Multi-mode piston: a chemical engineering building block

1 . A multi-purpose fluid handling MMP apparatus, comprising a system of multi-mode pistons, (MMPs), each MMP designed as a building block for a complex industrial chemical processes involving fluids, built as a fluid container formed as a capsule which contains a quantum of one or more fluid ingredients and which is constructed with a fluid-entrance plate of an arbitrary shape, and a fluid-exit plate of the same arbitrary shape,

where fluid enters into the capsule through the entrance-plate and leaves the capsule through the exit plate;

where the plates are placed at a perpendicular distance d one from the other, and where an envelope of the capsule separates the volume between the plates from the outside;

the capsule containing a piston moving inside the capsule between the entrance plate and the exit plate, such that the envelope fits smugly over the moving piston, which has a same shape as the plates,

the piston configured for lateral movement from plate to plate;

the piston optionally being constructed as an external ring enveloping an internal circular part of the piston, in the shape of a disc, forming a ‘disc unit’ wherein the disc is independently rotating around the axis of the piston's lateral movement;

the disc and the two plates being constructed with holes forming fluid passageways through their surface, where each hole is of an arbitrary size and placed in an arbitrary location, and each hole is configured to be independently switched between a state of fully open, states of partially open, and a state of closed; and

wherein at any moment in time the piston may be at a certain lateral position, a certain rotational state, and each of its holes is in a certain state in the open/closed range;

each piston being constructed such that when the holes in the plates are closed, and the holes in the piston are open then when the piston moves between the plates the fluid contained within the capsule is moving through holes of the piston;

and such that as the fluid that flows through the opened holes of the piston is undergoing a specified process it gains momentum in the direction opposite the motion of the piston, and it interacts with the inner surface of the hole through which it flows;

the apparatus also comprising an MMP controller such that the pistons are controlled by an MMP controller (MMPC) that, such that for each piston the controller:

moves the piston to a lateral position L(t) at time point, t, across the distance d between the plates,

rotates the piston to a rotational position, R(t), and

wherein the controller determines the open/closed status of each of its h holes: O 1 (t), O 2 (t), . . . O n (Q), on the piston and the plates, where the piston moves throughout a range of time from a preset T start to a preset T finish ,

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the width of the MMP, w, being arbitrary, wherein optionally the inner walls of the holes are lined up with fluid-impact media, (FIM), that changes certain attributes of the passing fluid and the holes are either empty or stuffed with a fluid-impact porous (FIP) media;

the MMP being operable for performing (i) catalysis of a chemical reaction within the fluid, (ii) reaction between the fluid and the fluid-impact media, and (iii) separation between ingredients within the fluid;

the MMP pistons being combined so that fluid emerging from one MMP piston flows as input to the next MMP piston, or to a plurality of MMP pistons, which further feed fluid to receiving MMP pistons, iteratively, to carry out an industrial chemical fluid handling process to produce one or more final products from raw materials, the MMP pistons being centrally controlled to optimize the industrial chemical process as a whole.

2 . The MMP apparatus of claim 1 , wherein for each piston, the holes are constructed by either:

(i) constructing a disc pack as a collection of two or more adjacent discs with holes in them, where the discs rotate independently so that they are configured for

(i.i) a state of no overlap between the holes of the discs, which is a state of “closed” for the piston, and wherein

(i.ii) the discs are configured to create full overlap among the holes of the discs, which is the state of “fully open” for the piston, and wherein

(i.iii) the discs are configured with a partial overlap among the holes of the discs which is the state of “partially open”, and where the degree of the state of being open is determined by the degree of overlap among the discs of the pack; and,

the adjacent discs receive rotation power by either one of the following ways:

(i.a) each disc is attached to a rotating rod, where the rods of the adjacent discs are concentric, each with a different diameter, and each is rotated individually through a power source outside the MMP;

(i.b) an internal battery which is charged either by wire or wirelessly; or

(ii) constructing the piston with a pivot next to each hole, wherein the pivot secures a hole-shaped cover plate, that in one state is aligned with the hole and covers it completely, and in another state rotates away from the hole and opens it either completely, or partially overlapping, wherein the cover plates are powered by an internal battery.

3 . The MMP apparatus of claim 2 , wherein for each piston, the discs are connected to concentric rods so that each concentric rod can be independently rotated in order to achieve a desired state of overlapping among the holes of the discs.

