Hydram's Technology
Fundamentally Better
Method of Generating Process Steam
The Open Oscillatory Approach
Hydram's engineering team has developed and built prototypes of a new type of steam generator, the patented Inertial Evaporator, which 'mechanically' generates steam in a 3-step process.
The elegant open oscillatory approach is a departure from the boiling method we've relied on for thousands of years:..heating the liquid until it bubbles..
The process consists of three stages:
1
Forceful Flash Evaporation
Low pressure steam forms in the wake of the falling liquid piston, which drops due to its weight and pressure conditions in the wider side tank.
↓
2
Compression by the Liquid Piston
After dropping several meters the liquid piston naturally rushes back up, rapidly squishing the steam.
The trick is not to allow the steam to condense back to droplets, but to let the piston pressurize and heat it up - similar to air in a diesel engine.
↓
3
Ejection
As the liquid piston approaches the top again, the steam's pressure forces the ejection valve open and the steam is ejected into the steam header to do useful work - like district heating, cooking food or creating paper.
↺ Whole process only takes ~2-3 seconds then repeats
The only practical way to perform those three steps efficiently is with a carefully calibrated liquid unstable liquid piston that can be easily oscillated back and forth so it naturally shoots from one end of the system to the other, traveling several meters up and down a thick pipe.
Ps. Don't worry, it takes even the most seasoned industrial experts and academics at least 10 minutes to understand it.
Q: Wait, that sounds awfully complex - why don't you just heat the water?
A: One of the advantages of doing it this way is that most of the steam's energy is derived from a process called "evaporative cooling".
This means the main energy source is the tremendous amount of thermal energy (warmth) required to prevent the top part of the system from freezing over. That's what the (free) waste-heat is used for. Keeping the water swinging back and forth however requires remarkably little energy, and that's the energy you unfortunately still have to pay for.
Animation of the oscillation and operation of the Inertial Evaporator.
Input #1 · 70–95%
20–95°C
Waste heat source
Input #2 · 5–30%
Electricity
or CH4 / Waste Pressure
Output
120–150°C
1–4 bar steam
Example of temperatures. Note that Inertial Evaporators are more similar to steam compressors than heat pumps and are modeled to operate at very broad temperature ranges, from low-temperature data center applications (35°C in and 100°C steam out) to high-temperature oil refinery applications (150°C in and 240°C steam out).
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