Conflux Technology, an Australian engineering company that develops 3D printed heat exchangers, has completed a full-distance endurance race with a configurable transmission oil cooler installed on a Multimatic Motorsports race car. Built using its configurable core platform, the transmission cooler was adapted to the programme’s specific boundary conditions and produced in two weeks using metal additive manufacturing. Multimatic Motorsports selected and integrated the unit for an endurance application without the cost and delay of a clean-sheet design.
Multimatic Motorsports used the oil cooler in a shared water circuit, where engine coolant managed gearbox oil temperatures. In this configuration, Conflux reports the unit delivered approximately 20% higher heat rejection than the incumbent solution within the same packaging envelope. That increase provided additional thermal headroom without extra space, weight, or aero penalty. Maintaining the existing packaging constraints allowed integration without altering surrounding systems.
“Endurance racing is the ultimate test for any cooling system,” said Glenn Rees, Principal Engineer at Conflux Technology. “We’ve shown that our configurable, 3D printed technology can move from design to race car in weeks, deliver significantly improved performance, and still be trusted to reach the finish line in some of the world’s toughest races.”
Additive manufacturing enabled a 3D printed core incorporating highly optimised internal channels to increase heat transfer while controlling pressure drop within a compact, lightweight envelope. The configurable design platform allows engineers to tune geometry for different gearboxes, vehicle layouts, and duty cycles. According to the company, this approach reduces non-recurring engineering costs and shortens programme time-to-track compared with a clean-sheet design, without compromising durability or consistency over long stints.
“At Multimatic we look for partners who can combine innovation with robust delivery,” said Julian Sole, Design Manager at Multimatic Motorsports. “The Conflux oil cooler, built from their configurable design and packaged efficiently in a very tight space, delivered the reliability we required over a full endurance race distance.” The endurance result adds to previous deployments of 3D printed heat exchangers by the Melbourne-based developer in motorsport and high-performance automotive applications. The same configurable oil cooler architecture is now available to other OEMs and race operations seeking increased thermal capacity within existing packaging constraints.
Conflux applies 3D printed heat exchanger technology across aerospace and high-performance automotive
Conflux Technology has also applied its additively manufactured heat exchanger designs to aerospace propulsion systems through work with Airbus on hydrogen-electric aircraft development. In that project, the Australian engineering firm is developing a 3D printed heat exchanger for the Airbus ZEROe programme, which aims to produce a hydrogen-powered commercial airliner. The component is designed to manage thermal loads in megawatt-class fuel-cell propulsion architectures. According to Conflux, additive manufacturing enables highly complex internal channels that increase heat transfer surface area while minimizing weight and volume. Airbus is currently evaluating the component within its hydrogen fuel cell architecture as part of a technology readiness assessment supported by computational fluid dynamics modeling and laboratory-scale testing.
High-performance automotive systems have provided another test environment for the company’s thermal management hardware. In a collaboration with Italian hypercar manufacturer Pagani Automobili, the Melbourne-based heat exchanger developer designed an additively manufactured cartridge heat exchanger for the transmission oil system of the Pagani Utopia. The vehicle uses a 6-liter twin-turbo V12 engine designed by Mercedes-AMG paired with a custom seven-speed transmission developed by Xtrac. Conflux reported that the component increased heat rejection by about 30% compared with the previous heat exchanger design. Pagani validated the system through track testing, road validation, and thermal shock trials to evaluate durability under sustained high-load operating conditions.
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Featured photo shows Conflux’s oil cooler used in a full-distance endurance race on a Multimatic-engineered car. Photo via Conflux Technology.
