351

G. N E W P A T E N T S

This Section contains abstracts and, where appropriate, illustrations of recently issued United States patents and published patent applications filed from over 30 countries under the Patent Cooperation Treaty. This information was obtained from recent additions to the Pergamon PATSEARCH ® online database in accordance with interest profiles developed by the Editors. Further information about Pergamon PATSEARCH ® can be obtained from Pergamon International Information Corporation, 1340 Old Chain Bridge Road, McLean, Virginia 22101 U.S.A,

Copies of complete patents announced in this Section are available from Pergamon International Information Corporation for $8 per copy. Payment with order is required. Orders outside North America add $2 for air postage. Order by patent number from Pergamon International only.

4425229 4425053

P R O C E S S F O R T H E T R E A T M E N T O F P H O S P H A T E O R E S W I T H

C A R B O N A T E O R S I L I C O - C A R B O N A T E G A N G U E

Michel Baron, Gerard Baudet, Amar Henchiri, Pierre-Luc Hergibo, Orleans, France assigned to Bureau de Recherches Geologiques et Minieres

Process for treating by reverse flotation phos- phate ores of the carbonate or silico-carbonate gangne type. It includes the steps of: (1) con- ditioning of the ore in a manner known per se with a product acting to depress the phosphate compounds, (2) treatment of the conditioned ore step (1) with a collector essentially comprising a phosphoric ester, (3) flotation of the carbonates, this leading to a flotation residue which contains the phosphate compounds and, if so required, in the case where the starting compound is of the silico-carbonate gangue type, (4) conditioning of said flotation residue by a cationic collector, the possibly present silicates being thus separated by flotation. The process permits benification of the phosphate ores by a treatment wholly carried out in sea-water.

O I L F E N C E A R R A N G E M E N T

Ikuo Muto, Masamits Tatsugnchi, Tokyo, Japan assigned to Mitsui Ocean Development & Engineering Co Ltd

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An oil fence arrangement for effectively pre- venting oil spills from spreading or diffusing over the surface of the sea. The arrangement is of a double wall construction and can fold into a small space.

4424098

F A L L I N G F I L M E V A P O R A T O R

Martval Hartig assigned to E I Du Pont de Nemours and Company

An energy efficient falling film evaporator having a plurality of substantially vertical and equidistant heat exchange elements made of a synthetic polymeric material. Each evaporating

3 5 2 G . N e w P a t e n t s O L R ( 1 9 8 4 ) 31 (5)

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surface is in contact with a liquid spreading means, and each heat exchange element is heated by steam having a condensation temperature slightly higher than the boiling point of the aqueous solution from which water is being evaporated. Steam formed by evaporation of water either is recompressed and reintroduced as heating steam in a single-stage process or is used as heating steam for another stage, operating at a lower temperature and pressure, in a multistage process. Heating steam condenses to fresh water, which is recovered. This process is operated at a lower temperature and pressure, in a multistage apparatus. Heating steam condenses to fresh water, which is recovered. This evaporator is operated at a low feed rate, preferably below 45 kg of incoming aqueous solution per linear meter of horizontal width of each evaporating surface, and is capable of providing a 50~ fresh water recovery per pass from sea water. Higher recoveries are possible in the case of brackish waters and various industrial waters. The evaporator is useful in water desalination and purification.

4424064

METHANE PRODUCTION FROM AND BENEFICIATION OF

ANAEROBIC DIGESTION OF AQUATIC PLANT MATERIAL

Donald L Klass, Sambhunath Ghosh assigned to United Gas Pipe Line Company

A process for improved methane production by anaerobic digestion of aquatic plant material at least a portion or all of which has been grown in

organically polluted water. Mixtures of aquatic plant material one portion of which has been grown in non-polluted and a second portion comprising over about 10 weight percent which has been grown in organically polluted water may be used to result in a synergistic yield of methane. The liquid effluent from the digester may be advantageously returned to the aquatic plant growing pond to maintain the desired or- ganic pollution. The process provides for im- proved methane production from aquatic plant material which is, by itself, recalcitrant to anaerobic digestion.

