Patent ID: 6607006
Filing Date: 2003-08-19
Classification: B01F,G05D,Y10T

Abstract:
A method for attenuating the amplitude of a time-variant property of a fluid stream which comprises introducing into an enclosed volume an inlet fluid stream having a time-variant property, dividing the fluid within the enclosed volume into portions of fluid having different residence times therein, combining the portions of fluid, and withdrawing from the enclosed volume an outlet fluid stream having an attenuated time-variant property such that the residence time distribution of the outlet fluid stream is characterized by a flatness constraint F&thgr; equal to or less than about 0.11 and a symmetry constraint S&thgr; equal or less than about 0.075, wherein the flatness constraint F&thgr; is defined as FÎ¸=&Integral;02&it;[0.5-EÎ¸&it;(Î¸)]2&it;â€ƒ&it;&dd;Î¸+&Integral;2âˆž&it;[EÎ¸&it;(Î¸)]2&it;â€ƒ&it;&dd;Î¸and the symmetry constraint S&thgr; is defined as SÎ¸=&Integral;01&it;[EÎ¸&it;(Î¸)-EÎ¸&it;(2-Î¸)]2&it;â€ƒ&it;&dd;Î¸+&Integral;2âˆž&it;[EÎ¸&it;(Î¸)]2&it;â€ƒ&it;&dd;Î¸where the function E&thgr; (&thgr;) is the overall dimensionless residence time distribution of the outlet fluid stream and &thgr; is the dimensionless time.