Acoustic degasification of pressurized liquids

Claim 1

A method of separating a dissolved gas from a liquid, which comprises: (a) providing a hollow chamber with at least one acoustic transducer attached thereto on the outer surface at a first antinodal point; (b) introducing a liquid containing a dissolved gas into the hollow chamber; (c) tuning said at least one acoustic transducer to be in resonance with the hollow chamber containing the liquid, and with a transducer power supply; (d) focusing acoustic energy from said at least one acoustic transducer so that peak intensity occurs near the center of the hollow chamber, thereby avoiding cavitation damage on the inside surface of the hollow chamber; (e) vibrating the hollow chamber by means of the acoustic energy thereby causing bubbles of the dissolved gas to form and grow in the liquid; and (f) separating the bubbles from the liquid.

Claim 2

A method of separating a dissolved gas from a liquid, which comprises: (a) providing a hollow chamber with at least one acoustic transducer attached thereto on the outer surface at a first antinodal point; (b) introducing a liquid containing a dissolved gas into the hollow chamber; (c) tuning said at least one acoustic transducer to be in resonance with the hollow chamber containing the liquid, and with a transducer power supply; (d) focusing acoustic energy from said at least one acoustic transducer so that peak intensity occurs near the center of the hollow chamber, thereby avoiding cavitation damage on the inside surface of the hollow chamber; (e) vibrating the hollow chamber by means of the acoustic energy thereby causing bubbles of the dissolved gas to form and grow in the liquid; and (f) separating the bubbles from the liquid.

Claim 5

A method of separating a dissolved gas from a liquid which comprises: (a) providing a hollow pipe having an acoustic transducer attached thereto at an antinodal point in a plane that is perpendicular to the direction of fluid flow into the pipe and spaced about the circumference and further including additional acoustic transducers being located at additional antinodal points and in phase with all the transducers; (b) introducing a continuous flowing liquid containing at least one dissolved gas into the hollow pipe; (c) tuning each of said acoustic transducers to be in resonance with the hollow pipe containing the flowing liquid and with a transducer power supply; (d) focusing the acoustic energy from each of said acoustic transducers so that peak intensity occurs near the center of the hollow pipe, thereby avoiding cavitation damage on the inside surface of the hollow pipe; (e) vibrating the hollow pipe by means of the acoustic energy thereby causing bubbles of at least one dissolved gas to form and grow in the flowing liquid; and (f) separating the bubbles from the liquid.

Claim 6

A method of separating a dissolved gas from a liquid which comprises: (a) providing a hollow pipe having an acoustic transducer attached thereto at an antinodal point in a plane that is perpendicular to the direction of fluid flow into the pipe and spaced about the circumference and further including additional acoustic transducers being located at additional antinodal points and in phase with all the transducers; (b) introducing a continuous flowing liquid containing at least one dissolved gas into the hollow pipe; (c) tuning each of said acoustic transducers to be in resonance with the hollow pipe containing the flowing liquid and with a transducer power supply; (d) focusing the acoustic energy from each of said acoustic transducers so that peak intensity occurs near the center of the hollow pipe, thereby avoiding cavitation damage on the inside surface of the hollow pipe; (e) vibrating the hollow pipe by means of the acoustic energy thereby causing bubbles of at least one dissolved gas to form and grow in the flowing liquid; and (f) separating the bubbles from the liquid.

Claim 7

A method of separating a dissolved gas from a liquid, using a series of hollow chambers having both an inside surface and an outside surface, which comprises: (a) providing more than one hollow chamber in a series, with at least one acoustic transducer attached to each hollow chamber on the outside surface at a first antinodal point; (b) introducing a liquid containing a dissolved gas into the series of hollow chambers, (c) tuning said at least one acoustic transducer to be in resonance with the hollow chamber to which the at least one transducer is attached while containing the liquid, and with a transducer power supply; (d) focusing acoustic energy from said at least one acoustic transducer so that peak intensity occurs near the center of the series of hollow chambers, thereby avoiding cavitation damage on the inside surfaces of the series of hollow chambers; (e) vibrating the series of hollow chambers by means of the acoustic energy thereby causing bubbles of the dissolved gas to form and grow in the liquid; and (f) separating the bubbles from the liquid.

Claim 8

A method of separating a dissolved gas from a liquid, using a series of hollow chambers having both an inside surface and an outside surface, which comprises: (a) providing more than one hollow chamber in a series, with at least one acoustic transducer attached to each hollow chamber on the outside surface at a first antinodal point; (b) introducing a liquid containing a dissolved gas into the series of hollow chambers, (c) tuning said at least one acoustic transducer to be in resonance with the hollow chamber to which the at least one transducer is attached while containing the liquid, and with a transducer power supply; (d) focusing acoustic energy from said at least one acoustic transducer so that peak intensity occurs near the center of the series of hollow chambers, thereby avoiding cavitation damage on the inside surfaces of the series of hollow chambers; (e) vibrating the series of hollow chambers by means of the acoustic energy thereby causing bubbles of the dissolved gas to form and grow in the liquid; and (f) separating the bubbles from the liquid.