Heat Exchangers for Heavy Vehicles Utilizing High Thermal Conductivity Graphite Foams
Approximately two thirds of the world's energy consumption is wasted as heat. In an attempt to reduce heat losses, heat exchangers are utilized to recover some of the energy. A unique graphite foam developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and licensed to Poco Graphite, Inc., promises to allow for novel, more efficient heat exchanger designs. This graphite foam, Figure 1, has a density between 0.2 and 0.6 g/cm 3 and a bulk thermal conductivity between 40 and 187 W/m{center_dot}K. Because the foam has a very accessible surface area (> 4 m 2 /g) and is open celled, the overall heat transfer coefficients of foam-based heat exchangers can be up to two orders of magnitude greater than conventional heat exchangers. As a result, foam-based heat exchangers could be dramatically smaller and lighter.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EE) (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-96OR22464
- OSTI ID:
- 770964
- Report Number(s):
- SAE/TPS-2000-01-2207; ISSN 0148-7191; TRN: US200205%%110
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Government/Industry Meeting, Washington, DC (US), 06/19/2000--06/21/2000; Other Information: PBD: 19 Jun 2000
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Graphite Foam Heat Exchangers for Thermal Management
Final Report: Use of Graphite Foam as a Thermal Performance Enhancement of Heavy Hybrid Propulsion Systems