Conflux Technology, based in Geelong, Australia, has developed custom additively manufactured cold plates for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. These cold plates are critical components in managing heat dissipation from battery packs, inverters, and electronics, ensuring that these systems remain within optimal temperature ranges to prevent overheating.

Optimizing Weight and Thermal Performance

In collaboration with a leading aerospace company, Conflux has designed a modular cold plate that meets the unique requirements of modern aviation systems. The challenge was to create a solution that could effectively cool battery packs while significantly reducing weight compared to traditional designs. Lightweight components are essential for enhancing energy efficiency, extending range, and lowering operational costs in eVTOL aircraft.

Conflux utilized Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) principles to create a scalable cold plate design. This design allows for the cooling of multiple battery packs with a single inlet and outlet, offering flexibility that traditional manufacturing methods cannot achieve. Key innovations include optimising wall thickness, refining internal fin structures, and ensuring the cold plate meets stringent pressure drop and thermal performance targets.

Through iterative improvements and advanced post-processing techniques, Conflux was able to reduce the cold plate’s weight by 42%, surpassing the initial weight reduction goals. The cold plate’s design also incorporates optimised fluid channels, which ensure efficient cooling by improving fluid flow distribution. These innovations helped reduce temperature variation across the surface by approximately 80%, ensuring more uniform cooling.

Broader Applications Beyond Aerospace

The success of Conflux’s additively manufactured cold plates extends beyond the aerospace sector. Cold plates are widely used in industries such as electronics, automotive, renewable energy, medical devices, and data centres. The lightweight, high-performance characteristics of these cold plates highlight the growing role of additive manufacturing in producing advanced thermal components for various applications.