Micro/nano engineering at the interface of thermal-fluid, material and energy sciences
Energy e x ploration Laboratory
3 cups
Flour
Phase-change HT
1½ cups
Butter
HVAC&R
Interfacial Phenomena
Desalination
Energy Systems
HTHP-HXs
Research at Energy-X
Energy-X is particularly interested in scientific and engineering challenges that lay at the intersection of thermal-fluid, material, and energy sciences. Our current research focuses on understanding the fundamental transport science of important energy carriers (such as fluid particles, phonons, photons, exciton, and charged particles) at micro, nano, and molecular scales. We design, fabricate, and examine a wide range of meso-, micro-, and nano-devices/systems to understand their underlying physics and explore new technologies and performance breakthroughs.
Our research includes four thrusts as follows:
-
Research Thrust 1: Selective gas capture and adv. SSLC heat pumps for sustainable, energy-efficient buildings
-
Research Thrust 2: High-T thermal energy exchange, transport, and storage for clean energy production
-
Research Thrust 3: Desalination and high-salinity ZLD water treatment for clean water production
-
Research Thrust 4: Thermal management and phase change heat transfer for future EVs and electronics
Research Thrust 1: Selective gas capture and advanced SSLC-based heat pumps for sustainable, energy-efficient buildings
Global demand for sustainable buildings including energy-efficient air conditioning (AC) systems is boosting due to rising consumer awareness over energy efficiency, growing energy bills, and climate change concerns. Buildings’ latent cooling (i.e., humidity) load, for instance, can account for up to 85% of total AC energy consumption in mixed-humid and hot-humid climate zones. While the latent cooling load is a key contributor to the overall AC demand, existing vapor-compression-based AC technologies cannot efficiently treat humidity since latent and sensible cooling loads are highly coupled in current systems. Therefore, selective and/or independent gas capture including humidity and carbon dioxide is a key concept to the development of future energy-efficient buildings systems.
Sample related journal publications:
J27. “A novel lung-inspired 3D-printed desiccant-coated heat exchanger for high-performance humidity management in buildings”, Umamaheswar Puttur, Masoud Ahmadi, Behzad Ahmadi, Sajjad Bigham, Energy Conversion and Management, Vol. 252, 2022. PDF
J25. “Performance Analysis and Limiting Parameters of Cross-flow Membrane-based Liquid-desiccant Air Dehumidifiers”, Behnam Ahmadi, Masoud Ahmadi, Kashif Nawaz, Ayyoub M. Momen, Sajjad Bigham, International Journal of Refrigeration, Vol. 132, 2021. PDF
J23. “Energy-efficient Sorption-based Gas Clothes Dryer Systems”, Masoud Ahmadi, Kyle Gluesenkamp, Sajjad Bigham,
Energy Conversion and Management, Vol. 230, 2021. PDF
J15. “Impact of micromixing on performance of a membrane-based absorber”, R. N. Isfahani, S. Bigham, M. Mortazavi, S. Moghaddam, Energy, (2015) 1-8. PDF
J14. “Absorption characteristics of falling film LiBr (lithium bromide) solution over a finned structure”, M. Mortazavi, R. N. Isfahani, S. Bigham, S. Moghaddam, Energy, VOl 87 (2015) 270-278. PDF
J13. “Moving beyond the limits of mass transport in liquid absorbent microfilms through the implementation of surface-induced vortices”, S. Bigham, D. Yu, D. Chugh, S. Moghaddam, Energy, Vol. 65 (2014) 621-630. PDF
J12. “Direct Molecular Diffusion and Micro-mixing for Rapid Dewatering of LiBr Solution”, S. Bigham, R. N. Isfahani, S. Moghaddam, Applied Thermal Engineering, Vol. 64 (2014) Issues 1–2, 371–375. PDF
J11. “Physics of lithium bromide (LiBr) solution dewatering through vapor venting membranes”, R. N. Isfahani, A. Fazeli, S. Bigham, S. Moghaddam, International Journal of Multiphase Flow, Vol. 58 (2014) 27-38. PDF
Sample related conference presentations:
C23• Masoud Ahmadi, Behnam Ahmadi, “Role of Surface Structures in Liquid-Desiccant-Based Air Dehumidifiers”, Presentation, Paper number: SHTC2021-63988, ASME SHTC 2021, Online, Virtual. Link to presentation
C21• Behnam Ahmadi, Masoud Ahmadi, Sajjad Bigham, “Experimental Evaluation of a Membrane-Based Liquid-Desiccant Regenerator”, Presentation, Paper number: SHTC2021-64006, ASME SHTC 2021, Online, Virtual. Link to presentation
C20• Behnam Ahmadi, Masoud Ahmadi, Sajjad Bigham, “Two-Phase Multispecies CFD Modeling of a Liquid Desiccant Dehumidifier”, Presentation, Paper number: SHTC2021-63994, ASME SHTC 2021, Online, Virtual. Link to presentation
C15• Behnam Ahmadi, Masoud Ahmadi, Sajjad Bigham, “Two-Phase Multispecies Modeling of a Liquid Desiccant Dehumidifier”, Presentation, Paper number: ICNMM2020-13210, ASME ICNMM 2020, Online, Virtual.
