ASME 2021 IMECE
Congratulations to our TESLab students and collaborators for presenting their research findings at the ASME 2021 IMECE Conference!
Paper 1: A modeling tool to analyze the performance of industrial cooling towers, Lead student: Joshua Hooper (MSc Student)
Paper 2: Electric redesign of wastewater evaporators using porous carbon material to minimize heat loss during evaporation, Lead students: Abdel Zaro (BSc Student) and Divya Jaladi (PhD Student)
Paper 3: Near-field resonant capacitive heating of water, Lead student: Divya Jaladi (PhD Student)
Updated - November 2021
Impact on Teaching and Research Dr. Ethan Languri, associate director of the Tennessee Tech IAC, supervised several lead students on the winning project, titled “Evaporative Cooling Tower Efficiency Enhancement.” The first student was Ms. Pallavi Patil, who completed her Master of Science in mechanical engineering based on this IAC funded research. She presented two conference papers and published her thesis titled “Dynamic Modeling and Experimental Analysis of an Induced Draft Cooling Tower” in 2017. The second student was Mr. Travis Howard who completed his degree in 2018 by publishing his thesis titled “Cooling Tower Optimization and Analysis Tool.” His work was continued by Mr. Kade Howard, who performed field data collection and code development on the cooling tower project as a project for his master’s degree in 2020. The final graduate student was Mr. Joshua Hooper, who finalized the cooling tower modelling program (the “Cool Tool”) utilizing the programming language Visual Basic, part of Excel. The “Cool Tool” has been presented to several experts in the field and verified in a number of cases before being presented to IAC team in late 2020.
Tennessee Tech University Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) students and faculty continue to advance their “Cool Tool” Cooling Tower software, which received a Junior Faculty Research Award in 2015. This macro-enabled Excel based tool aims to help facilities enhance the efficiency of their cooling towers through a series of simulations involving a range of variables.
Why Cooling Towers are Important in Industry - The purpose of a cooling tower is to cool down water that has been heated up due to industrial processes or air conditioning condensers. A cooling tower operates as a heat exchanger that allows water and air to come in to contact with each another to lower the temperature of the hot water (see Figure 1). This is achieved mostly through evaporation as the water circulates through the tower. Cooling towers allow industry to reuse cooling water supplied to their process for heat rejection efficiently and inexpensively.
“Cool Tool” is a macro-enabled Excel file that analyzes an annual base case compared to a revised case of a cooling tower operation. The tool simulates 8,760 hourly calculations for fan power for various fan controls, water consumption, and pumping energy consumption and demand based on the user’s location and its corresponding Typical Meteorological Year 3 (TMY3) weather data. “Cool Tool” simulates up to five cooling tower cells as one tower utilizing one pump or parallel pumping. Through a partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), researchers incorporated ORNL’s calculation algorithm in analyzing various fan control technologies for cooling towers. The program provides a summary of the projected annual savings for fan power, water, and pumping results based on the user’s inputs for their base and revised cases. “Cool Tool” can help plants analyze ways to save energy and money at their facility through cooling tower modifications, whether they use it for process cooling or Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) applications. Users will be able to input their entering/leaving water temperatures based on a monthly operating schedule or a wet-bulb temperature schedule. For the simulation, plants will be able to tell the program whether or not their base and revised case has a variable-frequency drive (VFD) on the fan/pump, drift eliminators, changes in cycles of concentration, reduced water flow rate, etc.
ASHRAE Student Organization, Tennessee Tech University, Fall 2021
ASHRAE Student Organization - Tennessee Tech University
President: Jacob Burian
Vice-President: Spencer Jones
Secretary: John Rampy
Treasurer: Laurie Messerschmidt
Outreach Coordinator: Andrew Henson
Faculty Advisor: Ethan Languri
Updated - September 2021
TESLab Group Picture - Spring 2021!
Vinit Prabhu presented TESLab research on thermal energy storage at the 5-6th ASTFE conference & Dr. Languri chairs several sessions of this virtual conference. May 28, 2021
Abdel Zaro joined TESLab as a National Science Foundation Research for Undergraduate, NSF REU, student for summer 2021 to research in the area of industrial wastewater management and evaporation. Welcome Abdel!
Joshua Hooper successfully defended his Master of Science Thesis in Mechanical Engineering entitled "a modeling tool to analyze the performance of industrial cooling towers" on April 5, 2021. Congratulations Josh!
Dr. Languri will give a talk on energy management and use of 50001 Ready tool at the Building Science Conference and Expo, sponsored by TVA EnergyRight, August 16-18, 2021 in Knoxville, TN.
November 2019 - Divya Jaladi & Vinit Prabhu (both Ph.D. students) presented their research findings at ASME IMECE 2019 conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Divya and Vinit (from left to right) gave talks on "Sustainable Waste Water Treatment Using Solar Energy by Heat Localization Through Porous Media" and "Analysis of Flow Through Packed Bed of Spheres Containing Phase Change Materials for Thermal Energy Storage Applications", at the ASME IMECE 2019, respectively. Link to the Program
October 2019 - Dr. Languri gave two invited talks to local industries at the City of Maryville, TN on Industrial Assessment and 50001 Ready!
April 2019 - Dr. Languri will give an invited talk on "Applications of Nanodiamond Colloids in Industry" at the 2019 Nano Boston Conference.
March 2019 - Dr. Languri will talk about ISO 50001 for Commercial Applications at the Midwest Residential Energy Conference.
December 2018 - Dr. Languri has received the ASME Distinguished Researcher award!
Dr. Languri has received the Distinguished Researcher award by the TTU Student Chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The award was presented at the annual ME department holiday luncheon in December 2018.
November 2018 - LATS presents two papers at the ASME IMECE 2018!
