Description Of The Appliance; General; Separation Principle - Parker NitroFlow Lab Guia Del Usuario

3

Description of the appliance

3.1

General

The generator separates compressed air produced by an on-board compressor into nitrogen and an oxygen
enriched air stream. The separation system is based on membranes.
3.2

Separation principle

A Pressurised air inlet
B Hollow fibre membrane
C Nitrogen outlet
Ambient air contains nitrogen (78.1%), oxygen (20.9%), argon (1%), carbon dioxide, water vapor and traces of
other inert gasses. Pressurised air (A) is led through hollow fibre membranes(B). The various air components
diffuse through the porous wall of the membranes.
The diffusion rate differs for the various gasses:
Oxygen and water vapor have a high diffusion rate and diffuse rapidly through the membrane wall.
Nitrogen has a low diffusion rate and diffuses slowly through the membrane wall.
Pressurised nitrogen enriched air is released at the outlet of the membranes (E) which can be stored in a nitrogen
storage vessel.
K3.1.142M Manual NitroFlow Lab
Fig. 3-1: Separation principle
F Fast permeation
S Slow permeation
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