Patents Examined by Charles Bushey
  • Patent number: 9696050
    Abstract: The invention relates to an evaporative humidifier including a water reservoir, a wick unit and a fan unit. The wick unit is configured to absorb water from the water reservoir. The fan unit is arranged within a fan housing and configured to force an air flow to flow through the wick unit. The fan housing comprises a top cover unit defining at least one annular air outlet at an outer part adjacent a circumference of the top cover unit. One of the main advantages of this invention is that the evaporative humidifier has an optimal air flow path and can operate in a low noise. The invention also relates to an indoor climate controlling system using such an evaporative humidifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2017
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: John Robert McGarva, Emma Sandberg, Lei Tao Chen, Zhiyoung Dai, Jean Bart Bleeker
  • Patent number: 9688553
    Abstract: A water aeration diffuser has a base with an internal cavity defining an air pocket, and a ceramic plate removably attached to the base. The base is in flow communication with air supply such that air is received in the cavity and then diffused by the ceramic plate to create an aeration column in a body of water. To allow for repair and servicing, the ceramic plate is removably attached to the base by one or more fasteners. The base includes a perimeter lip around its top portion that supports the ceramic plate and maximizes the exposed surface area of the plate. A water and air-tight gasket is provided between the lip and the ceramic plate. An eye-bolt may be provided through the ceramic plate and attached to the base to provide an attachment point for a ballast or other means used to position the diffuser.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2017
    Assignee: Lake Savers, LLC
    Inventor: John J. Tucci
  • Patent number: 9682348
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for dispersing and entraining and controlling the residence time, absorption and release of gas bubbles or particles in a fluid without losing gas utilization efficiency from escaping surface gas events. A mechanical, rotating plurality of hollowed blades that induce both an axial and radial controlled circulatory flow and provide a means of gas introduction into the discharge flow that has a conical helical, axial and radial outward flow from the axis of rotation and allows entrained gas bubbles to be trapped as particles and recirculated by means of a circulatory flow back into the intake vortex of said mechanical, rotating plurality of blades. The flow is characterized by a forced intake vortex caused by a low pressure zone with a radial component, and subsequent axial component drawing fluid in a circular fashion toward the eye of the rotating device and impelling fluid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2017
    Assignee: Enevor Inc.
    Inventor: Carl Roy Bachellier
  • Patent number: 9677830
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a device that conditions high entrance velocity, superheated feed gas, which include some high boiling components, for example, asphaltenes and poly-nuclear aromatics that tend to coke upon condensation and exposure to the superheated feed gas temperature. Also included in superheated feed gas are solid catalyst fines, from a single or multiple feed nozzles to a quiescent flow regime for uniform distribution of the gases, to a contact device within the Main Fractionator (MF) column.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignee: Technip Process Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Sabah Kurukchi, Kenneth Edward Krug, Kenneth Jack Fewel, Jr.
  • Patent number: 9669146
    Abstract: A gas/fluid mass exchange apparatus includes a gas permeable membrane which is arranged to separate a first region for receiving a gas flow, from a second region for receiving a fluid flow. The apparatus further a support element which is arranged to maintain the shape and orientation of the membrane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2017
    Assignee: HAEMAIR LIMITED
    Inventors: William Richard Johns, Stephen Warwick James Brown, Richard Phillips, Dale Rogers
  • Patent number: 9669327
    Abstract: A separation system can include one or more vapor-liquid contact trays. A vapor-liquid contact tray can include a set of panels. Two adjacent panels can be connected at a joint at overlapping edges of the panels. The first panel can include slots extending through the first panel proximal to a first offset bend. Tabs of the first panel can extend downward toward an underside of the first panel. The tabs can originate from an edge of the slots proximal to the deck and extend downward relative to a horizontal plane of the deck. The second panel can include a plurality of strips that have a second offset bend extending from a deck of the second panel extending through a slot and to underlie the first panel. A strip of the plurality of strips can define an opening through which a tab of the first panel can extend.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2017
    Assignee: GTI SOLUTIONS INTERNATIONAL, LLC
    Inventors: Naresh Thakur, Ian Buttridge, Seunghyun Hwang
  • Patent number: 9671118
    Abstract: An air-conditioning system includes: a first duct through which air discharged from an electronic instrument passes; a water vapor retention chamber; an evaporator configured to be heated by the air passing through the first duct and thereby to generate water vapor inside the water vapor retention chamber; a desiccant rotor including an adsorbent to adsorb moisture and configured to be driven and rotated by a driving unit; a humidification chamber; a second duct configured to feed outdoor air introduced from an outdoor space into the humidification chamber; and a third duct configured to feed the air passing through the humidification chamber into a room where the electronic instrument is installed, wherein a portion of the desiccant rotor is located inside the water vapor retention chamber, and another portion of the desiccant rotor is located inside the humidification chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2017
    Assignee: FUJITSU LIMITED
    Inventors: Hiroaki Yoshida, Hiroyuki Fukuda
  • Patent number: 9656207
    Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus for gasifying urea from aqueous solution, comprising: a vertically-oriented gasification chamber. A gas inlet opening permits entry of hot gases from the top and a gas outlet opening for permitting the removal of gases including gasified urea from the bottom. Sidewalls define a gasification chamber communicating with the gas inlet and gas outlet. The sidewalls include, an injector support section having a generally cylindrical side wall, at least one injector for introducing fine droplets of aqueous urea parallel to the central vertical axis, and a gas swirling device including a frame and a plurality of vanes for downwardly spiraling gases passing through it from top to bottom. Also, defined by the sidewalls are a conical midsection is provided with an outwardly expanding diameter from top to bottom, and a conical collection section with inwardly decreasing diameter from top to bottom.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2017
    Assignee: FUEL TECH, INC.
