6774 results about "Energy recovery" patented technology

An energy-reclamation apparatus of the present invention including at least a supercapacitor element connected with a charging source and a controlled circuit. After the supercapacitor element is charged to the potential of the charging source, the supercapacitor element and the charging source will work in series to conduct a repetitive polarity reversal of the supercapacitor element through a controlled circuit. As the supercapacitor element discharges, it is reversely charged concurrently. In other words, while the voltage of the supercapacitor element is decreasing on the side, a negative potential is complementarily developing on the other side. By repeatedly reversing the polarity of the supercapacitor element, more energy from the serially connected charging source can be reclaimed and reused.

The present invention relates to a system and method for harvesting ambient electromagnetic energy, and more particularly, to the integration of antennas and electronics for harvesting ubiquitous radio frequency (RF) energy, transforming such electromagnetic energy into electrical power, and storing such power for usage with a wide range of electrical / electronic circuits and modules.

Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) separation of a feed gas mixture is performed within an apparatus having typically a single prime mover powering a feed compressor for one or multiple rotary PSA modules in parallel, each module including a rotor with a large number of angularly spaced adsorber elements, with valve surfaces between the rotor and a stator so that individual adsorber elements are opened to compartments for staged pressurization and blowdown, with thermally boosted energy recovery from staged expansion of countercurrent blowdown and light reflux gases, and a plurality of adsorber elements opened at any instant to each compartment so that each compressor and expander stage operates under substantially steady conditions of flow and pressure.

An implantable beneficial agent infusion device featuring a unique energy recovery circuit and a deflectable energy storing member such as a piezo-electric membrane is disclosed. The circuit and deflectable energy storing member cooperate to permit electrical energy employed to activate the member to be at least partially recovered. In a preferred embodiment, the deflectable energy storing member is connected to a seal which is opened to permit the delivery or infusion of a pre-determined amount of a beneficial agent to a patient when the member is deflected or actuated through the application of a sufficiently high voltage thereacross. Charge stored on or in the deflectable energy storing member as a result of the voltage being applied thereacross is recovered by a novel circuit when the deflectable energy storing membrane is permitted to return to its non-actuated state or position.

A unitary humidity exchange cell (HUX) is dislosed that includes at least one composite membrane, disposed between at least one first chamber for flow of the first fluid therethrough and at least one second chamber for flow of the second fluid therethrough. The composite membrane include an at least partially sulfonated humidity-conducting polymer comprising residues derived from at least one arylvinyl monomer; and a reinforcing substrate bonded thereto. The product finds utility in a variety of physical and chemical processes and products whereby moisture or other highly polar liquid or gas transfer, exchange removal or delivery is important. A notable application is the Membrane Energy Recovery Ventilator (MERV) in which both heat, ions and moisture is transferred between two air streams, one intake and one exhaust, from an air-conditioned building.

An apparatus and method for generating slow rise-time, high voltage electrical pulses to a load, preferably using an existing transformer / rectifier set or power supply to charge an inversion or high voltage switching circuit to produce the pulsed voltage. An energy recovery circuit (100, 102) is used to return unused energy from the load (24) back to the means for producing pulsed voltage (110, 130). A load matching circuit (120) uses a blocking diode and a capacitor for charging the load. An additional blocking diode (32) inhibits load voltage discharge back through the slow pulse generating circuit. A transformer (20) can be used to step-up voltage from the inversion circuit, or high voltage switching circuit, to the load. One or more magnetic switch stages are used to transfer energy from the inversion circuit, or high voltage switching circuit, to the load matching circuit. A fire-on voltage controller (66) triggers the inversion or high voltage switching circuit.

Provided is a consumer to industrial scale renewable energy based quintuple-generation systems and energy storage facility. The present invention has both mobile and stationary embodiments. The present invention includes energy recovery, energy production, energy processing, pyrolysis, byproduct process utilization systems, separation process systems and handling and storage systems, as well as an open architecture for integration and development of additional processes, systems and applications. The system of the present invention primarily uses adaptive metrics, biometrics and thermal imaging sensory analysis (including additional input sensors for analysis) for monitoring and control with the utilization of an integrated artificial intelligence and automation control system, thus providing a balanced, environmentally-friendly ecosystem.

