Elaborating upon traditional cylinder and square shapes, Dr Tim Huber and Professor Conan Fee (UC’s School of Product Design) have developed a new metal 3D printing methodology for making high-performance heat exchangers.

According Professor Fee, Head of UC’s School of Product Design, “This will facilitate the development of some promising technology that is expected to improve the efficiency of devices meant for heating or cooling.”

Devices made by the team are porous. Pores within part geometry have been investigated in three different arrangements to determine appropriate design for the applications. Further, “impossible” exchanger shapes have been tried by the team. One such design incorporates gyroids into the body of the part.

Professor Fee adds “The growth of 3D printing for new applications is exponential and it is stimulating a huge set of opportunities for new designs that were not previously possible. ”