Patent US3864927A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US3864927A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Method and apparatus for storage, transport, and use of cryogenic gases in solid form
Assignee: Individual
•
Filing: 1972-12-14
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Granted: 1975-02-11
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Expires: 1992-12-14
Abstract
Abstract An integrated, cryogenic storage, transport, and using system for a single solid cryogenic medium comprises: a gas-tight container; a plurality of closely-packed, adjoining compartments contained therein; layered material forming walls separating and enclosing the compartments; conduit for supplying the cryogenic medium in the liquid state to the compartments; and conduit for supplying a refrigerating fluid in heat exchange relationship with the cryogenic medium so as to solidify the fluid cryogenic medium into disconnected cryogenic solid blocks of essentially uniform composition in all the compartments. The separating walls allow any two adjoining compartments to mechanically (i.e., through stresses and strains) interact directly and, if needed, at reduced rates. In the later case, the layered material is sufficiently thick and deformable relative to the compartment size to allow for the expansion of the melting solid cryogenic medium without damaging and fracturing the container. Unique features of compartment connecting, fluid feeding, fluid supply self-regulating, stress and strain relieving, and compartment wall designing are also presented, together with novel methods of using the cryogenic system.
Inventors
- 👤 Chou H Li
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-05 05:17
CPC Classifications
F; F17; F17C; F17C3/00; F17C3/02; F25; F25J; F25J1/00; F25J1/0002; F25J1/0022; F25J1/02; F25J1/0221; F25J1/0243; F25J1/0257; F25J1/0275; F25J1/0277; F17C2203/00; F17C2203/03; F17C2203/0304; F17C2203/0308; F17C2203/032; F17C2203/0329; F17C2203/0333; F17C2203/0345; F17C2203/0354; F17C2203/0391; F17C2203/06; F17C2203/0634; F17C2203/0636; F17C2203/0639; F17C2203/0643; F17C2203/0646; F17C2203/0648; F17C2203/0651; F17C2203/0658; F17C2203/0663; F17C2203/0673; F17C2205/00; F17C2205/03; F17C2205/0302; F17C2205/0323; F17C2205/0332; F17C2221/00; F17C2221/01; F17C2221/011; F17C2221/012; F17C2221/014; F17C2221/03; F17C2221/031; F17C2221/032; F17C2221/033; F17C2221/035; F17C2221/037; F17C2223/00; F17C2223/01; F17C2223/0146; F17C2223/0184; F17C2223/03; F17C2223/031; F17C2225/00; F17C2225/01; F17C2225/0107; F17C2225/0123; F17C2227/00; F17C2227/03; F17C2227/0302; F17C2227/0304; F17C2227/0337; F17C2227/0341; F17C2227/0353; F17C2250/00; F17C2250/04; F17C2250/0404; F17C2250/0408; F17C2250/0417; F17C2250/0439; F17C2250/0486; F17C2250/0491; F17C2250/06; F17C2250/0605; F17C2250/0636; F17C2250/07; F17C2250/072; F17C2260/00; F17C2260/01; F17C2260/011; F17C2260/04; F17C2260/042; F17C2265/00; F17C2265/05; F17C2270/00; F17C2270/01; F17C2270/0102; F17C2270/0105; F17C2270/0165; F17C2270/0168; F17C2270/0171; F17C2270/0173; F17C2270/0186; F17C2270/0189; F25J2205/00; F25J2205/20; F25J2290/00; F25J2290/62; Y; Y02; Y02E; Y02E60/00; Y02E60/30; Y02E60/32; Y10; Y10T; Y10T403/00; Y10T403/21
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 38
Claim 1
Independent Claim
133 words
A cryogenic system for a single solid cryogenic medium normally in the gaseous state but capable of being liquefied and solidified at subatmospheric temperatures, comprising: a plurality of adjoining, close-packed compartments adapted to store therein the single cryogenic medium; layered material forming walls separating and enclosing the compartments; the separating walls allowing any two adjoing compartments to mechanically interact directly therethrough; means for supplying the single cryogenic medium in the fluid state to all the compartments; and means for supplying a refrigerating fluid in heat exchange relationship with the cryogenic medium so as to solidify the fluid cryogenic medium into close-packed but disconnected cryogenic solid blocks of essentially uniform composition in all the compartments thereby preventing the information of a crack extending across the entire length of a dimension of the cryogenic system.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
133 words
