Investigation of high-compactness and high-efficiency TPMS precoolers for precooled aero-engine

The precooler is the core functional component of the precooled air-breathing engines, which requires high power-to-weight ratio and robustness. However, the conventional compact tubular precooler suffers from low reliability, poor manufacturability and uneven flow distribution. The present study proposes a novel precooler based on triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) in polar coordinate form. Firstly, the linear approximation method is introduced and regression models are established by response surface methodology (RSM) to determine the geometry parameters of polar TPMS. Then, the accuracy of the numerical method for TPMS is validated by experimental tests and new correlations for thermal and hydraulic performances of TPMS precooler are fitted. Subsequently, the segmental thermal design method and multi-objective genetic algorithm are combined for the multi-objective optimization of the precooler. Finally, the superior optimization objective combination selected by the decision-making method is compared with the conventional compact tubular precooler. The results indicate that the optimized TPMS precooler volume is reduced by 27.8%, with 23.8% increase in power-to-weight ratio. Additionally, the TPMS precooler fabricated by additive manufacturing can exhibit high reliability. The present methods for the novel TPMS precooler are also straightforward for high efficient and high compact heat exchangers in other fields under harsh thermal environment.