Thermodynamic management for integrated densified fluid-based textile treatment

Abstract

A direct contact densified fluid-based thermodynamic treatment system uses the fluid to effect heat transfer as the working fluid in a separate yet linked treatment system. During certain phases of operation of a densified fluid-based treatment process wherein it is necessary to distill the fluid to maintain the purity of the densified fluid heat is imparted to the densified fluid raising it above the boiling point for the associated pressure within a vessel. A densified fluid-based refrigeration/thermodynamic system removes heat during the condensing cycle of a working densified fluid treatment system and use the removed heat for distillation of the same working fluid in the distillation vessel. The process does not require an external heating or cooling system, and thus can be entirely supported by a single machine using the same densified fluid during its operational phase.

1 . A densified fluid treatment system, comprising:
 a treatment system, wherein the treatment system includes
 a densified fluid, 
 a distillation vessel, 
 a storage vessel closeably connected to the distillation vessel, 
 a treatment vessel for treatment of an article with the densified fluid at a hyper-atmospheric pressure and wherein the treatment vessel is connected to the storage vessel, and 
 a fluid displacement device, connected to and interposed between the treatment vessel and the distillation vessel, operable to transfer the densified fluid throughout the treatment system in a liquid state and/or in a vapor state, and compress the vapor state of the densified fluid into the liquid state of the densified fluid and wherein the distillation vessel continuously cleans the densified fluid used to treat the article; 
   a heat management system, wherein the heat management system includes
 the densified fluid, 
 a compressor, 
 a distillation vessel heat exchanger connected to the compressor by a distillation heat supply line, 
 a storage vessel heat exchanger connected to the compressor by a compressor fill line wherein interposed between the storage vessel heat exchanger and the compressor is a compressor fill line heat exchanger, and 
 an expansion a valve interposed between the distillation vessel heat exchanger and the storage vessel heat exchanger and connected to the distillation vessel heat exchanger by a distillation heat return line and connected to the storage vessel heat exchanger by a storage fill line; and 
   a charge line closeably connecting the storage vessel of the treatment system to the compressor fill line to maintain volumetric content of the densified fluid within the heat management system.   
     
     
         2 . The densified fluid treatment system of  claim 1 , wherein the compressor fill line heat exchanger is a plurality of heat exchangers configured in series. 
     
     
         3 . The densified fluid treatment system of  claim 1 , wherein the compressor fill line heat exchanger is a plurality of heat exchangers configured in parallel. 
     
     
         4 . The densified fluid treatment system of  claim 1 , wherein the compressor fill line heat exchanger is an adiabatic heat exchanger. 
     
     
         5 . The densified fluid treatment system of  claim 1 , wherein the compressor fill line heat exchanger is operable to add heat to the heat management system. 
     
     
         6 . The densified fluid treatment system of  claim 1 , further comprising a bypass heat exchanger connected to the distillation heat supply line and the distillation heat return line and operable to manage heat within the heat management system. 
     
     
         7 . The densified fluid treatment system of  claim 8 , wherein the bypass heat exchanger removes heat from the heat management system. 
     
     
         8 . The densified fluid treatment system of  claim 8 , wherein the bypass heat exchanger is a plurality of heat exchangers configured in series. 
     
     
         9 . The densified fluid treatment system of  claim 8 , wherein the bypass heat exchanger is a plurality of heat exchangers configured in parallel. 
     
     
         10 . The densified fluid treatment system of  claim 1 , wherein the compressor is a super critical adiabatic compressor. 
     
     
         11 . The densified fluid treatment system of  claim 1 , wherein the distillation vessel heat exchanger resides within the distillation vessel. 
     
     
         12 . The densified fluid treatment system of  claim 1 , wherein the storage vessel heat exchanger resides within the storage vessel. 
     
     
         13 . The densified fluid treatment system of  claim 1 , wherein the densified fluid is carbon dioxide. 
     
     
         14 . A method for heat management in a densified fluid treatment system, the method comprising:
 combining a densified fluid treatment system with a heat management system wherein the densified fluid treatment system and the heat management are fluidly coupled using a common densified fluid; and   managing heat exchange within the densified fluid treatment system by the heat management system using the densified fluid of the densified fluid treatment system.   
     
     
         15 . The method for heat management in a densified fluid treatment system according to  claim 14 , further comprising maintaining a volume of the densified fluid within the heat management system with densified fluid from the densified fluid treatment system. 
     
     
         16 . The method for heat management in a densified fluid treatment system according to  claim 14 , wherein the densified fluid is carbon dioxide. 
     
     
         17 . The method for heat management in a densified fluid treatment system according to  claim 14 , wherein the densified treatment system includes,
 the densified fluid,   a distillation vessel,   a storage vessel closeably connected to the distillation vessel,   a treatment vessel for treatment an article with the densified fluid at a hyper-atmospheric pressure and wherein the treatment vessel is connected to the storage vessel, and   a fluid displacement device, connected to the treatment vessel and the distillation vessel, operable to transfer the densified fluid throughout the treatment system in a liquid state and in a vapor state, and compress the vapor state of the densified fluid into the liquid state of the densified fluid and wherein the distillation vessel continuously cleans the densified fluid treatment the article.   
     
     
         18 . The method for heat management in a densified fluid treatment system according to  claim 15 , wherein the heat management system includes
 the densified fluid   a compressor,   a distillation vessel heat exchanger connected to the compressor by a distillation heat supply line,   a storage vessel heat exchanger connected to the compressor by a compressor fill line wherein interposed between the storage vessel heat exchanger and the compressor is a compressor fill line heat exchanger,   an expansion a valve interposed between the distillation vessel heat exchanger and the storage vessel heat exchanger and connected to the distillation vessel heat exchanger by a distillation heat return line and connected to the storage vessel heat exchanger by a storage fill line.   
     
     
         19 . The method for heat management in a densified fluid treatment system according to  claim 14 , connecting the storage vessel to the compressor fill line by a charge line to maintain volumetric content of the densified fluid within the heat management system. 
     
     
         20 . A densified fluid treatment system, comprising:
 a hyper-atmospheric treatment system including a densified fluid, a treatment vessel, a storage vessel, and a distillation vessel wherein the densified fluid is continuously cleaned within the distillation vessel during a treatment cycle; and   a heat management system for heat management of the hyper-atmospheric treatment system, the heat management system including a heat transfer fluid, and a plurality of heat exchangers, wherein one or more of the plurality of heat exchangers resides within each the distillation vessel and the storage vessel and wherein the heat transfer fluid is the densified fluid of the hyper-atmospheric treatment system.