An integrated ventilation unit configured to provide ventilation and conditioned air to an indoor space may include a heat pump system, an energy recovery device and a control unit. The heat pump system may include a first coil located at a supply air side of the ventilation unit, a second coil located at an exhaust air side of the ventilation unit, and a compressor. The energy recovery device may be configured to transfer heat between a return air stream and a supply air stream and the control unit may be configured to control operation of the heat pump system and the energy recovery device.

A method of remediating and recovering energy from combustion products from a fossil fuel power plant having at least one fossil fuel combustion chamber, at least one compressor, at least one turbine, at least one heat exchanger and a source of oxygen. Combustion products including non-condensable gases such as oxygen and nitrogen and condensable vapors such as water vapor and acid gases such as SOX and NOX and CO2 and pollutants are produced and energy is recovered during the remediation which recycles combustion products and adds oxygen to support combustion. The temperature and / or pressure of the combustion products are changed by cooling through heat exchange with thermodynamic working fluids in the power generation cycle and / or compressing and / or heating and / or expanding the combustion products to a temperature / pressure combination below the dew point of at least some of the condensable vapors to condense liquid having some acid gases dissolved and / or entrained and / or directly condense acid gas vapors from the combustion products and to entrain and / or dissolve some of the pollutants while recovering sensible and / or latent heat from the combustion products through heat exchange between the combustion products and thermodynamic working fluids and / or cooling fluids used in the power generating cycle. Then the CO2, SO2, and H2O poor and oxygen enriched remediation stream is sent to an exhaust and / or an air separation unit and / or a turbine.

A heat and humidity exchanger comprises a pleated membrane cartridge disposed in a housing. The cartridge comprises a pleated water-permeable membrane via which heat and humidity can be transferred between two fluid streams. A flow field element is disposed within some or all of the folds of the pleated membrane, for directing the stream over the inner surfaces of the folds. The flow field path defined by the flow field element enhances flow distribution across one or both membrane surfaces, controlling the relative flow paths of the two streams on opposite sides of the membrane and reducing the pressure drop across the heat and humidity exchanger. The flow field elements provide improved water transfer and allow for a more compact device. The flow field elements can also assist in supporting the pleated membrane and controlling the pleat spacing within the pleated membrane cartridge. The heat and humidity exchanger is particularly suitable for fuel cell and energy recovery ventilator (ERV) applications.

A hydraulic system has a valve assembly with two workports coupled to chambers of first and second cylinders which are connected mechanically in parallel to a machine component. A separation control valve is connected between first chambers of both cylinders, and a shunt control valve is connected between the workports. A recovery control valve couples an accumulator to the first chamber of the second cylinder. Opening and closing the valves in different combinations routes fluid from one or both cylinders into the accumulator where the fluid is stored under pressure, and thereafter enables stored fluid to be used to power one or both cylinders. The shunt control valve is used to route fluid exhausting from one chamber of each cylinder to the other chambers of those cylinders. Thus the hydraulic system recovers and reuses energy in various manners.

Power plant systems and processes are described that enable recovery of at least a portion of the fuel storage energy associated with a storage system for supplying fuel to the power plant systems. A first embodiment of an energy-recovery power plant system includes at least one fuel storage container and at least one expander that can receive fuel from the fuel storage container at a first pressure and provide the fuel to the power plant at a second pressure that is lower than the first pressure. A second embodiment of an energy-recovery power plant system includes a first conduit fluidly coupling the fuel storage container and the power plant for delivering fuel from the fuel storage container to the power plant and at least one regenerative thermodynamic cycle engine thermally coupled to the first conduit such that heat may be exchanged between the fuel and a working fluid for the regenerative thermodynamic cycle engine.

The invention discloses a method for recovering potential energy of a movable arm of a hydraulic digging machine and a device thereof. The method comprises the following steps: firstly, the potential energy is stored through an energy accumulator in the retraction process of a hydraulic cylinder; and secondly the stored energy in the energy accumulator drives a generator to generate electricity, thereby realizing the recovery of the potential energy of the movable arm of the hydraulic digging machine. A mode for storing the potential energy is to convert the potential energy into pressure energy. The energy accumulator and the generator are connected through a proportioning valve so as to control the rotational speed of the generator. The method realizes high-efficiency recovery of the potential energy of the movable arm of the hydraulic digging machine; the principle of the method is to skillfully change the working time of hydraulic oil for power generation through the function of energy storage of the energy accumulator and provide effective buffering for recovering the potential energy; in addition, through the throttling control of the proportioning valve, the method reduces pressure fluctuation of the hydraulic oil in the power generation process, realizes the adjustment of the working rotational speed of the generator, improves the working efficiency of the generator and further improves the efficiency of energy recovery.

