Patent ID: 8430949

Claim:
A liquid degassing apparatus, comprising: a body defining a chamber having a liquid inlet and a liquid outlet, and a vacuum port; a gas-permeable, liquid-impermeable tubular membrane in said chamber and separating said chamber into a permeate side and a retentate side, wherein said retentate side of said chamber is in liquid communication with said liquid inlet and said liquid outlet, and said permeate side of said chamber is in fluid communication with said vacuum port; a tubular shield member disposed in said permeate side of said chamber and interposed between said membrane and said vacuum port, said shield member being substantially gas and liquid impermeable and defining a substantially closed pervaporation control space between said membrane and said shield member, said pervaporation control space assumes a volume of between about 1 and about 30 times the volume of said retentate side of said chamber; a passageway through said shield member to permit limited fluid flow from said pervaporation control space to a chamber space separated from said pervaporation control space by said shield member; and a pump for evacuating said permeate side of said chamber through said vacuum port.