Combining Complex Flow Manifold with Three Dimensional Woven Lattices as a Thermal Management Unit

Unmet Need
3D woven lattice materials have been researched and studied for their fluidic and thermal properties. Used in fields such as transportation, manufacturing, power generation, and high-power devices, 3D woven lattice materials demonstrate excellent heat transfer capabilities in comparison to other heat exchanger media. However, researchers still haven’t found an ideal method to incorporate 3D woven lattices while simultaneously benefiting the three vital design variables: pressure drop, heat transfer, and temperature uniformity. Traditional heat exchangers are costly to manufacture and have properties such as average temperature and pumping power that are hard to control at the micro-scale. Designing and modelling heat exchangers at a large scale is also difficult as large scale structures often causes inaccuracies when estimating their properties. In the face of ever increasing thermal load requirements, there is a need to develop and design a more effective heat exchanger ­­­– one that is easily scalable and maintains its properties regardless of size.

Technology Overview
This technology is an easy-to manufacture complex flow manifold (CFM) with 3D woven lattices. These lattices act as a thermal management unit and help to optimize heat exchanger properties such as high heat transfer, temperature uniformity and low pressure drop. Researchers from the Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering have designed this technology to be easily scaled and expanded as needed. Because the invention performs simple thermal management unit using both CFM and 3D woven lattices, this technology easily controls heat properties at a micro-level while allowing for cost-effective manufacturing at a large scale.

Stage of Development
Working version of prototype has been completed.
 

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