Thermodynamic balancing of combined heat and mass exchange devices

US9416800B2 · kind B2 · 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: Jun 24, 2013
• Grant date: Aug 16, 2016
• Expiry date: Nov 15, 2033

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, which can be operated at 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. 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.