The methods include steps for making a fuel cell layer, making a compact chemical reactor with high aspect ratio cavities from components with low aspect ratio cavities, and forming of a high aspect ratio compact chemical reactor using low aspect ratio layers. The methods entail forming at least two
The methods include steps for making a fuel cell layer, making a compact chemical reactor with high aspect ratio cavities from components with low aspect ratio cavities, and forming of a high aspect ratio compact chemical reactor using low aspect ratio layers. The methods entail forming at least two process layers; forming a perimeter barrier on at least one side of one of the process layers creating an intermediate assembly with at least one low aspect ratio cavity; repeating the initial steps to create additional intermediate assemblies with at least one low aspect ratio cavity; joining intermediate assemblies to create a compact chemical reactor with high aspect ratio cavities; and joining the compact chemical reactor with high aspect ratio cavities to two reactant plenums to facilitate a transport process between reactant plenums and process layers.
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What is claimed is: 1. A method for making a high aspect ratio compact chemical reactor with high aspect ratio cavities using components with low aspect ratio cavities, comprising the steps: a. creating at least two low aspect ratio process layers; b. forming at least one low aspect ratio perimeter
What is claimed is: 1. A method for making a high aspect ratio compact chemical reactor with high aspect ratio cavities using components with low aspect ratio cavities, comprising the steps: a. creating at least two low aspect ratio process layers; b. forming at least one low aspect ratio perimeter barrier by forming a barrier material into at least one barrier shape; c. creating low aspect ratio cavities by joining the low aspect ratio perimeter barrier to at least one side of one of the low aspect ratio process layers creating an intermediate assembly with at least one low aspect ratio cavity; d. repeating steps (a) to (c) to create additional intermediate assemblies with at least one low aspect ratio cavity; e. creating high aspect ratio cavities by joining one of the low aspect ratio process layers to the low aspect ratio cavities; f. repeating steps (d) and (e) to create a plurality of joined intermediate assemblies to create a compact chemical reactor with high aspect ratio cavities; and g. joining the compact chemical reactor with high aspect ratio cavities to two reactant plenums to facilitate a transport process between the reactant plenums and the process layers. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of forming the perimeter barrier comprises making a structural form that prevents reactant from one plenum from moving into the other plenum. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the structural form can be a micro-structure or a three-dimensional structure with a tortuous path. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein a thin flat fuel cell layer is made. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein a thin curvilinear fuel cell layer is made. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein a volume enclosing fuel cell layer is made. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of forming a perimeter barrier comprises depositing a barrier material on a portion of at least one of the process layers. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of forming a perimeter barrier comprises forming a barrier from barrier material and then joining the formed barrier material to at least a portion of at least one of the process layers. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of forming the process layers further comprises creating process layers with a defined shape selected from the group consisting of: a rectangle, a square, a triangle, an annular ring, an arc, an irregular shape, and other prismatic shapes. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of forming the process layers is by depositing a precursor material on a substrate. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the substrate comprises a release layer. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the release layer comprises a polyamide, a polyethylene, or polytetrafluroethylene. 13. The method of claim 10, wherein the substrate is one of the low aspect ratio process layers. 14. The method of claim 10, wherein the substrate comprises a unit reactor. 15. The method of claim 10, wherein the substrate comprises a portion of a unit reactor. 16. The method of claim 10, wherein the substrate is an at least partially filled low aspect ratio cavity. 17. The method of claim 10, wherein the substrate is a fuel cell. 18. The method of claim 10, wherein the substrate is an electrolyzer. 19. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of at least partially filling at least one of the plurality of low aspect ratio cavities with at least one material to facilitate the transport of reactant material. 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the material comprises a catalyst, a porous material, an electrical conductor, and combinations thereof. 21. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of at least partially filling the at least one low aspect ratio cavity comprises forming a micro-structure in the low aspect ratio cavity. 22. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of at least partially filling at least one of the low aspect ratio cavities comprises filling the cavity with a porous media and a catalyst layer. 23. The method of claim 1, wherein each process layer comprises an electrolyte, an ion exchange membrane, a proton exchange membrane, a filtration membrane, a separation membrane, a microstructure diffusion mixer, a heater, a catalyst, an electrical conductor, a thermal conductor, a micro-structure of a polymer, a filled microstructure of a polymer, a filled epoxy composite, a filled graphite composite, a filled metal composite, a plastic, or combinations thereof. 24. An electrolyzer made by the method of claim 1. 25. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of forming the barrier material comprises ablating, etching, stamping, printing, milling, die cutting, molding, casting, water jetting, the barrier material or depositing of additional material on a substrate. 26. The method of claim 1, wherein each perimeter barrier comprises: a metal, a silicone, a rubber, a polyamide, a synthetic rubber, an epoxy, polytetrafluroethylene, polyvinyldiflouride, an ion exchange material, a proton exchange material, composites thereof, laminates thereof, an alloy thereof, and combinations thereof. 27. The method of claim 1, wherein high aspect ratio cavities is a ratio of the length to width which is less than 1 cm/cm. 28. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating intermediate assemblies comprises joining between 2 and 100,000 intermediate assemblies. 29. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of joining of the low aspect ratio perimeter barriers to the low aspect ratio process layers comprises using welding, adhering, clamping, screwing, or otherwise engaging the perimeter barriers to the process layers. 30. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating the low aspect process layer comprising forming an undulating high aspect ratio process layer. 31. A method for making a high aspect ratio fuel cell layer with high aspect ratio cavities from components with low aspect ratio cavities, comprising the steps: a. forming at least two low aspect ratio process layers; b. forming a perimeter barrier on at least one side of one of the low aspect ratio process layers creating an intermediate assembly with low aspect ratio cavities; c. repeating steps (a) to (b) to create additional intermediate assemblies with at least one low aspect ratio cavity; d. joining intermediate assemblies to create a fuel cell layer with high aspect ratio cavities; and e. joining the fuel cell layer with high aspect ratio cavities to an oxidant plenum comprising oxidant, and a fuel plenum comprising fuel, to facilitate a transport process between the fuel plenum, oxidant plenum and the process layers. 32. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of forming the perimeter barrier comprises making a structural form that prevents the mixing of fuel and oxidant. 33. The method of claim 32, wherein the structural form can be a microstructure or a three dimensional structure with a tortuous path. 34. The method of claim 31, wherein a thin flat fuel cell layer is made. 35. The method of claim 31, wherein a thin curvilinear fuel cell layer is made. 36. The method of claim 31, wherein a volume enclosing fuel cell layer is made. 37. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of forming a perimeter barrier comprises depositing a barrier material on a portion of at least one of the process layers. 38. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of forming a perimeter barrier comprises forming a barrier from barrier material and then joining the formed barrier material to at least a portion of at least one of the process layers. 39. The method of claim 38, wherein the step of joining the perimeter barrier to the low aspect ratio process layer comprises using: welding, adhering, clamping, screwing, or otherwise engaging the perimeter barrier to the process layer. 40. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of forming the process layers further comprises creating process layers with a defined shape selected from the group consisting of: a rectangle, a square, a triangle, an annular ring, an arc, and an arbitrary pattern. 41. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of creating the process layers is by depositing a precursor material on a substrate. 42. The method of claim 41, wherein the substrate comprises a release layer. 43. The method of claim 42, wherein the release layer comprises a polyamide, a polyethylene, or polytetrafluroethylene. 44. The method of claim 41, wherein the substrate comprises a fuel cell. 45. The method of claim 41, wherein the substrate comprises a portion of a fuel cell. 46. The method of claim 45, wherein the substrate is an at least partially filled low aspect ratio cavity. 47. The method of claim 31, further comprising the step of at least partially filling at least two of the low aspect ratio cavities with material to create at least two gas diffusion electrodes, wherein said material comprises: a catalyst, a porous material, an electrical conductor, a hydrophobic polymeric binder, or a combination thereof. 48. The method of claim 47, further comprising the step of connecting at least one of the gas diffusion electrodes to the fuel plenum and at least one of the gas diffusion electrodes to the oxidant plenum. 49. