Congratulations to Andrey Gunawan and Nicholas Fette who received the best student research paper award at this year’s American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Power & Energy Conference. The two mechanical engineering doctoral students are mentored by Patrick Phelan, a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor.
The winning paper detailed their research into the feasibility of incorporating a system into automobiles that would convert thermal energy (waste heat) from exhaust systems into electricity to help power the vehicles.
In addition to receiving $2,500 and travel reimbursement for the cost of attending the conference, the paper (“Thermogalvanic Waste Heat Recovery System in Automobiles”) will be published online in Energy-Tech magazine.
Gunawan and Fette designed experiments to test the effectiveness of the system and compared its performance to prototypes of similar technology being tested by major automakers such as General Motors, Honda, BMW and Ford.
