초록 ▼

A catalytic combustor is formed from a stack of flat and corrugated metal strips. The stack may or may not be wound into a spiral or formed into some other curved structure. Some of the strips are displaced, or offset, relative to other strips, such that some strips do not extend as far as the end f

A catalytic combustor is formed from a stack of flat and corrugated metal strips. The stack may or may not be wound into a spiral or formed into some other curved structure. Some of the strips are displaced, or offset, relative to other strips, such that some strips do not extend as far as the end faces of the stack. The latter feature increases the effective height of the corrugations, at the end faces, and makes it feasible to weld the strips together. In one embodiment, there are high-amplitude corrugated strips and low-amplitude corrugated strips. The low-amplitude corrugated strips increase the effective cell density, but are displaced from the end faces of the stack so as to permit convenient welding. The resulting combustors therefore have very high cell density, yet can be manufactured economically.

대표청구항 ▼

What is claimed is: 1. A catalytic combustor formed of a plurality of flat strips and corrugated strips arranged to form a stack, the stack having an end face, the flat and corrugated strips defining a direction of fluid flow along corrugations of said corrugated strips, the combustor comprising a

What is claimed is: 1. A catalytic combustor formed of a plurality of flat strips and corrugated strips arranged to form a stack, the stack having an end face, the flat and corrugated strips defining a direction of fluid flow along corrugations of said corrugated strips, the combustor comprising a plurality of pairs of flat and corrugated strips, the flat and corrugated strips of each pair being welded together, wherein the flat strip of each pair is offset, in a direction generally parallel to said direction of fluid flow, relative to the corrugated strip of each pair, wherein said pairs are arranged in said stack such that alternate pairs have a flat strip offset towards said end face, and remaining pairs have a corrugated strip offset towards said end face, wherein said pairs are welded together to form a unitary structure. 2. The combustor of claim 1, wherein a flat strip of each pair is welded to a corrugated strip of an adjacent pair. 3. A catalytic combustor comprising a plurality of flat strips, a plurality of high-amplitude corrugated strips, and a plurality of low-amplitude corrugated strips, wherein the flat strips are arranged in a stack such that the flat strips alternate with high-amplitude corrugated strips, the flat and corrugated strips defining a direction of fluid flow along corrugations of said corrugated strips, and wherein a space between the flat strips also contains at least one low-amplitude corrugated strip, wherein the low-amplitude corrugated strip is recessed relative to ends of the flat strips, in a direction generally parallel to said direction of fluid flow, and wherein the flat strips and the high-amplitude corrugated strips are welded together at ends of the flat strips. 4. A catalytic combustor comprising a plurality of metal strips assembled into a stack, wherein some of the strips are flat and some are corrugated, wherein the stack has end faces, the flat and corrugated strips defining a direction of fluid flow along corrugations of said corrugated strips, wherein some of the flat or corrugated strips are displaced relative to others of the flat or corrugated strips, in a direction generally parallel to said direction of fluid flow, such that some of the strips do not terminate at the end faces, wherein the strips are welded together to form a unitary structure. 5. The catalytic combustor of claim 4, wherein the flat strips alternate with the corrugated strips in the stack, and wherein flat strips and corrugated strips are alternately displaced in the stack. 6. The catalytic combustor of claim 4, wherein some of the corrugated strips have low-amplitude corrugations and some of the corrugated strips have high-amplitude corrugations, and wherein the low-amplitude corrugated strips are displaced such that the low-amplitude corrugated strips do not terminate at the end faces.