Pressure Swing Adsorption Plant Quantity and Purity Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pressure swing adsorption systems face challenges in preventing overloading of adsorbers, maintaining product purity, and efficiently managing fluctuations in product quantity, often requiring complex control valves and leading to increased susceptibility to faults and prolonged achievement of specified purity levels.
Innovation Solution
A method that adjusts the load and controls the quantity of product in a pressure swing adsorption system by determining the termination of the production cycle based on the amount of product gas removed from the adsorber, calculated from the quantity taken from the product buffer and the pressure curve, ensuring uninterrupted feed gas supply and eliminating the need for control valves.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a control valve is used to limit product flow from the product buffer, then the product quantity can be regulated, but the susceptibility to malfunctions increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the flow limiting function from the product buffer side and relocates it to the adsorber inlet side. By placing a flow limiter on the feed gas line to the adsorber rather than on the product line from the buffer, the system achieves quantity control without requiring a control valve in the product buffer circuit, thereby eliminating the associated malfunction risks while maintaining regulatory capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces an intermediary flow limiter device on the feed gas line that mediates between the feed gas supply and the adsorber. This intermediary component controls the product quantity indirectly by limiting the input flow to the adsorber, avoiding the need for direct control valve intervention in the product buffer system and thus improving reliability.
2Manufacturing precision
If a control valve is used to prevent adsorber overloading, then product purity can be maintained, but the time required to achieve specified purity level increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies preliminary action by placing the flow limiter upstream on the feed gas line before the adsorber. This prevents overloading from occurring in the first place, rather than reacting to it after it occurs. The flow is controlled at the source, allowing the system to reach the desired purity level faster without the delays associated with corrective control valve adjustments.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces the complex mechanical control valve system with a simpler flow limiter mechanism positioned on the feed gas line. This substitution eliminates the need for complex control algorithms and rapid valve adjustments, thereby reducing the time required to achieve and maintain specified purity levels while still preventing adsorber overloading.
3Productivity
If the operating cycle is extended by throttling feed gas flow rate, then load adjustment is achieved, but the cycle time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention creates a simplified copy of the load adjustment mechanism by using a flow limiter on the feed gas line that directly proportions the feed flow to the desired product output. This eliminates the need for complex cycle time extensions and throttling operations, achieving load adjustment without increasing cycle time while maintaining the same absolute amount of feed gas and product processed.
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 prevents adsorber overloading, maintains product purity, allows for continuous load adjustment, and reduces energy requirements by maintaining a stable pressure difference, thus enhancing system reliability and efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
pressure swing adsorption (PSA) system
Implementation Method 2
pressure swing adsorption (PSA) system
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for adapting the load and checking the quantity and purity of a pressure swing adsorption plant, wherein the pressure swing adsorption plant runs through a working cycle that comprises at least one production cycle. During the production cycle, a feed gas is fed uninterruptedly into at least one adsorber and the time at which the production cycle ends is determined by ascertaining the quantity MA(t) of the product gas removed from the at least one adsorber during the production cycle, wherein the production cycle is ended when the quantity MA(t) is greater than or equal to a prescribed quantity MDesign, and wherein the quantity MA(t) is calculated from the quantity Q(t) removed from the product buffer and the pressure profile in the product buffer. The invention also relates to a pressure swing adsorption plant for carrying out the method.