About us
Micro-scale Heat Transfer Laboratory, initiated and led by Prof. S. M. You, has been dedicated to both fundamental and applied research in enhancing two-phase heat and mass transfer, which are crucial physical processes in microelectronics cooling, HVAC, distillation and in many other applications.Micro-scale Heat Transfer Lab at UTA developed novel microporous coatings to be applied on heated surfaces, which multiplied nucleate boiling heat transfer performance dramatically, up to five times, and doubled the critical heat flux. The family of microporous coatings was expanded to Thermally Conductive Microporous Coating (TCMC) and High-Temperature TCMC options to perform in a wider range of heat and mass transfer scenarios. Recently, Micro-scale Heat Transfer Lab demonstrated the potential of nanofluids for high power dissipation in pool boiling. With very low concentration of nanoparticles in pure water, the Micro-scale Heat Transfer Laboratory showed that the critical heat flux could be doubled relative to that of pure water alone. Micro-scale Heat Transfer Laboratory subsequently confirmed that the critical heat flux was enhanced because of a nanoparticle coating that was formed on the heated surface during boiling. Therefore, the Micro-scale Heat Transfer Laboratory is implementing nanocoatings as another form of surface modification for enhancement of heat and mass transfer. Micro-scale Heat Transfer Laboratory continues to develop and apply surface modification options at all scales and continues to investigate the physical mechanisms of heat and mass transfer in these surfaces.
Through these innovations and understandings, the Micro-scale Heat Transfer Laboratory seeks ultimately not only to benefit systems in high-technology, but also to increase the efficiency of processes and components involved in meeting basic human needs, such as in clean water production, and to thereby make such processes more viable for operation on renewable energy sources.