Farzin Mashali (MSc Student) and Dr. Languri presented two papers at the ASME IMECE 2018 in Pittsburgh, PA, during November 9-15, 2018.
October 2018 - Divya Jaladi won the Academic Research Colloquium Award!
Divya Jaladi, our PhD student, won the Academic Research Colloquium Award! Congratulations! She attended the event at University of Dayton in Ohio and presented her research findings in October 2018.
September 2018 - Dr. Languri presented at the Micro and Nano Flows 2018 conference in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dr. Languri and Farzin Mashali (M.Sc. student) attended the Micro and Nano Flows 2018 conference in Atlanta, Georgia and presented their research findings on functionalized nanodiamond fluids in September 2018.
July 2018 - Tennessee Tech's IAC was honored the "Center of the Year" award!
Tennessee Tech's IAC was honored at the IAC Directors Conference in Chicago with the 2018 "Center of the Year" award! Upper Cumberland Business Journal: Tech’s Industrial Assessment Center earns Center of Excellence award
April 2018 - Farzin Mashali won the Graduate Award of the TTU Research and Creative Inquiry!
Congratulations to Farzin Mashali as the winner of the Graduate Award for the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the 2018 Research and Creative Inquiry Day in April 2018. Farzin Mashali (middle) receives the Research Day award from Dean Hoy!
April 2018 - Divya Jaladi was selected as the Entrepreneurial Lead of the NSF-funded water management project.
Congratulations to Divya Jaladi for acting as Entrepreneurial Lead of the National Science Foundation (NSF) I-Corps funded project on water management.
March 2018 - Dr. Languri's Research Team Picture.
LATS members pose for a team photo on campus of TTU on March 21, 2018. From left: Farzin Mashali, Dr. Languri, Roya Eatebarian, Aaron Bain, Téa Phillips, Robert Craven, Divya Jaladi, Fahad AlKhaldi, and Vinit Prabhu.
TESLab members pose for a team photo in front of Brown Hall on campus of Tennessee Tech on March 21, 2018.
March 2018 - LATS presents technical papers at the 3rd Thermal and Fluids Engineering Conference!
Divya Jaladi, Farzin Mashali (the above photo) and Dr. Languri present their papers at the 3rd conference by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida during March 4-7, 2018.
February 2018 - Dr. Languri gives a talk on ISO 50001 to Tennessee Manufacturers in Chattanooga, TN!
Dr. Languri and Michelle Davis gave a talk to the Tennessee Manufacturers at Chattanooga, TN on ISO 50001 and 50001 Ready, the energy management standards on February 16, 2018!
January 2018 - Dr. Languri gives a talk on ISO 50001 to Middle TN chapter of AEE!
Dr. Languri and Michelle Davis gave a talk at the Middle Tennessee chapter of Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) at Nashville TN on ISO 50001 and 50001 Ready, the energy management standards on January 26, 2018!
October 2017 - Dr. Languri assisted in coordinating the "Industrial Cybersecurity" workshop for small and medium size manufacturing companies in Tennessee.
Dr. Languri was engaged in coordinating the "Industrial Cybersecurity" workshop for small and medium size manufacturing companies sponsored by TTU Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) and Cybersecurity Education, Research and Outreach Center (CEROC) on October 13, 2017.
April 2017 - Dr. Languri gives a talk on "Future of Energy" at the ASME E-Fest East!
Dr. Languri will give a talk about the Future of Energy at the 2017-FEST ASME Lightning Talks session.
March 2017 - Dr. Languri's Research Team Picture!
Research Team Picture at Cheddar's Kitchen restaurant in Cookeville, TN on March 31, 2017.
February 2017 - Dr. Languri wins the Kinslow Engineering Research Award!
Dr. Languri receives the Kinslow Engineering Research Award from Dean Joseph Rencis at the College of Engineering ceremony for Engineering Week in Cookeville, TN, in February 2017. This award was named in honor of Professor Emeritus Ray Kinslow.
April 2017 - LATS presents at the American Society of Thermal and Fluids Engineers (ASTFE) Conference!
Pallavi Patil's (M.Sc. student) and Dr. Languri present on the "Role of variable frequency drives on cooling tower's energy saving" at the 2017 ASTFE conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
January 2017 - Dr. Languri presents a research poster at the Micro & Nanoscale Phase Change Heat Transfer Gordon Research Conference!
Our Poster on "Microencapsulated phase change material slurry flow behaviour through cutved pipe" co-authred by Professor Jorge Alvarado (Texas A&M University) was presented and discussed at this GRC during January 8-13, 2017 in Galveston, Texas!
July 2016 - Dr. Languri's Research Team Picture!
LATS members pose in front of the Brown Hall on campus of Tennessee Tech in Summer 2016.
June 2016 - LATS presents three technical papers at the ASME Power and Energy Conference in Charlotte, NC.
Dr. Languri presents three papers at the ASME Power and Energy conference in Charlotte, NC during June 26-30, 2016.
November 2015 - Dr. Languri presents at the ASME 2015 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition!
Dr. Languri attend the ASME IMECE 2015 and presents papers from LATS!
August 2015 - Dr. Languri attends the first ASTFE conference!
Dr. Languri and Vinit Prabhu attend the first American Society of Thermo-Fluids Engineers (ASTFE) conference in New York, NY, USA during August 9-12, 2015! In addition, Dr. Languri chaired few sessions and assisted the ASTFE as the topic organizer!
January 2015 - Gordon Research Conference
Dr. Languri attended the Micro and Nano Phase Change Heat Transfer Gordon Research Conference in Galveston, TX in January 2015!
The LATS was founded in 2014 by Dr. Languri!
Dr. Languri joined Tennessee Tech University and found the Laboratory for Advanced Thermal Systems (LATS) in August 2014.