VORTX PRESSURE REGULATION TECHNOLOGY WARMS PRESSURE REGULATED GAS

Universal Vortex offers technology to control gas pressure while eliminating an external heating of high pressure gas. The external heat that is typically provided by the Line Heaters compensates the Joule-Thomson temperature drop in depressurized gas and additionally increases gas temperature to a certain value required by the customer.

A Line Heater consumes some 6.5 mmscf/year to 65 mmscf/year of fuel gas that at, say $8/1000 cu ft worth $52,000.00/yr to $520,000.00/yr and pollutes the atmosphere with products of combustion. Gas consumption data are for units of 1 to 10 mmbtu/hr that operate at least 6 mo/year.

Following are the basic steps of the Vortex Pressure Regulation technology to eliminate Line Heaters:

- Gas pressure regulation in the Vortex Tube that results in formation of the VT’s cold and hot fractions exiting the VT separately at gas delivery pressure;

- Removal of the cooling load from the VT’s cold fraction that results in the cold fraction’s temperature increase;

- Combining the VT’s hot fraction with now warmed cold fraction in a way that the combined gas temperature meets its required value.

Those steps are achieved by using the proprietary Self-Heating VT that does not need gas preheat to maintain a non-freeze pressure regulation. It also provides an equality of the VT’s cold fraction dew point and the VT’s cold fraction actual temperature, thus eliminating the possibility of the VT’s cold fraction freeze up.

The cooling duty removal from the VT’s cold fraction takes place in the heat exchanger, which assums the availability of the near-by recipient of the VT’s energy. The possible options at the pressure regulation stations include but not limited to

• Refrigerating duty 
• Air Conditioning of the near-by building 
• LNG pre-cooling
• Turbine’s lube oil or transformer’s oil cooling. (When the VT is used for a fuel gas regulation and pre-heating at compressor stations or power plants).

Thus, as one can see, UVI’s technology not only eliminates energy waste and air pollution at the pressure regulation and compressor stations and power plants, but also creates a free cooling duty, which is an outcome of the VT’s performance.

The heat exchanger for the cold fraction’s load removal is generally compact and highly efficient due to the actual low temperatures of the gas flow.

As an example of values of the cooling load available by using the VT (cooling load, BTU/hr = differential between an inlet gas temperature and an actual temperature of the VT's cold flow, F x VT's cold flow's flow rate, scfm) see the Table that demonstrates the VT heating and cooling efficiency at various ratios of the VT’s inlet and outlet pressures. It also demonstrates the VT's ability to maintain high temperatures of the hot flow.

                                        TABLE         

Universal Vortex designs and manufactures the Vortex Tube(s) and assists with the Vortex Pressure Regulation start up.

To evaluate the VPR benefits for a particular application, UVI provides free estimation of the available vortex flow’s (the cold and the hot) thermal loads and temperatures and advises on the VT(s) required size.