Thermohydraulic comparison of PA12 and high temp resin lung-inspired plate heat exchangers

This study experimentally compares the thermo-hydraulic performance of two different plastic plate heat exchangers (PPHEs) manufactured by additive manufacturing with a lung-inspired channel geometry. One heat exchanger made from PA12 material was produced using Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) technology, while the other heat exchanger was produced from High Temp. Resin material using stereolithography (SLA) technology with additive manufacturing. Both exchangers were tested in a specially designed experimental setup. Boundary conditions were established in the experimental setup with a hot side of 60 °C and a cold side of 30 °C. The tests were performed with water flow rates of 0.05 and 0.1 kg/s. The average heat transfer of the heat exchanger made from PA12 was found to be 1504.8 W and 3887.4 W, while the required pump power was 4.37 W and 27.44 W. The COP values ​​of the heat exchanger made from PA12 material were obtained as 345.1 and 141.7, respectively. In the heat exchanger produced with High Temp. Resin, pressure losses of 7.9 kPa at a flow rate of 0.05 kg/s and 40 kPa at a flow rate of 0.1 kg/s were measured. The researcher adopted the view that this pressure loss is due to channel narrowing caused by the manufacturing process, and the COP values ​​were calculated to decrease to 19.1 and 3.9, respectively. These results confirm that the heat exchanger produced with SLA from High Temp. Resin material provides high thermal resistance, but in practical application in microchannel heat exchangers, it can be operated at a lower efficiency due to pressure loss when compared to the heat exchanger produced with MJF technology using PA12 material.