US 11,732,978 B2
Laminated microchannel heat exchangers
Richard Todd Miller, Corvallis, OR (US); and Steven Schon, Strafford, PA (US)
Assigned to QCIP Holdings, LLC, Strafford, PA (US)
Appl. No. 16/72,501
Filed by OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY, Corvallis, OR (US)
PCT Filed Apr. 18, 2017, PCT No. PCT/US2017/028183
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jul. 24, 2018,
PCT Pub. No. WO2017/184635, PCT Pub. Date Oct. 26, 2017.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/324,327, filed on Apr. 18, 2016.
Prior Publication US 2019/0063848 A1, Feb. 28, 2019
Int. Cl. F28F 3/08 (2006.01); F28F 13/06 (2006.01); F28D 15/02 (2006.01); F28F 7/02 (2006.01); F28D 21/00 (2006.01); F28F 13/02 (2006.01); H01L 23/473 (2006.01); F28D 9/00 (2006.01); F28F 21/04 (2006.01); F28F 3/04 (2006.01)
CPC F28F 3/086 (2013.01) [F28D 15/0233 (2013.01); F28F 7/02 (2013.01); F28F 13/06 (2013.01); F28D 9/0081 (2013.01); F28D 2021/0028 (2013.01); F28F 3/048 (2013.01); F28F 3/08 (2013.01); F28F 13/02 (2013.01); F28F 21/04 (2013.01); F28F 2250/04 (2013.01); F28F 2250/10 (2013.01); F28F 2255/18 (2013.01); F28F 2260/02 (2013.01); F28F 2265/24 (2013.01); H01L 23/473 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A microchannel heat exchanger, comprising:
a cover with an input access channel and an output access channel,
a thermally conductive base,
a plurality of thermally conductive sheets between the cover and the base that each define a series of side-by-side lanes aligned with a flow direction, wherein the lanes each include a plurality of aligned slots that define microchannel segments and are separated by a plurality of cross ribs spaced along the lanes in the flow direction, and wherein the cross-ribs are significantly shorter than the slots in the flow direction,
wherein the sheets further define common cut-out areas in communication with the lanes at either end of the lanes,
wherein the thermally conductive sheets include a first plurality of sheets of a first type interleaved with a second plurality of sheets of a second type that are stacked between the base and cover so as to cause at least some of the cross ribs to be offset from each other and allow the microchannel segments in the same lane in adjacent sheets to communicate with each other along the flow direction to define a plurality of microchannels in the heat exchanger, wherein a distance along which the microchannel segments in the same lane in adjacent sheets communicate with each other is significantly longer along the flow direction than the length of the cross ribs between the segments along the flow direction,
wherein the microchannels defined in the microchannel heat exchanger each has a cross-section with a smallest dimension of less than 1000 microns,
wherein the sheets are stacked between the base and cover so that the common cut-out areas form at least one input manifold and at least one output manifold that are respectively aligned with the input channel and the output channel on the cover,
wherein the thermally conductive sheets are bonded or fused to each other to form closed microchannels in the heat exchanger,
wherein the heat exchanger is constructed for boiling or evaporating fluid service, and wherein the sheets define a more dense packing of cross ribs in the inlet end of each of the lanes of the heat exchanger to reduce the open cross-section at the inlet end of each of the lanes relative to a cross-section of all of a remaining portion of that lane between the more dense packing of cross ribs at the inlet end of that lane and the outlet end of that lane, to define flow restrictors at the inlet end of each of the lanes, and
wherein the aspect ratio of the microchannels is above 4:1.