
modulating zones and the environment surrounding the vessel.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein the seal is an H-shaped seal where
two legs of the H are adjacent to the modulating zones and the
other 2 legs of the H are adjacent to a seal adjacent to the shaft
or an extension of the shaft.
5. An apparatus for conditioning a plurality of gas streams
comprising a vessel which contains an enclosure capable of rotating
therein, which enclosure is pressure sealed from the surrounding
atmosphere and which is divided into a plurality of modulating
zones; the zones having the ability to modify the properties of the
gas streams coming in contact with the zones due to the presence of
modulating materials therein; a motor within the vessel capable of
rotating the enclosure within the vessel to facilitate the
contacting of the gas streams within the zones; and an inlet to the
vessel for the gas streams and an outlet from the vessel to pass
the modulated gas streams from the vessel, whereby the gas streams
pass through the inlet to the vessel and then to the enclosure and
are modified in the zones as the enclosure is rotated and exits
from the enclosure zones in a modified form and then exit from the
vessel.
6. The apparatus of claim 5 whereby the motor is positioned
substantially within the vessel.
7. The apparatus of claim 5 whereby the motor has a shaft attached
thereto and positioned such that the shaft extends therefrom into
the enclosure.
8. The apparatus of claim 5 whereby the motor has a shaft attached
thereto and positioned such that the shaft engages mating prongs
extending from the vessel.
9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the shaft is sealed from the
modulating zones and the environment surrounding the vessel.
10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the seal is an H-shaped seal
where two legs of the H are adjacent to the modulating zones and
the other 2 legs of the H are adjacent to a seal adjacent to the
shaft or an extension of the shaft.
11. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein there are a plurality of
inlets and a plurality of outlets to the vessel.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present invention pertains to an apparatus for treating
a plurality of gas streams in an apparatus and to modify the gas
streams and process for such modification.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Gas flow management systems have been available for
increasing the humidity in a gas stream. The control of their flow
has been utilized in the pharmaceutical, food, or chemical
industries. Control of humidity is particularly important to
prevent rust or condensation for plant equipment, cargo ships and
precision electronic parts. In addition, having control of the air
streams is desired for certain crops dryness, such as, tea leaves,
dried sea leaves, lumbers, mushrooms, fishes and other materials
where there is a need for low humid storage. Fuel cell gas
management systems are also areas for the modification of gas
streams for decreased humidity. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,013,385.
[0003] The difficulties associated with previous air flow systems
is that substantial mechanical action may be required to drive a
rotating air flow chamber utilizing frictional forces widely
separated from the rotating wheel. The idea of exchanging water
vapor using a rotating desiccant substrate is widely used in the
HVAC industries for commercial and residential applications.
However, the problems associated with utilizing this technology for
gas management in fuel cell systems is due to high differential
pressures between the gas flow inside a fuel cell system and the
atmosphere. Such high differential pressures can require
substantial mechanical action to drive a rotating air flow chamber.
The air flow chamber must be compressed, creating large frictional
forces on rotating parts, to eliminate leakage of gases due to the
large differential pressures.
[0004] Problems associated with gas flows are that the pressure
differential between the atmosphere and the gas stream is quite
high. It would be desirable to decrease the gas pressure within a
rotating vessel thereby decreasing the size of a motor to drive a
humidity control vessel.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] Described is a method of conditioning a gas stream
comprising passing the gas stream into a vessel which contains a
rotating enclosure and which contains an apparatus to rotate the
enclosure, which enclosure is pressure sealed from the surrounding
atmosphere and which is divided into a plurality of modulating
zones; and treating the inlet gas to modify its properties within
the enclosure due to the presence of modulating materials within
the zones in the enclosure; and passing the modified gas to an
outlet of the vessel.
