Design and Additive Manufacturing of TPMS Heat Exchangers

Triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) heat exchangers (HXs) have been investigated in this paper along with additive manufacturing (AM). Heat transfer coefficients, pressure drops, and thermal capacity were systematically evaluated as functions of wall thickness, lattice cell density, and materials. It turns out that when thermal conductivity is above 100 W/m·K, gyroid HXs are less sensitive to variations in thickness and thermal conductivity. Additive manufacturing of 20 kW aluminum heat exchangers was successful and testing results are comparable with theoretical prediction. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a working prototype of TPMS HXs.