Patents

[4 Issued (above); 2 Applications (below)]

United States Patent 6,981,367
Issued January 3, 2006
Inventors: Paul Childs, Anthony LaConti, Keith D. Patch, Norman D. Brinkman, David R. Monroe, David L. Hilden, Patrick G. Szymkowicz
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a device for generating hydrogen from a water vapor containing exhaust is provided. The device comprises an exhaust diverter and a hydrogen generation section. The exhaust diverter is configured to divert a portion of the exhaust to the hydrogen generation section. The hydrogen generation section comprises an electrolysis unit defining a hermetically sealed void volume configured to accumulate and store hydrogen. The exhaust diverter may be placed in communication with a heat exchanger configured to increase a fractional relative humidity of the diverted exhaust by cooling the diverted exhaust.

United States Patent 6,126,901
Issued October 3, 2000
Inventors: Keith D. Patch, Dean T. Morgan
An apparatus and method for detecting low levels of one or more radionuclides in a fluid sample uses a substrate that includes an ion exchange resin or other sorbent material to collect the radionuclides. A collecting apparatus includes a collecting chamber that exposes the substrate to a measured amount of the fluid sample such that radionuclides in the fluid sample are collected by the ion exchange resin. A drying apparatus, which can include a drying chamber, then dries the substrate. A measuring apparatus measures emissions from radionuclides collected on the substrate. The substrate is positioned in a measuring chamber proximate to a detector, which provides a signal in response to emissions from the radionuclides. Other analysis methods can be used to detect non-radioactive analytes, which can be collected with other types of sorbent materials.

United States Patent 5,652,013
Issued July 29, 1997
Inventors: Keith D. Patch, Dean T. Morgan
A method and apparatus for increasing the deposition of ions onto a surface, such as the adsorption of uranium ions on the detecting surface of a radionuclide detector. The method includes the step of exposing the surface to a complexing agent, such as a phosphate ion solution, which has an affinity for the dissolved species to be deposited on the surface. This provides, for example, enhanced sensitivity of the radionuclide detector.

United States Patent 4,875,919
Issued October 24, 1989
Inventors: Robert DeSaro, Edward F. Doyle, Christopher I. Metcalfe, Keith D. Patch
An improved method and apparatus for preheating cullet used as feedstock for a glass furnace. A direct contact raining bed is described through which cullet is fed by gravity flow, with furnace flue gases as combustion products of a separately-fired heater passed in counterflow to heat the cullet by direct contact. The preheater includes deflectors to retard passage and increase the path length of cullet flowing through the raining bed, and the deflector plates are mounted at specific declination angles and have their geometric parameters selected to optimize cullet residence time. Glass furnace systems are described which include the raining bed cullet preheater in series and parallel flow relationships with a glass batch preheater.

United States Published Patent Application US20110266142
Filed April 7, 2011
Inventors: Timothy J. Norman, Monjid Hamdan, Keith D. Patch
A unitized electrolyzer apparatus for generating hydrogen gas at high pressure. According to one embodiment, the apparatus includes a pressure-containment vessel, a water electrolyzer stack, and a water supply. The water electrolyzer stack is mounted on or in the vessel and is used to generate hydrogen gas for containment in the vessel at high pressure. The water supply is contained within the vessel, the water supply being fluidly coupled to the water electrolyzer stack to provide a cathode feeding of water to the water electrolyzer stack.

United States Published Patent Application US20110097678
Filed October 5, 2010
Inventors: Keith D. Patch. Linda A. Tempelman, Simon G. Stone, Craig Thompson
According to one embodiment, the heating apparatus is designed for warming infusion fluids and includes a pair of catalytic heaters positioned around a cartridge containing the infusion fluid. Each catalytic heater includes a pair of frames jointly defining a cavity. One of the frames per heater is positioned proximate to the cartridge and includes an input port for receiving a liquid solution of methanol. The other frame per heater is positioned distal to the cartridge and includes an input port for receiving oxygen gas and an output port for exhaust gases. A first fluid diffusion medium is positioned within the methanol frame, and a second fluid diffusion medium is positioned within the oxygen frame. Sandwiched between the two diffusion media are a pervaporation membrane facing the first diffusion medium and a porous metal catalyst facing the second diffusion medium. Methanol in liquid form is supplied to the pervaporation membrane, which then transports the methanol in vapor form to the catalyst, where combustion occurs. Heat from the combustion reaction is then conducted through the heater to the cartridge containing the infusion fluid.