The U.S. Department of Energys Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, awarded Michigan State University a USD2.3 M grant to deepen its growing expertise in additive manufacturing, known as 3D metal printing, and high-efficiency power generation.
Andre Benard, associate professor of mechanical engineering, will serve as lead investigator on the funded project. The technology features a plate-type heat exchanger manufactured using new, high-temperature alloys suitable for powder-based manufacturing.
The goal is to develop a highly scalable, compact and low-cost metallic heat exchanger that is resistant to corrosion and can remain strong at the highest operating temperatures.
Grid-scale power plants can be much more efficient when using supercritical carbon dioxide as a working fluid instead of water.
The hope is that the new heat exchangers will handle the required power and durability of a power plants lifetime.
MSU researchers serving as co-investigators on the project are James Klausner, Patrick Kwon, Joerg Petrasch, Alex Diaz, Haseung Chung and Himanshu Sahasrabudhe and Rohini Balachandran from the University of Michigan.
Curtiss Wright, Solar Turbine and UHV are also part of the team.