Shaping the Future of Sustainable Aviation Through Additive Manufacturing and Collaboration

Abstract

Thermal management is one of the most critical and difficult challenges in next-generation sustainable aviation, where hydrogen fuel cells, hybrid-electric systems, and battery-electric propulsion all generate significant heat that conventional heat exchangers cannot efficiently handle without unacceptable weight and size penalties. This article describes an approach for leveraging additive manufacturing to produce intricate, lightweight heat exchangers with optimized internal channels and exceptionally thin walls that conventional manufacturing cannot achieve. Three examples are presented to illustrate the approach in practice.