Design of Ultra-Efficient Thermal-Fluid Components

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Program:
IDEAS
Award:
$479,232
Location:
East Hartford, Connecticut
Status:
ALUMNI
Project Term:
04/01/2017 - 03/31/2018

Technology Description:

United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) will develop design tools and software for new thermofluidc components that can lead to 50% efficiency improvements in heat exchangers and other related energy systems. Modern heat exchangers and flow headers used in energy systems such as thermal power plants are not optimally designed due to a lack of advanced design tools that can optimize performance given manufacturing and cost limitations. UTRC's design framework will focus on topology exploration and optimization - the mathematical method of optimizing material layouts within a given design space for a given set of loads, conditions, and constraints. The design space will be redefined by emerging advancements in materials such as multi-material composites and custom microstructures. Constraints are imposed by manufacturing limitations and the application of new technologies such as 3D weaving and 3D printing. The requirements of next-generation systems will also be considered, for example, the high temperature and pressure requirements of advanced steam turbines. The design framework will assess the design space, constraints, and requirements using two key innovations. First, topology exploration methods developed for heat exchangers will harness emerging advancements in data sciences to produce new concept designs for the heat exchanger core, headers, and their assemblies. Second, a projection-based topology optimization method will optimize designs for specific manufacturing processes and costs. The new design framework may lead to greater than 50% improvements for heat exchangers by providing new ways to integrate advanced materials and manufacturing techniques.

Contact

ARPA-E Program Director:
Dr. Michael Ohadi
Project Contact:
Dr. Ram Ranjan
Press and General Inquiries Email:
ARPA-E-Comms@hq.doe.gov
Project Contact Email:
ranjanr1@utrc.utc.com

Partners

Johns Hopkins University

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