3D PRINTING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
considered since they have been the subject of other recent FOAs .”
“ Heat exchangers are so prevalent and vital to the modern world that by improving their performance , you can improve the performance of literally millions of products ,” says Bouza . “ By using an innovative , 3D-printing process , the University of Maryland and its partners are accelerating the development of energy-efficient heat exchangers that offer industry an adaptable solution for heating and cooling needs .”
The University used direct metal printing , a form of 3D printing technology , to manufacture a miniaturised air-to-refrigerant heat exchanger in one continuous piece . They worked with 3D Systems and the DOE to prototype this tiny component which they define as one of the most important enabling technologies in a building today . Heat exchangers are used almost every time a space needs heating or cooling and they do exactly what the name says – they exchange heat from one area to another . That simple . And that complex . It is globally a billion-dollar industry which affects everything from the consumer level to the retail sector , from industry to aerospace engineering . Improving its performance has the potential to change energy consumption and control across millions of products with a positive global impact across energy consumption , sustainable building and costs .
Until now , heat exchangers have been developed along fairly standard lines and those few that have adopted new , high-end features have battled with commercialisation . They have been too complex to manufacture to requisite scale and so have only really existed in the tailor-made to order segment . What the University of Maryland has done is introduce a new way of creating these devices which allows for greater control over design and deliverable , but without the high price tag or manufacturing complexity . 3D printing a complicated design is as costly as printing a simple one and the solution devised by the institution is not only improved in terms of energy and weight efficiencies , it can also be printed significantly faster .
“ The design was an optimised design model thanks to the ouput of software tools ,” explains Bouza .
“ Then 3D printing enabled this complex idea to be made into a
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