Improved braze joint quality through use of enhanced surface technologies

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) is the technology of indoor and vehicular environmental comfort with the goal to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. The US HVAC market is currently worth $57 billion and refrigerant leakage is one of the major causes for concern in the current era of the market. The primary goal of this project is to reduce braze joint refrigerant leaks by 25% which would reduce the annual unitary rooftop leak rate of 4% to 3%. Though the goal of braze joint leak reduction is a noble one, the realities of business do necessitate that the brazing advancement comes at a cost that is equal to or better than today's brazing techniques leading up to the second goal for this project, to utilize the microengineered surface structures to decrease the amount of braze alloy and flux materials required for brazing by 10%. In this project, early results have shown reduction in braze joint leaks by 38% thereby equating to a saving of $1.78 billion dollars of US energy consumption bills per year if implemented. While still in the testing phase, the 10% reduction in alloy and flux material consumption could save the funding company, Trane INC a total of $300,000 per year.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Mechanical Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2018

Author dc:creator

• Gunnam, Hanmesh

Contributors dc:contributor

• Miljkovic, Nenad

• Brazephilic
• Brazephobic
• Nanostructured
• Brazing

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2018 Hanmesh Gunnam

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/101827

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/101827