Westport Power Inc.

Westport Fuel Systems Canada Inc.

Jason J Coatta

Gregory A Batenburg

A reciprocating piston cryogenic pump has been suspended from stroking when process fluid discharge temperature from a vaporizer dropped below a threshold to prevent freezing of a heat exchange fluid circulating through the vaporizer and damage to downstream components. Suspension of the pump results in a decrease of process fluid pressure downstream of the vaporizer, which is undesirable. In the present technique, a temperature is monitored correlating to process fluid temperature downstream of the vaporizer. The amount of process fluid discharged from the pump in each cycle is adjusted as a function of the temperature such that the average residence time of the process fluid in the vaporizer is increased as the discharge amount decreases, increasing process fluid discharge temperature. The average mass flow rate of the process fluid through the vaporizer is unchanged regardless of pump discharge amount such that process fluid pressure downstream of the vaporizer is maintained.

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Burnaby, Canada

Jason J Coatta