The invention is a method and system to provide negative torque to an electric vehicle (EV, FCEV, hybrid electric powertrain (HEV)) powertrain when only the electric motor is engaged and the accelerator pedal is released with the ultimate objective to provide consistent vehicle performance under varying operating conditions. This deceleration is at a calibratable amount for a calibratable time period using a hierarchical strategy employing a variety of means including dissipating the vehicle's kinetic energy as heat in the motor; regenerative braking; and activating a mechanical braking system. This negative torque on the powertrain is provided only briefly thereby reducing the total kinetic energy dissipation. The invention provides the driver a vehicle deceleration response similar in "feel" to releasing the accelerator of a conventional ICE vehicle under all operating modes, while maintaining optimal energy recovery.

A vehicle engine has a system of valves that permits various engine cylinders to operate in different modes of operation. During braking, some of the engine cylinders receive atmospheric air, compress it, and transfer it to an intermediate air-container. Other cylinders receive compressed air from the intermediate air-container, further compress it, and transfer it to a high-pressure air-reservoir for storage. During acceleration, some of the engine cylinders receive compressed air from the high-pressure air-reservoir, expand it to a lower level of pressure, and transfer it to the intermediate air-container. Other cylinders receive air from the intermediate air-container, further expand it, and use it for combustion in an internal-combustion cycle. During short stops, the engine is shut down, for the duration of the stop, and, then, it is restarted with compressed air. During cruise, the engine operates as a conventional internal-combustion engine.

A method of recovering energy from a cool compressed gas, compressed liquid, vapor, or supercritical fluid is disclosed which includes incrementally expanding the compressed gas, compressed liquid, vapor, or supercritical fluid through a plurality of expansion engines and heating the gas, vapor, compressed liquid, or supercritical fluid entering at least one of the expansion engines with a low quality heat source. Expansion engines such as turbines and multiple expansions with heating are disclosed.

A core unit for an energy recovery system for exchanging heat and vapor between two independent intake and exhaust airstreams without intermixing thereof, the core unit having a fibrous microporous support substrate and a sulfonated block copolymer having at least one end block A and at least one interior block B wherein each A block contains essentially no sulfonic acid or sulfonate ester functional groups and each B block is a polymer block containing from about 10 to about 100 mol percent sulfonic acid or sulfonate ester functional groups based on the number of monomer units, and wherein the sulfonated block copolymer is laminated on the microporous support substrate

A multi-staged boundary layer engine and process cell, (based on the effect known as adhesion and viscosity) which achieves high thermal efficiencies and high mechanical power output for use in the power generation, geothermal, energy recovery, solar, transportation, hydrogen production, desalinating water and hydroelectric fields. The design is novel with a dovetail attachment of the disc packs, allowing lower stress and allowing the use of next generation materials such as ceramics, composites and nanocomposites to improve the maximum temperature and the maximum RPM of the engine, thereby producing more horsepower and torque. In addition, this invention includes multi-stage vacuum, an external combustion chamber and condenser stages to improve the vortex flow through the primary disc pack cell. This engine will also encompass a closed loop cycle for ultimate efficiencies. This invention will also include the use of catalysts and / or electrical polarities applied to the disc pack and the disc pack / casing respectively to achieve low NOx and also to achieve process cell capability for applications such as desalinization and hydrogen generation.

A thermodynamic system for waste heat recovery, using an organic rankine cycle is provided which employs a single organic heat transferring fluid to recover heat energy from two waste heat streams having differing waste heat temperatures. Separate high and low temperature boilers provide high and low pressure vapor streams that are routed into an integrated turbine assembly having dual turbines mounted on a common shaft. Each turbine is appropriately sized for the pressure ratio of each stream.