4424042

PROPULSION SYSTEM FOR AN UNDERWATER VEHICLE

Calvin Gongwer assigned to The Bendix Cor- poration

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A propulsion system for an underwater vehicle includes a solid propellant gas generator pro- ducing gas which drives a gas turbine. The tur- bine drives one, or alternately two, centrifugal pumps which induct sea water from intake ports and supply it under pressure through a passage to passages leading to tip nozzles in the blades of a propeller which drives the vehicle, thereby using the reaction force from the tip nozzles to drive the propeller. Exhaust gas, after driving the turbine, is conducted through a conduit and to an annular chamber where it is cooled by means of a spray of sea water, thus condensing the steam present and reducing the volume of ex- haust gas. The exhaust gas is then connected to the base of the propeller blades where it is ex- hausted into a low pressure region or, alternately, into passages in blades parallel to the water conduits such that the gas flow is ex- hausted at the propeller tips adjacent the water nozzles, thus ventilating the cores of the tip vor- tices emanating from each blade into which the

OLR (1984) 31 (5) G. New Patent~ 353

water jets are discharged. Thus an external educ- tor is created which is actuated by the water jets and which compresses the exhaust to ambient pressure, thus lowering the back pressure on the thermal engine, be it a turbine or positive dis- placement type.

4422408

S H I E L D I N G D E V I C E F O R T H E T E M P E R A T U R E A N D

P O L L U T I O N C O N T R O L O F W A T E R I N A F A R M I N G

E N C L O S U R E F O R F I S H A N D O T H E R A Q U A T I C O R G A N I S M S

Henn Pohlhausen, D 2110 Buchholz in der Nordheide, Federal Republic Of Germany

4422164

O N - B O T T O M S E I S M O M E T E R E L E C T R O N I C S Y S T E M

Edgar A Bowden, Gordon Deline, Gerard D Koeijmans assigned to Mobil Oil Corporation

An ocean bottom seismometer unit records refraction waves from a seismic source. The refraction waves are digitzed and stored in a magnetic memory. Periodically, a tape recorder is started and digital samples are transferred from digital memory to tape during a time in which operation of the tape recorder will not generate spurious noise signals which interferes with the detection of the refraction waves. The water break is detected and the time of its occur- rence is digitized. Only the digitized time of the water break occurrence is recorded thereby per- mitring shortened record length and increased record storage capacity.

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A shielding device for adjusting and maintaining constant optimum temperature conditions and/or for pollution controlling the water in a farming enclosure for fish and other aquatic or- ganisms, comprising a warm water shield to pre- vent the warmer water of lower unit weight from flowing off laterally, and a cover for the warm water shield, and a cold water shield to prevent the cooler water of higher unit weight from flowing offlaterally, and a lower bottom portion constructed as a collecting funnel to collect faeces and food scraps, and optionally a con- necting netting to prevent the fish kept within the device from escaping, in which each of said warm water shield, said cold water shield, and said pol- lution control unit, may also be used indepen- dently, and, if desired, the device may be protected from ice drift and gales by being lowered.

4421990

T I D A L P O W E R P L A N T A N D M E T H O D O F O P E R A T I N G T H E

S A M E

Valentin Heuss, Helmut Miller, Uitikon/Wal- degg, Switzerland assigned to Escher Wyss Limited

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A tidal power plant and method of operating the same are disclosed. In tidal power plants the tur- bines are arranged in channels between the sea and a storage reservoir. Heretofore known con- structions of tidal power plants included relatively complex mechanisms for maintaining the turbine or turbines operating for the maxi- mum amount of time, but generally they have failed to exceed a high overall operating effi- ciency. The present invention seeks to improve upon prior installations by designing a tidal

354 G. New Patents OLR (1984) 31 (5)

power plant in which the or each turbine is dis- posed in a main channel between the sea and the storage reservoir. A connection channel is ar- ranged above the main channel containing the turbine. A shutoff device is located at the reser- voir side of the turbine and the connection chan- nel to control and direct the flow of water. One of the described arrangements permits the use of a single shutoff device in the form of a sluice gate operable under pressure in order to open the connection channel and to cut-off the turbine, or vice-versa. A further possible arrangement con- templates total isolation of the working region of the tidal power plant to permit inspection and maintenance work when needed.

member, such evaporation by the latent heat and condensation being conducted according the number of rooms partitioned by adjacent two cooling plate members. There are apparatuses of two types, i.e. thermal diffusion type and convec- tion type, and they are availably employed for purifying impure water or desalting sea water in high heat efficiency by utilizing various heat sources such as solar heat.

