Patent ID: 8322406

Claim:
A heat exchanger, comprising: at least one hot fluid flow channel comprising a first plurality of open cell porous elements having first gaps therebetween for flowing a hot fluid in a flow direction; at least one cold fluid flow channel comprising a second plurality of open cell porous elements having second gaps therebetween for flowing a cold fluid in a countercurrent flow direction relative to said flow direction, wherein a thermal conductivity of said first and said second plurality of porous elements is at least 10 W/m·K, and a separation member interposed between said hot and said cold flow channels for isolating flow paths associated with said hot and said cold flow channels, wherein said first and said second plurality of porous elements at least partially overlap one another to form a plurality of heat transfer pairs, said plurality of heat transfer pairs transferring heat from respective ones of said first plurality of porous elements to respective ones of said second plurality of porous elements through said separation member; wherein said first plurality of porous elements are completely physically separated from one another by said first gaps and said second plurality of porous elements are completely physically separated from one another by said second gaps, said first gaps and said second gaps being 1 to 10 mm in size.