Project Summary
This project aims to exploit an additive manufacturing process called metal binder jetting to create an extremely efficient heat exchanger for use with cryogenic hydrogen. Such heat exchanger technology will be pivotal for the efficient, local, production of liquid hydrogen at airports. The key objective of this project is to design and produce a small-scale prototype to demonstrate the benefits and applicability of the approach.
Project Achievements
A literature review and engagement with prospective end users was used to capture the heat exchanger requirements. This data was used to do initial sizing of heat exchanger using traditional methods, such as ε-NTU. Tripley periodic minimal surfaces (TPMs) were identified as an attractive heat transfer surface to explore. Numerical modelling was performed on TPMS unit cells to evaluate their performance. Experimental test pieces were designed and fabricated to validate this numerical modelling. Alongside this a TPMS heat exchanger concept was developed and manufactured.
Conclusions
The technology was progressed from TRL level 2 to 3 during the project. Initial, small- scale, experiments have validated the potential of technology to improve heat exchanger performance by 10-20%. Creating heat exchanger concepts featuring TPMSs using current CAD packages was found to be one of the biggest challenges during the project. The limited meta binder- jetting supply chain also caused significant delays in obtaining prototypes and test pieces.
Next Steps
The technical challenges around metal binder-jetting supply chain need to be addressed and the wider opportunities for the technology within the aerospace ecosystem explored. Qdot intends to continue developing a methodology for producing tripley periodic minimal surface heat exchanger structures and measuring their heat transfer characteristics alongside targeting further grant funding in collaboration with a hydrogen liquefaction OEM.
