In their pursuit of advancing additive manufacturing, AMCM, a leading provider of customized metal 3D printing machines, aimed to enhance thermal management and performance of their flagship M 4K printer.
Text & images by Conflux Technology
To meet the demands of extended build times and highspeed processing of challenging materials like copper, AMCM turned to Conflux Technology for an improved heat exchanger.
AMCM’s objectives were primarily two-fold:
• Lower the argon gas temperature below 25°C with minimal pressure drop.
• Create a streamlined monolithic design that included supporting ducts, sized no larger than the incumbent heat exchanger.
With design freedoms on the overall shape and size, Conflux delivered a heat exchanger that exceeded the targets. The heat transfer solution provided greater heat transfer performance in a package just 7% of the original size, all while remaining cost-competitive, assuring AMCM of both efficiency and affordability.
Discovery & feasibility phase
Each Conflux project commences with an initial meeting dedicated to grasping the customer’s heat transfer challenges and their desired objectives. During this session, the team delved into discussions with AMCM about the boundary conditions, order of priorities, constraints and design assumptions. Following the receipt of requirements from AMCM’s innovation and engineering team, with a focus on pressure drop and outlet gas temperature as key priorities, the Conflux team proceeded to present preliminary CFD simulations, complete with estimated performance ranges. A comprehensive report was produced, detailing the optimal configuration pertaining to fin size, design, density, and channel height to achieve the target performance. This document also encompassed overall package sizing, build estimation, and an evaluation of the technical and commercial feasibility for serial production.
How is argon gas used in additive manufacturing print machines?
Argon is used in 3D metal printing to create an oxygen-free environment. It acts as a protective gas, preventing metal powders from reacting with oxygen during the printing process. This ensures high-quality results and minimizes the risk of unwanted chemical reactions.
Proof of concept build phase
Pulling from Conflux’s library of additive manufacturing optimized designs, the design engineers ultimately selected a core base model that has proven successful in other applications and tailored the packaging requirements to fit within the existing space of the incumbent heat exchanger.
Multiple elements were configured including form factor, ducts, vanes and outlets to match connections for installation. For example, AMCM requested a larger diameter of the ducts to allow for better flow rates with lesser pressure loss. These and other features were adapted and refined to ensure performance enhancement, practical requirements and specific fit for end use in the final application. Conflux is capable of rapidly designing, manufacturing and delivering a proof-of-concept prototype due to their local manufacturing facility, equipped with several 3d printing machines including the EOS M300.
Testing
The unique demands of the inert gas in this heat exchanger necessitated the strictest levels of cleanliness throughout the build and post-processing. Conflux’s proprietary post-processing techniques, coupled with AS9100D certification, assure customers of the reliability of its heat exchangers. With the prototype build passing Conflux’s rigorous internal checks, AMCM conducted their own in-house testing on a production M 4K machine. After passing performance and cleanliness tests, AMCM confirmed a serial production order.
Moving into serial production
Conflux provided AMCM with an argon gas heat exchanger that met their requirements and more.
- Reduction of argon gas temperature with minimal pressure drop: This feature would enable a host of benefits like improving build time and quality, a key benefit to pushing the performance of the M 4K platform.
- 93% Packaging Volume reduction: Conflux’s design reduced the overall package volume by an astounding 93% while also achieving better performance than the incumbent.
- Monolithic build: One of the many benefits of additive manufacturing is the ability to build monolithic products. Conflux achieved a company milestone by successfully building supporting ducts on both ends of the heat exchanger, which kept the piece price of each product within AMCM’s target range. For AMCM, it allows for a simplification of installation and maintenance processes, as it plans to roll out the new heat exchangers to M 4K customers around the world.
With the serial production order, AMCM will retrofit existing M 4K machines around the world, upgrading its thermal management system and providing its customers with the latest in heat transfer technology. Ulrich Schmid, System Developer at AMCM, said: “We at AMCM are impressed with the performance of the heat exchanger. It keeps the temperature of the argon gas at a very constant level, which not only increases the quality of the components, but also benefits the overall thermal management and performance of the M4K. The pressure drop was even lower than we expected, which is impressive considering the compact design.”
About this Technical Story
This Technical Story was first published in Heat Exchanger World Magazine in September 2024. To read more Technical Stories and many other articles, subscribe to our print magazine.
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