Prof. Ting Ma

School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China

E-mail: mating715@mail.xjtu.edu.cn

Bio

Dr. Ting Ma is a professor at the School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University. He received his Ph.D. in Engineering Thermophysics from Xi'an Jiaotong University in 2012. He was a visiting scholar in the Mechanical Engineering Department at University of Nevada-Las Vegas from Aug. 2011 to Jan. 2012, and a visiting scholar in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Virginia Tech from Mar. 2014 to Feb. 2015. His research interests mainly include heat transfer enhancement under high-temperature and high-pressure conditions, mini-channel heat exchangers, electronic cooling, and thermoelectric power generator and cooler. He has published over 100 international journal papers and contributed two book chapters, obtained more than 30 invention patents, and given over 30 plenary/keynote/invited speeches at academic conferences. He is the winner of Outstanding Youth Foundation of National Natural Science Foundation of China, First Prize of Technological Invention of Shaanxi Province, and First Prize of Technological Invention of MOE. He has been an Associate Editor of Journal of Enhanced Heat Transfer.

Title

Study on an ultra-power-dense mini-channel heat exchanger fabricated using SLM-based additive manufacturing for supercritical CO2 applications

Abstract

Mini-channel heat exchangers (MCHEs), owing to their high thermal efficiency, compact configuration, and capability to withstand high temperatures and pressures, hold significant promise for deployment in advanced energy systems such as supercritical CO₂ (SCO₂) Brayton cycle power generation. To address the inherent limitations of conventional chemical etching and diffusion bonding techniques in terms of compactness and heat transfer performance, this study employs selective laser melting (SLM)-based additive manufacturing, combined with optical metrology, to fabricate and characterize prototype MCHEs with hydraulic diameters below 0.41 mm for flow and heat transfer testing. Leveraging SLM technology and thermal resistance analysis, a hybrid MCHE design strategy is proposed to simultaneously enhance heat transfer capability and structural compactness. Systematic thermohydraulic experiments using SCO₂ are conducted to obtain corrected flow resistance coefficients and heat transfer coefficients for the fabricated mini-channels. Experimental results indicate that a hybrid MCHE design with differentiated channel geometries on the hot and cold sides can concurrently achieve high volumetric power density and enhanced thermal performance. This strategy holds great potential for engineering applications.