A catalyzing reactor, a method for producing a catalyzing reactor and a use of catalyzing reactor

Abstract

A catalyzing reactor comprising a reactor entrance and a reactor exit and an internal structure arranged for flowing a reacting medium through the reactor from the reactor entrance to the reactor exit. The reactor structure comprising at least one thin walled reactor channel arranged between the entrance and the exit of the reactor. The channel having a channel wall that includes a catalyst and that defines a flow path, in which channel in use, a catalyzed exothermic reaction takes place in the medium as it flows along the flow path. The at least one channel is looped to have a portion of its flow path that is downstream with respect to the reactor entrance in heat exchanging contact with a portion of a flow path that is that is more upstream with respect to the reactor entrance, so as to transfer heat between a downstream portion of the reacting medium to an upstream portion thereof.

1 . A catalyzing reactor comprising a reactor entrance and a reactor exit and an internal structure arranged for flowing a reacting medium through the reactor from the reactor entrance to the reactor exit, the reactor structure comprising at least one thin walled reactor channel arranged between the entrance and the exit of the reactor, the channel having a channel wall that includes a catalyst and that defines a flow path, in which channel in use, a catalyzed reaction takes place in the medium as it flows along the flow path, the at least one channel being looped to have a portion of its flow path that is downstream with respect to the reactor entrance in heat exchanging contact with a portion of a flow path that is more upstream with respect to the reactor entrance, so as to transfer heat between a downstream portion of the reacting medium to an upstream portion thereof. 
     
     
         2 . Reactor according to  claim 1 , wherein the downstream portion of the flow path shares a common thin wall with its more upstream portion. 
     
     
         3 . Reactor according to  claim 1 , wherein the downstream portion of the flow path is in direct heat exchanging contact with its more upstream portion. 
     
     
         4 . Reactor according to  claim 1 , wherein the reactor comprises a bundle of channels wherein the downstream portion of the flow path of the channel of the bundle of channels share a common thin wall with the upstream portion of the flow path of an adjacent channel of the bundle of channels and/or share a common thin wall with itself, preferably with its upstream portion of the flow path. 
     
     
         5 . Reactor according to  claim 1 , wherein the channel has at least one reversed section for looping the channel back onto itself and/or other channels. 
     
     
         6 . Reactor according to  claim 1 , wherein the reversed section includes a U-shaped form, a N-shaped form and/or S-shaped form. 
     
     
         7 . Reactor according to  claim 1 , wherein the channel has a meandering flow path comprising a plurality of U-shaped, N-shaped and/or S-shaped forms. 
     
     
         8 . Reactor according to  claim 1 , wherein the channel wall has a degree of porosity. 
     
     
         9 . Reactor according to  claim 1 , wherein the entrance and the exit of the reactor are in mutually spaced apart planes. 
     
     
         10 . Reactor according to  claim 1 , wherein the channel has a varying cross-section along its flow path, and preferably the channel has a triangular and/or diamond-shaped cross section. 
     
     
         11 . Reactor according to  claim 1 , wherein the channel wall is made from a heat conducting catalytic material, preferably a material comprising metal, and more preferably a material comprising silver. 
     
     
         12 . Reactor according to  claim 1 , wherein the reactor is a propulsion element such as part of a thruster and/or an igniter to ignite a rocket engine, and wherein the medium is hydrogen peroxide. 
     
     
         13 . Reactor according to  claim 1 , wherein the reactor is formed by adding successive layers of material to each other. 
     
     
         14 . A method for catalyzing a medium in a catalyzing reactor, wherein the medium flows through the reactor along a flow path in a channel for catalyzation with a catalyst, wherein the flow path has a reversed portion such that heat in the channel is transferred between a downstream portion of the flow flowing through the flow path and an upstream portion thereof. 
     
     
         15 . A method for producing a reactor, preferably a reactor according to  claim 1 , the method comprising the steps of:
 applying a thin layer of powdered material, preferably a powdered catalyst or catalyst support material, onto a bed;   applying laser radiation in two dimensions to fuse the layer;   lowering the powdered bed;   applying a new layer of powdered material onto bed;   repeat the step of applying laser radiation to fuse the new layer.