Final Report for Project titled High Thermal Conductivity Polymer Composites for Low-Cost Heat Exchangers
- United Technologies reserach Center, East Hartford, CT (United States)
Heat exchangers (HXs) are critical components in a wide range of heat transfer applications, from HVAC (Heating Ventilation and Cooling) to automobiles to manufacturing plants. They require materials capable of transferring heat at high rates while also minimizing thermal expansion over the usage temperature range. Conventionally, metals are used for applications where effective and efficient heat exchange is required, since many metals exhibit thermal conductivity over 100 W/m K. While metal HXs are constantly being improved, they still have some inherent drawbacks due to their metal construction, in particular corrosion. Polymeric material can offer solution to such durability issues and allow designs that cannot be afforded by metal construction either due to complexity or cost. A major drawback of polymeric material is their low thermal conductivity (0.1-0.5? W/mK) that would lead to large system size. Recent improvements in the area of filled polymers have highlighted the possibility to greatly improve the thermal conductivity of polymeric materials while retaining their inherent manufacturing advantage, and have been applied to heat sink applications. Therefore, the objective of this project was to develop a robust review of materials for the manufacturing of industrial and commercial non-metallic heat exchangers. This review consisted of material identification, literature evaluation, as well as empirical and model characterization, resulting in a database of relevant material properties and characteristics to provide guidance for future heat exchanger development.
- Research Organization:
- United Technologies reserach Center, East Hartford, CT (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- Contributing Organization:
- University Of Massachusetts - Lowell; University of Akron
- DOE Contract Number:
- EE0005775
- OSTI ID:
- 1337608
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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