Patent ID: 7272941

Claim:
A method of condensing water, comprising: passing a fluid mixture comprising water vapor into a gas flow channel in a condenser, wherein the condenser comprises a cooling channel; a gas flow channel adjacent to the cooling channel; and a liquid flow path; wherein the liquid flow path is adjacent to the gas flow channel; wherein the cooling channel is defined by cooling channel walls; a primary heat transfer surface between the gas flow channel and the cooling channel, wherein this surface has an area; forming a liquid in the liquid flow path; and passing coolant through the cooling channel with a pressure drop through the cooling channel of no more than 4 inches (10 cm) of water column, and at least one of the following: (1) the energy density, calculated from the volume of the sum of the cooling channel and the gas flow channel, including the volume of walls defining the cooling channel, is at least 2.0 W/cm 3 , or (2) the specific energy, calculated from the weight of the materials defining the cooling channel and the gas flow channel, is at least 1000 W/kg, or (3) the overall mean heat transfer coefficient is at least 500 W/cm 2 ·K based on the primary heat transfer area between the gas flow channel and the cooling channel, or (4) at least 70% of the water vapor in the feed stream condenses into a liquid.