Hu Jiajie, Xu Wei, Liang Huixin, Shi Jianping, Tang Wenlai, Guo Baocheng, Yang Jiquan, Zhu Liya
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of 3D Printing Equipment and Manufacturing, School of Electrical and Automation Engineering, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, China.
State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Division of Sports Medicine and Adult Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, 210008, China.
Sci Rep. 2025 Aug 10;15(1):29255. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-15029-1.
Triply periodic minimal surfaces (TPMS) are recently widely employed in thermal engineering applications due to their smooth surfaces, high surface area to volume ratio and mathematically controlled geometry features. Although the sheet-type TPMS shows good heat transfer capacity between the fluid and the skeleton surface, the pressure drop of this structure is large resulting from its partially disconnected surface. In this paper, four TPMS structures, sheet Gyroid, solid Gyroid, solid Primitive and solid Diamond were designed and manufactured by 3D printing technology. The heat transfer performance of different TPMS structures and the fin structure was researched by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and experimental methods. The results showed that the heat dissipation capability of the fin structure was better than that of the TPMS structures under ultra-low speed airflow. Otherwise, the heat transfer performance of the solid TPMS is better than both of the sheet TPMS and the fins structures. Although the sheet TPMS has higher surface area compared to the solid TPMS, the flow speed was decreased along the internal channels leading to greater thermal resistance and lower thermal transferring efficiency. When the gas velocity was less than 4 m/s, the solid Gyroid expressed the best performance among the three solid TPMS structures caused by its higher surface area connected to the heat source. Under higher gas velocity, the solid Diamond was proved to have better performance led by higher flow speed within channels. The heat transfer coefficient of solid Diamond was 110% and 59% larger than that of the solid Primitive and the solid Gyroid, respectively. The Nusselt number of solid Diamond was 10% and 12% greater than that of the solid Primitive and the solid Gyroid, respectively. The research proves that the solid TPMS can be used to replace the fin structure in heat exchangers and provides a basis for design and optimization of TPMS-based heat exchangers in the future.
三重周期极小曲面（TPMS）由于其表面光滑、高表面积与体积比以及数学可控的几何特征，最近在热工程应用中得到了广泛应用。尽管片状TPMS在流体与骨架表面之间显示出良好的传热能力，但由于其部分断开的表面，这种结构的压降较大。在本文中，通过3D打印技术设计并制造了四种TPMS结构，即片状螺旋面、实心螺旋面、实心原始面和实心菱形面。采用计算流体动力学（CFD）模拟和实验方法研究了不同TPMS结构和翅片结构的传热性能。结果表明，在超低速气流下，翅片结构的散热能力优于TPMS结构。否则，实心TPMS的传热性能优于片状TPMS和翅片结构。尽管片状TPMS与实心TPMS相比具有更高的表面积，但沿内部通道的流速降低，导致更大的热阻和更低的热传递效率。当气体速度小于4m/s时，实心螺旋面在三种实心TPMS结构中表现出最佳性能，这是因为其与热源相连的表面积更大。在较高气体速度下，事实证明实心菱形面由于通道内较高的流速而具有更好的性能。实心菱形面的传热系数分别比实心原始面和实心螺旋面大110%和59%。实心菱形面的努塞尔数分别比实心原始面和实心螺旋面大10%和12%。该研究证明实心TPMS可用于替代热交换器中的翅片结构，并为未来基于TPMS的热交换器的设计和优化提供了依据。
