Purification of a gas by removing one or more admixed impurities from it by condensing the impurity or impurities to the solid state

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR THE PURIFICATION OF A GAS BY A HEAT EXCHANGER SYSTEM COMPRISING CONTINUOUSLY FLOWING THE GAS TO BE PURIFIED FIRST THROUGH ONE AND THEN THROUGH THE OTHER ALTERNATELY OF TWO REVERSIBLE HEAT EXCHANGING REGENERATORS, SIMULTANEOUSLY CONTINUOUSLY FLOWING A COLD FLUSHING GAS THROUGH THE REGENERATORS ALTERNATELY IN REVERSE DIRECTION WHEREBY EACH REGENERATOR IS ALTERNATELY TRAVERSED BY IMPURE GAS AND THEN BY FLUSHING GAS, COUNTERCURRENTLY FLOWING A SEPARATE GAS COLDER THAN THE GAS TO BE PURIFIED THROUGH SAID REGENERATORS IN HEAT EXCHANGE RELATION WITH THE SPACE TRAVERSED BY THE GAS TO BE PURIFIED TO CAUSE DEPOSITION OF THE IMPURITIES, COUNTERCURRENTLY FLOWING A GAS WARMER THAN THE FLUSHING GAS THROUGH THE REGENERATORS IN HEAT EXCHANGE RELATION WITH THE SPACE TRAVERSED BY THE FLUSHING GAS TO CAUSE THE IMPURITIES TO BE EVAPORATED AND REMOVED BY THE FLUSHING GAS, REGULATING THE AMOUNTS OF SAID SEPARATE COLDER GAS AND SAID WARMER GAS FLOWING THROUGH EACH REGENERATOR SO THAT IN EACH COMPLETE CYCLE THERE IS A DEPOSITION OF IMPURITIES AND A SUBSEQUENT EVAPORATION STAGE IN WHICH THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE AT ANY PLACE IN THE REGENERATOR DURING THE EVAPORATION IS HIGHER THAN THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE IN THE REGENERATOR AT THAT PLACE DURING THE DEPOSITION, THE QUANTITIES OF THE SAID SEPARATE COLDER AND WARMER GASES AVAILABLE DURING THE COURSE OF A CYCLE FOR FORMING SAID STREAMS, RECKONED IN TERMS OF TOTAL HEAT CAPACITY, BEING RESPECTIVELY IN EXCESS OF THE QUANTITIES OF IMPURE GAS AND FLUSHING GAS PASSING TO THE SYSTEM PER CYCLE, AND ACHIEVING THE REQUIRED AVERAGE TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE DEPOSITION AND EVAPORATION STAGES BY VARIABLY DEPRIVING THE REGENERATORS IN THE COURSE OF A CYCLE OF FRACTIONS OF THE FULL AVAILABLE QUANTITIES OF SAID COLDER AND WARMER GASES AND BY VARIABLY SUPPLYING AN AMOUNT OF THE COLDER GAS TO DELIVER COLD TO A REGENERATOR WHICH IS BEING FLUSHED AND VARIABLY SUPPLYING AN AMOUNT OF THE WARMER GAS TO DELIVER HEAT TO A REGENERATOR IN WHICH IMPURITY IS BEING DEPOSITED, SAID REQUIRED AVERAGE TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE DEPOSITION AND EVAPORATION STAGES BEING ACHIEVED BY FLOWING EXCESS QUANTITY OF THE COLDER GAS IN AT LEAST ONE STREAM IN COUNTERCURRENT HEAT EXCHANGE RELATION WITH THE IMPURE GAS, FLOWING IN COUNTERCURRENT HEAT EXCHANGE RELATION WITH THE FLUSHING GAS AT LEAST ONE STREAM OF THE WARMER GAS, AND VARYING THE QUANTITY OF WARMER GAS IN THE SAID STREAM IN EACH STAGE BY SWITCHING PART OF THE WARMER GAS DURING ONE STAGE FROM FLOW IN HEAT EXCHANGE RELATION WITH THE FLUSHING GAS TO FLOW IN HEAT EXCHANGE RELATION WITH THE IMPURE GAS AND SWITCHING SAID PART BACK AGAIN IN THE NEXT STAGE.