Copper is replacing aluminum in heat exchangers

The amount of copper in the engine room is constantly increasing, and aluminum is increasingly being replaced in heat exchangers. More compact designs, better performance, and environmental issues are the main reasons for this development.

A copper-brass heat sink can provide better cooling than an aluminum heat sink, which means it can provide the same cooling capacity in a smaller volume.

This technology was first used in heavy-duty applications. Copper-bronze welded in this field has long been recognized as a preferred technology. It has become popular in some racing engines, and it has been used in high-performance vehicles such as Ford GT and Hummer SUVs. On the radiator.

The American company Astro Air produces the core of the heat exchanger. “Most of our business is about passenger cars,” said Zach Riddlesperger, chief administrative manager. “The main reason is that the copper-brass heat exchanger core can be made smaller.

The benefits of using welded copper-brass also apply to any type of car. As emissions control becomes more stringent, the demand for engine cooling systems will increase. The increasing number of secure electronic devices on the front end of the car means that the opportunity to increase the packaging space will become more valuable.

In the car parts market, the situation seems to be changing. There are two reasons. The first is that the design of the CuproBraze radiator is catching up with the aluminum design in passenger car applications. The second reason is that the CuproBraze production plant is gaining confidence in the scalability of the process.

Several large-scale production plants are already supplying European truck manufacturers. The real hurdle for the transition from aluminum to copper-brass is the need to establish a sufficiently large production facility for the large-scale supply of copper-brass bus radiators.

If so, the annual demand for radiators will be hundreds of thousands. The design for mid-range pickup trucks is also growing. The change from pickups to passenger cars is relatively small.

Environmental benefits also become more important. Producing aluminum from raw materials requires a lot of energy and generates large amounts of hydrocarbon emissions. Aluminum alloys used in passenger car radiators are also not very suitable for new recycling legislation in Europe.