Multifunctional gradations of TPMS architected heat exchanger for enhancements in flow and heat exchange performances

Abstract Heat exchangers (HXs) based on triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) architectures have recently attracted significant interest due to their continuous and smooth shell structures with extensive surface areas. This study proposes an efficient design methodology for TPMS-based HXs by employ...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Seo-Hyeon Oh, Jeong Eun Kim, Chan Hui Jang, Jungwoo Kim, Chang Yong Park, Keun Park
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-06-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-04940-2
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849434327519068160
author Seo-Hyeon Oh
Jeong Eun Kim
Chan Hui Jang
Jungwoo Kim
Chang Yong Park
Keun Park
author_facet Seo-Hyeon Oh
Jeong Eun Kim
Chan Hui Jang
Jungwoo Kim
Chang Yong Park
Keun Park
author_sort Seo-Hyeon Oh
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Heat exchangers (HXs) based on triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) architectures have recently attracted significant interest due to their continuous and smooth shell structures with extensive surface areas. This study proposes an efficient design methodology for TPMS-based HXs by employing three gradation strategies to enhance their thermofluidic performance: (i) filtering gradation to guide hot and cold fluids through designated inlet and outlet regions with reduced flow resistance; (ii) cell-size gradation to ensure uniform flow distribution by reducing dead zones; and (iii) level-set gradation to maintain a minimum allowable wall thickness under cell-size variations. These multifunctional gradations are realized through adaptive manipulation of the signed distance fields for TPMS formulations. Computational fluid dynamics simulations were performed for various HX designs, identifying a graded design with cell sizes ranging from 6 to 10 mm as optimal for minimizing local flow stagnation. The optimized HX was fabricated via additive manufacturing and validated experimentally. Experimental results revealed a 30% improvement in heat exchange capacity with only a 0.3 kPa increase in pressure drop, resulting in a 28% enhancement in the overall heat exchange performance. These findings demonstrate that the multifunctional gradation approach enables the optimal design of TPMS-based HXs with superior thermofluidic performance and structural integrity.
format Article
id doaj-art-1afa8780c032416fb4246769cda31489
institution Kabale University
issn 2045-2322
language English
publishDate 2025-06-01
publisher Nature Portfolio
record_format Article
series Scientific Reports
spelling doaj-art-1afa8780c032416fb4246769cda314892025-08-20T03:26:42ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-06-0115111810.1038/s41598-025-04940-2Multifunctional gradations of TPMS architected heat exchanger for enhancements in flow and heat exchange performancesSeo-Hyeon Oh0Jeong Eun Kim1Chan Hui Jang2Jungwoo Kim3Chang Yong Park4Keun Park5Department of Mechanical Design and Robot Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and TechnologyDepartment of Mechanical Design and Robot Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and TechnologyDepartment of Mechanical System Design Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and TechnologyDepartment of Mechanical Design and Robot Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and TechnologyDepartment of Mechanical Design and Robot Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and TechnologyDepartment of Mechanical Design and Robot Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and TechnologyAbstract Heat exchangers (HXs) based on triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) architectures have recently attracted significant interest due to their continuous and smooth shell structures with extensive surface areas. This study proposes an efficient design methodology for TPMS-based HXs by employing three gradation strategies to enhance their thermofluidic performance: (i) filtering gradation to guide hot and cold fluids through designated inlet and outlet regions with reduced flow resistance; (ii) cell-size gradation to ensure uniform flow distribution by reducing dead zones; and (iii) level-set gradation to maintain a minimum allowable wall thickness under cell-size variations. These multifunctional gradations are realized through adaptive manipulation of the signed distance fields for TPMS formulations. Computational fluid dynamics simulations were performed for various HX designs, identifying a graded design with cell sizes ranging from 6 to 10 mm as optimal for minimizing local flow stagnation. The optimized HX was fabricated via additive manufacturing and validated experimentally. Experimental results revealed a 30% improvement in heat exchange capacity with only a 0.3 kPa increase in pressure drop, resulting in a 28% enhancement in the overall heat exchange performance. These findings demonstrate that the multifunctional gradation approach enables the optimal design of TPMS-based HXs with superior thermofluidic performance and structural integrity.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-04940-2Triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS)Heat exchangerFunctional gradationAdditive manufacturingComputational fluid dynamics (CFD)
spellingShingle Seo-Hyeon Oh
Jeong Eun Kim
Chan Hui Jang
Jungwoo Kim
Chang Yong Park
Keun Park
Multifunctional gradations of TPMS architected heat exchanger for enhancements in flow and heat exchange performances
Scientific Reports
Triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS)
Heat exchanger
Functional gradation
Additive manufacturing
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
title Multifunctional gradations of TPMS architected heat exchanger for enhancements in flow and heat exchange performances
title_full Multifunctional gradations of TPMS architected heat exchanger for enhancements in flow and heat exchange performances
title_fullStr Multifunctional gradations of TPMS architected heat exchanger for enhancements in flow and heat exchange performances
title_full_unstemmed Multifunctional gradations of TPMS architected heat exchanger for enhancements in flow and heat exchange performances
title_short Multifunctional gradations of TPMS architected heat exchanger for enhancements in flow and heat exchange performances
title_sort multifunctional gradations of tpms architected heat exchanger for enhancements in flow and heat exchange performances
topic Triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS)
Heat exchanger
Functional gradation
Additive manufacturing
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-04940-2
work_keys_str_mv AT seohyeonoh multifunctionalgradationsoftpmsarchitectedheatexchangerforenhancementsinflowandheatexchangeperformances
AT jeongeunkim multifunctionalgradationsoftpmsarchitectedheatexchangerforenhancementsinflowandheatexchangeperformances
AT chanhuijang multifunctionalgradationsoftpmsarchitectedheatexchangerforenhancementsinflowandheatexchangeperformances
AT jungwookim multifunctionalgradationsoftpmsarchitectedheatexchangerforenhancementsinflowandheatexchangeperformances
AT changyongpark multifunctionalgradationsoftpmsarchitectedheatexchangerforenhancementsinflowandheatexchangeperformances
AT keunpark multifunctionalgradationsoftpmsarchitectedheatexchangerforenhancementsinflowandheatexchangeperformances