This week’s selection is the 3D printed ceramic cubes by TU Graz.
This is quite an interesting design as it is highly functional — and timely.
What is it exactly? It’s a ceramic cube 3D printed with a complex lattice-like structure. The goal was to maximize the surface area of the cube with the lattice.
This is done for evaporative reasons. For thousands of years, people have used the principle of evaporation to cool the air: as water evaporates, it uses up a bit of heat, cooling the surrounding area. Traditionally, this has been done with porous ceramic jars soaked in water.
The new design makes that process far more efficient due to the maximized surface area. Wet the cube, and it cools the air automatically. The team tested the cubes in a hot attic and found it was able to lower the internal temperature by 7C, which is quite significant.
The cubes are designed to be 230mm on each side, making them easy to stack together. Cubes could be arranged to allow wind to flow through them, creating a larger cooled area. As a demonstration, they built a 2 x 2 metre wall on campus, which allows passersby to cool off.
They are printed using an unnamed ceramic 3D printer, likely a robotic system with a syringe toolhead. To maximize the porous nature of the material and increase the water carrying capacity, they fired the ceramic at relatively low temperatures.
This is a unique application of 3D printing: this project could only have been done with advanced software and 3D print technology. It has resulted in a design that could very well be used worldwide as our planet warms.
Via TU Graz
