Pietro Asinari: Management

Projects

Project leader of "THERMALSKIN: Revolutionary surface coatings by carbon nanotubes for high heat transfer efficiency " for the period 2008 - 2011. In this project, we introduce a breakthrough in the heat transfer mechanism between a solid wall and a fluid, by means of nanotechnology applied to macroscopic surfaces. Towards this purpose, we introduce the concept of thermal nano-fin, with an entirely different meaning with respect to standard terminology. By nano-fins we mean slender nano-structures, sparse enough not to interfere with the thermal boundary layer, but sufficiently rigid and conductive to allow direct energy transfer between the wall and the bulk fluid, thus acting as thermal bridges. On the other hand, the existing nano-structures are typically so dense to induce fluid stagnation, and then shift the boundary layer upward, with a modest increase in performance, despite a significant increase in heat transfer surface area (and additional weight). In contrast, our notion of nano-fin produces a short circuit between opposite sides of the thermal boundary layer. Partners: Carbon Group; NanotechTO (INRIM); NANOfacility (INRIM). MSM-LAB project funding: 511,520.00 €, funded by "FIRB - Futuro in Ricerca" program.

Project leader of "EnerGRID: design and development of a grid infrastructure for high performance computing in modeling energy networks based on widespread sources of heat and power generation" for the period 2008 - 2011. The proposed project aims (1) to improve the equipment and software of the existing grid computing facility already developed in "Politecnico di Torino" in order to achieve higher peak performance and to simplify the simulation process management, and (2) to apply the improved facility in the simulation of energy networks based on widespread sources of heat and power generation. Industrial partner: Altair Engineering s.r.l. MSM-LAB project funding: 137,658.17 €, funded by the Piedmont Regional Government.

Team leader of "ThermoNANO: Low-Temperature Heat Exchangers based on Thermally Conductive Polymer Nanocomposites" for the period 2009 - 2012. The present project aims at developing nanofilled-polymer-based heat exchangers enabling effective heat conductivity, exceeding at least 10 times that of pure polymers and in any case exceeding 5 W/mK, due to the percolation network of carbon (graphite, carbon nanotubes, ...) or metal fillers with specific loadings not exceeding 10 % wt. MSM-LAB project funding: 125,100.66 €, funded by the European Union.

Scientific Conferences

Track Co-Chair of "TK 2 – Material and Fabrication Processes for High Temperature Fuel Cells" within the "The Third European Fuel Cell Technology and Applications Conference", sponsored by the "American Society of Mechanical Engineers" - ASME, December 18th - 18th 2009, Rome (Italy).

Member of the International Scientific Advisory Committee of the 6th ASME Fuel Cell Science Engineering and Technology Conference, June 16th - 18th 2008, Denver (CO, USA).

Track Co-Chair of "TK 1 - Material and Fabrication Processes" within the "The Second European Fuel Cell Technology and Applications Conference", sponsored by the "American Society of Mechanical Engineers" - ASME, December 11th - 14th 2007, Rome (Italy).

"Session Multiphase", within "International Conference on Mesoscopic Methods in Engineering and Science - ICMMES", Munich (Germany), July 16th - 20th 2007,
"Session Multi-Phase II", within "International Conference on Mesoscopic Methods in Engineering and Science - ICMMES", Hampton (VA, USA), July 25th - 28th 2006.

Peer-to-peer Reviewer

Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration”, Thomas Edison

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