CN-115551609-B - Water distillation apparatus, method and system

CN115551609BCN 115551609 BCN115551609 BCN 115551609BCN-115551609-B

Abstract

The distillation apparatus can include a source fluid input and an evaporator in fluid communication therewith. The apparatus may also include a compressor having an impeller coupled to the motor, the compressor having a low pressure inlet for steam from the evaporator and a high pressure outlet for compressing the steam. The apparatus may also include at least one temperature sensor configured to monitor a temperature of the vapor in the inlet and a condenser in heat transfer relationship with an outer surface of the evaporator and in fluid communication with the compressor outlet. The apparatus may further include a controller configured to regulate the rotational speed of the impeller with an impeller motor command based on a calibrated motor speed of the distillation apparatus. The controller may be configured to determine an adjustment motor speed for the next use of the device and to override the calibration motor speed with the adjustment motor speed.

Inventors

LAROCQUE RYAN K.
Brian G. GRAY
Paul R. Curtin
Joshua Ling
Gregory J. Hurley
Lucas Vanne
ROBERT BAUMANN
Setius J. Hughes
JOHN M. KERWIN
MICHAEL A. BAKER
Adia Lavenderland
BHAT PRASHANT
Larry B. Grey
Sean mccally
Benjamin E. COLBURN
SHANNON PRESCOTT

Assignees

德卡产品有限公司

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20210329
Priority Date: 20200327

Claims (12)

1. A distillation apparatus comprising: Source fluid input; A compressor receiving source steam and delivering compressed steam, the compressor comprising a rotating rotor having a rotational rate, the rotor being supported by a hydrodynamic bearing; A purifier, the purifier comprising: a vaporizer in fluid communication with the source fluid input, the vaporizer converting a portion of the received source fluid into steam; a condenser that receives compressed vapor from the compressor and converts the compressed vapor to a product liquid; A bearing feed pump in fluid communication with the condenser via a first conduit and supplying a product liquid to the hydrodynamic bearing via a second conduit, and A bypass line comprising a check valve fluidly connecting the first conduit to the second conduit, whereby fluid can flow from the condenser to the hydrodynamic bearing without passing through the pump, and Wherein the bypass line and the check valve allow the product liquid to flow to the hydrodynamic bearing without operation of the bearing feed pump when the pressure of the product liquid exceeds a predetermined value, and the distillation apparatus is capable of maintaining lubrication of the hydrodynamic bearing by the bypass line and the check valve in a state in which the bearing feed pump is closed.
2. The distillation apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a sensor manifold fluidly connected to an output of the bearing feed pump and fluidly connected to an output of the check valve, the sensor manifold comprising at least one of a pressure sensor and a temperature sensor.
3. The distillation apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a controller configured to operate the bearing feed pump and receive signals from at least one of the pressure sensor and the temperature sensor.
4. A distillation apparatus as set forth in claim 3 wherein said controller operates distillation in a plurality of logic states that dictate the rate of rotation of said compressor rotor, said controller operating said bearing feed pump at a first speed under a first condition and stopping said bearing feed pump under a second condition.
5. The distillation apparatus of claim 4, wherein the first condition occurs during a start-up procedure wherein a rotational rate of the compressor rotor is increased to a predetermined speed.
6. The distillation apparatus of claim 4, wherein the first condition occurs during production of hot water.
7. The distillation apparatus of claim 4, wherein the second condition occurs during production of normal temperature water.
8. The distillation apparatus of claim 4, wherein the first condition occurs when a rotating rotor speed is greater than a predetermined value.
9. The distillation apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first condition occurs when the rotating rotor speed is greater than a predetermined speed.
10. The distillation apparatus of claim 4, wherein the second condition occurs when a rotating rotor speed is less than a predetermined value.
11. The distillation apparatus of claim 10, wherein the second condition occurs when the rotating rotor speed is less than a predetermined speed.
12. The distillation apparatus of claim 4, wherein the first condition occurs when a signal from the pressure sensor falls below a predetermined value.

Description

Water distillation apparatus, method and system Cross Reference to Related Applications The present application claims priority from U.S. provisional application No. 63/001,025 entitled, "Water Distillation Apparatus, method AND SYSTEM (Water distillation apparatus, method, and System)", filed 3/27, 2020, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Technical Field The present invention relates to water distillation and, more particularly, to steam distillation apparatus, methods and systems. Background A large number of humans cannot obtain a reliable source of clean water. For example, the international development agency in canada reports that about 12 hundred million people cannot obtain safe drinking water. Published reports attribute millions of deaths each year (mostly children) to water-related diseases. Many water purification techniques are well known, including carbon filters, chlorination, pasteurization, and reverse osmosis. Many of these techniques are significantly affected by water quality changes and do not address many common contaminants such as bacteria, viruses, organics, arsenic, lead, mercury and pesticides that may be found in water supplies in developing countries and elsewhere. Some of these systems require access to a supply of consumables (e.g., filters or chemicals) (access to a supply of consumables). Furthermore, some of these techniques are well suited only for centralized large scale water systems that require both a large amount of infrastructure and trained operators. The ability to produce reliable clean water on a smaller, decentralized scale without the need for consumables and ongoing maintenance without regard to the water source is highly desirable, especially in developing countries. The use of vapor compression distillation to purify water is well known and many of these concerns can be addressed. But poor financial resources, limited technical assets and low population density make it impossible to build centralized large scale water supply systems in many developing countries, also limiting the availability of adequate, affordable and reliable power supplies (availabilities) to operate vapor compression distillation systems, and hampering the ability to properly maintain such systems. In this case, an improved vapor compression distillation system and related components may provide a solution that increases efficiency and throughput while reducing the power budget and amount of system maintenance required for system operation. Disclosure of Invention According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a distillation apparatus may include a source fluid input. The distillation apparatus may further comprise an evaporator in fluid communication with the source input. The distillation apparatus may also include a compressor having an impeller coupled to the motor. The compressor may have a low pressure inlet for steam from the evaporator and a high pressure outlet for steam compressed by the compressor. The distillation apparatus may further comprise at least one temperature sensor configured to monitor the temperature of the steam in the inlet. The distillation apparatus can further include a condenser in heat transfer relationship with the plurality of outer surfaces of the evaporator and in fluid communication with the outlet of the compressor. The distillation apparatus may further include at least one controller configured to regulate the rotational speed of the impeller with the impeller motor command under distillate production conditions. The impeller motor command may be based on a calibrated motor speed of the distillation apparatus. The controller may be configured to determine the adjustment motor speed and to override the calibration motor speed with the adjustment motor speed for use the next time the distillation apparatus is in a distillate production state. In some embodiments, the adjustment of the calibrated motor speed to the adjusted motor speed may be limited by an adjustment limit. In some embodiments, the controller may be configured to calculate the adjustment motor speed based on the proportional gain and a difference between the sensed temperature from the at least one temperature sensor and the target inlet steam temperature. In some embodiments, the adjustment limit may be no greater than twice the gain. In some embodiments, the distillate production status may be a hot water production status. In some embodiments, the controller may be configured to calculate the adjustment motor speed based on a difference between the target inlet steam temperature and the sensed inlet steam temperature from the at least one temperature sensor. In some embodiments, the sensed inlet steam temperature may be an output of a filter applied to the output data signal of the at least one temperature sensor. In some embodiments, the output data signal of the at least one temperature sensor may be low pass filtered to determine the sensed