Patent ID: 7988447

Claim:
A catalytic heat exchanger apparatus for delivering a combustible fluid to a combustion device, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of flow divider sheets extending in a longitudinal direction and positioned in a stacked configuration such that adjacent pairs of the sheets define flow passages therebetween, each sheet being nonuniform in the longitudinal direction to define a manifold portion and a corrugated portion, the manifold portions of the adjacent pairs of the sheets defining the flow passages therebetween for receiving the fluid, the corrugated portions of each adjacent pair of sheets defining a plurality of fluid channels therebetween and connected to the flow passages defined by the manifold portions of a respective pair of the flow divider sheets, the fluid channels extending generally in the longitudinal direction and being fluidly connected at an end opposite the manifold portions of the sheets, wherein an adjacent pair of sheets defines in the manifold portion a cavity extending between opposed transverse edges of the adjacent pair of sheets and in the corrugated portion the plurality of longitudinally extending flow passages that open into the cavity; a corrugated insert disposed within the cavity and defining a plurality of flow passages in fluid communication with the flow passages of the corrugated portion; a plurality of inlets defined by a first plurality of the flow passages, the inlets configured to receive an oxidizing fluid and deliver the oxidizing fluid in a first flow direction to the fluid channels of the first plurality of flow passages; a fuel injector proximate to an end of the corrugated portions of the flow divider sheets, the fuel injector configured to deliver a combustible fluid to the oxidizing fluid at the end of the fluid channels opposite the manifold portions such that the oxidizing fluid and the combustible fluid mix to form a combustible mixture flowing through the fluid channels of a second plurality of the flow passages in a second flow direction generally opposite the first flow direction; and an outlet defined by the second plurality of the flow passages, the outlet configured to deliver the combustible mixture from the second plurality of the flow passages, wherein the first and second pluralities of flow passages thermally communicate such that thermal energy resulting from a combustion of the combustible fluid in the fluid channels of the second plurality of the flow passages is transferred to the oxidizing fluid in the fluid channels of the first plurality of the flow passages, thereby pre-heating the oxidizing fluid before the oxidizing fluid enters the second plurality of the flow passages.