Multiscale Thermal Transport in Energy Systems (eBook)

Yuwen Zhang is a James C. Dowell Professor and the Chairman of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at University of Missouri. He was a recipient of the Young Investigator Award from the Office of Naval Research in 2002. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and an associate fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Zhang received the 2010 MU Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Activity. His research has resulted in more than 250 journal papers and more than 150 conference papers, and he has published five books. Zhang's research has been funded by the ONR, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training & Instrumentation and the MU Research Board. He is serving as co-editor in chief for two international journals, and he is an editorial board member for 10 international journals. During energy utilization and conversion, thermal energy is either an intermediate product or a byproduct; that is, thermal transport plays a critical role on efficiency, reliability, and safety of the energy systems. Recent development in nanotechnologies enabled significant improvement of the thermal energy storage performance, fuel cell, battery and thermoelectric devices. To meet the ever increasing challenges posed by energy systems, innovative and transformative measures must be taken to significantly improve the performance of these devices. Such measures will not be possible without a thorough understanding of thermal transport at molecular, nano-and microscale levels because physical phenomena occurring at the molecular, nano- and microscale will have profound effects on the performance at the system level. Understanding of multiscale thermal transport in the energy system is essential to improve their performance.Target Audience:Engineers, scientists, graduate students, and professors working in the area of mechanical, chemical and electrical engineering.