Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy — Enhancement of Heat and Mass Transfer in Mechanically Constrained Ultra Thin Films.

We are teamed with Oregon State University, the technical managers, to resolve key technical issues that are limiting the deployment of efficient and extremely compact microtechnology based heat actuated absorption heat pumps and gas absorbers. Success will reduce the main barriers to the deployment of this technology and thus significantly reduce energy consumption in the building, automotive and industrial sectors. In addition it will improve our technology for sequestering carbon dioxide.

Recent developments at our laboratory and at Oregon State University suggest that the performance of absorption and desorption systems can be significantly enhanced by the use of an ultra-thin gas/liquid interface. This technology can be used to form thin liquid films with a thickness of less than 100 microns while still allowing gas/liquid contact.

This research is focused on resolving and removing technical barriers to commercialization.