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John O | September 2017

Researchers receive funding to develop 3-D printed heat exchangers


engineers at the university of wisconsin-madison have received an extension to funding from the u.s department of energy advanced research projects agency-energy (arpa-e) to continue developing 3-d printed heat exchangers for power plants.

 


a miniature model of bucky the badger stands atop a spool of the input material
from which it was produced, while one of the 3d printers in the uw-madison
advanced manufacturing laboratory operates in the background.
(sam million-weaver/university of wisconsin)

 

the grant, totaling $2.1 million, was originally given out in 2015 for engineers to develop a proof-of-concept and the success of the project has led arpa-e to invest more to continue the research.

 

according to a report from the university, “with the extension, the team is now focusing on 3d-printing heat exchangers for refrigerators rather than for power plants. at roughly a square foot with a thickness to be determined, the new exchangers are far larger than most case studies to date.”

 

researchers are using 3-d printing to optimize the shape of the heat exchangers, which is critical to enhance their heat transfer characteristics. with 3-d printing, engineers are designing heat exchangers with intricate geometries that are not possible with traditional manufacturing processes.

 

the article added, “for its work, the team employs a 3d-printing technique known as fused filament fabrication, in which polymer filaments are deposited in layers to ‘print’ 3d products. and to increase the thermal conductivity of the heat exchangers, they use ‘highly-filled’ polymers, which they create by adding small copper particles to the polymer filament to impart heat-conducting properties.”

 

industrial partners for the project include teel plastics, cosine additive, and greenheck corp. the partners allow the heat exchangers to be tested in industrial environments and give insight into scaling production to meet industrial demands.

 

the article added, “the research will pave the way for emerging applications of highly filled polymers. for example, using these polymers would allow manufactures to print complex, heterogeneous products such as circuit boards in just one pass. and, down the road, manufacturers could print with polymer filaments made mostly of metal filler, then burn off all of the plastic while fusing the metal into a single piece—an inexpensive technique that allows them to create finely detailed solid-metal products.”

 

read more about the technology in the 2015 article announcing the kick-off of the project.

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