Cryogenically producing oxygen-enriched liquid and/or gaseous oxygen from atmospheric air

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for the production of oxygen-enriched liquid and purified gaseous oxygen from local atmospheric air. In one embodiment, the system includes an air mover for generating a local atmospheric air stream; a cryocooler including a cooling element thermally coupled to a condensing separator; a heat exchanger having a first path for receiving a cold gaseous exhaust stream from the condensing separator and a second path for chilling and removing readily-condensible contaminants from the local atmospheric air stream to form a purified gas mixture stream via heat transfer to the cold gaseous exhaust stream; and a receiver for the oxygen-enriched liquid that condenses from the purified gas mixture stream in the condensing separator, leaving the gaseous exhaust stream.

1 . A system for producing an oxygen-enriched liquid from local atmospheric air, the system comprising: 
 an air mover for generating a local atmospheric air stream;    a cryocooler including a cooling element thermally coupled to a condensing separator;    a heat exchanger having a first path for receiving a cold gaseous exhaust stream from the condensing separator and a second path for chilling and removing readily-condensible contaminants from the local atmospheric air stream to form a purified gas mixture stream via heat transfer to the cold gaseous exhaust stream; and    a receiver for the oxygen-enriched liquid that condenses from the purified gas mixture stream in the condensing separator, leaving the gaseous exhaust stream.    
   
   
       2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the heat exchanger further includes a third path for transferring heat to the oxygen-enriched liquid to transform at least a part of the oxygen-enriched liquid into purified gaseous oxygen.  
   
   
       3 . The system of  claim 2 , further comprising a selector valve for controlling dispensing of the oxygen-enriched liquid and the purified gaseous oxygen.  
   
   
       4 . The system of  claim 2 , further comprising a humidifier for adding moisture to the purified gaseous oxygen.  
   
   
       5 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a system controller for controlling the air mover, the heat exchanger, the cryocooler and a reversing valve.  
   
   
       6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the system controller adjusts output based on a status of the receiver.  
   
   
       7 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a reversing valve for directing the local atmospheric air through the first path and the exhaust stream through the second path.  
   
   
       8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the cryocooler is selected from the group consisting of: a Stirling type and an orifice pulse tube type.  
   
   
       9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein an output of the system is less than approximately 10 liquid liters per day.  
   
   
       10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the system operates on one of approximately 110 V and 220 V electricity.  
   
   
       11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the system is portable by an individual person.  
   
   
       12 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein an output of the system includes a coupling adapted to interface with at least one of standard medical oxygen storage and standard oxygen dispensing equipment.  
   
   
       13 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the receiver includes an insulated dewar for storing the oxygen-enriched liquid.  
   
   
       14 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the heat exchanger is oriented to enable gravity assist.  
   
   
       15 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising an auxiliary defroster.  
   
   
       16 . A system for selectively isolating a liquid purified component of a gaseous mixture, the system comprising: 
 a flow generator for generating a gas mixture stream;    a cryocooler including a cooling element extending into a condensing separator;    a heat exchanger having a first path for receiving a cold exhaust stream from the condensing separator and a second path for chilling and removing contaminants from the gas mixture stream to form a purified cold gas mixture stream via heat transfer to the cold exhaust stream; and    wherein the cooling element condenses the liquid purified component from the purified cold gas mixture stream, leaving the cold gaseous exhaust stream, which exits through the first path of the heat exchanger.    
   
   
       17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the heat exchanger further includes a third path for transferring heat to the liquid purified component to transform the liquid purified component into another gaseous mixture.  
   
   
       18 . The system of  claim 16 , further comprising an insulated dewar for storing the liquid purified component and a system controller for adjusting output based on a status of the insulated dewar.  
   
   
       19 . A method for producing oxygen-enriched liquid from local atmospheric air, the method comprising the steps of: 
 forming an input stream of the local atmospheric air;    using cold exhaust from a closed-cycle cryogenic cooler to remove readily-condensible contaminants from the input stream to form a purified gas stream; and    cryogenically cooling the purified gas stream with a closed-cycle refrigerator to condense oxygen to form the oxygen-enriched liquid.    
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising forming gaseous oxygen from the oxygen-enriched liquid by using heat from the input stream to warm a portion of the oxygen-enriched liquid.  
   
   
       21 . A system for producing purified gaseous oxygen from local atmospheric air, the system comprising: 
 an air mover for generating a local atmospheric air stream;    a cryocooler including a cooling element thermally coupled to a condensing separator;    a heat exchanger having a first path for receiving a cold gaseous exhaust stream from the condensing separator, a second path for chilling and removing readily-condensible contaminants from the local atmospheric air stream to form a purified gas mixture stream via heat transfer to the cold gaseous exhaust stream, and a third path for transferring heat to an oxygen-enriched liquid that condenses from the purified gas mixture stream in the condensing separator to transform the oxygen-enriched liquid into the purified gaseous oxygen.    
   
   
       22 . The system of  claim 21 , further comprising a receiver for the oxygen-enriched liquid that condenses from the purified gas mixture stream in the condensing separator, leaving the gaseous exhaust stream.  
   
   
       23 . The system of  claim 22 , further comprising a selector valve for controlling dispensing of the oxygen-enriched liquid and the purified gaseous oxygen.