Patents by Inventor William M. Canney

William M. Canney 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).

  • Model predictive control method for an air-separation system
    Patent number: 5522224
    Abstract: A cryogenic air separation process generates both an intermediate product and an output product. The intermediate product is produced earlier in time than the output product and variations in output product measurements correlate to earlier variations in intermediate product measurements. The process responds to plural independent variable phenomena. The apparatus includes analyzers for providing measures of the intermediate and output products and the independent variable phenomena. A control processor predicts a measure of the intermediate product, based on the independent variable phenomena and output predicted values therefor. A difference is then determined between the current predicted value for the intermediate product and a measure of the intermediate product, to arrive at a prediction error.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 1994
    Date of Patent: June 4, 1996
    Assignee: Praxair Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: William M. Canney
  • Process for maximizing the recovery of argon from an air separation system at high argon recovery rates
    Patent number: 5448893
    Abstract: The present invention is a process for maximizing the recovery of argon at high argon recovery rates from an air separation system having a high and low pressure distillation column containing multiple distillation stages of rectification and having a sidearm column for argon recovery. A compositional measurement is made of a process variable at one or more preselected stages of rectification which have been identified as exhibiting high sensitivity to plant process variations. The total nitrogen content in a selected area of the argon sidearm column may then be compensated by simulated mathematical correlation from such compositional measurement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 1994
    Date of Patent: September 12, 1995
    Assignee: Praxair Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Henry E. Howard, Dante P. Bonaquist, William M. Canney, William A. Nash
  • Process for maximizing the recovery of argon from an air separation system at high argon recovery rates
    Patent number: 5313800
    Abstract: The present invention is a process for maximizing the recovery of argon at high argon recovery rates from an air separation system having a high and low pressure distillation column containing multiple distillation stages of rectification and having a sidearm column for argon recovery. A compositional measurement is made of a process variable at one or more preselected stages of rectification which have been identified as exhibiting high sensitivity to plant process variations. The total nitrogen content in the argon feed may then be computed by simulated mathematical correlation from such compositional measurement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 1993
    Date of Patent: May 24, 1994
    Assignee: Praxair Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Henry E. Howard, Dante P. Bonaquist, William M. Canney, William A. Nash