Economics of an Additive Manufactured Heat Exchanger for Concentrating Solar Power

Developing low cost, high efficiency heat exchangers (HX) for application in concentrated solar power (CSP) is critical to reducing CSP costs. However, the extreme operating conditions in CSP systems present a challenge for typical high efficiency HX manufacturing processes. We describe a process-based cost model (PBCM) to estimate the cost of fabricating an HX for this application using additive manufacturing (AM). The PBCM is designed to assess the effectiveness of different designs, processes choices, and manufacturing innovations to reduce HX cost. We describe HX design and AM process modifications that reduce HX cost from a baseline of$780/kW-thto$570/kW-th. We further evaluate the impact of alternative current and potential future technologies on HX cost, and identify a pathway to further reduce HX cost to$270/kW-th.