4421606

PROCESS FOR DISTILLING WATER

Kenj Tsumura, Masayuki Yamashita, Nishinomiya, Japan assigned to Oriental Metal Mfg Co

A process and an apparatus for distilling water in which a heat receiving plate member and a plurality of cooling plate members have a means for holding water to be treated on each reverse side thereof and are arranged in parallel spaced relationship with each other, and the water vapor produced by heating the heat receiving surface of the heat receiving plate member is con- densed on the condensing surface of the adjacent cooling plate member, while giving the latent heat of the condensation to the cooling plate member and heating a water held on its back to produce the water vapor which is condensed on the condensing surface of the next cooling plate

~ 2 1 ~ 9

SUBMERGED DEVICE, CARRYING OCEANOGRAPHY

APPARATUSES, WITH AUTOMATIC DEPTH CONTROL

Jacques Cholet, L'Etang la Ville, France as- signed to Institut Francais du Petrole

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A submerged device, carrying oceanography ap- paratuses, is adapted to be towed from a ship and provided with an automatic control of the submersion depth, which is made up of two hulls of positive buoyancy and interconnecting cross members with the device having a center of bouyancy substantially above the center of gravity, and at least one movable substantially airfoil shaped fin, which is actuated by the auto- matic control of the submersion depth which is sensitive to the depth of submersion of the device.

OLR (1984) 31 (5) G. New Patents 355

4 4 2 0 3 1 8

V A C U U M F R E E Z I N G P R O C E S S W I T H M U L T I P L E P H A S E

T R A N S F O R M A T I O N S O F L O W P R E S S U R E V A P O R

Chen-Ye Cheng, Sing-Wan Cheng

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The Vacuum Freezing Vapor Desublimation Desublimate Vaporization Process (denoted as VDDV Process) is an improved vacuum freezing process that is useful in separating solvent from a solution that contains one or more non-volatile solutes. It can be used in desalination of sea water and brackish water, renovation of waste water, and concentration of aqueous and non- aqueous solutions. Referring to sea water desalination, the process comprises the fol- lowing steps: (a) feed sea water is flash vaporized under a reduced pressure to thereby form a first low pressure water vapor (3.5 torr) and an ice- brine slush; (b) the first low pressure water vapor is cooled without pressurization to form a mass of desublimate; (c) the ice-brine slush is separated into a mass of purified ice and a con- centrated brine; (d) the desublimate is melted and vaporized to form a second low pressure water vapor that is at a pressure higher than the triple point pressure of water (4.58 torr); (d) the second low pressure water vapor is brought in contact with the purified ice to thereby condense the vapor and melt the ice. Both the condensate and the melt become product fresh water. The characteristic feature of the process is that a low pressure vapor is pressurized from a first pre- ssure that is lower than the triple point pressure to a second pressure that is higher than the triple point pressure by first desubliming the vapor and then melting and vaporizing the desublimate. The need of a low pressure compressor has been eliminated.

4 4 1 9 1 3 7

C O R R O S I O N I N H I B I T O R S , M E T H O D O F P R O D U C I N G A N D

P R O T E C T I V E C O A T I N G S C O N T A I N I N G S A M E

Richard A Cayless, David Pippard, London, United Kingdom assigned to The British Petro- leum Company Limited

Corrosion inhibiting particles comprise an in- organic oxide which is silica or alumina, having corrosion inhibiting cations, particularly cal- cium or zinc cations, chemically bound to the particles. They may be prepared by contacting a silica or alumina containing hydroxyl groups with an alkaline solution containing the cations, at ambient temperature. The corrosion in- hibiting particles may be incorporated into pro- tective coatings, e.g. paints based on epoxy resins, alkyd resins, vinyl resins or chlorinated rubbers, in amounts up to 80% wt based on dry film weight, giving coatings with up to 7.2% wt corrosion inhibiting cations. Release of the ca- tions is by ion exchange with other cations, e.g. the alkali metal cations of sea water, and does not, as is normal with corrosion inhibiting coatings, depend on the water solubility of the corrosion inhibitor.

