When Charles Parsons invented the steam turbine in 1884, it was a monumental advance. More than a century later, engineers are still relying on steam to operate the turbines that generate much of the world’s power.

GE wants to take this technology to the next level by building a CO2 demonstration plant capable of generating of 10-megawatts of electricity and – you guessed it – 3D printing will play a key role in making this possible. How? With a lung-inspired 3D printed heat exchanger. Leveraging lessons learned human body in biomimicry and generative design, Peter deBock and his colleagues at GE Research in Niskayuna, New York, devised a heat exchanger — an essential component of the cooling system of a power turbine — that mimics human lungs. Heat exchangers are used in power plants to move energy from the hot exhaust that flows out of the primary gas turbine […]

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