Aircraft heat exchangers.

One of the major challenges in aircraft engineering now is to develop heat exchangers for aero engines that are more efficient and lighter weight and can work at ever higher temperatures.

Thermal management studies have initially focussed specifically on the development of high-efficiency lightweight heat exchangers, which are seen as offering potentially large environmental benefits as the pressure increases on industry to address climate change.

To develop highly efficient and ultra-light heat exchangers will become a central point for Rolls-Royce research and development, including test and development of manufacturing technologies.

High temperature heat exchangers.

New processes are being investigated to enable aero-engine heat exchangers to operate at temperatures approaching 1000°C.

This area of research is important for Rolls-Royce in maintaining competitiveness across all of its aerospace, marine and energy markets.

High pressure heat exchangers are required to work at very high heat transfer rates. They illustrate the dilemma. They are fabricated from tubes or channels which have small hydraulic diameters.

This increases the compactness of the unit and therefore reduces its mass, which is the objective. Designs of the manifold are required so that the pressure drop remains within acceptable limit.

Operating under extreme temperatures and high mass flow rates, the small size of the heat exchangers and the thin walls of the tubes require various high temperature brazing materials with thin walled tubes and special manufacturing automation processes to allow cost effective constant-quality fabrication of production units.

Heat exchangers capable of power transfer rates of up to 1 megaWatt per kilogram mass are capable of being manufactured and used operationally.