Research Project

Consortium for High-volume Additive Manufacturing of Aerospace Heat Exchanger and Talent Development

Abstract

Heat exchangers are widely utilized in engine, avionics, and environmental control systems of aircrafts, as they help to control heat and maintain temperature by removing excess heat from the systems. While heat exchangers for military and commercial applications, such as the three most recent commercial transport bleed air system precoolers—A350, B737MAX, B777X, are almost always life-limited by thermal fatigue—caused by continual rapid temperature transients due to aircraft takeoff, landing, and other operations. Enhanced alloys and generative design used for additive manufacturing is expected to improve performance and speed and agility in the design and development process of heat exchangers. Implementation of AM could significantly improve the supply chain efficiency, rendering it a worthwhile investment for global supply chain. AM helps to balance inventory levels and increase responsiveness while decreasing disruptions and carbon emissions in the supply networks. One present limitation for aerospace heat exchangers is that the minimum viable material thicknesses are considerably greater than state-of-the-art, resulting in unacceptable weight increases. One mitigating factor is that the relatively thick walls that will be required for the high-temperature, high-pressure modular power system heat exchangers may be within AM capability. AM heat exchangers will provide the following benefits of AM heat exchanger design and fabrication: fabricate multi-piece assemblies as one part (no joining techniques required), greatly reduced lead times, greatly reduced part count, potential for conformal shapes or design features that are not currently practical, automate the build process (less rework), and reduce weight.

Motivation/Research Problem

High-temperature aerospace heat exchangers, for military and commercial applications, are almost always life-limited by thermal fatigue—caused by continual rapid temperature transients due to aircraft takeoff, landing, and other operations. Metal Additive manufacturing (AM) is reshaping the production and supply chain eco-system with its diverse printable materials to increase speed and agility in the design and development process. Implementation of AM could significantly improve the supply chain efficiency, rendering it a worthwhile investment for global supply chain. AM helps to balance inventory levels and increase responsiveness while decreasing disruptions and carbon emissions in the supply networks. One present limitation for aerospace heat exchangers is that the minimum viable material thicknesses are considerably greater than state-of-the-art, resulting in unacceptable weight increases. One mitigating factor is that the relatively thick walls that will be required for the high-temperature, high-pressure modular power system heat exchangers may be within AM capability. AM heat exchangers will provide the following benefits of AM heat exchanger design and fabrication: fabricate multi-piece assemblies as one part (no joining techniques required), greatly reduced leadtimes, greatly reduced part count, potential for conformal shapes or design features that are not currently practical, automate the build process (less rework), and reduce weight.

Research Team

Lead Researchers 

  • Prof. Bingbing Li, Department of Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Management
  • Prof. Christoph Schaal, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Collaborators

  • NASA JPL: Dr. Douglas Hoffman, Dr. Richard Otis, Dr. Ryan Watkins, Dr. Bryan McEnerney
  • NASA Goddard Space Flight Center: Ryan McClelland at Instrument Systems and Technology
  • UCLA: Dr. Xiaochun Li, Dr. Morris Wang
  • Honeywell Aerospace: Gregory Colvin, Bob DeMers
  • Castheon Inc: Dr. Youping Gao, Mr. Steve James
  • ASTM Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence (AM CoE): Mr. Shane Collins
  • SimInsights Inc: Mr. Rajesh Jha
  • El Camino College: Mr. Jose Anaya

Student Team

  • Dr. Changyu Ma, Postdoc in ARCS at CSUN
  • Donald Palomino, Fellow, M.S. candidate in Manufacturing Systems Engineering at CSUN
  • Paula Logozzo, Fellow, undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering at CSUN
  • Elliot Sadler, Fellow, M.S. candidate in Manufacturing Systems Engineering at CSUN
  • Bodia Borijin, Intern, B.S. candidate in Structural Engineering at UCSD
  • Andrew Wang, Intern, Portola High School

Funding

  • Funding Organization: NASA
  • Funding Program: MUREP Aerospace High-Volume Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management (MUREP High Volume), Grant number: 80NSSC22M0132
Research Objectives

Develop robust super alloys by nanoparticles self-dispersion to improve the performance of heat exchanger; (2) identify best practices of the generative design for additive manufacturing (AM); (3) optimization of powder bed fusion (PBF) AM manufacturing; (4) NDE inspection of AM production parts for aerospace applications; (5) AI-powered Augmented Reality (AR) training for metal AM.

Research Methods

The project will leverage ARCS’s unique student talent and its access to JPL personnel and facilities, and its strong partnership with Honeywell, Castheon, ASTM AM CoE, UCLA, LA Piece College, to conduct convergence research to develop robust super alloys by nanoparticles self-dispersion and generative design for additive manufacturing to improve the performance of heat exchanger. Then, NDE inspection of AM production parts with optimized printing parameter will be conducted with the development of AI-powered Augmented Reality (AR) training for metal AM.

Research Deliverables and Products
  1. Enhanced alloys and generative design will be developed to improve performance of additively manufactured heat exchangers.
  2. After successful production has been established, Honeywell will look to transfer the process to external vendors by training them on Honeywell’s specific requirements and working closely with them to ensure all qualification requirements are met during the move toward production at scale. This is currently a major thrust within Honeywell and the company is evaluating both existing metal AM service companies as well as established aerospace manufacturing companies that may only have limited experience in metal AM. The goal is the building of a robust supply chain.
  3. A heat exchanger demonstration article (HEDA) will be designed and printed at CSUN. An NDE plan per NASA STD 5009 “Nondestructive Evaluation requirements for Fracture Critical Metallic Components” shall be developed which will demonstrate volumetric and surface techniques of the HEDA providing small business with a basic understanding of NDE’s function with the additive manufacturing process allowing small business the ability to implement NDE on their products.
  4. The NSF-funded HyperSkill platform will be applied to create an innovative immersive training program that will integrate the CESMII funded Smart Connected Worker (SCW) products into a comprehensive digital twin of the 3D printing processes.
Research Timeline

Start Date: 5/16/2022
End Date: 5/15/2025

3 year project

Research Team

Lead Researchers 

  • Prof. Bingbing Li, Department of Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Management
  • Prof. Christoph Schaal, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Collaborators

  • NASA JPL: Dr. Douglas Hoffman, Dr. Richard Otis, Dr. Ryan Watkins, Dr. Bryan McEnerney
  • NASA Goddard Space Flight Center: Ryan McClelland at Instrument Systems and Technology
  • UCLA: Dr. Xiaochun Li, Dr. Morris Wang
  • Honeywell Aerospace: Gregory Colvin, Bob DeMers
  • Castheon Inc: Dr. Youping Gao, Mr. Steve James
  • ASTM Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence (AM CoE): Mr. Shane Collins
  • SimInsights Inc: Mr. Rajesh Jha
  • El Camino College: Mr. Jose Anaya

Student Team

  • Dr. Changyu Ma, Postdoc in ARCS at CSUN
  • Donald Palomino, Fellow, M.S. candidate in Manufacturing Systems Engineering at CSUN
  • Paula Logozzo, Fellow, undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering at CSUN
  • Elliot Sadler, Fellow, M.S. candidate in Manufacturing Systems Engineering at CSUN
  • Bodia Borijin, Intern, B.S. candidate in Structural Engineering at UCSD
  • Andrew Wang, Intern, Portola High School

Funding

  • Funding Organization: NASA
  • Funding Program: MUREP Aerospace High-Volume Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management (MUREP High Volume), Grant number: 80NSSC22M0132