Research

Role: Undergraduate Researcher 

Duration: June 2024 - Present 

Project 1: Experimental Testing of Thermal Conductivity in Sintered PTLs and Expanded Titanium Mesh Samples for Water Electrolyzers (complete)

Research Overview: The primary objective of this research project was to experimentally design a setup to test the thermal conductivity of sintered porous transport layers (PTLs) and expanded titanium (Ti) meshes ex-situ. This property has never been experimentally tested before due to several constraints such as high porosity and the complicated presence of gas or liquid that can interfere in the accurate reading of temperature gradients and thermal conductivity. Therefore, I utilized a steady state heat transfer test setup to determine thermal resistance and heat flux through a sample to calculate the thermal conductivity. Since the PTL was used to remove heat from the system, this measurement was used to support the optimization of heat transfer in a fuel cell/electrolyzer system and allowed for online modeling/simulating the PTL under various constraints to be more accurate. 

My Contributions: 

• built a standardized test method (a physical test stand with a heat sink, cooling loop, thermocouples, insulation, conductive rods) to collect thermal conductivity measurements for various conductive materials 

• physically prepared and integrated all samples (cut out and shaped various metal mesh samples)

• monitored temperature changes on DAQmi and noted any observations in temperature anomalies and how they correlate to thickness of sample

• wrote a MATLAB script that reads temperature inputs and calculates temperature distribution and heat flux density, then outputs a plot comparing thickness of the sample vs. thermal resistance, to then derive thermal conductivity from the slope of the graph 

Skills Developed:

• proficiency in writing code for data analysis in MATLAB

• application of steady-state energy balance equations and thermodynamics 

• understanding of Fourier's Law to calculate heat flux 

• scientific communication and technical presentation speaking skills 

Role: Undergraduate Researcher

Duration: April 2024 - October 2024

My Contributions & Skills Developed

• performed research on the material and mass composition of appliances (refrigerators, washers/dryers, heaters, etc.) to determine how these components (in addition to toxic chemicals, electronic parts, and alloys) can be disposed of, recovered, and recycled to reduce the amount of landfill waste generation

• conducted data analysis to connect variable such as the change in size vs. age and age vs. material composition of appliances over time

• collaborated with PhD students to create an LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) on the end of life materials recycling for major household appliances in California to quantify energy use and GHG emissions from the disposal of these appliances

• created comparison tables and trade studied that modeled the flows of the aforementioned materials

Worked under the guidance of a PhD student assisting in various steps of their project of testing engineered nanoparticles (created using glove box pictured above on the left) in prepared field samples (test tubes pictured on the right). I also practiced using various instrumentation including centrifuge, zeta-potential analyzer, sonicator, vacuum filtration, and ICP-MS (all not featured) to prepare soil samples (from riverbanks and UCI greenhouse) for tests to see how the nanoparticles immobilize the existing heavy metals. Moreover, I performed technical documentation (pictured on right) of research methods, PFAS characteristics, remediation technologies, and procedures that can be implemented in our lab. 

Skills

• technical documentation

• table and chart-making

• developing procedures and executing them

• cross comparison of research methods from other universities

Worked under the guidance of a recent graduate in various technical tasks including washing ocean sediment samples (from avrious depths and various oceans), classifying the samples into species (bulloides, pforams, and benthic) using an electron microscope and precise brush tools, heat treating samples, and splitting them into sample size test tubes and slides for future tests (primarily carbon dating) by the professor. This was my first experience in a research lab where I learned how to navigate the use of various instruments (microscope, sediment sifters, oven, splitting machine, etc.) and record my observations, procedures, predictions, and data collection in a lab notebook.