PhD Studentship: Design and Optimisation of Hybrid Cooling Technologies

Global cooling demand is expected to rise with climate change-induced global temperature increase and population growth in the world’s hot regions [1]. The vapour compression cycle (VCC) has been the main technology to fulfil the demand for space cooling and refrigeration due to its high efficiency, affordability, scalability, and high safety features. Nevertheless, this technology is still dependent on refrigerants with high Global Warming Potentials (GWP). Alternative cooling technologies are available; however, most of them are still lagging behind VCC [2]. Hybridisation of cooling technologies is considered an option to increase the deployment of these alternative technologies.

This project will evaluate the performance of hybrid cooling systems through a combination of computational and experimental work. The considered alternative cooling technologies for hybridisation include caloric and passive cooling. The project aims to improve the technological performance on the components and systems level. The successful candidate will be given the opportunity to allocate and balance the experimental and computational work depending on their interests.

At Birmingham, the candidate will join the School of Chemical Engineering which hosts several world-leading cooling-related research centres, including the Centre for Sustainable Cooling and Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage. The candidate will develop a wide range of skills in thermal energy experiments, simulation, optimisation, data analysis, and project management which are applicable to a wide range of future career options.

For informal enquiries about the project, please contact Dr. Renaldi Renaldi at r.renaldi@bham.ac.uk.

Please include a CV and academic transcripts in your email.

Entry Requirements

A good bachelor’s degree (first or upper second-class honours degree) or an MSc degree in Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Material Science, Physics, Energy or other relevant disciplines. Candidates with a strong interest in thermal energy engineering and prior experience in combining computational and experimental work would be welcomed.

Funding notes

This project is funded by the University of Birmingham and is only open to UK/Home students. For more information on postgraduate research at the University of Birmingham please visit: www.birmingham.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research.

References

1. International Energy Agency (2018). The Future of Cooling: Opportunities for energy efficient air conditioning. International Energy Agency. www.iea.org/reports/the-future-of-cooling
2. Renaldi, R., Miranda, N. D., Khosla, R., & McCulloch, M. D. (2021). Patent landscape of not-in-kind active cooling technologies between 1998 and 2017. Journal of Cleaner Production, 296, 126507.

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