In the IGF project No. 20999 N/1 “Development of highly filled thin-walled plastic elements with improved heat transfer properties in the corrosion range”, the Laboratory of Reaction and Fluid Process Engineering of the TUK and the ZBT have taken it upon themselves to provide pure plastics with thermally conductive fillers and to manufacture heat exchanger plates from them. These heat exchanger plates form a symbiosis of metals and plastics and combine the positive properties of both materials. They have significantly higher thermal conductivities than pure plastics, yet still have the same corrosion resistance.

In the course of the project to date, it has been possible to emboss entire heat exchanger plates measuring 195 mm x 95 mm from the continuously produced filled compound foils, true to the original and without defects. Preliminary tests and simulations show that these developed materials achieve a heat transfer coefficient as high as ~ 85% of the k-value of metallic (1.4571) heat exchanger plates. Currently, heat exchangers are being constructed from the plates, which will then be tested for their suitability in initial in-situ tests.

A project of our department fuel cell stacks