Research Projects
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1) DOE Ground Source Heat Pump Project (ARRA Project)
A ground source heat pump (GSHP) system is a heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) alternative that utilizes the ground as a heat source or sink. Working mechanism of a GSHP is the same with the conventional HVAC systems but the medium of heat gain or dissipation is different. The temperature below the earth gets steadier as the depth increases. Also, it is cooler the than the outside air during hot weather and warmer during cold weather. A GSHP system uses the earth or the water below the earth and utilizes the greater temperature difference and, in most cases, consumes less energy compared to conventional HVAC systems.
“America House” employs an advanced design that integrates the architectural innovations of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Chinese practice of Feng-Shui. This approach emphasizes integrating the home into the rhythms of the surrounding landscapes, creating a smooth flow of air and light and enhancing fluidity of interior space by minimizing confining interior walls. Of particular note is the use of the “Home Biology 101” building principles pioneered by AEL’s founder George Bialecki, Jr. in the home’s construction. These principles include energy efficiency, reduced municipal water consumption, indoor air quality, storm water management and recycling management. It is, in short, a system designed to maximize the home’s energy efficiency, environmental compatibility and sustainability.
3) Adaptive Beam Tracking and Steering via Electrowetting-controlled Liquid Prism
We are developing an electrowetting-controlled optofluidic system for adaptive beam tracking and agile steering. With two immiscible fluids (water and oil) in a transparent cell, we can actively control the contact angle along the fluid-fluid-solid tri-junction line and hence the orientation of the fluid-fluid interface via electrowetting.
Solar radiation, along with secondary solar-powered resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for most of the available renewable energy on earth. To harvest the solar energy, the most common way is to use solar panels with photovoltaics (PV) or concentrating photovoltaics (CPV) cells.
5) A wickless Vapor Chamber with active Electrowetting control
Vapor chambers and heat pipes based on phase-change heat transfer mechanisms have proven to be an efficient approach to dissipate heat from hot spots to heat sinks in many thermal-energy systems. However, a layer of wick structure fully covering the chamber walls (including the condenser and evaporator surfaces) creates additional thermal resistance because the effective thermal conductivity is significantly reduced in saturated wicks. This thermal barrier can generate an unacceptable temperature rise, especially in high heat-flux applications.
During a slug test, injection or withdrawal of a small volume of water through an open borehole in an aquifer induces a pressure pulse propagation process in the aquifer. Hydraulic data sets that are collected during this procedure can be manipulated by mathematical inversion to estimate the hydraulic properties near the borehole.
7) Nanoparticle transport in a Microchannel
To cool down the stack system in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), a coolant is needed that must be electrically nonconductive. In practice, charged nanoparticles are added into the flow to neutralize the ion contamination that otherwise gradually degrades the coolant until shunt currents become significant. This program aims to build up a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) physicochemical model of the multiphase coolant flow with charged nanoparticles.
8) Tires having low rolling resistance
According to the new CAFÉ of the United States, passenger cars require an average mileage standard of 39MPG by 2016. 7% of engine power loss is known to be caused by rolling resistance of a tire when the tire is fully inflated. More than 94% of rolling resistance is known to be resulted from the viscoelastic energy loss of the tire material.
9) Tire wear modelling for low tire particle emission
More than 0.5 million tons of tire rubber and carbon particles are emitted in the United States each year. An accurate model on the tire wear is critical in designing a tire tread with lower particle emission. The wear model covers contact pressure, time-temperature dependent aging effect, cornering effect, interaction between tire and pavement.
10) Energy Harvesting with electro-active polymers
With an increasing demand on power of mobile devices and sensors, dissipated mechanical and thermal energy should be transformed to electrical energy using smart materials. We are interested in the dielectric elastomers and piezoelectric ceramics embedded in the tire, which produce energy through thomo-mechanical deformation and vibration of a tire. Embedding EAP into the pavement is a source of energy, which we seek as an alternative energy harvesting source.
11) Compliant Cellular Materials
Using the previous research experience on cellular material design for Lunar Rover Wheel and morphing airfoil design for fuel efficiency, Compliant Cellular Materials (CCM) Group is interested in light weight and fatigue resistant cellular solids such as orthopedic implants using non-homogeneous cellular distribution while minimizing bone resorption and interfacial stresses.
12) Microscale heat transfer Enhancement by Nano Phase change materials(NPCM)
Scalable 3D Micro/Nano high performance heat sinks for micro electronics and microscale study of freezing/melting for advanced refrigeration technology.
13) Heat Transfer Characteristics from a Melting Particle in Flow
An experimental investigation on the melting and heat transfer characteristics in convective melting of an ice sphere in horizontally flowing water was conducted. This experiment serves as a basis for further improvement of numerical modeling on the convective melting of a single particle or a packed bed.
14) Flow Characteristics around a Melting Particle
An experimental investigation on flow around a melting ice sphere in horizontally flowing water is conducted. The flow field is measured quantitatively using the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique. The distributions of velocity, streamline, and z-component of rotation vector around the ice sphere are obtained for different upstream velocities and temperatures. General flow characteristics around the melting ice sphere and effects of velocity and temperature are analyzed. The visualization of melting of a dyed ice sphere is also conducted to investigate the motion of the melt, its mixing with mainstream, and the separation of the boundary layer. Comparisons with the flow around a non-melting ball are made to investigate the effect of melting on the flow boundary layer. The original experimental results are published to serve as benchmark data for numerical model development.
15) Modeling ice layer growth on a wind turbine rotor blade
Many existing potential wind energy sites are located in the high latitude regions of the northern hemisphere or in high latitude regions, where severely cold conditions prevail during the winter season. One of the significant impact on the performance of the wind turbine is the effect of ice accretion on rotor aerodynamic characterstics. Studies have been carried out in aircraft applications on ice accretion phenomenon.However the computer code developeed for aircrafts has its limitations when it is applied to wind turbine applications.Also it does not consider transport phenomenon within ice layer when the ice forms on the wing surface.
16) Microgravity Effects on Convective Melting
To improve the understanding of convective melting of packed solid particles in a fluid, an experimental investigation is conducted to study the melting characteristics of a packed bed by unmasking the buoyancy forces due to the density difference between the melt and solid particles. A close-loop apparatus, named the particle-melting-in-flow (PMF) module, is designed to allow a steady- state liquid flow at a specified temperature. The module is installed onboard NASA's KC-135 reduced gravity aircraft using ice particles of desired sizes and water as the test media. Experimentally determined melting rates are presented as a function of upstream flow velocity, temperature and initial average particle size of the packed bed.
17) Evaporative thin liquid film on a heated cylinder
High heat transfer rate from liquid thin film is believed to be responsible for the maximum heat transfer during boiling and wetting characteristics in porous media during dryout. General applications include the cooling of gas turbine blades, nuclear fuel elements in a hypothetical accident, and the first wall and diverter-plate of fusion reactors. Conceptual application of the electrostatic liquid film radiator to space power cycles was also proposed (Bankoff, 1993). The idea is to attain very high heat fluxes by stabilizing the liquid film, which is not an easy task. Many unanswered questions remain before any engineering applications of such sustainable thin film concept are practical. Here, the thin film is defined as having a typical thickness of the order of a few micrometers.