C14• Masoud Ahmadi, Sajjad Bigham, “Thermodynamic Modeling of a Novel Gas-Driven Dryer System”, Presentation, Paper number: ICNMM2020-26434, ASME ICNMM 2020, Online, Virtual.
C4• Rasoul Nasr Isfahani, Sajjad Bigham, W. Xing, Saeed Moghaddam, “3D Surface Microstructures for Micro-mixing of Lithium Bromide (LiBr) Desiccant”, IMECE2014-40425, ASME 2014, Montreal, Canada.
C3• Sajjad Bigham, Saeed Moghaddam, “Moving Beyond the Limits of Mass Transport in Liquid Absorbent Microfilms through the Implementation of Surface-Induced Vortices”, 12th International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels, and Minichannels (ICNMM2014), Paper No.: FEDSM2014-21759.
Sample project: A novel lung-inspired 3D-printed desiccant-coated heat exchanger for high-performance humidity management in buildings.
Sample project: Microscale transport phenomena in multi-species microfilms constrained by nano-porous superhydrophobic membranes.
Research Thrust 2: High-T thermal energy exchange, transport, and storage for clean energy production
A significant portion of primary energy utilized in several key industrial applications including conventional and advanced power generation cycles, aviation, and metal/glass production is currently wasted at high temperatures. More importantly, next-generation supercritical carbon dioxide and concentrated solar power plants, future on-demand mobility and air-transport-class aircraft, and very-high-temperature reactor (VHTR) concepts are all expected to operate at temperatures exceeding 1000°C under extreme environments. A substantial improvement in thermal conversion efficiency accompanied by a simultaneous reduction in fuel consumption, system footprint, and carbon dioxide emissions can be realized if the high-temperature thermal energy can be harvested in the case of industrial waste heat recovery or exchanged in the case of future power and mobility systems. Current heat exchanger technologies, however, fail under severe operating conditions imposed by high temperatures present in several aforementioned applications.
State-of-the-art materials for high-temperature heat exchanger applications are metals and superalloys including high-grade steels and nickel-based alloys. For instance, compact metallic printed circuit heat exchangers (PCHXs) have been proposed for supercritical carbon dioxide power plants. Heat exchangers made of metals and superalloy materials, however, experience an intense degradation in critical material properties at elevated temperatures and particularly lose their strength at temperatures exceeding 800°C. Ceramic heat exchangers (CHXs), on the other hand, offer favorable high-temperature thermo-mechanical properties including superior mechanical strength and excellent corrosion, oxidation, creep, wear, and abrasion resistance, thereby making them a promising alternative solution to metallic heat exchangers.
Sample related journal publications:
J28. “Toward extreme high-temperature supercritical CO2 power cycles: leakage characterization of ceramic 3D-printed heat exchangers”, Rasoul Bayaniahangar, Ikechukwu Okoh, Joseph Cesarano, Kashif Nawaz, Nikolas Ninos, Sajjad Bigham,