Patents Assigned to Air Products and Chemical, Inc.
  • Publication number: 20220283567
    Abstract: There is provided a method of controlling an industrial gas plant complex comprising a plurality of industrial gas plants powered by one or more renewable power sources, the method being executed by at least one hardware processor, the method comprising receiving time-dependent predicted power data for a pre-determined future time period from the one or more renewable power sources; receiving time-dependent predicted operational characteristic data for each industrial gas plant; utilizing the predicted power data and predicted characteristic data in an optimization model to generate a set of state variables for the plurality of industrial gas plants; utilizing the generated state variables to generate a set of control set points for the plurality of industrial gas plants; and sending the control set points to a control system to control the industrial gas plant complex by adjusting one or more control set points of the industrial gas plants.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2021
    Publication date: September 8, 2022
    Applicant: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
    Inventors: Sanjay Mehta, Pratik Misra
  • Publication number: 20220283575
    Abstract: There is provided a method of monitoring operational characteristics of an industrial gas plant complex comprising a plurality of industrial gas plants. The method being executed by at least one hardware processor and comprising: assigning a machine learning model to each of the industrial gas plants forming the industrial gas plant complex; training the respective machine learning model for each industrial gas plant based on received historical time-dependent operational characteristic data for the respective industrial gas plant; executing the trained machine learning model for each industrial gas plant to predict operational characteristics for each respective industrial gas plant for a pre-determined future time period; and comparing predicted operational characteristic data for each respective industrial gas plant for a pre-determined future time period with measured operational characteristic data for the corresponding time period to identify deviations in industrial gas plant performance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2021
    Publication date: September 8, 2022
    Applicant: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
    Inventors: Sanjay Mehta, Pratik Misra
  • Publication number: 20220268444
    Abstract: A hydrogen injection scheme can be employed via use of one or more injectors for injecting hydrogen to help entrain local mass while also generating local turbulence that can enhance mixing with a mixture of air and fuel to facilitate enhanced lean combustion, lower peak flame temperatures of combustion, and reduce nitrous oxide (NOx) emissions from the combustion of fuel. In some embodiments, the hydrogen can be injected to help transport heat released during combustion away from the injector to help avoid injector overheating as well. Different injectors can be utilized to provide a desired hydrogen injection scheme for a particular set of design and operational criteria for a gas turbine system or at least one combustion system that can be utilized in a gas turbine system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 23, 2022
    Publication date: August 25, 2022
    Applicant: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark Daniel D'Agostini, Anup Vasant Sane
  • Publication number: 20220252341
    Abstract: Integration of a natural gas liquefaction system, a hydrogen production system, and power generation system to increase CO2 capture and improve overall plant efficiency. The predominantly methane endflash is sent to the hydrogen production system which produces hydrogen and CO2. The CO2 may be captured or beneficially used. At least a portion of the hydrogen produced is used to fuel gas turbines in the power generation which, in turn, provides power for the refrigeration compressor of the natural gas liquefaction system—either in the form of mechanical work or electricity.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 5, 2021
    Publication date: August 11, 2022
    Applicant: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
    Inventors: Annemarie Ott Weist, Jeremy D. Beard, David Ross Graham, John Eugene Palamara, Mark Julian Roberts, Dejan Veskovic
  • Patent number: 11391512
    Abstract: A method of constructing a coil wound heat exchange module and transporting and installing the coil wound heat exchange module at a plant site, such as an natural gas liquefaction plant. A module frame is constructed and attached to a heat exchanger shell prior to telescoping of a coil wound mandrel into the shell. The module frame includes a lug and two saddles that remain attached to the shell throughout the process and when the heat exchanger is operated. The lug and saddles are constructed and located to stabilize the shell during construction, telescoping and transport (when in a horizontal orientation), and when the shell is installed at the plant site (in a vertical orientation). The lugs and saddles are adapted to allow for thermal expansion and contraction of the shell when it is transitioned from ambient to operating temperature and vice versa.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
    Inventors: Joseph E. Voda, Adam R. Garcia, Kevin E. Tiemann, Christopher J. Ranella, Paul I. Debrah, John A. Dally
  • Patent number: 11391457
    Abstract: A segregated steam system and process in a hydrogen production facility wherein boiler feed water is heated by indirect heat exchange with a reformate, the heated boiler feed water is used to heat water condensate formed from the reformate, the heated water condensate is passed to a first steam drum for producing steam for a reformer feed gas mixture, and a second portion of the heated boiler feed water is passed to a second steam drum for producing steam for export.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
    Inventor: Xiang-Dong Peng
  • Publication number: 20220221221
    Abstract: A process for recovering at least one fluid (e.g. argon gas and/or nitrogen gas, etc.) from a feed gas (e.g. air) can include utilization of a compression system, primary heat exchanger unit, plant processing units to separate and recover at least one desired fluid (e.g. nitrogen gas, argon gas, etc.). In some embodiments, the process can be configured so that fluid flows output from a low pressure column and/or high pressure column of the plant can provide a condensation duty or refrigeration duty that is utilized to process certain fluid flows for recovery of argon and/or nitrogen gases. Some embodiments can be configured to provide an improved recovery of argon and/or nitrogen as well as an improvement in operational efficiency by reducing an amount of power (e.g. electrical power) needed to recover the nitrogen and/or argon.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 14, 2021
