3D Printing News Unpeeled: Better Air Conditioning Through 3D Printing, Conflux and Fortify

Fortify secures an investment from Lockheed Martin Ventures. Initially Fortify focused on tooling inserts which I thought was silly and would not see them become a viable company. I said previously in 2021 that “I’ve always been curious about Fortify but I am confused by its bizarre focus on mold tooling and wonder if it isn’t an interesting idea masquerading as a business.” In the same article I also said just how excited I was about RF components,” I do love the radio frequency shielding applications and the idea of concentrating fiber there to improve lenses, waveguides, and antennas. That’s a high-value application and I’ve written about just how bullish I am about that.” Off of a project with the Rogers Corporation in May the company garnered interest from Lockheed and others on RF. Now Lockheed is investing in a US solution that may be able to make lots of RF components in a very highly accurate optimal way. The market for RF components is exploding, literally and figuratively and Fortify’s new direction and investment could see it grow quickly in the space.

Australian heat exchanger company Conflux has brought to market the Conflux Cartridge. This mass customizable 40mm x 40mm x 30mm optimal heat exchanger component can be customized to your needs. What’s more it can be added to larger conventionally manufactured components to add 3D printing´s optimal performance to them.

Arcitects BVN and the University of Technology Sydney have worked together on better air conditioning. Through optimizing flow the team have made components out of recycled polymer using FDM that have branch like structures. Better flow means lower energy costs while a frog skin like porous structure should give us more human centric cooling.