Monolithic macro-fluidic heat transfer components and methods for manufacturing same

A method for fabricating a solar thermal collector, comprising:

• fabricating a monolithic flow control component which includes structures to direct the flow of the heat transfer fluid between an inlet and outlet;
• and
• mounting a solar absorber to the monolithic flow control component.

A method, comprising:

• fabricating a monolithic heat exchange construct with interior flow control and features to direct the bulk or channelized flow of a fluid in, one, two or three dimensions, comprising creating a first set of cavity and core molds, whose geometrical features include mechanical and fluidically functional surfaces and plenum forms, bringing the first set of cavity and core molds into airtight contact, injecting a self-expanding foam polymer precursor mix into the hollow space defined by the molds, extracting the resulting first monolithic construct, and incorporating the remaining components into the monolithic construct.

A method, comprising:

• fabricating a monolithic heat exchange construct with interior flow control and features to direct the bulk or channelized flow of a fluid in, one, two or three dimensions, comprising creating a first set of cavity and core molds, whose geometrical features include mechanical and fluidically functional surfaces and plenum forms, bringing the first set of cavity and core molds into airtight contact, injecting a self-expanding foam polymer precursor mix into the hollow space defined by the molds, extracting the resulting first monolithic construct, and incorporating the remaining components into the monolithic construct, creating one or more additional sets of cavity and core molds, whose geometric features include fluidically functional plenum forms and features, injecting a self-expanding foam polymer precursor mix into the hollow space defined by the one or more additional sets of molds, extracting the resulting monolithic constructs, and bonding the first and additional monolithic constructs together.