High-purity nitrogen gas production equipment

Claim 1

An apparatus for producing highly pure nitrogen gas comprising a means to compress the air taken from the outside, a means to remove carbon dioxide gas and water from the compressed air from said air compression means, a heat exchange means to chill the compressed air from said removing means to a cryogenic temperature, a rectification column to liquify a portion of the cryogenic compressed air from said heat exchange means and collect it in the lower region of the column while taking out pure nitrogen gas from the tip portion, wherein the apparatus further comprises a partial condenser segment having a condenser therin at the upper end of the rectification column, a feeding conduit to lead an accumlating liquified air in the lower region of the rectification column into the partial condenser segment for use as a refrigerant to cool said condenser, a blowoff conduit to blow off gasified liquid air produced in the partial condenser segment to the outside, a first relux liquid conduit to lead part of the nitrogen gas produced in the rectification column into said condenser, a second reflux liquid conduit to return the liquified nitrogen produced in the condenser to the rectification column as a reflux, a liquid nitrogen storage means to store liquid nitrogen supplied from outside the apparatus, a leading channel to lead the lquid nitrogen in the liquid nitrogen storage means to the column, a means to control the level of the liquid air in the condenser by controlling the supply of liquid nitrogen from the nitrogen storage means to the column, and an outlet channel to take out both the nitrogen gas from the rectification column and the gasified nitrogen in the recitification column after use as a cooling source, and to pass them through said heat exchanger and heat them by exchanging heat with the compressed air.

Claim 2

An apparatus for producing highly pure nitrogen gas comprising a means to compress the air taken from the outside, a means to remove carbon dioxide gas and water from the compressed air from said air compression means, a heat exchange means to chill the compressed air from said removing means to a cryogenic temperature, a rectification column to liquify a portion of the cryogenic compressed air from said heat exchange means and collect it in the lower region of the column while taking out pure nitrogen gas from the tip portion, wherein the apparatus further comprises a partial condenser segment having a condenser therin at the upper end of the rectification column, a feeding conduit to lead an accumlating liquified air in the lower region of the rectification column into the partial condenser segment for use as a refrigerant to cool said condenser, a blowoff conduit to blow off gasified liquid air produced in the partial condenser segment to the outside, a first relux liquid conduit to lead part of the nitrogen gas produced in the rectification column into said condenser, a second reflux liquid conduit to return the liquified nitrogen produced in the condenser to the rectification column as a reflux, a liquid nitrogen storage means to store liquid nitrogen supplied from outside the apparatus, a leading channel to lead the lquid nitrogen in the liquid nitrogen storage means to the column, a means to control the level of the liquid air in the condenser by controlling the supply of liquid nitrogen from the nitrogen storage means to the column, and an outlet channel to take out both the nitrogen gas from the rectification column and the gasified nitrogen in the recitification column after use as a cooling source, and to pass them through said heat exchanger and heat them by exchanging heat with the compressed air.