Rugged Flying Coolers made by Additive Manufacturing

IHEMAM provides heat exchangers that are small in size and light in weight. These devices function with an exceptional degree of reliability and perform system cooling in mission critical systems such as in aircrafts during the flight. Material and geometry are tuned to enable the basic functionality while addressing the main challenge, the weight to cooling capacity ratio.

From challenges so solutions

How to print small and robust heat exchangers that provide cooling while it flies in the air? IHEMAM aims to create exactly such heat exchangers. As core objectives, these systems need to be small in size and light in weight. At the same time, these devices need to function with an exceptional degree of reliability as they perform system cooling in an aircraft during the flight. Material and geometry are the main challenges while the basic functionality is also guided by the weight to cooling capacity ratio. The core objectives of this experiment are:

  • Design structures that enable highly efficient heat exchange under the boundary conditions of size and weight
  • Create a design that can be printed with little variability and secure functionality
  • Select suitable material to provide the mechanical properties and fulfil chemical requirements

The challenge of IHMEMAM is to bring together advanced cooling design with material selection towards a printable part that is robust and that needs to work at all times while it flies.

IHEMAM has to compete with conventional heat exchanger designs that are implemented by conventional manufacturing such as milling and welding. The advantage of integrated cooling channels and reduction in assembly effort will have to go in line with an increase in sealing reliability. All this has to achieve a price tag that the users will perceive to be beneficial.

Improve time to delivery: Once IHEMAM delivers the envisioned results, the increase in knowledge about design and production will enable new individual designs. This will reduce time to market for such specific solutions which cannot be achieved today with conventional technologies.

Price: IHEMAM will remove the need for additional assembly and testing as many functions are embedded into the design already. To meet the market prices, design and manufacture have to address special market segments where the individualisation and the design advantages pay off.