Inventors:
Arnold J. Carrico - Walnut Creek CA
International Classification:
B32B 714
Abstract:
For fluid interchange treatment, such as for heat exchanging or chemical interaction between a descending liquid and a rising gas, a flexible structure is provided which consists of stacked horizontal partition walls formed from pairs of sheets of non-woven fabric material, such as felt, heat-joined by plastic coatings on their inner surfaces and disposed in vertically-spaced parallel arrangement and sealed at their sides by accordion-folded sheets of flexible material. The paired sheets forming the spaced parallel partition walls of the structure contain ports which are arranged offset relatively to one another in successive sheets so that any fluid passing from top to bottom or vice-versa of the thus-formed cellular structure will pursue a zigzag path. The paired fabric sheets thus joined by their plastic-coated inner surfaces to form the laminated walls are provided with openings which also cut away the plastic coatings on predetermined portions of the felt sheets to form cells with which the ports communicate, these openings being so arranged that when the pairs of sheets are stacked and heat-sealed between the plastic-to-plastic surfaces which extend around and isolate the openings in the same partition walls from one another, a multi-columned structure of parallel cellular formation results, with the treated and treating fluids pursuing independent zigzag paths between top and the bottom of each cellular column. Thus, for example, the cold air entering at the bottom of each column of the structure is brought into contact with hot water entering at the top of each column and flowing downward in a cascade manner so that the hot water is cooled by the rising air streams.