A cryogenic system for a single solid cryogenic medium normally in the gaseous state but capable of being liquefied and solidified at subatmospheric temperatures, comprising: a plurality of adjoining, close-packed compartments adapted to store therein the single cryogenic medium; layered material forming walls separating and enclosing the compartments; the separating walls allowing any two adjoing compartments to mechanically interact directly therethrough; means for supplying the single cryogenic medium in the fluid state to all the compartments; and means for supplying a refrigerating fluid in heat exchange relationship with the cryogenic medium so as to solidify the fluid cryogenic medium into close-packed but disconnected cryogenic solid blocks of essentially uniform composition in all the compartments thereby preventing the information of a crack extending across the entire length of a dimension of the cryogenic system.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
50 words
The cryogenic system of claim 1 wherein the enclosing walls for each of the compartments are yieldable and require external support for keeping in a specified shape the cryogenic fluid contained therein, but are rigidized and strengthened by the solid cryogenic medium frozen in situ from the fluid contained therein.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
68 words
The cryogenic system of claim 1 wherein the cryogenic medium is harmful when mixed in undiluted form with air from the ambient and including: container containing therein an inerting material for the cryogenic medium; and means for automatically releasing the inerting material from the container when the cryogenic medium in the compartments is about all used up so as to dilute any residual cryogenic medium to harmless proportions.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
12 words
The cryogenic system of claim 3 wherein the inerting material is non-combustible.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
73 words
The cryogenic system of claim 1 including means for pregressively thawing and gasifying in each of the compartments the solid cryogenic medium from the inner surface of a central region away from the side enclosing walls so that the cryogenic medium next to these walls is not appreciably warmed up and the stresses and strains on these enclosing walls due to the thawing and solid-to-liquid phase change of the cryogenic medium is minimal.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
61 words
The cryogenic system of claim 1 including supporting members exposed inside, and at least partly fastened to the walls of, the compartments so that after the compartments are filled with the fluid cryogenic medium and the fluid frozen in situ, the supporting members are frozen into the solid cryogenic medium so as to form a plurality of unitary solid structures therewith.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
32 words
The cryogenic system of claim 1 wherein the supplying means for the cryogenic medium comprises at least a retractile fluid supply conduit which retreats: as the fluid level in the compartment heightens.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
59 words
The cryogenic system of claim 1 wherein the supplying means for the cryogenic medium comprises at least a supply conduit provided with a plurality of discharge openings along its length and including: float device floating on the fluid in one compartment; and control means actuated by the float device for covering the discharge openings not intended to be opened.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
74 words
The cryogenic system of claim 8 wherein the control means comprises a tube of flexible sheet material connected to the float device and strong enough to stand the internal pressure of the filling fluid without breaking out of the discharge openings but sufficiently flexible under the buoyancy force of the float device so as to be flexed to uncover successively the discharge openings at higher levels as the fluid level in the compartments heightens.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
74 words
The cryogenic system of claim 1 wherein the compartments are stacked in at least two vertical levels, and the means for supplying the cryogenic medium and refrigerating fluid into a vertical column of compartments are in The form of supply conduits for mixed fluids, the conduit in an upper compartment in the vertical column aligning with, and joining at its lower end with the upper end of, the conduit in its lower adjoining compartment.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
53 words
The cryogenic system of claim 1 wherein the supplying means for the cryogenic medium and refrigerating fluid are in the form of a single supply conduit provided with at least one discharge opening through which the cryogenic mixed fluids are discharged into the compartments as at least one high-velocity stream of mixed fluids.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
71 words
