US Patent:
20080016907, Jan 24, 2008
Inventors:
John Arthur Barclay - Seattle WA, US
Michael Arthur Barclay - Arborfield Cross, GB
Miroslaw Piotr Skrzypkowski - Seattle WA, US
Agnes Jakobsen - Sammamish WA, US
International Classification:
F25B 9/00
F25J 1/00
Abstract:
The present invention provides an active gas regenerative liquefier (AGRL) for efficiently cooling and liquefying a process stream based on the combination of several active gas regenerative refrigerator (AGRR) stages configured to sequentially cool and liquefy the process stream, e.g. natural gas or hydrogen. In specific embodiments, the individual AGRR stages include heat exchangers, dual active regenerators, and a compressor/expander assembly, configured to recover a portion of the work of compression of a refrigerant by simultaneously expanding a refrigerant in one portion of the device while compressing the refrigerant in another portion to effect cooling of a heat transfer fluid, and ultimately the process stream.