3D Printed Heat Exchanger

Heat transfer is a ubiquitous challenge that is at the heart of the First Law of Thermodynamics. A heat exchanger, simply speaking, is a device that effectively transfers heat between two (or more) fluids, typically a liquid-liquid, liquidgas, gas-gas or multiple fluids. You can find them in products like air conditioners and car engines. One practical benefit of such devices is energy recovery. There are numerous others — it is a complex technology with broad applications. Heat exchanger designs and manufacturing methods have evolved with the prevailing technologies available and, consequently, have been limited by those technologies. Conflux's Founder and CEO, Michael Fuller, spent more than a decade as an engineer in the automotive racing industry.

Here, heat exchangers have to perform in harsh environments. Therefore, smaller and more efficient components are sought but substractive manufacturig methods have reached their limits. Michael Fuller saw the rapid and transfomative benefits of 3D printing and ultimately identified additive manufacturing as an enabling technology for the next generation of heat exchangers. Highly complex geometries with hitherto unachievable surface area densities resulting in a compelling thermal exchange performance could be achieved. And this, packaged in efficient volumes. Such components could have a dramatic effect on future developments, such as lighter racing cars and aircrafts. These fundamental opportunities are extended when functions are integrated and multi-variant simultaneous production is realized. Michael Fuller was set to take this idea from concept, to design, to prototype, to product using industrial 3D printing.

The Conflux Core^TM heat exchanger was compared to a Formula 1 benchmark. Young Calibrations, a UKAS-certified laboratory in the UK, provides accredited calibration services and thermal fluid and component testing services, and tested Conflux's product. The results (see fig.1) underline the radical improvement Conflux has achieved with their 3D printed heat exchanger. AM allowed Conflux to design internal geometries that radically increased the surface area in a given volume. This tripled the thermal heat rejection. And at the same time, the pressure drop is reduced by two thirds. Additionally, AM enabled a compact and new design of the heat exchanger, reducing its length by 55 mm compared to a F1 benchmark. This ultimately also eliminates 22 percent of weight. The design flexibility AM offers allows for optimum placement inside a vehicle and also enables the merging of components, reducing the overall number of parts.