Plasma microreactor apparatus, sterilisation unit and analyser
First Claim
1. Gas apparatus for the production of product gas, the apparatus comprising:
- a gaseous supply of a plasmolysable reactant gas;
electrodes, with a space between them of less than 1 mm;
a first conduit to lead the reactant gas from the gaseous supply through the space between the electrodes;
a power source to apply a voltage across the electrodes to dissociate the reactant gas to an intermediate ion;
a second conduit to supply product gas resulting from recombination of intermediate ions to an outlet, whereinthe reaction time T to reach 95%, preferably 99%, of the equilibrium conversion of said intermediate ion to said product gas is less than the ambipolar diffusion time Dt for the bulk of the ions to traverse the distance from one electrode to the other, estimated by the relationship
Dt=d2/Da where d is the gap distance between the electrodes, or the conduit in the region of the electrodes, whichever is smaller, and Da is the ambipolar diffusivity of the plasma;
a fluidic oscillator in one of said first and second conduits to oscillate at least the flow of product gas from said outlet;
a liquid into which said outlet opens whereby micro bubbles of said product gas are formed in said liquid;
whereinsaid product gas is arranged so that a majority of the product gas dissolves before said micro bubbles reach the surface of said liquid and the outlet comprises a plurality of orifices to be submerged in the liquid for the purpose of forming micro bubbles of the product gas.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus for the production of a product gas (eg hydrogen and ozone) comprises: a supply of reactant gas (eg oxygen and steam) (14); a pair of electrodes (24) with a space between them of less than 1 mm (28); a conduit to lead the reactant gas from the source through the space between the electrodes; a power source (26) to apply a voltage across the electrodes to dissociate the reactant gas and ultimately permit formation of product gas; and a conduit (40) to supply the product gas to an outlet. A sterilization unit for water treatment employs such apparatus and includes a fluidic oscillator to oscillate the flow of oxygen and/or ozone, and wherein said outlet comprises a plurality of orifices (42) to be submerged in said water and for the purpose of forming micro bubbles of ozone. An analyzer for detecting large organic molecules in eg air can employ the ozone generator to breakdown the large molecule into simpler and easier-to-detect-and-identify molecules.
-
Citations
24 Claims
-
1. Gas apparatus for the production of product gas, the apparatus comprising:
-
a gaseous supply of a plasmolysable reactant gas; electrodes, with a space between them of less than 1 mm; a first conduit to lead the reactant gas from the gaseous supply through the space between the electrodes; a power source to apply a voltage across the electrodes to dissociate the reactant gas to an intermediate ion; a second conduit to supply product gas resulting from recombination of intermediate ions to an outlet, wherein the reaction time T to reach 95%, preferably 99%, of the equilibrium conversion of said intermediate ion to said product gas is less than the ambipolar diffusion time Dt for the bulk of the ions to traverse the distance from one electrode to the other, estimated by the relationship
Dt=d2/Dawhere d is the gap distance between the electrodes, or the conduit in the region of the electrodes, whichever is smaller, and Da is the ambipolar diffusivity of the plasma; a fluidic oscillator in one of said first and second conduits to oscillate at least the flow of product gas from said outlet; a liquid into which said outlet opens whereby micro bubbles of said product gas are formed in said liquid;
whereinsaid product gas is arranged so that a majority of the product gas dissolves before said micro bubbles reach the surface of said liquid and the outlet comprises a plurality of orifices to be submerged in the liquid for the purpose of forming micro bubbles of the product gas. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
Specification