Modular Cell Structure for Lightweight Heat Exchanger Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional heat exchanger designs are heavy, inflexible, and prone to leakage, with housings and transitional areas that do not contribute to heat transfer, posing challenges in weight reduction and adaptability to various shapes, especially in high-pressure applications and catalytic reactors.
Innovation Solution
A lightweight cell structure comprising a hub and interconnected tubes forming a lattice structure, optimized for heat transfer with smooth continuous surfaces and additive manufacturing, allowing for flexible shaping and reduced weight, with no additional openings to enhance efficiency and adaptability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If conventional plate-fin or tube bundle designs are used, then heat exchanger functionality is achieved, but weight increases and flexibility in shape is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The heat exchanger is divided into modular cell structures, each consisting of a hub and multiple tubes arranged in a lattice pattern. These modular units can be independently manufactured and assembled to create various shapes and configurations, enabling both weight reduction through optimized geometry and flexibility in adapting to different application requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from conventional two-dimensional plate-fin or tube bundle arrangements to a three-dimensional lattice structure. This spatial reconfiguration allows for optimized heat transfer surfaces while reducing material usage and enabling complex shapes that were not achievable with traditional planar designs.
2Stress or pressure
If thick, heavy containment walls are used, then high-pressure containment is achieved, but weight increases and heat transfer efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The lattice structure distributes mechanical stress uniformly across the entire structure through its geometric configuration. Each tube and hub connection point is optimally positioned to handle localized stresses, allowing thin-walled construction that maintains high-pressure containment capability without requiring thick, heavy walls.
Solution Approach 2:
The cell structure combines structural and thermal functions through its integrated lattice design, where the tubular elements serve both as pressure-containing walls and as heat transfer conduits. This composite approach to structural-thermal integration eliminates the need for separate thick containment walls while maintaining both pressure integrity and heat transfer efficiency.
3Stability of the object's composition
If housings and transitional areas are included, then structural completeness is achieved, but weight increases and leak vulnerability increases
Solution Approach 1:
The hub and tube assemblies are designed as integral, seamless units where the tubes are directly connected to the hub structure. This merging of components eliminates separate housings and transitional areas, creating a unified structure that maintains structural completeness while removing interfaces that could potentially leak.
Solution Approach 2:
The lattice structure creates continuous flow paths through the hub and tube connections, eliminating dead zones and transitional areas where fluid could stagnate or leak. The smooth, continuous geometry of the lattice ensures both structural integrity and leak-free operation by removing unnecessary intermediate structures.
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 enables a high-strength, adaptable heat exchanger with maximized internal and external surface areas for efficient heat exchange, reducing weight and improving efficiency by creating a three-dimensional lattice structure that supports fluid flow paths both internally and externally, suitable for various applications including catalytic converters and hydrogen production systems.
Implementation Method 1
the inner surface of each tube and the inner surface of the hub form a smooth, continuous, structure inner surface, the outer surface of each tube and the outer surface of the hub form a smooth, continuous structure outer surface
Implementation Method 2
tubes and hubs are interconnected to define an inner flow path comprising structure inner surfaces, and an outer flow path comprising structure outer surfaces
Data Source
AI summary
A cell structure is provided that is (i) capable of handling, on inner and outer surfaces, heat transfer requirements of heat exchangers and/or be a substrate for coatings for catalytic reactors, (ii) able to be easily combined and interconnected into a variety of shapes, and (iii) may be created in an additive manufacturing process. The provided cell structure may be replicated and interconnected with other cell structures to create lattice structures in a variety of shapes. Accordingly, the cell structure may be used to build a heat exchanger or catalytic reactor that has reduced weight compared to traditional architectures.