US-20260125806-A1 - THERMAL RECOVERY FROM CERAMIC OXYGEN CONCENTRATOR FOR HEATING A SECONDARY DEVICE

Abstract

Thermal recovery of waste heat output by a ceramic oxygen concentrator for heating a secondary device. A system includes an electrochemical stack comprising a plurality of oxygen concentrator cells, wherein each of the plurality of oxygen concentrator cells comprises: a ceramic electrolyte membrane comprising an oxygen ion conducting material, a cathode layer, and an anode layer. The system includes a heat exchanger that receives an input gas and an oxygen-diminished output gas, wherein the oxygen-diminished output gas is output by the electrochemical stack. The system includes a secondary unit in fluid communication with the heat exchanger, wherein the heat exchanger heats the input gas prior to the input gas being provided to the electrochemical stack, wherein the heat exchanger cools the oxygen-diminished output gas prior to the oxygen-diminished output gas being provided to the secondary unit, and wherein the secondary unit is heated with the oxygen-diminished output gas.

Inventors

• Dale M. Taylor
• Thomas Dale Taylor
• Zhipeng Nan

Assignees

• American Oxygen, LLC

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20251103

Claims (15)

1. 1 . A system comprising: an electrochemical stack comprising a plurality of oxygen concentrator cells, wherein each of the plurality of oxygen concentrator cells comprises: a ceramic electrolyte membrane comprising an oxygen ion conducting material; a cathode layer; and an anode layer; a heat exchanger that receives an input gas and an oxygen-diminished output gas, wherein the oxygen-diminished output gas is output by the electrochemical stack; and a secondary unit in fluid communication with the heat exchanger; wherein the heat exchanger heats the input gas prior to the input gas being provided to the electrochemical stack; wherein the heat exchanger cools the oxygen-diminished output gas prior to the oxygen-diminished output gas being provided to the secondary unit; and wherein the secondary unit is heated with the oxygen-diminished output gas.
2. 2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the secondary unit comprises one or more of an air sterilizer, fabric heater, steam generator, water heater, air heater, film shrinker, dryer, process preheater, water purifier, water desalination assembly, snow melter, or de-icing assembly.
3. 3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the secondary unit comprises a sterilizer.
4. 4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the secondary unit comprises a purifier.
5. 5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the secondary unit comprises one or more of an agricultural processor or food processor.
6. 6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the oxygen-diminished output gas comprises a temperature from about 500 degrees Celsius to about 900 degrees Celsius prior to entering the heat exchanger; and wherein the oxygen-diminished output gas comprises a temperature from about 100 degrees Celsius to about 500 degrees Celsius when exiting the heat exchanger.
7. 7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the oxygen-diminished output gas comprises a temperature from about 100 degrees Celsius to about 500 degrees Celsius when provided to the secondary unit.
8. 8 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a boost heater, wherein the boost heater heats the oxygen-diminished output gas after the oxygen-diminished output gas has been cooled by the heat exchanger, and before the oxygen-diminished output gas is provided to the secondary unit.
9. 9 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a heater, wherein the heater heats the input gas before the input gas is provided to the heat exchanger.
10. 10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the electrochemical stack receives the input gas, wherein the input gas comprises oxygen; and wherein the electrochemical stack outputs: the oxygen-diminished output gas; and high-purity oxygen gas, wherein the high-purity oxygen gas comprises a purity in excess of 95 percent.
11. 11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the oxygen-diminished output gas is provided to the secondary unit and further released into the atmosphere after being cooled by the heat exchanger.
12. 12 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a blower, wherein the blower feeds the input gas into the heat exchanger.
13. 13 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a thermal enclosure, wherein each of the electrochemical stack, the heat exchanger, and the secondary unit is disposed within an interior space defined by the thermal enclosure.
14. 14 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising: a second electrochemical stack; a first storage vessel; and a second storage vessel; wherein first purified oxygen gas output by the electrochemical stack is fed to the first storage vessel; wherein the first purified oxygen gas is input to the second electrochemical stack; and wherein second purified oxygen gas is output by the second electrochemical stack and fed to the second storage vessel.
