Bartlomiej Nalepa, MSc, and Robert Mulka, MSc, from the Division of Refrigeration and Heat Pumps, have been selected as laureates of the faculty "Wspieramy Młodych Naukowców 2024" competition. The scientific project "Analysis of heat transfer and temperature hysteresis phenomenon during the flow of microencapsulated phase-change material" took 2nd place ex aqueo  on the ranking list of 13 applications participating in this year's edition of the competition.

The project focuses on understanding and describing the mechanisms accompanying transfer processes in modern working fluids, called microencapsulated phase change material suspensions (MPCMS). The research goal is to address existing challenges associated with the widespread use of MPCMS and to identify their impact on heat transfer and flow phenomena.

Global economic changes, technological development, energy crisis and climate change threats provide the background for the search for new green economy solutions. The project proposes to focus on increasing energy efficiency by using phase-change liquids for energy storage. The planned research focuses on understanding the behavior of MPCM suspensions during heating and cooling cycles, as well as identifying differences in crystallization and melting processes. The project aims to improve knowledge of these processes, which could be key to introducing MPCMS into heat transfer systems.

Research hypotheses include issues of heat transfer and fluid mechanics with consideration of the melting and solidification phases of PCM materials in flow. The research also focuses on secondary motions in fluids enriched with micro- and nanoparticles, which can affect transfer phenomena. The experiments will be performed for a wide range of thermophysical properties of the medium, controlled by its concentration and temperature, in order to identify the optimal MPCMS parameters that will achieve a balance between heat storage capacity and improved heat transfer.

The results of this research are expected to contribute to the development of new technologies related to the use of phase-change fluids for efficient heat transfer, which could have a significant impact on the development of sustainable energy solutions.

Congratulations!