The cryogenic system of claim 1 having at least one dimension exceeding 65 feet and wherein the solid cryogenic medium expands substantially on melting and including a substantially gas-tight container to contain the compartments in close-packed manner therein, the layered material having sufficient thickness and deformability relative to the size of the compartments so as to allow for the expansion of the melting solid cryogenic medium without damaging the container walls.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
88 words
The cryogenic system of claim 1 wherein the layered material for the enclosing walls comprises compressed insulation material and including: means for restraining the compressed material of reduced thickness from expansion to its normal thickness; and means responsive to water in the ambient to inactivate the restraining means after a prespecified time of exposure to the ambient, so as to allow the compressed material to be handled within the specified time but to allow it to expand thereafter to its normal thickness thereby enhancing its thermal insulation properties.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
35 words
The cryogenic system of claim 1 wherein the enclosing walls are collapsible onto the gasifying and receding solid cryogenic medium contained in the compartments so as to prevent vacuum formation therein and air intrusion thereinto.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
40 words
The cryogenic system of claim 10 wherein the supplying means for the cryogenic medium and refrigerating fluid comprises at least one supply conduit, said conduit being also collapsible and movable in coordination with the collapsing enclosing walls of the compartments.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
47 words
The cryogenic system of claim 1 including temperature-sensitive means for connecting the neighboring compartments together and for providing holding strength for handling, said holding strength decreasing with temperature and becoming substantially zero when the compartments are filled with the fluids and the cryogenic medium frozen into solid.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
65 words
The cryogenic system of claim 16 wherein the connecting means comprises a plurality of sleeve-and-pin sets, each pin fitting snugly at room temperature inside the sleeve of the same set, the sleeves having a thermal expansion coefficient substantially smaller than that of the pins so that at the temperature of the cryogenic solid medium the pins shrink substantially more than the sleeves for easy disconnections.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
38 words
The cryogenic system of claim 17 including on each of the pins transverse surfaces defining at least one groove; and also including elastic O-ring gas-tightly fitted on the groove to provide positive fluid sealing between the neighboring compartments.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
37 words
The cryogenic system of claim 16 wherein the temperature-sensitive connecting means is made of a cryobrittle material that loses the holding strength at a subatmospheric temperature above the temperature of the cryogenic medium contained in the compartments.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
83 words
The cryogenic system of claim 1 wherein the supplying means for supplying the cryogenic medium comprises a fluid supply conduit which includes: a wall to define a discharge opening thereon; and a flexible member partly attached to the conduit and having its unattached portion in spaced relationship with the opening, the pressure of the fluid supplied to the compartments through the conduit urging the flexible member to part from the opening to allow the cryogenic medium to be fed therethrough into the compartments.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
32 words
The cryogenic system of claim 20 including means responsive to Lowering temperature of the fluid in the compartments to reduce at a constant fluid feed pressure the size of the discharge opening.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
27 words
The cryogenic system of claim 20 wherein the flexible member sufficiently opens the discharge opening for venting when the pressure in the compartments exceeds a prespecified value.
Claim 24
Independent Claim
76 words
The method of using a single, liquefiable and solidifiable, gaseous cryogenic medium comprising: providing a plurality of close-packed, adjoining storage compartments with enclosing walls; supplying the cryogenic medium in the liquid state to all the compartments; supplying a refrigerating fluid in heat exchange relationship with the cryogenic medium; and adjusting the two supplying rates so that the liquid cryogenic medium is solidified into close-packed but disconnected cryogenic solid blocks of substantially uniform composition in the compartments.
