heat exchanger
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heat exchangers

Heat exchangers transfer heat from one liquid or gas to another without them mixing. They typically consist of a number of thin metal plates with complex channels that the liquid or gas flows between. Plate heat exchangers are often etched as it is an efficient way to produce large volumes of channels and can be diffusion bonded to create a block.

By using photo chemical etching, we can produce complex designs, with a precision of ±10µm and with a low tooling cost. The process significantly reduces limitations on channels, ridgetops, headers, collectors and port features. Etching removes mechanical or thermal stress and leaves no compound planarity. Almost any metal can be used, even highly corrosion-resistant ones.

Similar plates are used in applications such as cold plates and cooling plates for electric vehicles, printed circuit heat exchangers and heat sinks. In addition, they can be found in applications for aerospace, electronics and linear motors.

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Tecan is in a unique position to design heat exchangers for manufacture in a way that others cannot. We have a proven track record in working with market leading organisations to optimise the qualities of a heat exchanger to improve critical features such as surface area and fluid turbulence for the most demanding of applications. In a compact environment, heat exchangers need to have a smaller footprint, leading to more efficient designs offered by the plate heat exchangers and PCHEs we produce.

Sophisticated heat exchanger designs can also enhance safety by reducing the potential for leaks, improving active cooling capabilities, and allowing for better control over temperature and pressure levels within the reactor system.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Tecan manufactures precision photochemically etched heat-exchanger plates and PCHEs, with fine internal channel patterns etched into thin metal for efficient heat transfer. Tecan can incorporate fine features such as channels, ridgetops, collectors and port features.

Etched heat exchangers are made by photochemically etching precise flow channels into metal plates, which are then stacked or diffusion-bonded into a compact heat-exchanger core. Tecan supplies the etched plates.

Photochemical etching forms fine, complex internal channels across a whole plate in a single process, with no burrs, no mechanical stress, no heat-affected zone and no compound planarity issues, which preserves thermal contact. Because it uses digital tooling, channel designs can be iterated quickly.

Compact etched heat exchangers and cooling plates are used for thermal management in data-centre and high-performance computing hardware, power electronics, intercoolers, aerospace and medical devices.

Heat-exchanger plates are typically etched from metals such as copper, as well as stainless steel, Alloy 42, molybdenum and aluminium, depending on the application. For material options, see our guide to choosing the right metal.

Tecan etches heat-exchanger channels to a minimum feature size of approximately 20µm, with a typical tolerance of ±10% of material thickness above 0.15mm and ±15µm minimum below 0.15mm, on material from 25µm to 2mm thick.

Yes. Tecan offers design support and produces prototypes directly from drawings, then scales the same channel design to volume without new tooling.

Send your drawings or channel specification, material and quantity via the Request a Quote page and Tecan will provide a quotation.