[0006] Also described is an apparatus for conditioning a plurality
of gas streams comprising a vessel which contains an enclosure
capable of rotating, which enclosure is pressure sealed from the
surround atmosphere, by a second, outer enclosure, and is divided
into a plurality of modulating zones; the zones having the ability
to modify the properties of the gas streams coming in contact with
the zones due to the presence of modulating materials therein; a
motor within the vessel capable of rotating the enclosure within
the vessel to facilitate the contacting of the gas streams within
the zones and preferably a plurality of inlets to the vessel for
the gas streams and a preferably plurality of outlets from the
vessel to pass the modulated gas streams whereby the gas streams
pass through the inlets to the vessel and then to the enclosures
and are modified in the zones, as the enclosure is rotated, and
exit from the enclosure zones in a modified form and then exit from
the vessel.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the gas stream treatment
apparatus of the present invention.
[0008] FIG. 1A is a side view of the gas stream treatment apparatus
of FIG. 1.
[0009] FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along lines 2-2 of FIG.
1.
[0010] FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the interconnections between
the gas treatment vessel of the present invention and the rotating
face seal utilized in the vessel of the present invention.
[0011] FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the rotating face seal
utilized in the vessel of the present invention. This seal is
responsible for preventing cross over leakage of the two gas
streams on each side of the partition.
[0012] FIG. 5 is an exploded view of the labyrinth typeface seal
utilized in the present invention. This figure is a simple version
of the assembly shown in FIG. 4.
[0013] FIG. 6 is an exploded view of the labyrinth type face seal
which provides eddies which prevent flow across the seal, again
preventing cross over leakage of the two gas streams on each side
of the partition. This figure is an exploded view of a portion of
FIG. 5. This figure is a simple version of the assembly shown in
FIG. 4.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0014] By "conditioning" is meant subjecting a material to a
treatment or stimulus so that it will respond in a uniform and
desired manner to subsequent processing (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of
Scientific and Technical Terms 5.sup.th ed. By Parker 1994: p.
434).
[0015] By "modulating" is meant the process of passing gradually
from one condition to another namely by adjusting the properties of
the gas stream from one condition to another.
[0016] The present invention is directed towards a shell that is
capped on each side with a flow chamber cap that is separated in
halves by an internal end cap partition. The end caps, containing
the flow inlets and outlets, are held against the outer enclosure
and the inner rotating enclosure using compression rods that are
separated from the vessel by a seal that is mounted statically to
the end caps and rides firmly compressed against the inner rotating
enclosure. In the prior art the entire vessel would rotate via a
friction belt wrapped around the outside of the shell and driven by
a motor and pulley mechanism. Such a design exerted force on the
rotating ring seal namely the compression rods which need to be
large enough to prevent any leakage o the gas streams to the
atmosphere. The compression force must be large enough to overcome
the differential pressure between the internal gasses and the
atmosphere, preventing any leakage o the internal gasses to the
atmosphere. This pressure difference can be up to 3 bar. This
compression causes a large friction between the rotating enclosure
and the end caps, resulting in a higher torque requirement for the
motor responsible for the enclosure rotation. This leads to a
larger motor driving the enclosure with a belt and pulley. Also due
to the nature of this design, the inner portion of the stationary
face seal that is mounted to the end cap partition experiences the
same compression forces as those required to prevent leakage
between the end cap and ring seal. This results in unnecessary
friction and compression on a seal that must only be capable of
isolating two gas streams. The rotating face seal must only be
capable of isolating a differential pressure of up to 0.5 Bar. This
unnecessary friction results in an even larger torque requirement
for the driving motor.
[0017] The design of the present invention as shown in the drawings
integrates the driving motor and the enclosure into one package
substantially within the vessel. The invention utilizes sealing
deliberately to reduce the required friction and thus the drive
motor size. This invention utilizes an outer enclosure which is
compressed between two flow chamber caps. This design has an
additional enclosure inside the outer enclosure that houses the
modulating materials. This internal enclosure with the modulating
materials rotates inside the outer enclosure. Having two shells
allows for the large compression forces required to overcome
leakage of the gas streams to the atmosphere to be applied only to
the stationary outer enclosure. The inner, rotting enclosure must
now only be compressed to overcome the pressure drop through the
modulating material of that vessel, a value commonly 10 times less
than the pressure difference between the gasses and the atmosphere.
