Hierarchical triply periodic minimal surface structures as heat exchangers and reactors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020215480-A1
Application number	US-201916243810-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 9, 2019
Priority date	Jan 9, 2019
Publication date	Jul 9, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a transport mechanism apparatus for transporting at least one of a gas or a fluid. The transport mechanism may have an inlet, an outlet and a triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) structure. The TPMS structure is formed in a layer-by-layer three dimensional (3D) printing operation to include cells propagating in three dimensions, where the cells include wall portions having openings, and where the cells form a plurality of flow paths throughout the transport mechanism from the inlet to the outlet, and where the cells form the inlet and the outlet.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A transport mechanism apparatus for transporting at least one of a gas or a liquid, comprising:
an inlet; an outlet; and a triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) structure formed in a three dimensional (3D) printing operation to include cells propagating in three dimensions, where the cells include wall portions having openings, and where the cells form a plurality of flow paths throughout the transport mechanism from the inlet to the outlet, and where the cells form the inlet and the outlet.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the TPMS structure forms a hierarchical structure.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cells decrease smoothly in size from the inlet moving towards the outlet.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cells decrease smoothly in size moving from the outlet to towards the inlet.

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cells decrease smoothly in size moving from the inlet and outlet towards the central portion of the apparatus.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the wall portions is non-uniform across at least one of a length (X plane), a height (Y plane) and a depth (Z plane) of the apparatus.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the wall portions comprise at least one of:
a gas separation membrane; or a gas absorption monolith.

8 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the TPMS structure is defined by a level set function.

9 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the level set function comprises:
F(x, y, z)=t, where: t=constant which determines a volume of fractions of two domains separated by a level set surface; and F(x,y,z) controls a shape of a geometry of the cells of the TPMS structure.

10 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the TPMS structure is defined using level set surfaces that divide the TPMS structure into three continuous volumes.

11 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the TPMS structure comprises at least one of:
a Gyroid surface structure; a Schwarz-D surface structure; a Schwarz-P surface structure; and a I-WP bi-continuous surface structure.

12 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cells are non-uniform in size over at least one of a length (X plane), a height (Y plane) and a depth (Z plane) of the apparatus.

13 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein a size gradient of the cells is controlled in accordance with the formula:
L modified =L+ (1− H ε (φ)) Lf
where L is a length of the unit cell, and f a shrinkage or expansion factor of the cell; where H ε (φ) is a smoothed Heaviside function which determines the nature of variation of a graded zone:

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and where φ(x, y, z) is a level set function to determine where a modification in the size gradient takes place along the apparatus.

14 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the TPMS wall structure is formed using at least one of:
fused deposition modeling; and direct metal laser sintering.

15 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cells are formed such that the walls comprise at least one of:
a permeable printed support; a printed composite sorbent; an impermeable conductive support; a permeable membrane that forms a gas/liquid contacting surface; and a permeable membrane that forms a gas/liquid contacting surface with a heat exchange operation.

16 . A transport mechanism apparatus for transporting at least one of a gas or a liquid, comprising:
an inlet; an outlet; a triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) structure formed in a layer-by-layer three dimensional (3D) printing operation to include cells propagating in three dimensions, where the cells include wall portions having openings, and where the cells form a plurality of flow paths throughout the transport mechanism from the inlet to the outlet, and where the cells form the inlet and the outlet; and at least one of a wall thickness or a dimension of the cells is non-uniform across at least one of a length (X plane), a height (Y plane) or depth (Z plane) of the apparatus.

17 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the wall thickness is non-uniform such that the wall thickness decreases along a length of the apparatus from the inlet to the outlet.

18 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the wall thickness is non-uniform such that the dimension of the cells decreases over a portion of a length of the apparatus.

19 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the TPMS structure comprises at least one of:
a Gyroid surface structure; a Schwarz-D surface structure; a Schwarz-P surface structure; and a I-WP bi-continuous surface structure.

20 . A method for forming a transport mechanism for transporting at least one of a gas or a liquid, comprising:
using a three dimensional (3D) printing operation to form the mechanism with an inlet and an outlet; controlling the 3D printing operation in inlet to create the mechanism as a triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) structure formed in a layer-by-layer process using the 3D printing operation; and further controlling the 3D printing operation such that the TPMS structure includes cells propagating in three dimensions, where the cells

Assignees

• L Livermore Nat Security Llc

Inventors

• Roy Pratanu
• Nguyen Du
• Stolaroff Joshuah K

Classifications

• B01D71/701

  Polydimethylsiloxane · CPC title

• B01D69/108

  Inorganic support material · CPC title

• B01D67/00415

  by additive layer techniques, e.g. selective laser sintering [SLS], selective laser melting [SLM] or 3D printing · CPC title

• B01D69/12

  Composite membranes; Ultra-thin membranes · CPC title

• B01D71/022

  Metals · CPC title