The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 12, 2019
Filed:
Jun. 29, 2015
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (US);
King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, SA;
Amro Al-Qutub, Dhahran, SA;
Prakash Narayan Govindan, Melrose, MA (US);
John H. Lienhard, Lexington, MA (US);
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (US);
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, SA;
Abstract
A carrier gas is directed through a humidification chamber in a humidifier, where the carrier gas flow is directly contacted with a feed liquid to humidify the carrier gas with water evaporated from the feed liquid, producing a humidified gas flow. The humidified gas flow is then compressed in a compressor and then directed through a dehumidification chamber in a dehumidifier, where the compressed humidified gas flow is dehumidified to condense water from the compressed humidified gas flow. The dehumidified gas flow is then expanded in an expander, wherein the expansion of the dehumidified gas flow generates motion (e.g., rotation of a shaft), and wherein the motion generated in the expander is transferred to the compressor, where the motion compresses the humidified gas flow. Heat is also removed from the expanded dehumidified gas flow and transferred to compressed dehumidified gas flow upstream from the expander.