Pacific Consolidated Industries, LLC

William K Goshay

Tarik Naheiri

Jason M Burns

Javier Lopez

Mark Baker

Robert Wimmer

A driving system for a reversing blower adsorption based air separation unit is configured to not only drive the reversing blower cyclically in a forward and in a reverse direction, but also to allow the reversing blower to coast during a portion of its operating cycle. While coasting, a pressure differential across the blower acts alone to switch the reversing blower between a forward and a reverse direction of operation. Less power is thus required. When coasting, the blower can also be configured to output power such as the drive motor functioning as an electric generator or by having a mechanical power input be driven by the blower for power generation and/or energy storage. Such a system beneficially utilizes the energy associated with the pressure differential across the blower for energy harvesting and to further accelerate cycle times for the reversing blower adsorption based air separation unit.

Reversing blower adsorption utilizing coasting

An exemplary single bed reversing blower adsorption based air separation unit is configured to follow the Oload placed thereon by adjusting flow rates therethrough and power consumption. At least one and preferably multiple pressure sensors sense Opressure within an Ostorage region downstream of an adsorber vessel. These sensed pressures are utilized to generate control signals controlling flow rates at locations upstream of the compressor, such as at a reversible blower and an output compressor. Control loops for the blower and the compressor are independent of each other and have different time constants. Effective following of the Oload is thus achieved without driving the air separation unit into operational conditions outside of design and also maintaining optimal power consumption for the Oproduced, such that efficiency is maintained over a large turndown ratio.

Load following single bed reversing blower adsorption air separation system

A multi-unit system combines multiple single bed reversing blower vacuum swing adsorption air separation units together. The units feed a common Osupply such as a system buffer tank. Demand is monitored and a number of individual units are brought online sufficient to meet demand. If demand exceeds supply, a further unit is brought online. If demand drops below supply by an amount greater than output of a single unit, then a longest operating unit is taken offline. The multi-unit system thus meets demand through utilization of multiple separate units in a highly redundant and highly reliable and scalable fashion.

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Porter Ranch, CA, United States of America

William K Goshay