Thermal Management Research Laborator

Collaborating with industry and government agencies to
engineer innovative thermal management solutions

High-Speed Rotating Heat Pipe Test Facility
The facility can operate at speeds up to 5000 rpm and heat input of 1 kW. The heat input is through an induction coil heating unit, while a high-speed thermal imaging system is used to measure the surface temperature of the rotating heat pipe.

	Air-Oil Two Phase Flow Test Facility The facility is used to investigate the air-oil flow characteristics through singularities. The instrumentation includes capacitance sensors for measuring the void fraction distribution downstream of the singularity. Hot film anemometry is used to measure the local void fraction and liquid velocity.
	EHD Enhancement of Flow Boiling and Condensation The facility is a closed loop system using refrigeration as the working fluid. The effect of electrohydrodynamic forces on the in-tube condensation is currently being investigated.
	EHD Enhanced Capillary Pumped Loop The loop is used to investigate the thermal performance of a Capillary Pumped Loop. An in-line calorimetric flow meter and ultrasonic transducers are used to measure the flow rate and liquid-vapor interfaces in the loop.
	Air-Water Two-Phase Flow Loop The main test section is 200 mm in diameter and over 9.5 m in length. Dual sensor optical probe and hot-film anemometer measurements are used to investigate the flow structure of air-water two-phase flows. The effect of the liquid turbulence on the flow structure is currently being investigated.
	Diesel Engine Exhaust Test Loop The loop is used to investigate advanced pollution control devices for diesel engines. The use of exhaust gas recirculation to reduce NOx is currently being studied.
	Wicked Heat Pipe Test Facility The test facility is currently being used to investigate the effect of fluid loading and wick structure on the performance of wicked heat pipes. Band heaters around a copper annulus is used to heat the evaporator end of the heat pipe, while a water jacket is used at the condenser end.
	Two Phase Flow and Heat Transfer in Porous Media The facility is curently being used to study the confined boiling in a microregion over a porous media. This work is being performed to better understand the transport phenomena in the evaporator of a capillary pumped loop.
	Natural Convection in an Enclosure The objective of this project is to determine the effect of stable stratification on the natural convection in an enclosure. Experiments are being performed in a rectangular cavity with different aspect ratios.