Monolithic Foil Thermal Management System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional heat exchangers face challenges with high manufacturing costs, increased likelihood of fluid leaks, spatial arrangement limitations, and decreased thermal performance due to the use of extruded stock and joining techniques, which restrict their size and configuration, especially in applications with limited space.
Innovation Solution
The development of a thermal management system utilizing a monolithic foil structure with opposite external and internal surfaces of different shapes, which are additively manufactured to physically isolate and transfer thermal energy between fluids, eliminating seams and bimaterial joints, and enabling improved spatial arrangements and thermal conductivity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional heat exchangers use multiple plates, channels, bars, and joining techniques (brazing, welding), then heat transfer function is achieved, but manufacturing time and costs increase, and likelihood of fluid leaks increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple separate components (plates, channels, bars, fins) into a single monolithic structure formed by additive manufacturing. This eliminates the need for joining techniques like brazing and welding, thereby eliminating joints that could leak fluid while maintaining the heat transfer function through the integrated geometry.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the manufacturing method from conventional subtractive or assembly-based techniques to additive manufacturing. This parameter change enables the creation of complex monolithic geometries that would be impossible or impractical to manufacture using traditional methods, directly reducing assembly complexity and eliminating leak paths.
2Adaptability or versatility
If heat exchangers are formed using extruded stock, then manufacturing is simplified, but spatial arrangement flexibility and thermal conductivity are constrained
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the manufacturing approach from extrusion to additive manufacturing, which fundamentally alters the design space available. Additive manufacturing allows for complex spatial arrangements, non-standard cross-sections, and optimized thermal pathways that extruded stock cannot provide, while still maintaining manufacturing efficiency through digital modeling and automated fabrication.
Solution Approach 2:
The monolithic structure incorporates internally segmented fluid passages and thermally conductive pathways that are integrated into the single piece. This internal segmentation provides the functional benefits of multiple components while maintaining the manufacturing simplicity and thermal integrity of a monolithic structure.
3Reliability
If conventional heat exchangers use joining techniques like brazing and welding, then assembly is achieved, but thermal conductivity decreases and performance is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
By merging all heat transfer components into a single monolithic structure, the invention eliminates the thermal resistance introduced by joining techniques. The continuous material structure provides uninterrupted thermal pathways, maximizing thermal conductivity and performance while removing the complexity of joining processes entirely.
4Reliability
If heat exchanger size is increased to compensate for performance limitations, then thermal performance is improved, but space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The additive manufacturing approach enables optimization of the heat exchanger geometry at the component level, creating highly efficient thermal pathways and maximizing surface area within a compact volume. This allows achieving high thermal performance in a smaller overall size compared to conventional designs that must be larger to compensate for manufacturing limitations.
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
This approach results in lightweight, compact, high-performance thermal management systems with increased volumetric heat transfer efficiency, allowing for more compact designs and operational efficiency gains, while reducing energy consumption and thermal stresses.
Implementation Method 1
The body is configured to transfer thermal energy between the first fluid flowing along the external surface and the second fluid flowing in the internal conduit
Data Source
AI summary
A thermal management system includes a plurality of thermal management assemblies. Each of the thermal management assemblies has a monolithic foil structure having a body with an external surface and a differently shaped and opposing internal surface. The external surface forms an outer profile and the internal surface forming an internal conduit with the outer profile and the internal conduit having different shapes. The monolithic foil structure is configured to physically isolate a first fluid flowing along the external surface from a second fluid flowing in the internal conduit. The body is configured to transfer thermal energy between the first fluid flowing along the external surface and the second fluid flowing in the internal conduit.