An oxygen liquefaction apparatus may include a heat exchanger that allows oxygen gas to be cooled and condensed with liquid nitrogen. The oxygen liquefaction apparatus may include: a differential pressure gauge that measures the difference in pressure between the hot and cold ends of an oxygen flow path; and an oxygen control unit that calculates the level of oxygen inside the heat exchanger based on the differential pressure gauge reading, that controls an oxygen control valve to adjust the level, and that controls the heat transfer area to control the condensation of the oxygen.

A system and method for the liquefaction and densification of oxygen for use in space vehicle applications is provided that uses high pressure air or synthetic air as the refrigerant source. The disclosed system and method employs a heat exchanger arrangement comprising a first heat exchange device configured to liquefy the high pressure gaseous oxygen stream and at least a portion of the high pressure gaseous air stream via indirect heat exchange with a refrigerant stream to yield a liquid oxygen stream and a liquid air stream. The heat exchanger arrangement also includes a second heat exchange device configured to densify the liquified oxygen stream via indirect heat exchange with the liquid air stream which yields the densified liquid oxygen and a cold vaporized air stream. The refrigerant stream comprises a mixture of the exhaust streams from one or more turbines with the cold vaporized air stream.

The present invention relates to a cryocooler suitable for gas liquefaction applications, that comprises a coldhead with one or more refrigeration stages; further comprising: a refrigerator compressor for distributing compressed gas-phase cryogen inside the coldhead; a heat exchanging coil arranged at least partially around the external region of the coldhead; at least one extraction orifice communicating a gas circulation circuit inside the coldhead with the heat exchanging coil; acting said extraction orifice/s as pass-through port/s which allow the gas inside the coldhead to flow through the inside of the heat exchanger coil for exchanging heat with the exterior thereof, and wherein the heat exchanging coil is adapted to connect and redirect the gas to one return port connected to the gas circulation circuit. Another object of the invention relates to a cryogen-gas liquefaction system and a method for liquefaction of gases that comprises said system.

A liquefier device which may be a retrofit to an air separation plant or utilized as part of a new design. The flow needed for the liquefier comes from an air separation plant running in a maxim oxygen state, in a stable mode. The three gas flows are low pressure oxygen, low pressure nitrogen, and higher pressure nitrogen. All of the flows are found on the side of the main heat exchanger with a temperature of about 37 degrees Fahrenheit. All of the gases put into the liquefier come out as a subcooled liquid, for storage or return to the air separation plant. This new liquefier does not include a front end electrical compressor, and will take a self-produced liquid nitrogen, pump it up to a runnable 420 PSIG pressure, and with the use of turbines, condensers, flash pots, and multi pass heat exchangers. The liquefier will make liquid from a planned amount of any pure gas oxygen or nitrogen an air separation plant can produce.

The invention relates to a facility for cooling a flow of cryogenic fluid comprising a first circuit for fluid to be cooled, for example liquid nitrogen and/or liquid oxygen, a cryogenic refrigerator with a cycle circuit, at least one heat exchanger providing heat exchange with the first circuit for fluid to be cooled and the cycle circuit of the refrigerator, the facility comprising a second circuit for fluid to be liquefied, for example nitrogen gas and/or oxygen gas, the second fluid circuit being in heat exchange with the cycle circuit of the refrigerator in at least one heat exchanger of the facility, the facility being configured so as to be switchable into a first cooling operating mode, in which the facility cools the first fluid circuit in order to cool a liquefied fluid, preferably in order to generate a quasi-isothermal transformation of said fluid, and a second liquefaction operating mode, in which the facility cools the second fluid circuit with a view to liquefying a gas flow.

A separator for a gas production facility includes a vessel defining an interior chamber. The vessel is designed to operate at a pressure greater than a pressure of a fluid being produced from a wellbore, the fluid including liquid, gas, sand and debris. The separator includes an inlet through which the fluid being produced from the wellbore is directed into the vessel, an electronically controlled valve in fluid communication with a lower portion of the vessel, and an outlet through which the gas is directed out of the vessel at a pressure substantially equal to the pressure of the fluid being produced from the wellbore. The separator includes a controller programmed to open, close, or modulate the electronically controlled valve to regulate flow of the liquid, sand and debris out of the lower portion of the vessel in response to a level of the liquid detected within the interior chamber.