Thermodynamic balancing of combined heat and mass exchange devices

US8496234B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignees

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology · US
• KING FAHD UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM AND MINERALS · SA

Inventors

• Prakash Narayan Govindan · Melrose, US
• Gregory P. Thiel · Cambridge, US
• Ronan K. McGovern · Cambridge, US
• John H. Lienhard · Lexington, US
• Sarit K. Das · Cambridge, US
• Karim M. Chehayeb · Beirut, LB
• Syed M. Zubair · Dhahran, SA
• Mohammed A. Antar · Dhahran, SA

Key dates

• Filing date: Jul 16, 2012
• Grant date: Jul 30, 2013
• Expiry date: Jul 16, 2032

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10T137/2076
• WIPO field: Chemical engineering
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

A carrier-gas mixture is directed through a fluid flow path in a combined heat and mass transfer device operating at a sub-atmospheric pressure. Heat and mass are transferred from or to the carrier-gas mixture via interaction with a liquid composition that includes a vaporizable component in a liquid state to substantially change the content of the vaporizable component in the carrier-gas mixture via evaporation or condensation of the vaporizable component. The mass flow rate of the carrier-gas mixture is varied by extracting or injecting the carrier-gas mixture from at least one intermediate location in the fluid flow path, and/or the mass flow rate of the liquid composition is varied by extracting or injecting the liquid composition from at least one intermediate location in the fluid flow path; and the flow of the carrier-gas mixture or the liquid composition is regulated to reduce the average local enthalpy pinch in the device.