An Advanced Ceramic Heat Recuperator for Vehicular Application

An advanced ceramic heat recuperator (ACHR) incorporates thin corrugated,d triangular-shaped flow channels made of non-oxide ceramics with high thermal conductivity and high fracture toughness. A counterflow arrangement together with the unique design of the flow channels makes the ACHR highly efficient, highly reliable and compact. A key processing innovation is also made for fabrication of the corrugated flow channels by casting ceramic tapes by a doctor blade with a thermosetting resin binder, laminating them to a semicured state and pressing to a final shape in a mold. The approach allows pressureless sintering of the flow channels instead of costly hot pressing. The ability to pretest each ceramic component before assembly contributes to a high yield assembly of the ACHR. Because of these features the ACHR is very inexpensive to manufacture. During Phase I of the proposed program the design of the ACHR will be further optimized and fabricability of the flow channel assembly will be demonstrated.