Patents by Inventor William Merrell

William Merrell 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: 20070079617
    Abstract: Various improvements can be made to the manner in which LNG is regasified. Specifically, geothermal heat from ground water (or another geothermally-heated fluid) is extracted from a subterranean aquifer (subterranean chamber) and used as a source of heat (possibly with other heat sources) to provide efficient and effective LNG regasification with minimal environmental impact. The cool ground water (fluid) that results from LNG regasification process is returned to the subterranean aquifer (subterranean chamber), where it is heated indirectly by geothermal heat produced by the core of the earth. In the preferred embodiment, the LNG regasification process is designed such that the geothermal heat produced by the core of the earth counterbalances the heat removed from the ground water (fluid) in heating the LNG during vaporization, which avoids significant changes to the normal temperature of the ground water (fluid) held in the subterranean aquifer (subterranean chamber).
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2006
    Publication date: April 12, 2007
    Inventors: Thomas Farmer, William Merrell