Abstract:
Supercritical carbon dioxide has attracted a lot of recent attention as a working fluid in refrigeration and power cycles, and for management of high thermal fluxes due to its favorable thermophysical properties and low environmental impact. One application is the use of sCO2 in concentrated solar thermal energy systems to transfer energy from the solar receiver to the thermal energy storage and power cycle systems. Heat transfer components in these systems must be highly efficient, low cost, and reliable while subjected to high temperatures, high pressures, and frequent thermal cycling. In the first part of this seminar, I will present a recent research and development effort on a high heat flux, high temperature (>720°C), high pressure (~250 bar) concentrated solar receiver using supercritical carbon dioxide as the working fluid. This effort required the synthesis of expertise in thermal science, manufacturing, and materials. This applied work provided the motivation for a fundamental experimental and computational investigation of supercritical carbon dioxide thermal hydraulics in the vicinity of the critical point, presented in the second part of the seminar.
Biography:
Brian Fronk is an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at Oregon State University. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and his B.S. in mechanical engineering from the Pennsylvania State University. His research interests include solar thermal power generation and chemical processing, building energy systems, the application of advanced manufacturing in novel heat and mass transfer devices, and the experimental investigation of multiphase and supercritical heat transfer. He has held a prior position at Carrier Corp., where he worked in the areas of carbon dioxide compression and transport refrigeration. He is the recipient of the 2017 ASHRAE New Investigator Award, the 2017 Oregon State University International Service Award, and is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Oregon.
Host: Nenad Miljkovic
