Patents by Inventor Lance Hays

Lance Hays 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: 20060133921
    Abstract: A turbine, including a rotor on a shaft, and having in combination stationary nozzles discharging steam at a first pressure or pressures thereby producing impulse forces on the rotor; internal passages in the rotor producing a pressure head increase in the discharged steam, while simultaneously accelerating the steam, the steam discharged to a second pressure lower than the first pressure, producing reaction forces on the rotor; seal means between the stationary nozzles and the rotor, maintaining the pressure difference between the first pressure and the second pressure while minimizing steam leakage past the internal passages, turbine operations producing shaft power.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2004
    Publication date: June 22, 2006
    Inventor: Lance Hays
  • Patent number: 6878187
    Abstract: A separation process, the steps that include: providing an expansion zone, flowing a gaseous fluid into and through the expansion zone, flowing a spray of liquid droplets into the expansion zone to mix with the gaseous fluid and produce nucleation sites, then expanding the flow of mixed gaseous fluid and liquid droplets to cause condensation of gas onto the liquid droplets, and then centrifuging liquid droplets into a separation layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2005
    Assignee: Energent Corporation
    Inventors: Lance Hays, Ross Brown, Ronald Franz
  • Patent number: 5678423
    Abstract: A method for the recovery of volatile organic components (VOC) released when loading liquid hydrocarbons into a storage or cargo tank, is described. The VOCs issuing from the tank are compressed, and injected into a sidestream taken from the main hydrocarbon stream, which is cooled and used as the absorbing medium, and is conducted to a VOC recovery unit comprising at least a bi-phase rotary separator turbine (BRST). In the BRST the VOC-containing gas is substantially separated into a VOC component and inert gas. The inert gas is vented to the atmosphere. The VOC component or VOC-enriched liquid stream is then returned to the main cargo stream or a cargo tank. Any methane contained in the volatile gases issuing from the cargo tank, instead of being vented to the atmosphere, is recovered or a catalytic process is used to convert methane to carbon dioxide and water for discharge to the atmosphere. The system is particularly intended for the offshore loading of oil into tankers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 1995
    Date of Patent: October 21, 1997
    Assignee: Kvaerner Process System A.S.
    Inventors: Simon Davies, Niels Henrik Hasting, Lance Hays