Cryocooler-Integrated Neon Purification for High-Purity Gas Separation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing neon purification methods face challenges in achieving high purity levels while balancing purity requirements, ability to purify impure gases across a wide range of compositions, and energy efficiency, often resulting in impurities like helium remaining dissolved in liquid neon unless a final efficient distillation column is used.
Innovation Solution
The method employs a cryocooler as a local cold source before cryogenic distillation to enhance purification efficiency, allowing precise temperature control near the triple point of the gas, combined with sequential processes like hydrogen removal, cryogenic adsorption, and cryogenic distillation to achieve high neon purity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If cryogenic distillation is used to achieve high neon purity, then purity exceeds 99.999%, but energy consumption increases and the process becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The purification process is divided into multiple stages: initial cryogenic cooling to condense most neon, followed by selective distillation to remove helium impurities. This segmentation allows each stage to target specific purification needs, achieving high purity without requiring continuous high-energy distillation throughout the entire process.
Solution Approach 2:
The process utilizes changes in temperature and pressure parameters to control the phase transitions of neon and helium. By carefully adjusting these parameters during cooling and distillation stages, the system maximizes purification efficiency while minimizing energy consumption through optimal operating conditions.
2Manufacturing precision
If cryogenic distillation column is used to remove helium impurities, then neon purity reaches ppm level, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system separates the purification function into distinct modules: a cooling system for initial condensation and a distillation column for final purification. This modular segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently and simplifies maintenance and operation compared to a single integrated complex system.
Solution Approach 2:
The distillation column acts as an intermediary device between the crude neon-helium mixture and the final high-purity neon product. It provides a controlled environment where selective separation occurs, simplifying the overall process by concentrating the purification function in a single dedicated component.
3Use of energy by moving object
If successive compression and expansion operations are used, then energy consumption is reduced, but neon purity only reaches percent level with helium remaining dissolved
Solution Approach 1:
The process merges compression/expansion operations with cryogenic distillation in a hybrid approach. The compression-expansion stages provide initial concentration and cooling, while the distillation column completes the purification by removing dissolved helium, achieving both energy efficiency and high purity.
Solution Approach 2:
Compression and expansion operations are performed as preliminary steps before distillation to pre-cool and concentrate the neon-helium mixture. This preliminary action reduces the energy burden on the distillation stage while ensuring that the subsequent distillation can achieve ppm-level purity by removing the dissolved helium that would otherwise require much higher energy input to eliminate.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach achieves neon purity exceeding 99.999% by effectively separating neon from helium and other impurities, overcoming the limitations of previous methods by integrating a cryocooler for local cold generation and staged cryogenic processing.
Implementation Method 1
a cryogenic cooler fitted with a cold head, said cryogenic cooler comprising a Joule-Thomson valve
Implementation Method 2
said heat exchanger being in heat exchange with said cold head
Implementation Method 3
to condense the neon with a view to its gravity separation from helium
Implementation Method 4
purification is completed by cryogenic distillation
Data Source
AI summary
Device and method for purifying a gas mixture to produce a concentrated gas, in particular neon, from a mixture comprising neon, the device comprising, in a cold box (19) housing a cryogenic purification circuit comprising in series, at least one member (12) for purification by cryogenic adsorption of the mixture at a temperature between 65K and 100K and in particular 65K, then a member (14) for cooling the mixture to a temperature between 25 and 65 K then a member (16) for cryogenic distillation of the mixture to produce at the outlet of the member (16) for cryogenic distillation said concentrated liquid, characterized in that the member (14) for cooling the mixture to a temperature of between 25 and 65 K includes at least one cryogenic cooler which extracts thermal power from the mixture via a heat exchanger.