Title：Developing the Electro-caloric Cooling Devices 

Speaker：Shichune Yao, Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Carnegie Mellon University

Time： 10：00 to 12：00, Thursday, May 25, 2017

Place：F203, School of Mechanical Engineering

Host：Zhao Changying

Abstract: 
Electro-caloric (EC) material has an interesting behavior: when electric field is applied its temperature increases, when the electric field is removed its temperature drops back.  The breakthrough of its material development in the last decade leads to the interests of exploring the new types of cooling devices.  We have looked into two types of mini-devices.  Using oscillatory flow across thin EC films in MEMS systems, it could provide cooling along the substrate.  On the other hand, the EC film sandwiched by thermal-electric films can be operated to induce the heat pumping across the substrate over a larger range of temperature.  In the future, the EC cooling devices could promise interesting alternatives to the conventional refrigeration cycles, especially for miniature devices.  

Biographic Sketch: 
Professor Yao received his Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley in 1974. He worked at Argonne National Lab for 3 years and joined Carnegie Mellon University in 1977.  He also served as the Pao YuKang Chaired professor at the ZheJiang University in China since 2010. Prof. Yao has conducted research of multi-phase systems over 30 years.  He performed research on film boiling, boiling in narrow gaps, spray cooling and combustion, and cooling of electronics. Recently he has focused on MEMS micro thermal fluids for electronics cooling and micro fuel cell applications.  

Dr. Yao is a FELLOW of the ASME and served as the chairman of Fire and Combustion Committee and the Long Range Planning Committee previously.  He has organized various national and international conferences. He has also served twice as the interim Head at the Mechanical Engineering Dept. of CMU.