Mechanical and aerospace engineering professor, Vinod Narayanan is co-PI on a new USD2.4 M grant from The Department of Energys Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy (ARPA-E). The project is led by Carnegie Mellon University and involves collaborations with national laboratories and industry.
Over the next three years, Narayanan will work with Professor Anthony Rolletts materials science and engineering lab at Carnegie Mellon to develop a 3D-printed heat exchanger for high temperature and high-pressure applications.
Rolletts team at Carnegie Mellon will focus on printing the 3D exchanger and studying the materials to characterize them and understand their microstructure, strength, and creep. They will then send a sample design to Narayanan for pressure testing and thermal characterization to see if it is capable of withstanding ARPA-Es requirements of 800-850 degrees Celsius and 250 bar.
If the tests are successful, Narayanan will develop numerical models of what a large-scale version of the technology might look like. The team will then work with their partners in industry and at Carnegie Mellon to look at cost modeling and potential markets for the technology.