Patent #2,876,188-- March 3, 1959
Thorp, Clark E., et al. Ozone Manufacture.
This patent is a design for an industrial ozone production process that uses glow discharge for the purpose of converting oxygen to ozone. As outlined by the patent, oxygen supplied from tanks enters into the device at subatmospheric pressures and first passes through a purification step such as a combustion tube. The oxygen then travels through a liquid oxygen cooled carbon dioxide and water trap before passing through a rotameter. After purification, the oxygen is converted to ozone and then collected in a liquid nitrogen cooled ozone collector. The remaining oxygen is then recycled back into the ozonizer. This process claims high results in increasing the conversion efficiency of oxygen to ozone and the efficient use of the energy supplied to the ozonator.
Patent #3,856,671 December 24, 1974
Lee, Hanju, et al. Closed-Loop Ozone Generating and Contacting System.
This patent outlines a closed-loop system for generating ozone to be used in water treatment. A feed gas, usually ambient air, is sent through a pressure-swing fractionator, a device which removes nitrogen from air and results in an oxygen-enriched gas mixture which is between 30 and 95 percent oxygen. The oxygen-enriched mixture then flows to an ozonator which is made up of either tubular electrodes or flat electrodes. The oxygen-enriched gas passes between the pairs of electrodes and electrical discharge between the electrodes produces ozone from the oxygen-enriched gas. The mixture of ozone/oxygen-enriched gas that results is then brought into contact with water to be treated. Nitrogen from air as well as from waste decomposition is dissolved in the water to be treated, and this nitrogen mixes with the excess oxygen-enriched gas that is passed over the water. The mixture of oxygen-enriched gas and ozone is then recycled back to the pressure-swing fractionator which removes the nitrogen, and the process is repeated. In previous methods of water purification, a complex deaeration step was necessary before treatment of the water. This deaeration step eliminated nitrogen build-up in closed-loop systems. With the pressure-swing fractionator, this deaeration step is not necessary.
Patent #3,865,733--February 11, 1975
Taylor, Leland Thomas. Apparatus for the Production of Ozone.
This patent describes an ozone generator which consists of two or more wires woven together as a "fabric" of wires; the wires serve as electrodes. The wires are made of copper, brass, aluminum, or any other conductive metal and are coated with a thick coating of a non-conducting material, such as Teflon, which is inert to ozone. Oxygen gas or an oxygen-containing gas is fed into the generator perpendicular to the wires, and a corona discharge formed between the wires converts oxygen in the spaces between the wires to ozone.
Patent #3,905,920--September 16, 1975
Botcharoff, Jacqueline W. Ozone Generating Device.
This patent is a design for an ozone generating apparatus that can be plugged into a car's cigarette lighter. The device is designed to provide a means for transforming the D.C. current of a car’s battery into A.C. current for the purposes of raising the relatively small voltage of the car's battery. While the patent suggests using electrically generated ionizing radiation for the purpose of ozone formation, it does not exclude using discharge or UV methods for accomplishing ozone production. This device is designed to produce ozone at small non-toxic levels that can be used to deodorize the interior of a car.
Patent #3,963,625--June 15, 1976
Lowther, Frank E. Ozone Generation and Recovery System.
This patent outlines a system for the generation and recovery of ozone. The system consists of several ozone generators of the corona discharge type separated by cooling devices. The ozone/oxygen mixtures are cooled between each ozone generator. A pressure-swing device is used to separate air into oxygen and nitrogen. This oxygen-rich gas is passed through the series of ozone generators and cooling devices, and oxygen is converted to ozone in a concentration not greater than one weight percent. The oxygen/ozone mixture is then contacted with a solid adsorbent such as silica gel which adsorbs the ozone. The purified oxygen gas may then be recycled to the ozone generator and the process repeated. The nitrogen initially separated from air is used to desorb the ozone from the silica gel.
Patent #4,035,657--July 12, 1977
Carlson, Curt William. Ozone Generator.
This patent is for an apparatus which produces ozone and then injects it either into swimming pool water or air to be treated by the ozone. The ozonizer consists of an inner and an outer electrode made of rectangular sheets of stainless steel wire mesh. The inner electrode is surrounded by an inner dielectric member, and the outer electrode has an outer dielectric member on its inner surface. The two dielectric members are separated by a helical spacer. Ozone is formed by a silent electrical discharge in the gap between the two dielectric members from oxygen gas or air injected into the apparatus. Several of these ozonizers are connected in series so that the yield of ozone is increased. The ozone is immediately injected into water or air for treatment.
Patent #4.062,748--December 13, 1977
Imris, Pavel. Method and Apparatus for Producing Ozone.
This patent is for an ozone generator which utilizes a corona discharge between two electrodes housed in a dielectric casing made of PVC. Three electrodes are located inside the casing, a discharge electrode, a grounded counter-electrode, and a bipolar electrode. The discharge electrode and grounded electrode are connected to a high-voltage DC generator. A corona discharge forms between the electrodes and ozonizes the oxygen within the apparatus.
Patent #4,140,608--February 20, 1979
Vaseen, Vesper A. Converting Oxygen to Ozone Using a Liquid Dielectric Containing Dissolved Oxygen.
