Seminar: Microscale Transport – From Electronics Cooling to Fuel Cells

Abstract:

As the scale changes from macroscale to microscale, the changing contributions from different forces shifts their importance and causes a change in the transport mechanism. This behavior is highlighted with four case studies – single phase heat transfer in microchannels, flow boiling in microchannels, pool boiling, and fuel cell water transport in gas channels. Understanding the nature of the underlying forces provides an opportunity to develop new designs that are able to dissipate significantly higher heat fluxes coupled with high heat transfer coefficients in heat transfer devices. Similarly, new designs are evolved that provide a significantly improved fuel cell operation. The presentation covers the work conducted in the RIT’s Thermal Analysis, Microfluidics and Fuel Cell Laboratory over the last twenty years.

Bio:

Dr. Satish Kandlikar is the Gleason Professor of Mechanical Engineering at RIT.  He received his Ph.D. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay in 1975 and has been a faculty there before coming to RIT in 1980.  He has worked extensively in the area of flow boiling heat transfer and CHF phenomena at microscale, single-phase flow in microchannels, high heat flux chip cooling, and water management in PEM fuel cells. He has published over 300 journal and conference papers. He is a Fellow member of ASME and a former Associate Editor of ASME Journal of Heat Transfer. He has received the RIT’s Eisenhart Outstanding Teaching Award in 1997 and Trustees Outstanding Scholarship Award in 2006. He has received the 2008 Rochester Engineer of the Year award from Rochester Engineering Society. He is the recipient of the 2012 ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award. Currently he is working on DOE and GM sponsored projects on Fuel Cell water management under freezing conditions, and two NSF sponsored projects on developing nanostructures for enhanced pool and flow boiling.

Hosted by Professor Shaurya Prakash