Prof. Jungho Lee,
Ajou University, South Korea

Applications of heat transfer and thermodynamics are numerous, but were used early on for thermal management, being for human comfort or making sure industrial processes would operate at their design temperatures. The continuing transformation of our society towards electrified and digital technologies is allowed partly by the cost-effective, environmentally friendly and ever-improving thermal management solutions.

From ensuring our smartphones are not overheating in our hands, new electric vehicles can draw power from their batteries and recharge those batteries rapidly without reaching dangerous temperatures, to keeping the ever-increasing number of data farms cool and making sure the electronics on space probes survives to extremely cold or extremely warm environment, thermal management is now central to our technologies driven by heat generating electronics. Heat transfer is fundamental to these thermal management problems. However, these thermal management problems also require complete engineering solutions, taken into account, for example, system integration (where can the thermal management solution be added in an 8-mm thin tablet?), acoustic issues (how loud can a fan be, or should be, in a laptop or desktop computer?), energetic (can data farm be cooled using ambient “free” energy?), and as always, cost (typical thermal management solutions in laptop today only cost a few dollars to produce).

Moore’s law, the doubling of transistors per chip roughly every two years, or in heat transfer terms, the ever-increasing density of heat generating devices in electronics systems will require more efficient and/or novel thermal management strategies moving forward. More research is being done high heat flux devices thermal management, for example looking at immersed cooling with dielectric liquids, engineering of higher thermal conductivity materials, non-traditional shape of heat sinks through additive manufacturing, or optimization of thermal management system based on duty cycle usage.

This panel, composed of active researchers in the field of thermal management, will provide an opportunity to get an overview of current research work done in the field, and engage in a discussion, as a community, on various questions/problematics related to thermal management.

Dr. Tiejun “TJ” Zhang,
Khalifa University of Science and Technology, United Arab Emirates

Solar energy is one of the fastest growing sustainable energy generation technologies worldwide. Solar energy can produce electricity directly using photovoltaics or be converted into thermal energy. In either case, heat transfer plays a critical role to system performance and life. Solar thermal energy encompasses processes from solar hot water heating all the way through high temperature reactions for solar fuel production.
Because of the wide-ranging operational temperatures and complex processes in solar energy, most areas of heat transfer research have impact on solar energy efficiency. Radiation heat transfer is critical for high temperature solar thermal energy, and the production of receivers for thermochemical reactors. Convection and conduction heat transfer is critical in energy storage applications, heat exchangers, and solar receiver design. In addition, solar energy is highly transient in nature and is now seeing many applications with advanced materials, porous media, and chemical reactions resulting in a need for complex heat transfer understanding.
This panel includes the leading researchers across many topics in solar energy, who will gather to discuss the technical challenges in next generation solar thermal energy and how heat transfer can be used to help solve some of these problems. The discussions will focus on next generation materials, enhancing thermal transport, understanding high temperature properties of materials, and cutting-edge solar energy systems.

Prof. Jaap Hoffmann
Stellenbosch University, South Africa

Green Transformation (GX) is defined as the direction in the further development of the world for establishment of Carbon Neutrality (CN). GX involves the development of green technologies and the creation of legal regulations for saving energy and reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases.

GX based on heat transfer technologies could be contribute on energy transfer, storage and transformation from primary energy of zero-carbon emission energy to consumption sides for establishment of CN and Climate Change Mitigation. This session aims to share the possibility of GX technologies including zero-carbon energies, energy transfer, electric and thermal energy storage, energy carrier and CO2 capture and managements. Although we might have different standpoints on GX each other, it is nice if we could discuss our technological potentials for GX for CN and climate change mitigation.

Dr. Srikanth Rangarajan
Binghamton University, USA

There is a broad consensus that electrification holds the key to realizing a decarbonizing society. Even so, the increasing power densification in battery systems (high C-Rates) necessitates the demonstration and scale-up of innovative and robust thermal management technologies. Most electric vehicle operating environments are transient, thereby demanding the need to have a paradigm shift in our approach to thermal management. This panel discussion will focus on the recent trends and future challenges in battery thermal management. More specifically, the discussion aims at highlighting the latest developments in battery thermal management, including new materials, form factors, advances in modeling, measurements and simulation, machine learning-assisted optimization and constraints, In situ parameter estimation techniques, and emerging regulatory and safety issues. The panel will also highlight the critical challenges in battery thermal management, including managing heat generation, distribution, and dissipation for optimal battery performance, ranging from cell level to system level.

Each panelist will present a succinct summary of their research findings to date. Furthermore, the panelists will discuss the potential of emerging technologies, such as solid-state batteries, and their impact on battery thermal management. In addition to gathering insights from individual panelists, the discussion seeks to collaboratively generate ideas for future road mapping and advancing sustainable battery thermal management technologies. As the demand for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage systems grows, ensuring the safety of these systems is of utmost importance. Therefore, panelists will also provide insights into the latest regulatory developments and safety standards in thermal management perspectives that are being developed to ensure the safe and reliable operation of battery systems. The panel will allocate generous time for audience participation and discussion.

Finally, the discussion will be concluded by the session chair highlighting the key points of the discussion and action items for developing sustainable battery thermal management systems.