Managing and Exploiting Thermal Energy in Heat Engines using Metal Additive Manufacturing

Abstract. Additive Manufacturing of metal components is receiving increasing interest as it opens up new opportunities not available using traditional subtractive methods. This talk will not focus on the process or the materials but instead on examples where improved thermal management is enabled through the design freedom inherent to these new manufacturing methods. More specifically, the two applications that will be considered are: the hot-end of a micro-gas turbine and a novel exhaust heat recovery system, the inverted Brayton cycle. These two areas have been the focus of a number of recent experimental research projects at the University of Bath under the direction of the speaker, Dr. Colin Copeland.