    Inventor: Ronald A. Lau
  • Patent number: 9656217
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a disperser which can be easily installed without any air pump, a transfer pope and a porous disperser in such a way to install an impeller, which is employed to discharge water and at the same time to suck air, at an end portion after a shaft employed to transfer the driving force of a driving motor has been connected underwater, wherein the disperser of the present inventive concept is easy to maintain without cleaning due to the plugging, whereupon maintenance is easy and the applicability of the product is good.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2017
    Inventor: Wook-do Jeong
  • Patent number: 9650877
    Abstract: The method and an apparatus for improving the steam dryness of a steam injection boiler includes injecting wet saturated steam and gas into an oil layer together in a sealed way, after the dryness of the wet saturated steam at an outlet of the steam injection boiler is improved by a dryness raiser. The dryness raiser includes a combined spray head, a steam heating chamber, a combustion chamber, and a mixing chamber. The gas generated by the combustion chamber enters into the mixing chamber and is fully mixed with the steam from the steam injection boiler. The dryness of the wet saturated steam at the outlet of the steam injection boiler can be improved to 95%-100%, and the effects of improving steam enthalpy, replenishing stratum energy and enlarging the steam wave and size are realized, so as to heat up the oil layer more effectively, and improve heavy oil development.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2017
    Assignee: SHANDONG HUAXI PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY, CO., LTD
    Inventor: Bingping Xue
  • Patent number: 9643102
    Abstract: The humidification-dehumidification desalination system includes a humidifier, a dehumidifier, and a carrier gas that is humidified in the humidifier and condensed in the dehumidifier to produce purified water. The humidifier preferably includes multiple stages in a staircase configuration in which at least one stage has a perforated or porous plate and the carrier gas is bubbled through the bottom of the plate into the “liquid to be purified” atop the plate. The dehumidifier may also include multiple stages in a staircase configuration in which at least one stage has a perforated or porous plate and the carrier gas is bubbled through the bottom of the plate into the purified liquid atop the plate. In both the humidifier and the dehumidifier, the liquid travels downward from one stage to the next stage. The system may be operated in a closed loop, so that the carrier gas is recirculated from the dehumidifier to the humidifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: KING FAHD UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM AND MINERALS
    Inventors: Fahad A. Al-Sulaiman, Mohamed A. Antar
  • Patent number: 9643140
    Abstract: A bubble generation system includes a gaseous pressure source supplying a gas flow and a wave inducer including a first inlet in fluid communication with the gaseous pressure source to receive the gas flow and a first outlet. The wave inducer transitions the gas flow into a pulsating acoustic wave that exits the wave inducer through the outlet. The bubble generation system also includes a diffuser fluidly coupled to the outlet of the wave inducer. The diffuser is configured to produce bubbles from the gaseous pressure source. The bubble generation system further includes a vent passageway fluidly coupled between the wave inducer and the diffuser. The vent passageway is configured to be in fluid communication with an ambient environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: MikroFlot Technologies LLC
    Inventor: Jose Antonio Ramirez
  • Patent number: 9644904
    Abstract: A cooling tower is provided with fans at the bottom of the unit, and a plurality of Savers of water collection troughs or channels above the fans to capture water droplets sprayed downwardly from the top of the device through a heat exchanger above the collection troughs. The collection troughs supply the collected water to one or more gutters inside the housing which lead the water to an external collection tank from which the water is recirculated to the top of the tower.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: Syntech Towers, LLC
    Inventor: Harold Dean Curtis
  • Patent number: 9638469
    Abstract: This low-pressure condenser is provided with: a pressure bulkhead which partitions the inside of the container into an upper space and a lower space; a heat transfer tube which is arranged in the upper space; and a reheater which is arranged in the lower space and which, by means of high-temperature steam flowing from the outside into the lower space, heats water which condenses in the upper space and flows into the lower space. The reheater includes multiple partition members, a receiving plate which receives water flowing downward via the partition members, and a dam which is connected to the outer peripheral edge of the receiving plate. The lower ends of the multiple partition members are below the upper end of the dam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HITACHI POWER SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Issaku Fujita, Satoshi Hiraoka, Kenji Kirihara, Akira Fukui, Kensuke Nishiura, Taichi Nakamura