    Publication date: July 14, 2022
    Applicant: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
    Inventors: D. MICHAEL HERRON, ALAN D. BERGER
  • Patent number: 11363909
    Abstract: A processor of a sensor device receives a plurality of images capturing a scene that depicts at least a portion of a conveyer entering a treatment area of a food processing system. The processor processes one or more images, among the plurality of images, to detect one or more characteristics in the scene. Processing the one or more images includes detecting presence or absence of a product on the at least the portion of the conveyor depicted in the scene, and classifying the scene as having one or more characteristics among a predetermined set of characteristics. The sensor device provides characteristics information indicating the one or more characteristics detected in the scene to a controller. The characteristics information is to be used by the controller to control operation of one or both of the conveyor and the treatment area of the food processing system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
    Inventors: Reed Jacob Hendershot, Avishek Guha, Shawn Haupt, Ankit Naik, Michael Robert Himes, Erdem Arslan
  • Publication number: 20220186130
    Abstract: A feed injector for a gasifier comprising a burner and a cooling jacket to protect the burner from high temperatures. The cooling jacket comprises two concentric channels in order to provide a flow path for a heat transfer fluid, typically water, to travel through one channel toward the burner front, travel along the burner front, and return through the other channel. Heat transfer in the cooling jacket is improved by introducing one or more fins in the path of the heat transfer fluid and/or by increasing the radius of curvature of the wall corner bordering the flow recirculation zone in the cooling jacket.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2020
    Publication date: June 16, 2022
    Applicant: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
    Inventors: Chengming Gao, Qiang Qu, Xiaoming Quan, Qiong Zhou, Jian Cheng, Micah Kiffer, Rajeshwar Sripada, Henry Chan, Ganesan Ramachandran
  • Patent number: 11353261
    Abstract: Light gases such as helium are extracted from a carbon dioxide-containing feed stream by distillation. Costly dehydration steps are avoided by pumping the liquid bottoms stream leaving the distillation column without vaporization so as to ensure that any water present in the feed remains in solution with the bulk stream leaving the process. This prevents any liquid phase water causing corrosion or solid ice or hydrates forming to plug the flow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
    Inventors: Paul Higginbotham, John Eugene Palamara, Cory E. Sanderson, John H. Petrik
  • Publication number: 20220169549
    Abstract: A method of controlling defects in a glass product produced in a tin bath furnace includes measuring at least one parameter of an atmosphere associated with the tin bath furnace, wherein the parameter is selected from the group consisting of dew point and density, correlating the measured parameter with defects in the glass product, and controlling the measured parameter in a direction corresponding to decreased defects in the glass product by controlling a flow rate of a process gas relative to the furnace wherein the process gas includes one or more of hydrogen and nitrogen.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 20, 2020
    Publication date: June 2, 2022
    Applicant: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
    Inventors: Reed Jacob HENDERSHOT, Liang HE, Michael J. GALLAGHER, Ranajit GHOSH
  • Publication number: 20220128195
    Abstract: A method and system for forming a compressed gas and dispensing it to a compressed gas receiver. The compressed gas is formed from a process fluid provided at a cryogenic temperature. The forming includes pressurizing the process fluid, feeding the pressurized process fluid at still a cryogenic temperature to a heat exchanger and heating it in indirect heat exchange with a thermal fluid which is provided in a reservoir at a thermal fluid temperature above the cryogenic temperature of the pressurized process fluid. Once heated to a suitable temperature the compressed gas may be dispensed to the compressed gas receiver or stored in one or more compressed gas storage vessels for later use.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 28, 2020
    Publication date: April 28, 2022
    Applicant: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Cacciapalle, Joseph P. Cohen, David Jonathan Chalk, David John Farese, Anthony R. Kyvelos
  • Publication number: 20220099367
    Abstract: A chiller can be configured as a chiller for a gasification system or other type of system or plant. In some embodiments, the chiller can be configured to utilize a single heat source, such as low grade waste heat in the form of hot water, and/or low pressure steam to drive one or more absorption-based chillers to cool inlet air to one or more adsorbers of a pre-purification unit (PPU). In the event of the detection of an undesired impurity spike (e.g. carbon dioxide spike, etc.) an additional amount of heat source can be withdrawn from the gasification system to increase the level of cooling the absorption chiller can provide to improve the removal of impurities. An automated control loop can be utilized in some embodiments. The control loop can be configured to check for an impurity concentration and adjust operations accordingly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2020
    Publication date: March 31, 2022
    Applicant: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
    Inventors: Gowri Krishnamurthy, Nasim Ul Hassan Malik, Qiao Zhao
  • Publication number: 20220096993
    Abstract: An adsorbent vessel for removing contaminants from a feed gas upstream from a cryogenic distillation process using pressure swing adsorption, temperature swing adsorption, or thermal-pressure swing adsorption. The adsorbent vessel having an adsorbent bed comprised of multiple layers of adsorbent material, including two layers of adsorbent material that selective adsorbs carbon dioxide. Each of the two layers is formed from an adsorbent material having a different capacity for adsorbing carbon dioxide.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2020
    Publication date: March 31, 2022
    Applicant: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
    Inventors: Nasim Ul Hassan Malik, King Wai Hung, Gowri Krishnamurthy, William T. Kleinberg, Garrett C. Lau, Edward Landis Weist, JR.
