Patents by Inventor William A. Gast, Jr.

William A. Gast, Jr. has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20160178262
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for pre-cooling. The cooling system includes a condenser including a condenser inlet and a condenser outlet. The system also includes a cooling tower including a cooling tower inlet and a cooling tower outlet. The system further includes a heat exchanger including a first heat exchanger inlet and a first heat exchanger outlet. The first heat exchanger inlet is fluidically coupled to the cooling tower outlet, and the first heat exchanger outlet is fluidically coupled to the condenser inlet.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2014
    Publication date: June 23, 2016
    Inventors: David Rocha, William A. Gast, JR.
  • Publication number: 20140298834
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for a hybrid cooling system is provided that includes a load center with a load center inlet and a load center outlet. The system also includes a condenser that has a condenser inlet and a condenser outlet. The load center outlet is fluidically coupled to the condenser inlet. The system further includes a cooling tower that has a cooling tower inlet and a cooling tower outlet. The condenser outlet is fluidically coupled to the cooling tower inlet. The system includes an evaporator that has an evaporator inlet and an evaporator outlet. The cooling tower outlet is fluidically coupled to the evaporator inlet, and the evaporator outlet is fluidically coupled to the load center inlet.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 16, 2013
    Publication date: October 9, 2014
    Inventors: William A. Gast, JR., Clifford A. Finley
  • Patent number: 5799495
    Abstract: A container oxygen control system includes multiple containers to hold perishable goods in a controlled ripening atmosphere composed primarily of nitrogen and oxygen. A first atmosphere control system controls the container atmosphere during the first transportation leg, such as from the place of harvest to a distribution port. The first atmosphere control system has a centralized nitrogen generator and multiple oxygen controllers which are provided for corresponding containers. The nitrogen generator generates a nitrogen enriched stream which is supplied to each oxygen controller. Each oxygen controller has an oxygen sensor to determine the oxygen content of the ripening atmosphere within the container. If the oxygen content remains above a preset threshold level, the oxygen controller injects the nitrogen enriched stream into the container at a constant rate to purge the container in a continuous manner. The container has an exhaust port to exhaust part of the ripening atmosphere from the container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 1, 1998
    Assignees: Nitec, Inc., Chiquita Brands, Inc.
    Inventors: William A. Gast, Jr., Robert W. Herdeman, Jorge E. Saenz
  • Patent number: 5649995
    Abstract: A nitrogen generation control system and method are provided for controlling levels of nitrogen and oxygen in a controlled atmosphere within a container for perishable goods. The nitrogen generation control system has a nitrogen generator that controllably generates an amount of nitrogen, while releasing oxygen as an off gas. The nitrogen is injected into the container to create a controlled environment. A sample analyzer subsystem is connected to the container to extract a sample of gases from the controlled environment and analyze the oxygen content. The control system further includes a cascaded, dual control loop controller coupled to the nitrogen generator and sample analyzer subsystem. The controller has a nitrogen generation control loop to control the amount of nitrogen generated by the nitrogen generator in response to variation between the oxygen released during nitrogen generation and a reference amount of oxygen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 1995
    Date of Patent: July 22, 1997
    Assignee: Nitec, Inc.
    Inventor: William A. Gast, Jr.