4 4 1 8 8 8 0

F L U I D F L O W A U G M E N T O R

Waal J F de, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

There is described a fluid flow concentrating device suitable, for example, for concentrating the flow of tidal waters or of wind, which com- prises a hollow body dosed at one end and open at the other. The body has a fixed circumferential

356 G. New Patents OLR (1984) 31 (5)

wall composed of a plurality of fixed spaced vanes and a nozzle located at the open end of the wall. Fluid moving from outside the device through the vanes to the inside of the body creates a vortex within the body and a fluid flow axially of the body through the nozzle. In certain preferred embodiments a turbine is located for rotation in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the vortex about a vertical axis, centrally within the nozzle downstream of the fluid flow. The turbine can be used to drive a generator or a motor to, for example, propel a marine craft, or, the augrnentor can be used on a aircraft to assist the lift of a wing, or, in another application, can be used with a jet turbine engine to improve both the intake to and the thrust from the engine.

4418632

METHOD FOR OPERATING A RIGID MARINE SAIL

Kazuhiko Yoshimi, Kazuyuki Shimizu, Takashi Watari, Katsunori Kusumoto, Yokohama, Japan assigned to Nippon Kokan Kabushiki Kaisha; Japan Marine Machinery Development

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A rigid marine sail has a rigid left sail portion and a rigid right sail portion, both of which are pivotally secured to a mast on a ship so as to be pivotable about one common pivot axis which extends substantially parallel to the mast of the ship. The common pivot axis is spaced ahead of the mast with respect to the direction of intended movement of the ship. The left and right sail por- tions are foldable to an operable position by pivoting them about the common pivot axis and are also foldable to a streamlined folded in- operable position by being pivoted about the one

common pivot axis, the left and right sail por- tions being substantially parallel to each other and closely facing each other when they are in their streamlined folded inoperable positions. A shroud is provided ahead of the common pivot axis with respect to the direction of movement of the ship. When the left and right sail portions are in their folded inoperable position, the shroud spans a gap between them to reduce air resistance. When the sail portions are unfolded to their operable positions, only the left and right sail portions serve as sail members and they also shield the shroud from exposure to the wind.

4418570

ICE THICKNESS INDUCTOR PROBE

Hollie B Warren, Thomas Paulley assigned to Exxon Production Research Co

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A method and apparatus for measuring the thickness of an ice sheet floating on a body of sea water is disclosed. The electrical inductance of a coil embedded in an ice sheet is measured. This inductance is solely dependent on the geometrical factors of the coil and is minimally affected by variations in salinity of the sea water on which the ice sheet is floating. The measured inductance is the actual inductance only of the part of the coil in the ice. The other part of the coil, protruding in the sea water, is shorted out by the sea water. Hence, the thickness of the ice sheet is directly related to the measured in- ductance.

OLR (1984) 31 (5) G. New Patents 357

4417951

DISTILLER AND EVAPORATOR FOR SEA WATER

Jovo Stanisic, George Spector

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An apparatus for the distilling and evaporating of sea water so to produce pure fresh water on a large production basis; the apparatus including an evaporator having a baffle system of novel design therein so as to separate evaporated steam from non-evaporated water drops, a duct for conveying the evaporated steam to a condenser and a pure water supply tank; the evaporator being supplied by sea water.

4417446

COMBINATION POWER PLANT

Yasunobu Nakamoto, Toshiro Terayama, Yokohama, Japan assigned to Tokyo Shibaura Denki Kabushiki Kaisha

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F A combination power plant including an ocean thermal energy conversion power plant and a steam generation power plant. Water discharged from a condenser in the ocean thermal energy conversion power plant is mixed with water dis- charged from an evaporator in the ocean thermal energy conversion power plant. The mixed water is used as cooling water for a condenser in the steam generation power plant. Part of the water discharged from the condenser in the steam generation power plant is used as heating water for the evaporator in the ocean thermal energy conversion power plant.

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