This results in approximately 10 times less torque to drive the
rotation of the rotating enclosure shell. Changing the differences
in lengths between the rotating enclosure shell and the vessel can
vary the amount of compression placed on the rotating enclosure
shell. The reduced compression and thus torque, results in a
smaller motor size. This preferably can be integrated into the
vessel. This therefore results in fewer parts and more compact
package
[0018] FIGS. 1-1A shows the unit 10 for modulating a plurality of
gas streams, preferably two gas streams. The unit contains a
rotating enclosure 12 which is sealed from the surrounding
atmosphere 10 outside by the outer enclosure 46. The rotating
enclosure is partitioned into two zones 14 and 16. The zones have
the ability to modify the properties of the gas streams coming in
contact with them due to the presence of modulating materials 105
and 106, preferably these are the same materials, just placed in
different zones. A motor 18 is substantially retained with the
vessel 10 and in particular in the top end cap 20. The motor can
rotate the internal enclosure 12 within the outer enclosure 46 to
facilitate the contacting of the gas streams within the zones.
There are a plurality of inlets 22 and 30 as well as a plurality of
outlets 24 and 25. Basically, the gas streams pass through the
inlets 22 and 30 (cross flow) into the partitioned chambers 16 and
14 and then modified in the zones 105 and 106 as it is rotated. The
treated gas then exits the enclosure zones through outlets 24 and
25
[0019] The end caps 20 and 21 are secured together by compression
rods 40 which are held together by locking mechanisms 44. As can be
seen in FIG. 2, the overall unit is comprised of tops 20 and 21 and
the outer enclosure 46. The gas stream enters into the inlets 22
and 30 and is distributed through the respective zones 16 and 14 by
diffusers 48 and 105. Each diffuser 48 and 105 is comprised of a
metal plate 50 and 60 and perforated with holes 52 and 62
respectively. The gas streams entering the inlets 22 and 30 are
separated by inlet chamber divider plates 106 and 107. The gasses
remain separated by the substrate 68 filling the inner vessel shell
108. This divides the inner enclosure 12 into modulating zones 14
and 16. Due to the nature of the fixed end caps and rotating inner
enclosure, there is a need to seal the gasses from the environment
which is achieved by the outer ring seal 80 best shown in FIG. 3.
The lip 82 of cap 20 is secured to side sealing member 84 of the
outer enclosure 46 by a gasket 86 which is the flange of the
mounting seal.
[0020] The motor 18 is attached to a shaft 19 which engages shaft
extension 23 to which the rotting enclosure 12 is snuggly
attached.
[0021] FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 describe the seal surrounding the shaft 23
and allow for a rotating inner enclosure to rotate while
maintaining the separation of the two modulating zones 14 and 16. A
bushing 90 surrounds the shaft 19 from the motor 18 and is centered
in the flow chamber separation plates 106 and 107. The face seal
mount 92 is positioned below the flow chamber cap separation plate
to which a face seal 100 is attached as shown schematically in FIG.
4. The actual seal is shown in detail in FIGS. 5 and 6. The sealing
member is comprised of a block portion 100 and a plurality of
U-shaped extensions 102 and 104. As used in the current invention,
a pair of sealing members 98 are used to seal the two modulating
zones 14 and 16 from each other and the environment. The two
U-shaped extensions 102 and 104 are joined by member 100 in FIG. 5
to another duplicate U-shaped extension 102a and 104a to form a
complete H-shaped face seal 100 as seen in FIG. 4. The complete
H-shaped face seal 100 is bonded to the fixed face seal mount 92
across from 102a to 102. The other pair of the H-shaped face seal
104 and 104a rests firmly against the substrate 68.
