Research Student

Academic Division: Energy, Fluids and Turbomachinery

Research group: Turbomachinery

Email: pp468@cam.ac.uk

Research interests

Current project: System-level aerothermal optimisation of heat pumps

Summary: Taking the EU as an example, heating and cooling in buildings and industry is estimated to account for half our total energy consumption, of which approximately 75% is still derived from fossil fuels (https://energy.ec.europa.eu/topics/energyefficiency/heating-and-cooling_en). As such, heat pumps are a key part of moving to a carbon neutral future. This project is focused on the system-level aerothermal optimisation of heat pumps. Traditionally, each component is considered or optimised separately. Moving to system-level optimisation offers significant potential for performance improvements by considering the turbomachinery, heat exchangers and thermodynamic cycle in a holistic design system. The work will exploit the Whittle Laboratory’s long history of aerothermal modelling and exploit machine learning accelerated design techniques. The design system will span low-order model through to high-fidelity CFD. We’ll also include experimental measurements within the loop to help deal with the challenges of the typically transitional flow regime.

Department role and responsibilities