US 11,884,560 B2
Conversion materials for electrochemical water softening
Mordechai C. Kornbluth, Brighton, MA (US); Jonathan Mailoa, Cambridge, MA (US); Soo Kim, Cambridge, MA (US); Georgy Samsonidze, San Francisco, CA (US); Boris Kozinsky, Waban, MA (US); Saravanan Kuppan, Sunnyvale, CA (US); Sondra Hellstrom, East Palo Alto, CA (US); and Nathan Craig, Burlingame, CA (US)
Assigned to Robert Bosch GmbH, Stuttgart (DE)
Filed by Robert Bosch GmbH, Stuttgart (DE)
Filed on Oct. 2, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/591,199.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/749,087, filed on Oct. 22, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2020/0123027 A1, Apr. 23, 2020
Int. Cl. C25B 11/00 (2021.01); C02F 1/461 (2023.01); C02F 5/00 (2023.01); C02F 1/46 (2023.01)
CPC C02F 1/46109 (2013.01) [C02F 1/4602 (2013.01); C02F 5/00 (2013.01); C02F 2001/46133 (2013.01)] 6 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A conversion electrode for a water softening device, comprising:
a conversion material having a first composition and a second composition coexisting with the first composition, the first composition including calcium ions bonded thereto and the second composition including sodium ions bonded thereto,
wherein the conversion material is configured to be at least partially immersed in a water solution and undergo a reversible conversion reaction in which (i) the first composition exchanges the bonded calcium ions for free sodium ions in the water solution and converts to the second composition in a first condition of the conversion electrode and (ii) the second composition exchanges the bonded sodium ions for free calcium ions in the water solution and converts to the first composition in a second condition of the conversion electrode, and
wherein the first composition includes at least 10 percent by weight of a compound represented by the formula CaMgxMOy and the second composition includes at least 10 percent by weight of a compound rrepresented by the formula NaMgxMOy, where x, y, and M have the values in any one row of the following table:
 
 
 
 x y M
 
 
 
 
 30 32 Fe
 
 14 16 Mn
 
 6 8 Mn.