15. 15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the first storage vessel stores the first purified oxygen gas at a first pressure, wherein the second storage vessel stores the second purified oxygen gas at a second pressure, and wherein the second pressure is greater than the first pressure.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/715,384, filed Nov. 1, 2024, titled “THERMAL-HEAT RECOVERY FROM CERAMIC OXYGEN GENERATOR,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, including but not limited to those portions that specifically appear hereinafter, the incorporation by reference being made with the following exception: In the event that any portion of the above-referenced provisional application is inconsistent with this application, this application supersedes the above-referenced provisional application. TECHNICAL FIELD The disclosure relates generally to efficient use of energy through thermal-heat recovery and relates more particularly to thermal-heat recovery from ceramic devices for concentrating oxygen gas. BACKGROUND Many industries and applications benefit from oxygen gas or high purity oxygen gas. Common uses of oxygen gas are in the medical field, in commercial applications, in industrial manufacturing and construction applications, in chemical manufacturing applications, and so forth. High purity oxygen serves a key role in many different industries. However, traditional methods for purifying oxygen are time, resource, and energy intensive. It is therefore desirable to develop systems, methods, and devices for purifying oxygen by way of low cost and low energy means. Oxygen is the only element that supports respiration, and it is required to support life and maintain healthy biological processes. Because oxygen is imperative to life and health, separated oxygen and/or high purity oxygen is commonly used in medical applications. For example, medical oxygen is used as a basis for virtually all procedures that involve the use of anesthesia, medical oxygen is typically provided to all patients that are experiencing any respiratory distress, and all patients experiencing low blood oxygen levels. Providing high purity oxygen to a patient can restore the patient's tissue oxygen tension by improving oxygen availability in a wide range of conditions, including cyanosis, shock, sever hemorrhage, carbon monoxide poisoning, major trauma, cardiac arrest, and respiratory arrest. Oxygen can aid in resuscitation of a patient and provides a vital role in sustaining the patient's brain function and tissue health during a time of distress. Hospitals and clinics around the world need a constant ready-to-use supply of purified oxygen gas that can be provided to a patient at any time. Many hospitals, particularly smaller hospitals or remote hospitals, rely on using individual tanks of oxygen gas. This can be extremely expensive and can be a significant financial burden on some medical facilities. In addition, as oxygen in the tanks are consumed, they must be refilled or replaced with pre-filled tanks, and this creates a risk a given medical facility will run out of their stored oxygen supply. This risk is particularly acute during inclement weather or after a local disaster such as a hurricane, earthquake, flooding, mudslide, forest fire, or other disaster when medical oxygen supplies are most needed. Therefore, it is desirable to provide systems, methods, and devices for generating purified oxygen on-site or near the consumer at a lower cost that is sustainable and requires less energy to produce and maintain and is less susceptible to environmental conditions. Other important industries that rely on the use of high purity oxygen include a wide range of industrial manufacturing industries such as chemical manufacturing, raw material refinement, and others. Many manufacturing processes benefit from oxygen enrichment. For example, processes involving combustion are greatly improved by lowering the amount of nitrogen gas and increasing the amount of oxygen gas. The combustion efficiencies will increase due to a drop in heat loss as a result of lower mass flow rates. Further for example, processes involving gasification by which coal, or another carbon-based fuel is transformed into a synthesis gas, benefit from oxygen enrichment. Therefore, it is desirable to provide low-cost and high efficiency means for generating copious quantities of oxygen gas for use across many different industries. One traditional method of generating oxygen gas is by way of cryogenic air separation. Historically, this method accounts for over 95% of all oxygen production and is performed at a central production plant and then distributed to end users. Cryogenic air separation is used to produce concentrated oxygen or nitrogen in high volumes. Air is commonly made up of oxygen, nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and other particles. Cryogenic air separation is based on each of these components having a different boiling point, i.e., when the component transitions from a liquid state to a gaseous state. In cryogenic air separation, the temperature of air is lowered so that nitrogen and oxygen separate based on their different boili