This patent describes a method of ozone production involving a corona discharge between two electrodes spaced by a dielectric liquid such as a fluorocarbon. The liquid acts not only as a dielectric, but also carries dissolved oxygen-bearing gases through the corona discharge area so that the dissolved oxygen is converted to ozone. The liquid also serves to dissipate the heat produced by the discharge. The liquid used should be non-miscible with water, non-toxic to bio-organisms, non-oxidizable with ozone, and should have an affinity for dissolving oxygen. Oxygen should be dissolved in the liquid at pressures above atmospheric pressure. The ozone dissolved in the dielectric liquid can then be released from the dielectric for immediate use by decreasing the pressure on the liquid. An alternative method for utilizing the produced ozone is to mix the dielectric liquid, still under pressure, with wastewater to be treated, and then release the pressure. The ozone is released into the wastewater, and the dielectric liquid, since it is non-miscible with water may be separated from the water.
Patent #4,351,734--September 28, 1982
Kauffman, Gilbert. Spark Cell Ozone Generator.
This patent is an outline for an ozone production process that generates ozone in a stream of moving liquid waste. The invention consists of a lower inlet which allows waste water and oxygen enter the device. Inside the ozonizer there are two complementary electrodes with electrically conductive particles packed between them. As waste water and oxygen enter the device, the packing material expands to establish electrical contact between the electrodes which creates localized arcing between the particles that make up the packing material; this arcing converts oxygen to ozone which treats the wastewater. The water then flows out of the device through an upper outlet.
Patent #4,386,055--May 31, 1983
McBride, Thomas D. Ozonator with Air Actuated Rotor.
This patent is a design for an oxygen-fed ozone generator that uses a corona discharge method to convert oxygen to ozone. The design of the device is such that air coming into the ozonizer is used to rotate windmill-like blades. The blades have conducting capability and are spaced such that they can rotate freely inside the reaction chamber. Furthermore, as the blades rotate, their edges come in close proximity to adjustable spaced multi-conductors to produce a corona discharge. It is claimed by this patent that the movement of the conducting blades causes cooling which in turn decreases electrode degradation.
Patent #4,462,965--July 31, 1984
Azuma, Kenkoku, et al. Intermittent Ozonizing Apparatus.
This patent is a process for using an oxygen fed intermittent ozonizing apparatus that uses a discharge method for the treatment of coolant water. Oxygen is fed into a reaction chamber where it is converted into an oxygen/ozone mixture. From the reaction chamber, the oxygen/ozone gas is directed toward an adsorption tower where the ozone is adsorbed from the gas mixture. The oxygen is then recycled back into the ozonizer reaction chamber. The adsorbed ozone is desorbed by means of suction under low pressure and directed toward an ozone outlet. The purpose behind using ozone in coolant water is to prevent the buildup of organic material on the interior of circulating pipes.
Patent #4,790,980--December 13, 1988
Erni, Peter, et al. Device for the Generation of Ozone and a Process for its Operation.
This patent is both a design for the electric discharge generation of ozone and an operating process. As described by the author of the patent, the design calls for an ozone generator with two electrodes connected across the secondary winding of a high voltage transformer. The primary winding of the transformer is connected to a converter which supplies square wave current with variable amplitude and frequency. A compensation coil is connected across either the primary or the secondary of the transformer. The ozone generator uses a solid dielectric and a has gas path between the two electrodes. As claimed in the patent, the result of the electrical engineering of this generator is an improvement in the power factor of the ozone generator at relatively high current frequencies.
Patent #4,909,996--March 20, 1990
Uys, Richard. Ozone Generator.
This patent describes a modular ozone generating device of the discharge type that is designed to be used to produce the quantities of ozone needed to purify a local environment. The ozonating device consists of a container that is longitudinally divided into two compartments. One of the compartments contains a number of transformers that are placed side by side and a device that is used to force air into the compartment for the purpose of cooling the transformers. The second compartment contains a number of electrostatic ozone generators that are equal in number to the number of transformers in the first compartment. Each electrostatic ozone generator is paired to one of the transformers in the first compartment with electrical connections between the transformer and generator. The second compartment also contains an opening at the far end of the air blowing device that allows the air traveling in the first compartment to travel into the second compartment before it leaves the container.
Patent #4,992,246--February 12, 1991
Serizawa, Yoshikiyo. Ozonizer.
This invention simplifies the corona discharge ozonizer by using as one of the electrodes a set of metallic blades which rotate inside a metallic casing which forms the other electrode. The rotation of the blades blows the air through the apparatus so that cooling of the electrodes results. The fan-like electrodes also eliminate the need for additional devices to blow air into the ozonizer and to pump the ozone out of the chamber. The ozone produced is simply exhausted outside the apparatus by the rotating blades. The metallic casing has on its inner surface a dielectric member made of silicone rubber. The electrodes are attached to a high voltage source of 10 kV-15 kV which causes a corona discharge between the casing and the metallic-blade electrodes, and ozone is formed from the oxygen within the chamber.
Patent #5,047,127--September 10, 1991
Tottori, Isao, et al. Ozone Generating Method.
This patent outlines a method for increasing quantities of ozone produced by a conventional ozone generator which uses a silent discharge in oxygen gas. The claims are that mixing oxygen gas with nitrogen gas in a ratio of oxygen to nitrogen of 1:0.0002 to 0.02 increases the efficiency of the ozone generating device because nitrogen acts as a catalyst to the reaction. In concentrations of nitrogen above 0.02 or below 0.0002, the catalyzing effect is not observed. A greater concentration of produced ozone was observed when nitrogen gas in the concentration range of 0.0002 to 0.02 was mixed with the oxygen gas than when high purity oxygen gas was used alone.