  • Patent number: 9630125
    Abstract: A gas-blowing liquid sample infusing device includes a sample introducing tube 17 made from a liquid-sample inner tube 40 and a nebulizing-gas outer tube 41 for nebulizing and supplying a liquid sample, and an exhaust sealing tube 18 provided on the circumference of the sample introducing tube 17, and a cushion member 43 that is mounted on the opening of a sample container 19 (the body of an infusion container 21), that allows the sample introducing tube 17 to pass through and has a contact surface for contacting the lower end of the exhaust sealing tube 18, and an engaging member (lid) 20 that includes a cushion admitting concave part 42 in which an engaging part 44 that is mounted on the opening of the sample container 19 and prevents the upward movement of the cushion member 43 is provided on the lateral surface of the inner circumference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: SHIMADZU CORPORATION
    Inventor: Tomoyuki Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 9627698
    Abstract: The gas distribution element for a fuel cell or an electrolyzing device including a first layer and a second layer, the first and second layers are disposed with a gas distribution structure forming a pattern for a fluid flow of a first reactant fluid. The second layer is a homogenizing element, which has first apertures, wherein at least some of the first apertures have a length and a width, with the length being greater than the width and the length extending in a transverse direction to the main direction of fluid flow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: HTCERAMIX S.A.
    Inventor: Zacharie Wuillemin
  • Patent number: 9625221
    Abstract: A flow distributor for a liquid descending in a vertically elongated mass transfer column, a mass transfer column employing the same, and a method of treating a fluid stream in the mass transfer column is provided. The flow distributor includes a central distribution member for passing liquid to a plurality of outwardly extending side arm members, which, in turn, feed the liquid into a plurality of distribution troughs located below the elongated side members. The distribution troughs, which may be oriented substantially perpendicularly or substantially parallel to the elongated side members, include a bed of packing material disposed therein. Use of such distributors in vapor-liquid or liquid-liquid columns results in more uniform horizontal distribution of the liquid across the diameter of the column.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: Koch-Glitsch, LP
    Inventors: Darran Matthew Headley, Izak Nieuwoudt, Stephen Andrew Pile
  • Patent number: 9610551
    Abstract: An apparatus is disclosed including: a housing including a conduit having an inlet port and an outlet port; an insert at least partially disposed within the conduit and including a tapered portion extending from a narrower end proximal the inlet port to a wider end distal the inlet port; and a facility for adjusting the position of the insert within the conduit. In some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to receive a mixed flow of liquid and gas at the inlet port, direct the mixed flow through the conduit around a portion of the insert disposed within the chamber, and outlet the mixed flow at the outlet port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: Apiqe Holdings, LLC
    Inventors: Erdogan Erigican, Jing Huang
  • Patent number: 9592468
    Abstract: The invention is a distributor tray for a column (1) for heating and/or material exchange between a gas (G) and a liquid (L). At least one wall (6) defines compartments (8) on one of the surfaces of the tray. The walls are perforated (7) to allow part of the liquid to flow between compartments (8). Each compartment has a passage providing flow of the liquid through the tray and for a passage providing flow of the gas through the tray. The invention also relates to a gas/liquid contact column, a gas treatment unit, a CO2 capture unit, a distillation unit, and an offshore floating barge including the distributor tray. The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing the tray.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: IFP ENERGIES NOUVELLES
    Inventors: Yacine Haroun, Ludovic Raynal, Pascal Alix
  • Patent number: 9586228
    Abstract: An atomizer system (2) comprising a fragrance cartridge (4) and a docking housing (6) in which the fragrance cartridge (4) is installed. The fragrance cartridge (4) including a bottle (8) for holding a liquid fragrance (10) therein; a wick (48) extending down into the bottle (8); a piezo disc (76) for atomizing the liquid fragrance (10) received from the wick (48); and an adjustable cap (98) by which a user activates the cartridge (4), bringing the liquid fragrance (10) into contact with a certain portion of the wick (48).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: AIR AROMA RESEARCH PTY LTD
    Inventors: Johan Van Roemburg, Derk Reilink, Petrus Henricus Aloysius Nicolaus Kuhn