Pressure loss and heat transfer mechanisms in a lattice-frame structured heat exchanger

A novel heat exchanger medium, a high-porosity (0.938) lattice-frame material (LFM), has been introduced for possible use in mechanically and thermally loaded heat exchanger applications. The LFM is made up of circular cylinders, forming tetrahedral unit cells. This paper describes the results of experiments and numerical simulation leading to a detailed understanding of the flow structure, pressure loss and heat transfer mechanisms. It is shown that the circular LFM struts are responsible for approximately 85 per cent of the overall pressure losses in the unit cell by means of form drag at high Reynolds number. The LFM causes heat removal from the substrate by promoting flow mixing and also contributes to the overall heat transfer by convection from the strut surfaces. If a high thermal conductivity material is used, the strut and substrate contribute 57 and 43 per cent respectively of the total heat transfer. Steady numerical simulations show that a porosity of approximately 0.8 provides the best heat transfer performance for a fixed mass flowrate. However, the pressure loss monotonically increases as the porosity decreases within a range of porosity, 0.7 <= epsilon <= 0.938.