Compact Condensers Enabled by Additive Manufacturing

Filmwise condensation (FWC) is the dominant mode of condensation heat transfer in industrial systems due to the high surface energy of commonly used metals. Enhancing FWC reduces the size of thermal management hardware. However, due to the extreme wetting characteristics of low-surface-tension fluids (e.g., refrigerants), enhancing FWC of these fluids has remained a challenge. During this Phase II program, Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT) will develop a novel metallic 3D printed refrigerant-to-water condenser to overcome the challenge of enhancing the FWC of low-surface-tension fluids. The developed condenser will be tested in a pumped two-phase loop using the refrigerant R134a as the working fluid under a wide range of flow operating conditions. ACT’s developed condenser will be compact and easy to scale up. By enhancing heat transfer in both the refrigerant and water sides, the condenser will be an efficient solution to reduce Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) of thermal management systems. Additionally, in Phase II, a theoretical condensation model will be developed and validated against the experimental data. This model will be a valuable tool to optimize the hydrothermal performance of the developed condensers in this program.