Abstract: The present invention provides geometric arrangements for channels through which liquids or other fluids can be made to flow, for enhanced performance of fuel cells or other chemical or biochemical reactors or analyzers. Systems and methods including these improved geometries are described herein for enhanced performance of a variety of devices. Specifically, in one set of embodiments, the reactors comprise one or more microchannels comprising a tapered cross-sectional area and at least one reactive surface portion. By flowing a liquid comprising one or more reactants through the channel such that the cross-sectional area decreases in a downstream direction, relatively more reactant may be supplied to the wall at downstream positions relative to the amount that would be supplied in a system without a tapered cross-section. In some embodiments, the microchannel may be constructed and arranged such that the amount of reactant supplied to the wall conforms to a predetermined distribution.
Abstract: Systems and methods for transporting a hydrocarbon are provided. The method can include introducing a fluid at a first pressure and a first temperature to an inlet of a pump and pressurizing the fluid within the pump to produce a pressurized fluid having a second pressure and a second temperature. The method can also include flowing at least a portion of the pressurized fluid through a first heat exchanger and back to the inlet of the pump. The heat exchanger can include a coil having an inlet and an outlet and a housing at least partially enclosing the coil and having a first opening and a second opening. A first end of the coil can be disposed proximate the first opening. The heat exchanger can also include a foundation for supporting the coil and the housing.
Abstract: Reforming exchangers for syngas production are provided. The reforming exchangers can have a shell-and-tube configuration and include a shift catalyst on the shell side of the exchanger to reduce a carbon monoxide concentration in a shell side product gas mixture. Processes for forming syngas using the reforming exchangers are also provided.
Type:
Application
Filed:
April 20, 2015
Publication date:
August 13, 2015
Applicant:
Kellogg Brown & Root LLC
Inventors:
SHASHI SINGH, Kamal Gursahani, Robert Burlingame, Tim Weeks, Jim Gosnell, Avinash Malhotra
Abstract: Processes to separate a light hydrocarbon stream comprising ethylene, ethane, and C3+ hydrocarbons into an ethylene stream, an ethane stream, and a C3+ hydrocarbon stream, including: feeding the light hydrocarbon stream to a deethanizer; separating the light hydrocarbons in the deethanizer to form a C3+ hydrocarbon bottoms stream and a C2-rich overhead stream comprising ethylene and ethane; separating the C2-rich stream in a C2-rectifier to form a first ethylene stream and an ethane-rich bottoms stream; and separating the ethane-rich bottoms stream in a C2-splitter to form a second ethylene stream and an ethane stream.
Abstract: Reforming exchangers for syngas production are provided. The reforming exchangers can have a shell-and-tube configuration and include a shift catalyst on the shell side of the exchanger to reduce a carbon monoxide concentration in a shell side product gas mixture. Processes for forming syngas using the reforming exchangers are also provided.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
October 20, 2011
Date of Patent:
August 11, 2015
Assignee:
KELLOGG BROWN & ROOT LLC
Inventors:
Shashi Singh, Kamal Gursahani, Robert Burlingame, Tim Weeks, Jim Gosnell, Avinash Malhotra
Abstract: Compositions and methods for producing autologous brown adipose cells in vitro or in vivo are provided. In particular, a drug delivery device is described that recruits adipose stem cells (ASCs) to a site in the body of a subject. These ASCs may then be isolated and induced to differentiate into autologous brown adipose cells. Alternatively, the drug delivery device may also include differentiation factors that induce differentiation of the recruited ASCs into brown adipose cells in vivo. The brown adipose cells produced by these methods may be used therapeutically to treat conditions, such as obesity and diabetes.
Abstract: In one exemplary embodiment, an apparatus includes a memory storing data and a processor performing operations. The apparatus generates or maintains an accumulation tree for the stored data—an ordered tree structure with a root node, leaf nodes and internal nodes. Each leaf node corresponds to a portion of the data. A depth of the tree remains constant. A bound on a degree of each internal node is a function of a number of leaf nodes of a subtree rooted at the internal node. Each node of the tree has an accumulation value. Accumulation values of the root and internal nodes are determined by hierarchically employing an accumulator over the accumulation values of the nodes lying one level below the node in question. The accumulation value of the root node is a digest for the tree.
Abstract: A new structure-control strategy to optimize nanoparticle catalysis is provided. The presence of Au in FePtAu facilitates FePt structure transformation from chemically disordered face centered cubic (fcc) structure to chemically ordered face centered tetragonal (fct) structure, and further promotes formic acid oxidation reaction (FAOR). The fct-FePtAu nanoparticles show high CO poisoning resistance, achieve mass activity as high as about 2810 mA/mg Pt, and retain greater than 90% activity after a 13 hour stability test.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
March 11, 2013
Date of Patent:
July 28, 2015
Assignee:
Brown University
Inventors:
Shouheng Sun, Sen Zhang, Huiyuan Zhu, Shaojun Guo
Abstract: A heat exchanger including a housing. A plurality of tubes can be disposed within the housing. A plurality of solid particulates can be disposed within the housing between an inner surface of the housing and outer surfaces of the tubes, wherein the solid particulates have an average cross-sectional length from about 250 ?m to about 5 mm.
