Patent ID: 7178345

Claim:
A gas-expansion cooler assembly having an assembly axis and comprising: an expansion plate having an expansion orifice therein, wherein the expansion orifice has an expansion-orifice inlet and an expansion-orifice outlet, and an expansion-plate axial channel extending through the expansion plate parallel to the assembly axis; an end plate in facing relation to a first side of the expansion plate, wherein the expansion plate and the end plate together define an expansion reservoir in fluid-flow communication with the expansion-orifice outlet and in fluid-flow communication with the expansion-plate axial channel; and a heat exchanger in facing relation to a second side of the expansion plate and having a heat-exchanger inlet, and a heat-exchanger outlet in fluid-flow communication with the expansion orifice inlet, wherein the heat exchanger comprises at least two heat-exchanger plates stacked in a facing relationship along the assembly axis, and wherein each heat-exchanger plate includes an in-plane channel lying substantially in a plane perpendicular to the assembly axis, wherein the in-plane channels in two adjacent heat-exchanger plates are in fluid-flow communication with each other, wherein an expansion-end heat-exchanger plate adjacent to the expansion plate has the in-plane channel in fluid-flow communication with the expansion-orifice inlet, and wherein an inlet-end heat-exchanger plate remote from the expansion plate has the in-plane channel in fluid-flow communication with the heat-exchanger inlet, whereby the in-plane channels of the heat-exchanger plates form a continuous high pressure fluid-flow path from the heat-exchanger inlet to the expansion-orifice inlet; and an axial channel extending parallel to the assembly axis, wherein the respective axial channels in two adjacent heat-exchanger plates are in fluid-flow communication with each other, and wherein the expansion-end heat-exchanger plate has the axial channel in fluid-flow communication with the expansion-plate axial channel, whereby the expansion reservoir and the axial channels in the expansion plate and the heat-exchanger plates form a continuous exhaust fluid-flow path from the expansion-orifice outlet to an exhaust port.