Optimizing a photon absorber using conformal cooling channels and additive manufacturing in copper.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science and Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Physics

Background:

• Synchrotron facilities require advanced beamline components for enhanced performance.
• Upgrades to synchrotrons introduce thermal and mechanical challenges for critical hardware.
• Photon absorbers are essential for protecting equipment from intense synchrotron radiation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of additive manufacturing (AM) on photon absorber design.
• To explore novel conformal cooling channel geometries for improved thermal management.
• To assess the print quality and performance of AM copper absorbers for synchrotron applications.

Main Methods:

• Optimization of a Diamond Light Source photon absorber model using AM conformal cooling channels.
• Development of 'Horizontal' and 'Coil' concept designs.
• Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and thermal simulations.
• Fabrication and characterization of benchmark artifacts to assess print quality (surface roughness, dimensional accuracy, porosity).

Main Results:

• The 'Horizontal' AM concept demonstrated superior performance compared to the baseline.
• Simulations showed an 11% maximum temperature drop and an 82% reduction in pressure drop.
• Significant mass reduction (86%) and consolidation of 21 pipes into a single manifold were achieved.
• Print quality assessment confirmed AM's suitability for synchrotron environments.

Conclusions:

• Additive manufacturing provides a viable solution for developing advanced, high-performance synchrotron photon absorbers.
• AM enables optimized conformal cooling, leading to significant improvements in thermal management and operational efficiency.
• This study addresses key challenges in thermal fatigue, size, vibrations, and energy consumption for synchrotron beamline components.