Channel assembly

Abstract

A channel assembly for stacking with laminar heat exchange elements in a Fischer-Tropsch reactor comprises a corrugated sheet (1) lying against a plate (4/5) having an inner surface engaging the extremities of the corrugations of the sheet to define process microchannels between the corrugations, wherein the peaks and troughs of the corrugations are laterally offset from the central longitudinal axes of the channels, and taller than the outer edge plates (3). This ensures that pressure (arrows A) applied during manufacture to the corrugated sheet bows the walls of the process microchannels in the same direction, maintaining a substantially constant cross-section, rather than towards each other with would reduce the cross section and create differential flow rates through the adjacent microchannels, whilst also maintaining enhanced thermal contact between the corrugations and the plates.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.