Metal 3D printing across a range of heat exchanger applications

Velo3d, an innovator in metal Additive Manufacturing (AM), entered into a collaborative partnership with PWR for material development for the Sapphire 3D metal printer and serial manufacturing of state-of-the-art heat exchangers. With bases in Australia, the USA and the UK, PWR is a supplier of cooling solutions to F1, NASCAR and other racing series—as well as the custom-automotive OEM, military and aerospace industries.

PWR will have the first production Sapphire machine in the Asia Pacific region. The two companies will collaborate on aluminum alloy designs with thinner and more-complex heat exchange features and best-in-class surface finishes.

Images showing various perspectives on a heat exchanger test piece demonstrate Velo3D Sapphire’s industry-leading printing capabilities, including ultra-thin features in the core (visible in cut-away piece). All images are as-is off the printer with no post-processing (i.e. bead blast).

“PWR chose Velo3D after extensive testing,” says Matthew Bryson, General Manager, Engineering, for PWR. “The Velo3d Sapphire printer demonstrated class-leading thin-wall capabilities and high-quality surfaces with zero porosity.

“Heat exchanger weight and pressure-drop characteristics have a huge impact on performance and are significant factors in all motorsport categories,” he says. “Using additive manufacturing to print lightweight structures, enhancing performance with freedom-of-design, we have the ability to optimize these characteristics to the customer’s requirements whilst providing the necessary cooling. The broad design capabilities and print accuracy of the Velo3d Sapphire 3D metal printer will help us optimize these various performance attributes.”

“Our expanding relationship with PWR will be one of innovation and new performance benchmarks in heat exchangers,” says Benny Buller, founder and CEO of Velo3d. “PWR’s history of high-quality products, world-class design and testing, and customer success in the grueling environments of motorsport, make our joint endeavor an especially exciting one. We created Velo3d to help industrial end-users of 3D metal printing realize geometric freedom. We know that our technology can help PWR meet new and evolving design goals in ultra-thin-wall cooling structures.”

Velo3D
www.velo3D.com