The invention discloses a hybrid power engineering mechanical accumulator-hydraulic motor energy recovery system. The system mainly comprises an engine, a variable pump, variable frequency motors, a variable motor, a signal control unit, an accumulator and a hydraulic implementation element, and the like. In the system, the variable motor is coaxially connected with a variable frequency motor M2 and forms a composite energy recovery system with the accumulator so as to recover the gravitational potential energy and braking energy in the lowering process of an implementation mechanism. The variable pump, the engine and a variable frequency motor M1 are coaxially connected; a hybrid power system which consists of the engine and the variable frequency motor M1 drives the hydraulic implementation mechanism to rise and lift heavy objects together with the accumulator. The system overcomes the defects that the variable motor-power generator energy recovery system responds slowly and the specific energy of the accumulator is low, enhances the dynamic response performance of the energy recovery system, improves the working conditions of power generation of an electric generator, and simultaneously can directly recover part of potential energy by the accumulator, thus raising the energy recovery efficiency of the system.

A work vehicle having a hydrostatic drive system provides for the recovery and reuse of the vehicle's kinetic energy by conducting pressurized hydraulic fluid out of the hydrostatic drive system into an accumulator during vehicle deceleration, and conducting the pressurized fluid back into the drive system during vehicle acceleration to assist the vehicle's engine in accelerating the vehicle.

Retard energy regenerated from an electrical motor during braking action is reinjected into a power system via trolley lines. The retard energy may be transmitted to a bidirectional electric substation and returned to a utility grid. The retard energy may also be transmitted to an auxiliary energy storage system, such as an ultracapacitor system or a battery system. Installing trolley lines for mining haul trucks on a downhill slope may be used to capture and re-use substantial quantities of retard energy.

The present invention is directed to a process for the production of ethanol and energy. The process includes the steps of fermenting a corn mash in an aqueous medium to produce a beer. Next, the beer is distilled to produce ethanol and a whole stillage. The whole stillage is anaerobically digested to produce a biogas and a residue. The biogas is combusted to produce electricity and steam. The electricity and steam are used during the fermentation and distillation process. The residue may further be separated into a liquid fertilizer and top soil residue.

An apparatus, system and method are provided for optimizing energy retrieval from an array of solar cells and protecting the array of solar cells from weather-related conditions, including moving a reflector panel to a predetermined angular position on the basis of an ambient condition, or some other factor.

Methods, devices and systems for power generation through liquid piston internal combustion engine. The liquid piston internal combustion engine of the invention, utilizes a novel, synergetic combination of internal combustion and steam piston engines within the framework of one and the same system. The engine may comprise or a plurality of cylinders, each having a liquid piston. The ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) system comprises six modules viz PGM (Power Generating Module) (100), ERS (Energy Recovery System) (200), PCM (Power Conversion Module) (300), HAS (Hydraulic Shock Absorbers Module) (400), DAC (Data Acquisition & Control Module) (500) and AEM (Auxiliary Equipment Module) (600).

An energy recovery system and method using an organic rankine cycle is provided for recovering waste heat from an internal combustion engine, which effectively controls condenser pressure to prevent unwanted cavitation within the fluid circulation pump. A coolant system may be provided with a bypass conduit around the condenser and a bypass valve selectively and variably controlling the flow of coolant to the condenser and the bypass. A subcooler may be provided integral with the receiver for immersion in the accumulated fluid or downstream of the receiver to effectively subcool the fluid near the inlet to the fluid pump.

Systems, devices and methods provide energy recover, modular systems to build and revise commercial kitchen services, closed circuit exhaust, and high efficiency capture and containment of fumes from cooking processes.

The invention relates to a range-extending electric vehicle control system and method, belonging to the technical field of vehicle control of electric vehicles. The range-extending electric vehicle control system comprises a vehicle-mounted power battery, a driving motor, a range extender, a transmission box, a vehicle control unit (VCU), a battery management system (BMS) and a motor control unit (MCU), wherein the range extender consists of a small-sized engine, a power-generating / driving integrated generator, an engine control unit and a power generator control unit; the range extender is used for supplying power to the vehicle-mounted power battery or directly driving the motor; the vehicle control unit is used for carrying out vehicle traveling drive control according to the driver demands and states of all subsystems of the vehicle, managing the vehicle energy and transmitting instruments of various working states to sub nodes of the range extender. According to the range-extending electric vehicle control system and method disclosed by the invention, on the promise of battery system safety and service life and with avoidance of frequent start and stop of the range extender as a target, control over power generation through braking energy recovery and control over power generation of the range extender are coordinated; and when the electric vehicle travels for a long trip, the range extender can be controlled to start or stop, and thus the requirement of extending the driving range of the vehicle is met.