NYCU METitle: Serendipity in Microbiology
Date: 2021/2/25 (Thursday) 4:10 pm – 5:20pm
Location: Engineering 5 Building B1 International Conference Hall
Abstract: While looking for a solution to the mass mortality of clams, I came across microorganisms unexpectedly. We have an enormous number of friends, why not ask them to solve more problems? Hard clam is a bivalve mollusk living in sea water. Clam farming not only produces food with nutrients, but also contributes to carbon sequestration. Symbiosis is the key to building a healthy, high-productivity culturing system. It is expected that the Internet of Things (IoT) will help us the symbiotic relationships. We have found three symbiotic relationships in the clam farm. The first is the symbiosis between photosynthetic bacteria and soil bacteria, which can reduce the accumulation of organic matter at the bottom of the pool. The second is the symbiosis between microalgae and calcifying animals, which can promote biological calcification. The third is the symbiosis between algae and probiotics, which can increase solar energy absorption and productivity. These symbiotic relationships were discovered unexpectedly, and I like to share the interesting discovery process today. Through data analytics on dissolved oxygen, pH, water color, and water clarity, we hope to find some patterns for the IoT system to determine whether the symbiosis is in effect
Seminar Speaker (2): Muneeshwaran M, Ph.D. Candidate
Title: Effect of Superhydrophobicity on Condensate Retention in Air-Cooling Heat Exchangers Operating under Wet Conditions
Date：2021/2/25 (Thursday) 3:40 pm – 4:10pm
Location： Engineering 5 Building B1 International Conference Hall
Abstract: The condensate retention and bridging on the airside of the heat exchanger, such as the evaporator of the heat pump and air-conditioning system, can adversely increase the pressure drop penalty and energy consumption of the heat transfer systems. The objective of this study is to minimize the airside pressure drop of the rectangular plain heat exchangers using superhydrophobic coating which promotes continuous condensate shedding through coalescence induced droplet jumping. The experiments are carried out for different inlet air temperatures (23 ◦C and 27 ◦C), relative humidities (50%, 70%, and 90%) and the fin base temperature is fixed to be 7 ◦C. While the frontal air velocity is varied from 0.5 to 2.5 m/s, and the fin spacing ranges from 1 mm to 4 mm. The results showed that the heat transfer rate between untreated and superhydrophobic heat exchanger is almost similar; whereas a 30–55% increase in heat transfer is observed when inlet air temperature increased from 23 ◦C to 27 ◦C and an increase of 20–50% and 60–100% in heat transfer is noticed when relative humidity increased from 50% to 70% and 90%, respectively. Due to the effective condensate removal and the early arrival of steady state, the airside pressure drop for the superhydrophobic heat exchanger is almost two times lower than that of the untreated one. The reduction in airside pressure drop led to appreciable energy saving of the heat transfer system, and it is found that 30–60% saving can be achieved especially at higher relative humidities (70% or 90%) and frontal air velocities (more than 1 m/s).