Additive Heat Exchanger Header Junction Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional heat exchangers for gas turbine engines are costly and prone to fluid leaks due to numerous joints, and manufacturing restrictions limit the size and configuration of heat exchanger tubes within restricted spaces, hindering thermal performance and reliability.
Innovation Solution
An additively manufactured heat exchanger with a heat exchanger core, header manifold, and transition portion, featuring a transition tube with a junction thickness greater than the header wall thickness, and elliptical inlet apertures, fabricated using additive manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing, allowing for complex geometries and reduced sub-components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If conventional heat exchangers are assembled using multiple plates, bars, foils, fins, manifolds, and support structures with numerous joints, then the heat exchanger can be manufactured using traditional methods, but the assembly time and costs are very high and the likelihood of fluid leaks is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple separate components (plates, bars, foils, fins, manifolds, support structures) into a single monolithic structure manufactured by additive manufacturing. This eliminates the need for numerous joints and connections, thereby reducing assembly time and costs while simultaneously improving reliability by eliminating potential leak paths at joints.
Solution Approach 2:
The monolithic heat exchanger structure performs multiple functions that were previously distributed across separate components. The single structure integrates heat transfer surfaces, fluid distribution manifolds, and structural support elements, reducing the number of parts and joints while maintaining all necessary heat exchanger functions.
2Area of stationary object
If conventional heat exchangers use supply headers and return headers with limited size due to space restrictions, then the headers can fit within the heat exchanger, but the number of heat exchange tubes that can be coupled to those headers is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The additive manufacturing process enables the header manifold to utilize three-dimensional space more efficiently. Complex internal passages and distribution channels are created in multiple dimensions, allowing more heat exchange tubes to be connected to the headers without increasing the external footprint of the header assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The monolithic structure segments the internal flow paths into multiple independent channels within the header manifold, allowing simultaneous connection to a larger number of heat exchange tubes. The additive manufacturing process creates intricate internal geometries that divide and distribute fluid flow to numerous tubes efficiently.
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional heat exchangers are assembled with numerous joints using brazing, welding, or another joining method, then the components can be connected, but the manufacturing time and costs are very high
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines all heat exchanger components into a single monolithic structure manufactured by additive manufacturing. This eliminates the need for separate assembly steps involving brazing, welding, or other joining methods, thereby dramatically reducing manufacturing time and costs while maintaining structural integrity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution reduces assembly time and costs, enhances thermal performance, and improves reliability by minimizing leaks and stress concentrations, while enabling more complex and intricate designs within restricted spaces.
Implementation Method 1
a method for manufacturing a heat exchanger... depositing a layer of additive material on a bed of an additive manufacturing machine and selectively directing energy from an energy source onto the layer of additive material to fuse a portion of the additive material
Data Source
AI summary
A heat exchanger includes a heat exchanger core, a header defining a header manifold, and a transition portion that provides fluid communication between the heat exchanger core and the header manifold. The transition portion includes a transition tube extending between the header and the heat exchanger core, a header junction where the transition tube joins the header, and a splitting junction that splits the transition tube into the plurality of heat exchange tubes. The header junction may define elliptical inlet apertures, a large filleted joint, and a junction thickness that is greater than a header wall thickness.