Patent ID: 8133044

Claim:
A positive displacement capture device; comprising: a positive displacement capture stage comprising a plurality of positive displacement flow devices; each of said positive displacement flow devices comprising: a casing portion having a plurality of grooves formed on an inner surface of said casing portion; and a rotor portion having a plurality of lobes formed on an outer surface of said rotor portion, where said rotor portion is positioned adjacent to said inner surface of said casing portion such that said lobes interact with said grooves; wherein said interaction of said lobes with said grooves creates a plurality of contact points between said lobes and grooves which travel around a perimeter of, and along a length of, said rotor portion as said rotor portion rotates about an axis relative to said casing portion; and wherein said interaction captures a volume of material and moves said volume along a length of said positive displacement flow device due to said relative rotation, wherein the respective rotor portions of at least some of said positive displacement flow devices rotate in a clockwise fashion and wherein the respective rotor portions of the remaining positive displacement flow devices rotate in a counterclockwise fashion, and wherein each of said plurality of positive displacement flow devices is positioned and oriented within said positive displacement capture stage such that a first group of structural loads created by the rotation of one of said rotor portions of one of said positive displacement flow devices is counteracted by a second group of structural loads created by the rotation of at least one other of said rotor portions of the at least one other of said positive displacement flow devices.