THE LABORATORY FOR ADVANCED THERMAL AND FLUID SYSTEMS
The LATFS is an expert laboratory devoted to experimental and computational research in the fundamentals and applications of heat transfer and fluid mechanics and in the design of thermal and fluid systems.
Our research is motivated by systems that arise in the cooling of advanced high-power electronics in data centers and high-performance computing systems, thermal management of propulsion systems such as gas turbines and electronic vehicles, and the design and operation of renewable and sustainable energy systems such as solar thermal and photovoltaic systems. The LATFS is the centerpiece of the Villanova site of the National Science Foundation Center for Energy Smart Electronic Systems (ES2), an Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) with partners Binghamton University, the lead university, and The University of Texas-Arlington, a site university. .
Current Research Areas:
- experiments, modeling, and simulation of single phase flow and heat transfer of water-based mixtures in advanced cold plates for direct to chip-cooling
- two-phase flow boiling and heat transfer in small-scale internal flows such as micro/mini-channels and other advanced fin structures used in pumped two-phase direct to chip cooling
- pumped-two phase cooling systems for high power electronics
- hybrid air-liquid cooling systems for data center cooling
- heat transfer in single phase impinging and wall jets, in particular with synthetic jets
- droplet and spray impingement for high flux heat transfer.
The laboratory houses state-of-the-art research facilities including flow loops for single and two-phase flow and heat transfer in micro- and mini-channel scales, a variety of wind tunnels, specialty rigs for droplet and jet impingement studies, and a variety of facilities for characterization of material properties and interfacial resistance, calibration of flow, temperature, and pressure sensors, and advanced flow diagnostics such as ultra high-speed digital photography.
Updated 7/19/2022
DIRECTOR
Alfonso Ortega, Ph.D.
James R. Birle Professor of Energy Technology in the Department of Mechanical Engineering