Apparatus and a method for upgrading low pressure steam or brine, such as from a geothermal well, to prepare the steam or brine for any one of a number of uses, such as for conversion to pure, high pressure, high temperature steam for driving turbines. The system operates in a degasification phase in which a small amount of superheated steam is applied to the brine to scrub the same to cause the removal of concentrated gases therefrom. The degasified product is then pumped to a high pressure, heated countercurrently, and directed through a demineralized phase to remove the salts and solids in a liquid phase and convert the bulk of the water into pure, high pressure saturated steam. The steam output from the demineralizing phase can then be used to produce useful work, such as driving a turbine. In addition to forming saturated steam from geothermal brine, the system can be used to form pure saturated steam from impure water from any suitable source. The system can be used to produce clear, potable hot water from sea water and other water having contaminants therein. For dry steam from geothermal wells, the gas-contaminated steam is converted to brine without loss of temperature or pressure by adding pure hot water so that the resulting mixture can be degasified in the liquid phase. Valuable salts can be recovered and gases of commercial value can be isolated by the present method.
This is a continuation-in-part application of application Ser. No. 171,212, filed July 21, 1980, now abandoned the latter application having been a continuation application of application Ser. No. 955,064, filed Oct. 26, 1978, now abandoned.
A point of use water purification unit for continuously and completely purifying water at all point of use for removing all chemicals, killing all microorganisms; the device having a computer monitored and controlled system for degassing, super heating and exploding water into a vacuum chamber, condensing the steam in a counter current cold brine apparatus and stored in a holding tank.
A water purifier which purifies water by superheated steam. The water purifier includes a raw water reservoir for contaminated water; a heater at least partially disposed within the raw water reservoir and including a heat source, an inlet for steam and an outlet for superheated steam; an inlet conduit in fluid communication with the inlet of the heater for transporting steam produced by boiling said raw water; and a condenser in fluid communication with the outlet of the heater. The heater both boils the raw water to produce a substantially saturated steam and superheats the substantially saturated steam. The water purifier can further include a purified water reservoir in fluid communication with the condenser.
A vapor compression distillation system including a boiler/condenser assembly wherein a portion of the condensate is redirected back to the condenser inlet to extract superheat from the compressed vapor and transfer it to the liquid in the boiler. The vapor entering the condenser is reduced to a saturation condition to prevent heat build up in the condenser to improve heat transfer efficiency. When the temperature of the incoming feed water is within the operating range of the boiler/condenser assembly, the system is operated under vacuum sufficient to match the boiler temperature with the temperature of the incoming feed water so that no preheater or waste heat recovery exchanges are required.
The present invention has an object to comprise an apparatus for high efficiency gas temperature and humidity adjustment and an adjustment method allowing to elevate the heat exchange efficiency of a cooling coil, reduce the cooling water quantity, lower also the pipe arrangement diameter and water supply pump power, making possible to cut the initial cost and running cost of the air-conditioning system.The apparatus for high efficiency gas temperature and humidity adjustment is characterized by that means for removing condensate water deposited on the cooling coil.
A vacuum distillation system uses a tower having an open bottom submerged within a tank of solution exposed to atmospheric pressure. The solution within the tower is elevated to barometric level by a high vacuum or low absolute pressure on the tower top. As solution flows through the open bottom and upward, the solution is heated and then cooled to cause degasification and precipitation, and then withdrawn from the tower top. The treated solution is flowed to a vaporization chamber that is subjected to a low absolute pressure. A heater maintains the solution at a selected chamber temperature above the boiling point of water at the selected chamber pressure. The chamber pressure and temperature may be selected as desired to yield the purest water distillate for almost any solution of water and impurities. Water vapor is pumped from the vaporization chamber by a vapor pump to a condenser, where condensation results from increased pressure and decreased temperature. The distillate water is removed from the condenser by a pump to a storage tank. The storage tank is also maintained under vacuum to keep the water gas free.