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of at least partially filling the at least one low aspect ratio cavity comprises forming a micro-structured gas diffusion electrode in at least one low aspect ratio cavity. 50. The method of claim 31, wherein each process layer comprises an electrolyte, an ion exchange membrane, a proton exchange membrane, electrical conductors, a microstructure of a polymer, a filled microstructure of a polymer, a filled epoxy composite, a filled graphite composite, a filled metal composite, a plastic, or combination thereof. 51. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of forming the perimeter barrier comprises a member of the group: ablating, etching, stamping, printing, milling, die cutting, molding, casting, water jetting, the barrier material or depositing of material on a substrate. 52. The method of claim 31, wherein each perimeter barrier comprises: a metal, a silicone, a rubber, a polyamide, a synthetic rubber, an epoxy, polytetrafluroethylene, polyvinyldiflouride, an ion exchange material, a proton exchange material, a composite thereof, a laminate thereof, an alloys thereof, and combinations thereof. 53. The method of claim 31, wherein the high aspect ratio of the high aspect ratio cavity is a ratio of the length to the width which is greater than 1 cm/cm. 54. The method of claim 31, wherein the low aspect ratio of the cavity is less than 1 cm/cm. 55. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of forming intermediate assemblies comprises joining between 2 and 100,000 intermediate assemblies to form the fuel cell layer. 56. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of forming the process layer comprising forming an undulating low aspect ratio process layer. 57. A fuel cell made by the method of claim 31. 58. A method for making of a high aspect ratio compact chemical reactor using low aspect ratio layers comprising the steps: a. creating a plurality of low aspect ratio process layers by depositing precursor materials on a substrate and forming a precursor material into a shape; b. creating a plurality of low aspect ratio perimeter barriers by depositing a barrier precursor material on a substrate and forming the barrier precursor material into a shape; c. creating low aspect ratio cavities by joining the low aspect ratio perimeter barrier to at least one side of one of the low aspect ratio process layers; d. creating high aspect ratio cavities by joining one of the low aspect ratio process layers to the low aspect ratio cavities; e. repeating steps (c) and (d) to create a plurality of formed layers; and f. assembling the plurality of formed layers to form a compact chemical reactor with high aspect ratios. 59. The method of claim 58, further comprising the step of at least partially filling the plurality of low aspect ratio cavities with active materials to facilitate the transport of reactant material or attributes, wherein at least partially filling the plurality of low aspect ratio cavities with active materials forms a partial reactor. 60. The method of claim 58, wherein the step of at least partially filling the plurality of low aspect ratio cavities comprises forming a micro-structure in the low aspect ratio cavities. 61. The method of claim 60, wherein the substrate is a release layer. 62. The method of claim 61, wherein the release layer is a polyamide, polyethylene, or polytetrafluroethylene. 63. The method of claim 58, wherein the step of at least partially filling the plurality of low aspect ratio cavities comprises filling with a porous media and a catalyst layer. 64. The method of claim 58, wherein the precursor material is a proton exchange membrane, filtration membrane, micro-structure diffusion mixer, heater, catalyst, thermal conductors, microstructure of a polymer, filled epoxy composites, filled graphite composites, filled metal composites, or plastics. 65. The method of claim 58, wherein the substrate is one of the low aspect ratio process layers. 66. The method of claim 58, wherein the substrate is a unit reactor. 67. The method of claim 58, wherein the substrate is a portion of a unit reactor. 68. The method of claim 58, wherein the substrate is a fuel cell. 69. The method of claim 58, wherein the step of forming of the precursor material and the barrier precursor material into a shape is performed by ablating, etching, stamping, printing, milling, die cutting, molding, casting, or water jetting. 70. The method of claim 58, wherein the barrier precursor material comprises a metal, a silicone, a rubber, a nylon, a synthetic rubber, an epoxy, polytetrafluroethylene, polyvinyldiflouride, an ion exchange material, a proton exchange material, a composite thereof, a laminate thereof, an alloy thereof, or combinations thereof. 71. The method of claim 58, wherein the high aspect ratio of the high aspect ratio cavity is a ratio of the length to the width which is greater than 1 cm/cm. 72. The method of claim 58, wherein the low aspect ratio is when the ratio of length to width is <1. 73. The method of claim 58, wherein between 2 layers and 100,000 layers intermediate assemblies are joined to form the compact chemical reactor. 74. The method of claim 58, wherein the step of joining of the perimeter barrier to the low aspect process layer is performed by welding, adhering, clamping, screwing, or otherwise engaging the perimeter barrier to the process layer.
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