  • Publication number: 20220099385
    Abstract: A heat exchanger can be configured to utilize multiple sections of hardway fins that can be configured so that an upper first section of the fins can build up liquid head and a second lower section of the fins can be configured to distribute liquid in an even, or uniform, manner. The first section of fins can utilize a different type of hole arrangement than the second section of fins. For instance, the diameter or width of the holes in the first section may differ from the diameter or width of the holes of the second section. In addition (or as an alternative), fin frequency and/or spacing between immediately adjacent holes in the first section of fins may be different from the spacing between immediately adjacent holes in the second section of fins.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2020
    Publication date: March 31, 2022
    Applicant: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
    Inventors: Fang Xu, Declan Patrick O'Connor, William T. Kleinberg, Patrick A. Houghton
  • Patent number: 11285434
    Abstract: A method for separating a raw feed gas stream using a plurality of membrane separation stages includes separating a pressurized feed gas stream into a first nonpermeate stream and a first permeate stream, compressing the first permeate stream to form a compressed first permeate stream, separating the compressed first permeate stream into a second nonpermeate stream and a second permeate stream, separating the second permeate stream into a third nonpermeate stream and a third permeate stream, combining the third nonpermeate stream with a raw feed gas stream to form a combined feed stream, compressing the combined feed stream to form a compressed combined feed stream, and combining the second nonpermeate stream with the compressed combined feed stream to form the pressurized feed gas stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
    Inventor: Donald E. Henry
  • Patent number: 11287089
    Abstract: The invention relates to a process for fueling of vehicle tanks with compressed hydrogen comprising splitting ammonia into hydrogen and nitrogen in an ammonia cracking unit, compressing the hydrogen from the ammonia cracking unit, and dispensing the compressed hydrogen to the vehicle tanks in a hydrogen fueling unit comprising one or more dispensing units, wherein chilled ammonia is used to cool the compressed hydrogen before being dispensed to the vehicle tanks by heat exchange between the compressed hydrogen and the chilled ammonia so that the chilled ammonia is heated, and transferring the heated ammonia to the ammonia cracking unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
    Inventors: Joseph P. Cohen, Lucas A. White, Robert Gregory Wolf
  • Publication number: 20220074654
    Abstract: A method to control the cooldown of main heat exchangers in liquefied natural gas plant. The method provides for the automated control of a flow rate of a natural gas feed stream through a heat exchanger based on one or more process variables and set points. The flow rate of refrigerant streams through the heat exchanger is controlled by different process variables and set points, and is controlled independently of the flow rate of the natural gas feed stream.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 11, 2021
    Publication date: March 10, 2022
    Applicant: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
    Inventors: Bo Jin, Matthew Joseph Okasinski, Fei Chen
  • Patent number: 11261117
    Abstract: A system and method for synchronized oxy-fuel boosting of a regenerative glass melting furnace including first and second sets of regenerative air-fuel burners, a first double-staged oxy-fuel burner mounted in a first wall, and a second double-staged oxy-fuel burner mounted in a second wall, each oxy-fuel burner having a primary oxygen valve to apportion a flow of oxygen between primary oxygen and staged oxygen and a staging mode valve to apportion the flow of staged oxygen between an upper staging port and a lower staging port in the respective burner, and a controller programmed to control the primary oxygen valve and the staging mode valve of each of the first and second oxy-fuel burners to adjust flame characteristics of the first and second oxy-fuel burners depending on the state of operation of the furnace.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2022
    Assignee: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark Daniel D'Agostini, Michael J. Gallagher, William J. Horan
  • Patent number: 11254099
    Abstract: A gasification component for use in a gasification environment includes a metal-based substrate and a coating deposited on the metal-based substrate. The coating includes at least about 51% by weight of chromium in the alpha phase at an operating temperature of gasification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2022
    Assignee: Air Products & Chemicals, Inc.
    Inventors: Dalong Zhong, Lawrence Bernard Kool, Boon Hing Tan