4 . The MMP apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is configured to achieve a specified degree of mixing of the fluid ingredients that are placed in the capsule, wherein for each piston, the MMP is moving an arbitrary number of times back and forth between the entrance plate and the exit plate, carrying out lateral movement, superimposed by;

(i) arbitrary rotational movement of the piston, and by

(i) arbitrary states of open/close of the piston holes of the MMP while the MMP is being rotated while the holes in both plates are kept closed; and

(iii) forcing the fluid ingredients in the capsule to pass through the open holes of the piston for a time t, where the positions of these holes in the capsule is determined by the state of the piston at a time point t p , with regard to a lateral position, L(t), and with regard to a rotational position, R(t), for

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5 . The MMP apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the apparatus is configured to achieve a specified degree of mixing of the fluid ingredients in the capsule, while pumping a new quantum of fluid ingredients into the capsule, and pumping out the mixed fluid from the capsule;

wherein the enclosure is part of a pipe or a tube and the piston is moving back and forth between the entrance plate and the exit plate, pumping fluid inside the pipe or the tube, and the pumping is done through the following steps:

(i) starting state:

the enclosure is filled with fluid ingredient, the piston is adjacent to the exit-plate;

one or more of the holes in the piston are in an open or partially open state; and, the holes in the entrance-plate and in the exit-plate are placed in ‘closed’ state;

(ii) the piston is moved from the exit plate to the entrance plate, forcing ingredients of fluid in the capsule to flow through the one or more open holes in the piston; thereby mixing the fluid ingredients in the capsule, in a “mixing motion”;

the mixing motion is controlled by the MMPC, determining at each moment t where T start ≤T finish , the lateral position L(t) of the piston, its rotational position R(t), and the open/closed state of the holes of the piston;

(iii) if the specified degree of mixing is achieved then step (v) is taken, otherwise;

(iv) while the holes in the entrance plate and exit plate remain closed, and at least one of the holes in the piston is kept partially open, the piston moves from the entrance plate to the exit plate, and then returns to the entrance plate;

if the specified degree of mixing has been achieved then step (v) is taken, otherwise step (iv) is being repeated;

(v) when mixing is complete, the mixed fluid captured in the capsule is being pumped through the exit plate and a new quantum of fluid is sucked into the capsule through the entrance plate, wherein: the holes in the piston disc are put in ‘closed’ state, the holes in the entrance plate are put in ‘open state’, the holes in the exit plate are put in ‘open state’, and the piston is moved from the entrance-plate to the exit plate, wherein if the fluid in the capsule contains only a single ingredient then this procedure effects only mixing.

6 . The MMP apparatus of claim 1 , wherein for each piston, the capsule is of volume V c , and into which a quantum of fluid is being pumped and enclosed; the quantum of fluid Q f is being processed by an add-on processing apparatus inside the capsule, (PAC), for a processing time T, and the processing optionally includes heat exchange, and injection of materials; and,

when the processing is done, the quantum of fluid is pumped out of the capsule and a subsequent quantum of fluid is sucked in, repeating the same operation for as long as new fluid is ready to be sucked into the emptied capsule, thereby processing fluid at a rate Q f /(T+T c ) for Q f measured and at a rate V f /(T+T c ) measured in volume throughput, where V f is the volume of the quantum of fluid, and T c is the time to exchange one quantum of fluid with another.

7 . The apparatus of claim 6 wherein for each piston, the MMP is of an arbitrary shape, and comprises a disc pack, and wherein the capsule is a cylinder fitting around the MMP, and wherein the MMP moves from one edge of the capsule to another, back and forth, and while the disc pack is rotating and is changing its open/closed status with respect to all its holes each edge is stationary.

8 . The MMP apparatus of claim 7 , wherein for each piston, the lateral movement of the MMP is powered by a rechargeable battery inside the MMP apparatus, where the battery is charged either through a wire or wirelessly, and where the battery moves the MMP laterally by any of the following power transmission options:

(i) rolling at least one cogwheel fitted on the MMP in touch with a cogwheel rail attached to the capsule,

(ii) rolling at least one wheel fitted on the MMP, building friction with the internal walls of the capsule to enable motion, or

(iii) pulling at least one chain that fits through the piston, and is fastened to the two edges of the capsule, wherein for each of the at least one chain, the chain is fitted on a wheel inside the piston, the wheel is being rotated by the internal battery, and the wheel is fitted with external protrusions that hold the links of the chain; so that the piston moves in a direction where the wheel allows a shorter span of the chain between the piston and an edge of the capsule, and wherein MMP rotation is effected through rotating the disc pack, rotation powered by the rechargeable battery;

and where the open/closed states for the holes in the piston are effected through either:

(a) a rechargeable battery that moves the hole covers around their pivot to open or closed state or (b) through coordinated mutual rotations of the discs in the pack.

9 . The MMP apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the apparatus is configured to achieve a chemical reaction within the fluid and optionally by applying heat-exchange apparatus around the capsule, and by optionally injecting into the capsule one or more additives, the movement back and forth of the MMP continuing until the reactions has achieved a designated status.

