Additively manufactured miniature heat exchanger

This counterflow water/water miniature heat exchanger was designed for and manufactured by laser beam melting in order to demonstrate achievable efficiency compared to conventional plate heat exchangers.

The inlets with a diameter of  6mm fan out into 10 channels of 2 mm in diameter and a total length of 400 mm.

Each channel is meandering with 7 directional changes of 180°, having a distance of only 1.5 mm to each other. This leads to a very compact design while maximising the surface area.

 

Technical details:

• AM-Technology used: Laser Beam Melting (LBM)
• Material: AlSi10Mg
• Dimensions: 60 x 60 x 60 mm³
• Weight: 0.5 kg
• Heat Transfer Surface Area: 505 cm²
• Heat Transfer Performance: 2kW (at 50°C / 26° C and
  2.1l / min)

 

Project:  

Concept Study / Demonstrator

Contact:  

Fraunhofer IWU, Nikolaus Milaev, nikolaus.milaev@iwu.fraunhofer.de, +49 351 4772 2921