[0022] The flow of the gas stream through the enclosures 14 and 16
and corresponding through the substrate 68 will cause a pressure P
as shown in FIG. 6 to be applied to the two sides of the
H-seal.
[0023] FIG. 6 describes the nature of the pressure P on each side
of the H-seal. Pressure acts on the seal 100. If flow is to pass by
the seal between the substrate and the seal over portion 102 of the
U-shape this will cause a lower pressure zone on the top portion of
seal extension 102. The pressure on the inside of the seal 102
represented by the P in FIG. 6 will force the seal 102 to deflect
moving against the lower pressure zone on the top side of 102
causing the seal to naturally push itself tighter against the
substrate, thus sealing off any cross flow. Another method for
preventing cross flow can be seen in FIG. 6, represented by "e" and
swirls in the channels cut out of 102. The channels will cause eddy
currents that will in turn induce turbulence and decrease any
laminar cross flow over the H-shaped face seal.
[0024] This design reduces the compression forces acting on the
substrate to reduce cross flow. Reduced compression forces result
in less torque required to turn the enclosure and thus a smaller
motor load.
[0025] The distinct advantages of the present development results
in better flow distribution, using diffusers, resulting in higher
utilization of the modulating material substrate and a reduced
volume for the enclosures. A better face seal around the bushing 90
and the flow chamber separation plates 106 and 107 by using the
labyrinth seals and the improved lip 102, 102a and 104, 104a
results in less crossover leakage and smaller motor loads. Side
inlet flows resulting in circular flow inside the end caps 20 and
21 provide an opportunity to incorporate water droplet separation
for subsequent designs.
[0026] The new enclosure shell and assembly reduces the compression
forces on the modulating material enclosure shell and thus small
motor loads.
[0027] Smaller motor loads permit for motor size reduction and
incorporation into the overall design and reduce the packaging
volume and size of the device. The aforementioned design
correspondingly is capable of working for higher pressure
applications; capable of handling high differential pressures;
reduces substrate size for the modulating materials to permit
better flow distribution; has a potential for incorporating water
droplet separation resulting in fewer assembly and components
parts. The design of the present application permits it to be
utilized in the pharmaceutical, chemical, fertilizer and food
processing industries which have a requirement of level of the
product and enhance production efficiency. In addition to protect
turbines of power plants and cargo transported by ships from
rusting, it is desired to decrease the moisture content of such
environments. Decreased moisture environment is likewise desirable
to keep the quality of electronic parts and to control the moisture
in exposing films during storage time. Likewise with respect to
keeping crops dry such as leaves, seaweed, lumber, mushrooms and
fish in low humid storage is likewise obtainable in the present
case.
[0028] In a fuel cell environment, moisture is controlled from the
ambient as air is lead to the electrode stack. In addition, the
moisture from the stack is controlled prior to it being exhausted
into the atmosphere. In these circumstances, it is desirable to
maintain the appropriate humidity for good catalyst operation.
[0029] An alternative to the seal around the shaft 21 as shown in
FIGS. 4-6, is to replace the shaft and have the shaft 19 rotate the
enclosure 12. The shaft 19 may be glued to the separation plate 90
or may be secured thereto by a tongue and groove relationship (not
shown) or other well-known mechanisms to secure a shaft to a metal
channel.
[0030] The modulating materials may take many types, forms or
shapes depending on the environment. If a desiccant is desired,
well-known and commercially available zeolites may be used. The
rotating enclosure may be divided into 4 components comprised of a
honeycomb channel of fiberglass with zeolites retained therein. The
desiccant can be prepared in any well-known fashion.
[0031] While the forms of the invention herein disclosed constitute
presently preferred embodiments, many others are possible. It is
not intended herein to mention all of the possible equivalent forms
or ramifications of the invention. It is understood that the terms
used herein are merely descriptive rather than limiting, and that
various changes may be made without departing from the spirit or
scope of the invention.
* * * * *