Nested Loop Heat Exchanger Vibration Resistance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional heat exchangers for aircrafts often lack structural integrity and optimal flow performance due to high vibration levels, leading to inadequate heat transfer efficiency and increased size and weight.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates nested loops with a center manifold and plate-fin construction, where inner loops are disposed within outer loops, minimizing thermal conduction and reducing unwanted heat transfer, and can be manufactured using additive manufacturing techniques for enhanced efficiency and compactness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional heat exchanger designs are used, then structural integrity may be insufficient under high vibration, but increasing structural reinforcement would increase weight and size
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements nested loops where inner loops are disposed within outer loops, with both loops sharing common inlet and outlet ports. This nesting arrangement allows the heat exchanger to maintain structural integrity under vibration while minimizing weight, as the nested configuration provides structural reinforcement without requiring additional separate support structures.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the inlet and outlet ports of inner and outer loops into common shared ports. This consolidation reduces the number of separate connection points and structural components needed, thereby reducing overall weight while maintaining the necessary structural integrity to withstand high vibration environments.
2Loss of energy
If conventional loop configurations are used, then unwanted heat transfer between adjacent hot inlets and outlets occurs, but reducing the number of ports would compromise flow distribution
Solution Approach 1:
The nested loop configuration with inner loops positioned within outer loops and both sharing common inlet/outlet ports reduces the number of adjacent hot inlets and outlets. This arrangement minimizes unwanted thermal conduction between hot and cold flows while the shared ports ensure uniform hot flow distribution to both loops, maintaining productivity without energy loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts separate inlet and outlet ports for inner and outer loops, consolidating them into common shared ports. This extraction of individual ports eliminates the problem of unwanted heat transfer between adjacent ports while the common port design ensures that hot flow is evenly distributed to both loops, preserving flow distribution uniformity.
3Manufacturing precision
If traditional manufacturing methods are used, then manufacturing precision and complexity are limited, but adopting additive manufacturing would require new manufacturing capabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The nested loop structure with inner loops within outer loops and shared ports is highly complex to manufacture using traditional methods. Additive manufacturing enables the direct fabrication of this nested configuration with high precision, achieving the required manufacturing precision for the complex geometry while the single-piece additive construction actually simplifies the manufacturing process compared to traditional multi-step assembly methods.
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 configuration reduces the size and weight of the heat exchanger by up to 40%, halves the number of adjacent hot inlets and outlets, and achieves peak thermal performance with uniform hot flow distribution, significantly reducing unwanted heat transfer.
Implementation Method 1
minimizing thermal conduction and reducing unwanted heat transfer
Implementation Method 2
Heat exchangers are utilized within an aircraft to cool high temperature high pressure air flow to maintain air flow within operational parameters
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
AI summary
A heat exchanger (100) to exchange heat from a first fluid to a second fluid includes a center manifold (106) to receive the first fluid, a first inner loop (122) having an inner loop inlet (140) and an inner loop outlet (144), and a first outer loop (124) disposed around the first inner loop, the first outer loop having an outer loop inlet (142) and an outer loop outlet (146), wherein the inner loop inlet and the outer loop inlet are adjacent, and the inner loop outlet and the outer loop outlet are adjacent.