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2012: J.M. Pfotenhauer publishes new book on Miniature Joule-Thomson Cryocooling

An extensive presentation of the low temperature refrigeration mechanism initially defined by James Joule and William Thomson in 1852, and still being utilized today, is provided in a new book co-authored by Dr. Ben-Zion Maytal (Rafael-Advanced Defense Systems Ltd) and Professor John M. Pfotenhauer. The book is divided into five parts: I. Cryocooling - the Common Principle, II. Theoretical Aspects, III. Practical Aspects, IV. Mixed Coolant Cryocooling, and V. Special Topics. The theoretical aspects may be of interest not only to those working with cryocoolers, but also for others with a general interest in "real gas" thermodynamics. Numerous design principles and examples make this 375 page book an extremely valuable resource for anyone working in the field of Joule-Thomson cryocoolers.

12-2011: S.A. Klein and G. Nellis publish new Thermodynamics book

The objective of this book is to provide engineers with the concepts, tools, and experience needed to solve practical real-world energy problems.  With this in mind, the focus of this effort has been to integrate a computer tool with thermodynamic concepts in order to allow engineering students and practicing engineers to tackle problems that they would otherwise not be able to solve.  The motivation for writing this book is a result of our experience in teaching mechanical engineering thermodynamics in a manner that is tightly integrated with the EES (Engineering Equation Solver) program.  EES eliminates much of the mathematical complexity involved in solving thermodynamics problems by providing a large bank of high accuracy property data and the capability to solve large sets of simultaneous algebraic and differential equations.

12-2008: New SEL Faculty Member

Franklin K. Miller has been hired by the Mechanical Engineering Department and will be joining the Solar Energy Lab in the summer of 2009. Franklin's research interests are primarily in the areas of thermodynamics and heat transfer. He is particularly interested in the thermodynamics of refrigeration cycles at cryogenic temperatures and heat transfer in cryogenic systems. Franklin received his Ph.D. at the M.I.T. Cryogenic Engineering Lab for his work on the development of Superfluid Joule-Thomson refrigerator that cooled to 0.68 K. Franklin comes to us from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center where he is currently working in the Cryogenics and Fluids Branch on developing novel concepts for low temperature cooling of detectors for astrophysics missions.

12-2008: S.A. Klein and G. Nellis publish new Heat Transfer textbook

The objective of this new book is to provide engineers with the confidence, capability, and tools to solve real-world heat transfer problems. It includes many advanced topics: Bessel functions, Laplace transforms, seperation of variables, Duhamel's theorem, and complex combination, as well as high order explicit and implicit numerical integration algorithms. The textbook integrates the computational software packages Maple, Matlab, FEHT, and EES directly with the material.Link to publisher's site..

05-2008: Professor Nellis awarded James G. Woodburn Award for Excellence in Teaching

At the 2008 Appreciation Day celebration May 8, 2008, the College of Engineering announced awards to faculty and staff members for their outstanding contributions and achievements, and service to the college. Two mechanical engineering faculty members, Gregory Nellis was one of the recipients. Read article.

04-2007: ASHRAE Journal highlights solar energy technologies for buildings

The April issue's cover article, Solar Technology and the Building Envelope, covers net zero-energy buildings and envelope technologies integral to achieving 50%-plus energy savings. The article shows how the building itself needs to become a renewable energy source.Read article.

02-2007: Graduate student Scott Hackel receives ASHRAE grant

Graduate student Scott Hackel was selected as a recipient of an ASHRAE Graduate Student Grant-In-Aid for the 2007-2008 academic year. The Grant is intended to encourage the student to continue his/her preparation for service in the HVAC&R industry. Only 10 to 25 grants are made each year. Scott is developing design guidelines for hybrid-ground coupled heat pumps. More.

02-2007: Professor Klein named ASME Fellow

Sanford Klein, Ouweneel-Bascom professor of mechanical engineering, has been named a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), an honor celebrating significant engineering achievements and contributions to the engineering profession. The honor recognizes his contributions to research and education, especially with regard to the engineering equation solver software he developed.

02-2007: Professor Klein receives Honorary Doctorate

Sanford Klein, Ouweneel-Bascom professor of mechanical engineering, will receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Liege, Belgium, in a ceremony on March 29. The honor recognizes his research in solar energy systems and design methods.

08-2006: Third Edition of the book 'Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes'

The third edition of the book 'Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes' by Professors John A. Duffie and William A. Beckman has been published. More , Corrigenda

05-2006:Professor Sanford Klein receives Byron Bird Award for Excellence in a Research Publication

The College of Engineering at UW-Madison granted Professor Klein the Byron Bird Award for Excellence in a Research Publication, recognizing the contribution that the Engineering Equation Solver (EES) has made to teaching and learning in thermal-fluid sciences classes. More

02-2006: New Downloadable Application for PV modules

A new application can be downloaded from our webpage, which calculates the 5-parameters required to characterize the energy conversion from PV modules, according to the model developed by DeSoto et al.

02-2006: Concentrating solar collector earns first price in creativity competition

Angie Franzke, an engineering mechanics and astronautics senior at UW-Madison won first price in the Schoofs Price for Creativity and Tong Protopype Prize competitions, for an modular solar-energy technology that could be used to heat water and generate electricity. More

02-2006: Best Paper Award to Schuetter, Prof. Tim Shedd and Prof. Greg Nellis

At the 22nd European Mask and Lithography Conference (EMLC) held January 23-26 in Dresden, Germany, the Best Paper Award went to Scott Schuetter, Prof. Tim Shedd, Keith Doxtator and Prof. Greg Nellis. Their paper entitled, "A Correlation for Predicting Film Pulling Velocity in Immersion Lithography," addressed issues for extending optical lithography resolution to support the manufacturing of next-generation semiconductor devices.

09-2005: Beckman Honored with Two Solar Energy Society Awards

The International Solar Energy Society (ISES) and the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) each presented Mechanical Engineering Professor Emeritus William Beckman with an award at a joint meeting in August. ISES bestowed its Farrington Daniels Award on Beckman for his exceptional and long-standing intellectual leadership in the field of solar energy, while ASES honored him with the Hoyt Clarke Hottel Award for his significant contributions to solar energy technology. The ISES award, granted bi-annually, is named for former UW-Madison chemistry professor Farrington Daniels. Daniels was one of the founders of ISES and served as the society’s first president. Chemical Engineering Professor Emeritus Jack Duffie received the award in 1987. The first recipient of the Daniels award in 1975 was MIT chemical engineering professor Hoyt Clarke Hottel, who with his graduate students developed the theory of flat-plate collectors.