Bioinspired Heat Exchangers: A Multi-Scale Review of Thermo-Hydraulic Performance Enhancement

Area of Science:

• Engineering
• Biomimetics
• Thermodynamics

Background:

• Heat exchangers are crucial in energy and process industries.
• Performance is limited by the heat transfer vs. pressure drop trade-off.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review bioinspired strategies for indirect-type heat exchangers.
• To organize these strategies across surface, texture, and network scales.
• To compare their thermo-hydraulic behaviors and evaluation methods.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of bioinspired designs at micro and macro scales.
• Comparison of surface modifications (wettability, liquid-infused interfaces).
• Examination of microstructures (shark skin, fish scales) and network architectures (leaf veins, lungs).

Main Results:

• Surface modifications reduce icing, fouling, and stabilize condensation.
• Microstructures balance drag reduction and heat transfer enhancement.
• Network designs improve fluid distribution and mixing for better overall performance.

Conclusions:

• Bioinspired designs offer multi-scale solutions for heat exchanger optimization.
• Future work needs focus on manufacturing, durability, scale-up, and validation.
• A cross-scale analysis approach guides the design of next-generation heat exchangers.