Patent ID: 7427336

Claim:
A system for use in distilling a liquid, the system comprising: a housing, a rotary-power source for supplying rotary power within the housing, a liquid inlet for providing the liquid to be distilled to the housing, a compressor including a compressor inlet for receiving a vapor at a first vapor pressure and a compressor outlet for emitting the vapor at a second higher vapor pressure, a distillate-collection receptacle for collecting distillate in the housing, and a heat exchanger disposed within the housing and operatively coupled to the rotary-power source for rotation thereby about an axis, the heat exchanger including axially extending blades that are elongated in the radial direction and arranged about the axis such that: the exteriors of the blades and the inner surface of the housing cooperate to form a composite evaporation chamber that is in fluid communication with the liquid inlet for receiving the liquid to be distilled therefrom and with the compressor inlet for providing a vapor at the first vapor pressure thereto, the composite evaporation chamber extends from the radially interior portion of the heat exchanger through radial passages between opposite exterior surfaces of adjacent blades to the radial extent of the housing, in which the entrances of the radial passages between the opposite exterior surfaces of a least some of the adjacent blades span a distance that is less than 1.8 mm (70 mils), and the interiors of at least some of the blades form respective constituent condensation chambers in such fluid communication with other such constituent condensation chambers as to form a composite condensation chamber that is isolated from the evaporation chamber and that is in fluid communication with the compressor outlet for receiving the vapor at the second vapor pressure therefrom and with the distillate-collection receptacle for providing distillate thereto.