Safran Aero Boosters will be presenting HIPEX, its new range of high-performance heat exchangers based on a revolutionary aerodynamic design, at the Paris Air Show. Thanks to their curved or adjustable shape, their aerodynamic drag is halved compared with current models, while delivering the same thermal performance.

Most of the cooling in an aircraft engine is provided by air-oil heat exchangers situated between the engine and the nacelle. Due to the way they are currently designed, heat exchangers are difficult to integrate into the engines and generate drag in the airflow, which has an impact on the engine's fuel consumption.

Drawing Leveraging on its experience in designing oil systems for engines, and with the support of the Walloon Region through its WINGS technological innovation partnership, Safran Aero Boosters has developed single-block exchangers that are compact, more aerodynamic and easier to integrate into engines due to their optimized design. Manufactured using 3D metal printing, they can be adapted to all types of current or future engines.

The initial tests – first carried out on a Safran Aero Boosters test bench in Liège in Belgium and then on a civil-aviation engine during a ground test campaign – demonstrated the performance of the HIPEX in operational conditions.

"Thanks to their totally innovative shape, our new exchangers will save up to 1% in fuel consumption on certain engines. You can imagine the significant reductions that can be made in terms of the environmental footprint and costs. For example, our product could reduce the CO2 emissions on a long-haul aircraft by 4,000 tons and reduce costs by more than a million dollars over the plane's lifetime." François Lepot, President and Chief Executive Officer of Safran Aero Boosters.