MAWAA Project Summary Report 1: Survey of Wireless LAN Usage and Issues

A method and apparatus for high volume distillation of impure liquid comprises evaporating the impure liquid in an evaporator to form a vapor at a temperature above the freezing point and below the boiling point of said liquid at atmospheric pressure and at a pressure not exceeding a pressure corresponding to the evaporation temperature under saturated conditions; compressing the vapor; passing a portion of the compressed vapor through an expansion engine to do work upon and motivate the engine and to produce shaft energy, whereby the vapor expands and cools; bypassing the expansion engine with the remainder of the compressed vapor and admixing the remainder directly with the expanded vapor from the expansion engine in a mixing chamber; adding work to the expansion engine to supplement the work done by the vapor expanding therethrough to make up for work lost when the remainder of the compressed vapor bypassed the expansion engine and for other work lost; cooling the admixed vapor in heat transfer relation with the impure liquid whereby the vapor at least partially condenses, transferring sufficient heat to the impure liquid for evaporating the liquid and to form the aforementioned vapor; and collecting the condensed vapor. Work may be added to the expansion engine by mechanical means, such as motor means, drivingly linked to the engine, by admixing hot gases directly with the compressed vapor passing through the expansion engine, by a combination of direct mechanical drive and direct mixing of hot gases, or by other suitable means. To add flexibility to the system, the admixed vapor leaving the mixing chamber can be compressed in an independently driven compressor to a predetermined pressure corresponding to a predetermined temperature differential between the compressed admixed vapor and the impure liquid.