There is growing interest to use supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) as a working fluid in thermal management applications. This study investigates the thermal-hydraulic performance of microchannel heat sinks as a function of flow channel geometry and orientation at operating conditions representative of electronics cooling applications. Three different experimental test sections,...
Supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) experiences a drastic change in its thermophysical properties near the thermodynamic critical point. A non-linear thermophysical property variation can influence the heat transfer behavior of sCO2 which is not predicted well by conventional single phase heat transfer theory. This can become a major hindrance in the...
In climate regions with large seasonal variations in solar radiation, such as the Pacific Northwest of the United States, a solar thermal energy collector might not economically satisfy year-round domestic water heating demands, requiring an auxiliary unit, such as a natural gas-fired water heater. Previous studies have shown that the...
Membrane based heat pumps systems have attracted the attention of many research groups as a potentially more environmentally friendly alternative to vapor compression systems for space cooling. Several prototype systems have been developed, with reported claims of Energy Efficiency Ratios (EER) approaching 26. At present, no detailed analysis is publicly...
The advancement of additive manufacturing enables significantly greater freedom of design compared to conventional techniques. Of significant interest is the potential improvements in the design of cold plates and heat sinks for electronics cooling. Greater design freedom could enable new designs that reduce thermal resistance and hydraulic resistance, enabling the...
Concentrated solar power (CSP) plants have the potential to provide 24 h, renewable electricity. Current CSP systems have high capital and operational costs which makes the levelized cost of electricity uncompetitive with conventional techniques. Recent experimental research has shown the potential of small unit cells (up to 2 × 2 cm) containing micropin arrays...
Qualitative two-phase flow regime data are obtained from high-speed visualization of condensing flows of R-134a at mass fluxes from 75 to 150 kg m−2 s−1 and quality from 0.1 to 0.8 in square microchannels (DH = 0.84 mm) cooled from a single side. Superheated R-134a is distributed into multiple parallel microchannels and then partially condensed, using...
The role of volumetric energy density on the microstructural evolution, texture and mechanical properties of 304L stainless steel parts additively manufactured via selective laser melting process is investigated. 304L is chosen because it is a potential candidate to be used as a matrix in a metal matrix composite with nanoparticles...
Vortical structures are the driving mechanism of transition to turbulence in porous media requiring adequately resolved observations along with analysis of the scale and energy of flow within the pores. Of specific interest is to understand the vortex dynamics, energy, and turbulent mixing and transport properties in the scale of...
Energy recovery ventilators (ERVs) are an effective way to reduce energy consumption in buildings while satisfying ventilation standards. As membrane technology and manufacturing methods improve, membrane based ERVs are seeing increased market penetration. In the present study, the feasibility of membrane ERV designed to fit in a commercial building wall...