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:
Jun. 24, 1986
Filed:
Nov. 30, 1984
Bryan D Knodel, Plainfield, IL (US);
John S Ludwigsen, Cambridge, MA (US);
Jill L Ludwigsen, Cambridge, MA (US);
Terry A Gallagher, Wheaton, IL (US);
Chicago Bridge & Iron Company, Oak Brook, IL (US);
Abstract
A method comprising feeding a liquefied refrigerant gas into direct contact with aqueous liquid in an enclosed vessel to chill or cool the liquid and/or produce ice crystals and vaporize the refrigerant by heat exchange with the aqueous liquid; feeding a mixture of cold aqueous liquid and/or ice and refrigerant from the vessel to an enclosed storage tank to provide cold aqueous liquid and/or ice therein; removing refrigerant vapor from the storage tank; converting the refrigerant vapor to liquid refrigerant in a refrigeration cycle and feeding the liquid refrigerant back to the enclosed vessel; and withdrawing aqueous liquid from the storage tank and feeding it to the enclosed vessel; with all said refrigerant and aqueous liquid streams and volumes being in a single closed system such that refrigerant and aqueous liquid are not lost except by inadvertent leaks and consumption of such materials is avoided because they are not withdrawn from the system. Apparatus is also disclosed for practicing the described method.