Type:
Application
Filed:
January 15, 2014
Publication date:
July 16, 2015
Applicant:
KELLOGG BROWN & ROOT LLC
Inventors:
IWAN H. CHAN, Yongchao Li, John Abughazaleh, Anant Pisut
Abstract: The invention features methods for regulating vascular properties by controlling the membrane properties of endothelial cells using optogenetics and light. The invention features methods to transport therapeutics across the vascular barrier into tissues such as the brain and the lung, with high spatial and temporal precision, and for controlling vascular properties such as vascular tone, arterial diameter, and vascular growth.
Type:
Application
Filed:
August 13, 2013
Publication date:
July 16, 2015
Applicants:
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, BROWN UNIVERSITY
Abstract: A thermoformer apparatus has sheet supporting rails which are divided into sections hinged together to facilitate widening of the spacing between the rails with adjuster drive mechanism as the sheet moves through an oven to eliminate sagging of the sheet as it becomes heated. Thermoformer chains are driven by a pair of independently operable servo motors each associated with a respective thermoformer chain.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
April 4, 2013
Date of Patent:
July 14, 2015
Assignee:
Brown Machine, LLC
Inventors:
Victor Chun, James Martin, Steve Keeley, Keith Redburn, Phil Eichbauer
Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus for cooling particulates are provided. A method can include introducing particulates and water to a first vessel to provide a fluidized bed of particulates and cooling the fluidized bed of particulates in the first vessel to obtain first cooled particulates. The method can also include recovering the first cooled particulates from the first vessel and introducing the first cooled particulates to a heat exchanger comprising a plurality of tubulars. The method can also include introducing a coolant to the plurality of tubulars, flowing the first cooled particulates through a shell side of the heat exchanger and contacting at least a portion of the first cooled particulates with the plurality of tubulars, recovering a heated coolant from the plurality of tubulars, and recovering second cooled particulates from a particulate outlet.
Abstract: Systems and methods for contacting solids with a fluid are provided. The system can include a first baffle having a latitudinal centerline that is in a plane defined by first and second axes, the latitudinal centerline of the first baffle being oriented at a first angle from about 5° to about 80° with respect to the second axis. The system can also include a second baffle axially offset from the first baffle along the second axis and having a latitudinal centerline in the plane that is oriented at a second angle from about 100° to about 175° with respect to the second axis and a third baffle axially adjacent to the second baffle along the second axis and having a latitudinal centerline in the plane that is oriented at a third angle from about 5° to about 80° with respect to the second axis.
Abstract: Provided herein are compounds of Formula (I) or (II): (I) (II) pharmaceutically acceptable salts, tautomers, prodrugs, and stereoisomers thereof, and pharmaceutical compositions thereof, wherein X, RN, R1, R3, R4, p, and m are as defined herein. Such compounds and compositions have been found useful in the treatment or prevention of viral infections, e.g., polyomaviral infections, and are further envisioned useful in treatment or prevention of other pathogenic conditions associated with endosomal trafficking. Methods of treating or preventing an infection by a pathogen secreting an AB5 toxin is also contemplated.
Type:
Application
Filed:
July 15, 2013
Publication date:
June 18, 2015
Applicant:
Brown University
Inventors:
Walter Atwood, Christian Nelson, Jason K. Sello, Daniel William Carney
Abstract: Chemoselective derivatization of biological amines, carboxylic acids, aldehydes or ketones are employed in methods to detect a plurality of components, or members of a component, such as metabolites, that vary in molecular structure. The methods of the invention can be employed in aqueous and nonaqueous conditions.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
August 15, 2012
Date of Patent:
June 16, 2015
Assignee:
Brown University
Inventors:
Jason K. Sello, Kyle A. Totaro, Babajide O. Okandeji
Abstract: A system for imposing and analyzing surface acoustic waves in a substrate to determine characteristics of the substrate is disclosed. Optical elements and arrangements for imposing and analyzing surface acoustic waves in a substrate are also disclosed. NSOM's, gratings, and nanolight elements may be used to impose surface acoustic waves in a substrate and may also be used to measure transient changes in the substrate due to the passage of surface acoustic waves therethrough.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
October 8, 2010
Date of Patent:
May 26, 2015
Assignees:
Rudolph Technologies, Inc., Brown University
Inventors:
Michael Colgan, Michael J. Kotelyanskii, Christopher J. Morath, Humphrey J. Maris
Abstract: The present invention is a method and material for using a sorbent material to capture and stabilize mercury. The method for using sorbent material to capture and stabilize mercury contains the following steps. First, the sorbent material is provided. The sorbent material, in one embodiment, is nano-particles. In a preferred embodiment, the nano-particles are unstabilized nano-Se. Next, the sorbent material is exposed to mercury in an environment. As a result, the sorbent material captures and stabilizes mercury from the environment. In the preferred embodiment, the environment is an indoor space in which a fluorescent has broken.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
October 7, 2008
Date of Patent:
May 26, 2015
Assignee:
Brown University
Inventors:
Robert H. Hurt, Steven P. Hamburg, Love Sarin, Indrek Kulaots