Metal foam heat exchangers for air and gas cooling and heating applications

Patent · Tue Nov 28 04:00:00 EST 2023

OSTI ID:2293917

Nawaz, Kashif; Jacobi, Anthony M.

Improved heat exchangers according to several embodiments are provided. The heat exchangers provide improved heat transfer for air flow in wet and dry operating conditions, while minimizing pressure drop across the heat exchanger in some applications. According to one embodiment, an improved heat exchanger includes a plurality of metal foam fins between adjacent heat exchange conduits, the heat exchange conduits being arranged parallel to each other to define parallel flow paths between an inlet header and an outlet header. The metal foam fins occupy a cross-flow region between adjacent conduits, the fins having a fixed angular orientation or being rotatable in unison to vary the thermal capacitance of the heat exchanger.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• Assignee: UT-Battelle, LLC (Oak Ridge, TN); Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois (Urbana, IL)
• Patent Number(s): 11,828,501
• Application Number: 16/942,853
• OSTI ID: 2293917
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English