High Performance Woven Mesh Heat Exchangers

Simple-to-fabricate woven mesh structures, consisting of bonded laminates of two-dimensional plain-weave conductive screens, or three-dimensional orthogonal weaves are described. Geometric equations show that these porous matrices can be fabricated to have a wide range of porosity and a highly anisotropic thermal conductivity vector. A mathematical model of the thermal performance of such a mesh, deployed as a heat exchange surface, is developed. Measurements of pressure drop and overall heat transfer rate are reported and used with the performance model to develop correlation equations of mesh friction factor and Colburn j-factor as a function of coolant properties, mesh characteristics and flow rate through the mesh. A heat exchanger performance analysis delineates conditions where the two mesh technologies offer superior performance.