Efficient use of adsorbents for indoor air scrubbing
First Claim
1. An HVAC system, comprising:
- a scrubber containing an adsorbent, the scrubber configured to cycle between scrubbing at least one pollutant and/or first gas from a stream of gases with the at least one pollutant and/or first gas being adsorbed onto the adsorbent, and purging the at least one pollutant and/or first gas from the adsorbent via a regeneration gas flow;
at least one of a damper, a fan, a valve, a shutter, a duct, an inlet, and an outlet configured for flowing the stream of gases through the scrubber and over and/or through the adsorbent, wherein the adsorbent adsorbs the at least one pollutant and/or first gas from the stream of gases during an adsorption phase over a first time period;
at least one of a damper, a fan, a valve, a shutter, a duct, an inlet, and an outlet configured for flowing the regeneration gas flow over the adsorbent for purging a portion of the adsorbed at least one pollutant and/or first gas from the adsorbent during a regeneration phase over a second time period with a regeneration gas flow, anda control unit for cycling between the adsorption phase and the regeneration phase including at least one processor and a non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, perform the method comprising;
terminating the adsorption phase prior to a complete adsorption phase when an amount of the first time period that elapsed since a start of the adsorption phase indicates an adsorption efficiency value that is no greater than a fraction of an initial adsorption efficiency value of the adsorbent at the start of the adsorption phase; and
terminating the regeneration phase prior to a complete regeneration phase when an amount of the second time period that elapsed since a start of the regeneration phase indicates a regeneration rate that is within a predetermined range of a productivity of a complete regeneration phase of the adsorbent, whereinthe complete adsorption phase comprises a time period for substantially saturating all the adsorbent during the adsorption phase; and
the complete regeneration phase comprises a time period for removing substantially all of the pollutant and/or first gas from the adsorbent during the regeneration phase.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Some embodiments of the disclosure correspond to, for example, a method for controlling a scrubber containing an adsorbent. The scrubber may be configured to cycle between scrubbing at least one pollutant/gas from a stream of gases with the pollutant/gas being adsorbed onto the adsorbent, and regenerating at least some of the adsorbent and thereby purging at least some of the one pollutant and/or first gas from the adsorbent via a regeneration gas flow. The method may include flowing a stream of gases through the scrubber, the scrubber including the adsorbent and adsorbing at least some of the one pollutant/gas from the stream of gases onto the adsorbent during an adsorption phase over a first time period. The method may also include purging at least a portion of the one pollutant/gas from the adsorbent during a regeneration phase over a second time period with a regeneration gas flow, and cycling therebetween.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. An HVAC system, comprising:
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a scrubber containing an adsorbent, the scrubber configured to cycle between scrubbing at least one pollutant and/or first gas from a stream of gases with the at least one pollutant and/or first gas being adsorbed onto the adsorbent, and purging the at least one pollutant and/or first gas from the adsorbent via a regeneration gas flow; at least one of a damper, a fan, a valve, a shutter, a duct, an inlet, and an outlet configured for flowing the stream of gases through the scrubber and over and/or through the adsorbent, wherein the adsorbent adsorbs the at least one pollutant and/or first gas from the stream of gases during an adsorption phase over a first time period; at least one of a damper, a fan, a valve, a shutter, a duct, an inlet, and an outlet configured for flowing the regeneration gas flow over the adsorbent for purging a portion of the adsorbed at least one pollutant and/or first gas from the adsorbent during a regeneration phase over a second time period with a regeneration gas flow, and a control unit for cycling between the adsorption phase and the regeneration phase including at least one processor and a non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, perform the method comprising; terminating the adsorption phase prior to a complete adsorption phase when an amount of the first time period that elapsed since a start of the adsorption phase indicates an adsorption efficiency value that is no greater than a fraction of an initial adsorption efficiency value of the adsorbent at the start of the adsorption phase; and terminating the regeneration phase prior to a complete regeneration phase when an amount of the second time period that elapsed since a start of the regeneration phase indicates a regeneration rate that is within a predetermined range of a productivity of a complete regeneration phase of the adsorbent, wherein the complete adsorption phase comprises a time period for substantially saturating all the adsorbent during the adsorption phase; and the complete regeneration phase comprises a time period for removing substantially all of the pollutant and/or first gas from the adsorbent during the regeneration phase. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method, comprising:
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flowing a stream of gases through a scrubber, the scrubber including an adsorbent configured to adsorb at least one pollutant and/or first gas from a stream of gases containing the at least one pollutant and/or first gas during an adsorption phase over a first time period; purging a portion of the at least one pollutant and/or first gas from the adsorbent during a regeneration phase over a second time period with a regeneration gas flow configured to carry away the purged portion, and cycling between the adsorption phase and the regeneration phase while limiting at least one of; a duration of the first time period to a period of time Ta which is less than a complete adsorption phase, the period of time Ta selected so as to improve a productivity of the scrubber in comparison to when the scrubber is cycled between the complete adsorption phase and a regeneration phase; and a duration of the second time period to a period of time Tr which is less than a complete regeneration phase, the period of time Tr selected so as to improve the productivity of the scrubber in comparison to when the scrubber is cycled between the complete regeneration phase and an adsorption phase, wherein a complete regeneration phase includes a time period for removing substantially all adsorbed pollutant and/or first gas from the adsorbent during the regeneration phase, and a complete adsorption phase comprises a time period for substantially saturating all the adsorbent during the adsorption. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for controlling a scrubber containing an adsorbent, the scrubber configured to cycle between scrubbing at least one pollutant and/or first gas from a stream of gases with the at least one pollutant and/or first gas being adsorbed onto the adsorbent, and regenerating at least some of the adsorbent and thereby purging at least some of the at least one pollutant and/or first gas from the adsorbent via a regeneration gas flow, the method comprising:
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flowing a stream of gases through the scrubber, the scrubber comprising the adsorbent; adsorbing at least some of the one pollutant and/or first gas from the stream of gases onto the adsorbent during an adsorption phase over a first time period; purging a portion of the at least one pollutant and/or first gas from the adsorbent during a regeneration phase over a second time period with a regeneration gas flow, and cycling between the adsorption phase and the regeneration phase, wherein one cycle comprises at least an adsorption phase followed by a regeneration phase, one cycle period comprises the total time elapsed during one cycle, the at least one pollutant and/or first gas purged from the adsorbent is carried away by the regeneration gas flow, a complete regeneration phase comprises a time period for removing substantially all of the pollutant and/or first gas from the adsorbent during the regeneration phase, and a complete adsorption phase comprises a time period for substantially saturating all the adsorbent during the adsorption; and limiting at least one of; the duration of the first time period to a period of time Ta which is less than the complete adsorption phase, and the duration of the second time period to a period of time Tr which is less than the complete regeneration phase, wherein a productivity of the scrubber is improved as a function of at least one of Ta and Tr, with productivity comprising an average amount of the at least one pollutant and/or first gas removed per unit time.
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Specification