Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090266891 | TRACKING AND PROPERTIES CONTROL SYSTEM FOR BULK MATERIALS - The invention provides a system of devices and a set of methods for accurately characterizing, tracking and controlling bulk material flows. Measurements of input material properties, dynamical measurements involving identifiable tags, and fast, discrete simulations are combined to predict and control the composition of bulk material exiting a container, such as a silo, bunker or hopper. In one embodiment, a system is provided for a coal-fired power plant where the properties of coal are assessed, then the coal is marked and tracked to provide the plant's operators improved control over the coal mixture and target bulk properties as it makes its way from a coal receiving station to delivery for combustion in a furnace. | 10-29-2009 |
20100264032 | INDUCED-CHARGE ELECTROKINETICS WITH HIGH-SLIP POLARIZABLE SURFACES - This invention provides devices and apparatuses comprising the same, for fast pumping and mixing of relatively small volumes of electrolytes and ionic fluids and materials suspended thereby. Such devices utilize nonlinear induced-charge electro-osmosis as a primary mechanism for driving fluid flow. Such devices comprise a polarizable surface, which is incorporated in the electrodes or pumping elements of the devices as well as a material, which promotes hydrodynamic slip at a region proximal thereto, when the device is subjected to non-linear electro-osmotic flow. Examples of such materials are provided. This invention also provides nanoparticles and microparticles incorporating such materials to enhance nonlinear induced-charge electrophoretic motion. Methods of use of the devices and particles of this invention are described. | 10-21-2010 |
20110308953 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DESALINATION AND PURIFICATION - A liquid electrolyte can be desalinated and purified using a system that includes a first electrode and a configuration selected from (a) a second electrode and at least one distinct ion-selective boundary and (b) a second electrode that also serves as the ion-selective boundary. The ion-selective boundary is contained in the liquid conduit adjacent to a porous medium that defines pore channels filled with the liquid and that have a surface charge, and the charge of the ion-selective boundary and the surface charge of the pore channels share the same sign. A liquid including at least one charged species flows through the pore channels, forming a thin diffuse electrochemical double layer at an interface of the liquid and the charged surface of the pore channels. A voltage differential is applied between the electrodes across the porous medium to draw ions in the liquid to the electrodes to produce brine at the electrodes and to create a shock in the dissolved-ion concentration in the bulk volume of the liquid within the pore channels, wherein a depleted zone with a substantially reduced concentration of dissolved ions forms in the liquid bulk volume between the shock and the ion-selective boundary. | 12-22-2011 |
20140102358 | METHOD, DIE, AND APPARATUS FOR CRYSTAL GROWTH - An apparatus, die, and method can be used form a ribbon from a melt, where capillaries are relatively short and spacers are relatively long as compared to a die opening. Such a configuration can cause the melt to flow is a transverse direction that is substantially parallel to the solid/liquid interface to help move impurities to desired locations. In a particular embodiment, a crystal ribbon can be formed where defects, such as microvoids and impurities, are at higher concentrations near outer edges of the crystal ribbon. The outer edges can be removed to produce crystal substrates that are substantially free of microvoids and have no or a relatively low concentration of impurities. In another particular embodiment, the transverse flow can also help to increase the crystal growth rate. | 04-17-2014 |