General Cable Corporation

Foothills Medical Equipment, Inc.

Bernard W Settlemyer

William A Johnson

Alfred Bader

Robert L Johnson

Clifford W Knappenberger

Water contamination is purged from molecular sieve material used in oxygen concentrators by heating the molecular sieve material to a temperature in the range of approximately 450.degree. to 950.degree. F., and subjecting the molecular sieve material to a stream of dry sweep gas having a dew point in the range of approximately -80.degree. to -100.degree. F. In the preferred embodiment, the molecular sieve material is contained in a vessel and heated by means of a number of heating elements. In addition, a flow of dry sweep gas is produced by at least two drying chambers containing a desiccating material. A first valve assembly alternately cycles the sweep gas through the first drying chamber and then through said second drying chamber. A second valve assembly routes a portion of the sweep gas leaving the active drying chamber to the vessel, and routes the remainder of the sweep gas through the remaining drying chamber(s) to purge water from the desiccating material contained therein during the temporal portions of the cycle when each drying chamber is not supplying sweep gas to the vessel.

Method and apparatus for thermal regeneration of molecular sieve

In some critical use, air-drying systems, 100% back-up capability is desired. The problem has been that an idle standby unit requires considerable time to reach full capability for dry air delivery. This invention bleeds enough dry air from the operating primary unit through parts of the idle back-up unit to maintain any dynamic conditions that are necessary to keep the standby unit ready for immediate use in the event of a failure of the primary unit.

Emergency standby air drying back-up system

This invention makes possible the use of a very small pressure relief valve for protecting pressure gauges, thermometers, humidity indicators and other detectors from excessive pressure in an element in which the fluid is contained and of which the indicators must measure a characteristic. The pressure relief valve is located in an exhaust branch outlet from passages that connect the detector with the element in which the fluid is contained; and the relief valve has a housing with an inlet port of a cross-section much less than the cross-section of the passage from the element containing the fluid. This inlet port throttles the flow of fluid into the relief valve. By thus reducing the cross section of the inlet port, the relief valve can be as small and inexpensive as desired, commensurate with the flow required by the detector where the detector is of a nature requiring a flow of the fluid.

Growing community of inventors

Longmont, CO, United States of America

Bernard W Settlemyer