INTEGRAL COMPACT HEAT EXCHANGER AND CATALYTIC REACTOR FOR SCAVENGING CONTAMINANTS FROM AIR

摘要

A fluid treatment system (10) incorporating an integrated heat exchanger and thermal treatment unit (14). A fan (18) draws or pushes a contaminated fluid through the heat exchanger (14), which is preferably of the counter flow type. The integrated heat exchanger and thermal treatment unit (14) is fabricated by stacking sheets of metal foil so that resulting gaps between adjacent sheets define alternating untreated and treated fluid channels. The untreated fluid flows through the heat exchanger and into the thermal treatment unit (14), which is disposed within aligned orifices formed in the metal foil sheets. Heat transfer between adjacent treated and untreated channels greatly improves the efficiency with which a temperature of the untreated fluid entering the heat exchanger is changed due to heat transfer with the treated fluid that is exiting the heat exchanger (14). A header system is in fluid communication with either all of the treated or all of the untreated fluid channels.