Claim 25
Independent Claim
76 words
The method of using a single, liquefiable and solidifiable, gaseous cryogenic medium comprising: providing a plurality of close-packed, adjoining storage compartments with enclosing walls; supplying the cryogenic medium in the liquid state to all the compartments; supplying a refrigerating fluid in heat exchange relationship with the cryogenic medium; and adjusting the two supplying rates so that the liquid cryogenic medium is solidified into close-packed but disconnected cryogenic solid blocks of substantially uniform composition in the compartments.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
75 words
The method of claim 20 wherein each compartment has flexible enclosing walls incapable of supporting in a specified shape the liquid cryogenic medium therein and including: supporting the flexible enclosing walls during the filling of the cryogenic fluids into each compartment to keep it in the specified shape; freezing the cryogenic medium in situ while keeping the support and simultaneously rigidizing and strengthening the enclosing walls for subsequent handling without the aid of the support.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method of claim 23 wherein the enclosing walls are collapsible and including: collapsing the enclosing walls onto the gasifying and receding solid cryogenic medium contained in the compartments to prevent vacuum formation therein and air intrusion thereinto.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
49 words
The method of claim 20 including: providing incompletely connected devices in the compartments; filling the compartments with the liquid cryogenic medium; and freezing in situ the supporting devices into the solid cryogenic medium so as to form therewith a plurality of unitary solid structures having sufficient strengths for handling.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
64 words
The method of claim 23 including: recovering the mixed, evaporated gases; compressing the recovered mixed gases; expanding and cooling the compressed mixed gases to liquefy the cryogenic medium for resupplying into the compartments; further compressing the remaining gases; and expanding and cooling the remaining gases into the refrigerating fluid to be returned for further use in refrigerating the iquid cryogenic medium in the compartments.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
90 words
The method of claim 23 including controllably gasifying the solidified cryogenic medium for distribution and usage in the gaseous form, said controlled gasifying step comprising progressively thawing and gasifying the solid cryogenic medium from the inner surface of a central region away from the side enclosing walls of the compartments, so that the bulk of the solid cryogenic medium in the compartments is not appreciably heated up and the stresses and strains on these enclosing walls due to the thawing and solid-to-liquid phase change of the cryogenic medium is minimal.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
111 words
The method of claim 23 wherein the liquid cryogenic medium in its freezing range has the property of becoming more viscous with reduced temperature, and including: feeding the refrigerating fluid in multiple, submerged streams into each compartment under a substantially constant fluid feed pressure; and regulating the local feeding rates of the streams such that when the liquid cryogenic medium in any region of the compartment has a higher temperature relative to those in other regions, the fluid viscosity in this region is reduced and the flow stream velocity of the refrigerating fluid into this region is increased thereby achieving more rapid cooling of this region relative to the other regions.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
45 words
The cryogenic system of claim 1 wherein the enclosing and separating walls are gas-permeable and including electrical heating means to instantly supply sufficient heat to selected compartment walls to gasify the adjacent solid cryogenic medium for blowing apart the adjoining compartments for individual handling thereof.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
39 words
The method of claim 20 wherein the compartment-separating, enclosing walls are gas-permeable and including instantly heating selected locations in the compartment walls to controllably gasify adjacent solid cryogenic medium for blowing apart the adjoining compartments for individual handling thereof.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
73 words
The cryogenic system of claim 1 wherein the supplying means for the cryogenic medium is in the form of a supply conduit provided with at least one two-way discharge opening through which the fluid cryogenic medium can be fed into the compartments to be frozen while subsequently the gasified cryogenic medium can be passed out and including electrical heater in the conduit to heat up and gasify the solid cryogenic medium contained therein.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
49 words
The method of claim 20 wherein the enclosing walls separate the compartments and allow any two adjoining compartments to mechanically interact directly therethrough; and wherein the providing step comprises providing in the enclosing walls sufficient crack-arresting and energy-absorbing materials to reduce substantially the direct mechanical interaction between the compartments.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
62 words
The method of claim 23 wherein the enclosing walls separate the compartments and allow any two adjoining compartments to mechanically interact directly therethrough; and wherein the providing step comprises providing in the enclosing walls sufficient energy-absorbing materials to absorb significant portions of the stresses and strains on the enclosing walls due to the melting of the solid cryogenic medium in the compartments.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
43 words
The method of claim 23 wherein the gaseous cryogenic medium in undiluted form is combustible in the ambient gases and including automatically diluting the last portion of the gaseous cryogenic medium in the compartments sufficiently to prevent its combustion in the ambient gases.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
12 words
The method of claim 23 including individually venting each of the compartments.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1978-02-10 | 1978-08-12 | 1979-02-11 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1982-02-10 | 1982-08-12 | 1983-02-11 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1986-02-10 | 1986-08-12 | 1987-02-11 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |