Electrification of vehicles can bring new manufacturing challenges, as the Dynamis PRC student team at the University of Milan discovered when transitioning its Formula SAE race car from internal combustion to battery power. The inverter that converts the DC power from the battery to AC to drive the motors must be kept within a specific temperature range; to maintain this range, the electric race car incorporates a fluid-cooled heat exchanger called a cold plate. The 3D printed device produced by M4P was designed by Puntozero using nTopology software. Regular and irregular lattice structures as well as biomimicry helped reduce the size and weight of the cold plate from an earlier machined design while increasing surface area, saving energy in directing the flow of coolant, and improving cooling performance.

This episode brought to you by Carpenter Additive. https://www.carpenteradditive.com/

CORRECTION: Text embedded in this video has an incomplete name for our nTopology expert. His full name is Alkaios Bournias Varotsis.

LEARN MORE ABOUT:

The creation of this cold plate
https://ntopology.com/case-studies/co...

The Dynamis PRC student racing team at the University of Milan

https://www.dynamisprc.com/

Formula SAE racing competition for college students

https://www.fsaeonline.com/

Design firm Puntozero

https://www.puntozero3d.com/en/home-2/

Materials supplier and additive manufacturer M4P

https://www.metals4printing.com/home-en/

nTopology design software

https://www.additivemanufacturing.med...

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