10 . The MMP apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the apparatus is configured to achieve separation between two constituents A and B within a fluid, where the separation is effected through the fluid-impact media in the apparatus which discriminates between A and B, A being attracted to the fluid-impact media B being rejected by the fluid impact media, the moving MMP is creating a fluid flow in contact with the fluid-impact media such that fluid emerging from behind the moving MMP is richer with constituent A and fluid that is ahead of the moving MMP is richer with constituent B, thereby there exists a point X between the right edge of the capsule, E r , and the left edge of the capsule E l where a first part of the fluid between the MMP and E l is richer with constituent A and a second part of the fluid between X and E r is richer with constituent B, the two parts of the of fluid then routed to different destinations where each part can separately undergo a same separation operation, the separation repeated an arbitrary number of times to achieve an arbitrary level of separation between constituents A and B;

wherein an arbitrary number s of holes in the MMP is fitted with the fluid-impact media, (fitted holes), and an arbitrary number f of holes in the MMP are free from the fluid-impact media, (free holes) to generate the separation between constituent A and constituent B as the MMP moves through the quantum of fluid with the fitted holes open and the free holes closed;

the separation occurring when the two edges are in closed position and the moving MMP moves from E l , towards the other edge, E r , forcing the fluid to pass through the open fitted holes, so that at a certain point X between the edges a degree of separation is achieved,

and the apparatus being configured so that for each piston when then the fitted holes are closed, and the free holes are opened; the MMP then reverses it motion, moving from point X to the E; until it is located abreast of E; at that point the part of the quantum fluid between E; and point X is richer with constituent A and the part of the quantum fluid between point X and E; is richer with constituent B,

the MMP then is switching all its holes into a closed state and moves from E; towards point X, at the same time the holes in both edges are switched to open so that the movement of the MMP from E l to point X pushes the B enriched part of the quantum of fluid outside the capsule to a receptacle planned to collect the B enriched part of the quantum of fluid, R b , at the same time a new quantum of fluid is sucked into the capsule through E l ,

the part of the quantum of fluid captured between the MMP and E r is richer with constituent A;

subsequently the MMP is moving from point X to E r to push the A-enriched part of the quantum of fluid to a receptacle planned to collect the A-enriched part of the quantum of fluid, R a , R a and R b being collected in MMP units.

11 . The MMP apparatus of claim 8 wherein the apparatus is configured such that for the each piston, the MMP is a unit used in a distillation sequence to separate a fluid Q comprising a more volatile component Q′ and a less volatile component Q″ to two parts one richer with Q′ and the other richer with Q″, and further comprising a pump associated with each piston such that the separation is achievable by process steps conducted in each piston follows:

the MMP unit is set to a vertical position, then a quantity of Q in a liquid phase Q l is pumped though the bottom edge of the MMP unit so that it fills the MMP capsule up to a point x lower than the high end of the MMP unit, and where the MMP is positioned at point x such that the atmosphere is above it, and a quantum of liquid Q l is below it, then a bottom edge of the MMP unit is put in a closed state while being caused to move, so that fluid in the moving MMP is rising and thereby generating vacuum below it which is filled with fluid Q in the gaseous phase, the more volatile component Q′ is richer in the gaseous phase while the less volatile component Q″ is richer in the liquid phase, and so that when the MMP reaches the upper edge of the MMP unit, then the fluid below it is partly liquid Q l and partly in gaseous phase, Q g ,

then the upper edge holes are set to close, the holes of the moving MMP are set to open and the moving MMP is moving down through a gaseous phase of Qs until it touches the surface of a liquid phase of Q l , then the holes of the moving MMP are being put into the closed state, the holes on both edges of the cylinder are set to open and the moving MMP is rising towards the upper edge, and this movement pumps the liquid phase Q l to a receptacle outside the MMP unit, while more liquid Q is feeding into the bottom of the MMP unit from a feed source, and

the moving MMP is then put again in closed state and liquid below the piston is pushed down to point x, at which point the above distillation sequence is repeated.

12 . The MMP apparatus of claim 11 , designed to form a set of (g+2) MMPFs from the system of multi-mode pistons each piston constructed as an MMPF, where each MMPF is designed for a capacity of Z=X/g where X is the target capacity (in weight units per hour), where g MMPF are kept in operation while one MMPF, in turn, undergoes routine maintenance, and one MMPF, in turn, is being upgraded,

such that at any moment the g operating MMPF satisfy the production requirement X,

and where initially all the MMPF operate according to a starting, selected control strategy,

and where the control attributes of each MMPF are subject to randomized mutations

and where each MMPF is configured such that process efficiencies of the mutated g MMPFs can be evaluated, and used as recurrent input into a standard supervised artificial intelligence, or neural network method of optimization so that

the optimization continues for as long as the set of MMPFs is in operation, to keep the industrial chemical process optimized through operation of the MMP apparatus.