General Atomics announces partnership with Conflux on new heat exchanger

GA-ASI and the Geelong-based metal AM company will develop a novel, cutting-edge solution for current and future aircraft, the US company said in a statement last week. This will allow for increased endurance, lower production cost and increased design and integration flexibility.

“Fundamental efficiency gains require heat transfer innovations. In Conflux we have a highly innovative engineering team that blends first principles thermo-fluid dynamics with design creativity and Additive Manufacturing process expertise,” said Michael Fuller, Conflux Technology CEO and founder. 

“Conflux heat exchangers derive their performance from highly complex geometries enabled by Additive Manufacturing. Our scientists and engineers, alongside their GA-ASI counterparts, will now develop heat exchange applications to improve fundamental efficiencies for GA-ASI’s RPA systems.”

GA-ASI’s MQ-9 Reaper RPAS was selected by the federal government in November 2018, with between 12 and 16 of these to be purchased for the RAAF.