Velo3D
Heat exchanger test piece printed on the Sapphire system.
Heat exchanger test piece printed on the Sapphire system.
Velo3D and global engineering firm PWR are to collaborate on the material development and serial manufacture of heat exchanger applications.
Queensland-headquartered PWR has installed Velo3D’s Sapphire metal 3D printing system, the first in the Asia Pacific region, and will work with the hardware vendor to develop aluminium alloy designs of heat exchanger with thinner walls, more complex features and ‘best-in-class’ surface finishes. The company supplies a host of customers in the motorsport, custom-automotive, military and aerospace industries.
Velo3D’s Sapphire system was brought to market in the summer of 2018 and at last week’s TCT Awards was Highly Commended in the Non-Polymer Hardware system category and took home the TCT Rising Star Award. The powder bed fusion system has been designed to address high volume production requirements, with Velo3D targeting service providers like PWR in the belief their expertise will help mature the technology for production.
“PWR chose Velo3D after extensive testing. The Velo3D Sapphire printer demonstrated the ability to produce class-leading thin wall capabilities and high-quality surfaces with zero porosity,” commented Matthew Bryson, General Manager, Engineering at PWR. “Velo3D and PWR share a passion for pushing the limits of technology to deliver truly disruptive, class-leading products. We are a natural fit and look forward to building a strong partnership going forward.
“Heat exchanger weight and pressure-drop characteristics have a huge impact on performance and are significant factors in all motorsport categories. Using additive manufacturing to print lightweight structures, enhancing performance with freedom of design, we have the ability to further optimise these characteristics to the customer’s requirements whilst providing the necessary cooling. The broad design capabilities and extremely high print accuracy of the Velo3D Sapphire 3D metal printer will help us optimise these various performance attributes.”
“Our expanding relationship with PWR will be one of innovation and new performance benchmarks in heat exchangers,” added Benny Buller, founder and CEO of Velo3D. “PWR’s history of high-quality products, world-class design and testing, and customer success in gruelling environments of motorsport, make our joint endeavour an especially exciting one. We created Velo3D to help industrial end-users of 3D metal printing truly realise geometric freedom. We know that our technology can help PWR meet new and evolving design goals in ultra-thin wall cooling structures.”
