Energy efficient apparatus for vaporizing a liquid and condensing the vapors thereof

Claim 1

An energy efficient apparatus for vaporizing a liquid and condensing the vapors thereof, said apparatus utilizing heat of compression for vaporizing said liquid, said apparatus comprising (a) a still for containing a liquid to be vaporized; (b) a closed refrigeration system comprising (1) a condenser located within said still and in heat-transfer relationship with said liquid, (2) an evaporator coil, (3) a compressor, and (4) a sensible heat-conveying line connecting said condenser to said evaporator coil; said closed refrigeration system for containing a working fluid, said compressor for raising said working fluid to a high pressure and adding heat of compression thereto, said condenser for transferring heat including said heat of compression from said working fluid to said liquid, as a result of which said liquid is vaporized and the resulting fluid contains sensible heat, and said sensible heat-conveying line for passing said resulting working fluid from said condenser to said evaporator coil whereby the working fluid entering said evaporator coil contains said sensible heat; (c) means for recovering substantially all sensible heat from said compressor over that used to boil-up said liquid, so as to maintain the thermal balance of said apparatus, including at least one auxiliary condensing coil for contacting the vapors resulting from vaporization of said liquid and extracting therefrom, heat in excess of that necessary to maintain thermal balance in said apparatus; said at least one auxiliary condensing coil being separate from said closed refrigeration system, and being situated between said condenser and said evaporator coil whereby the excess heat is removed prior to said vapors contacting and condensing upon said evaporator coil; said at least one auxiliary condensing coil having heat extraction controlling means; and (d) said heat extraction controlling means for controlling heat extraction by said at least one auxiliary condensing coil whereby said excess heat is removed from said vapors by said at least one auxiliary condensing coil.