Vi H. Rapp, PhD

In collaboration with Brookhaven National Laboratory, this project aims to accelerate wood heater innovation and commercialization by developing rapid, cost-effective, performance test methodologies for biomass-fired space heaters, central hydronic heaters, and warm-air furnaces. The simplified methodologies are designed to reduce research and development cycle times and enable rapid performance testing that simulate real operating conditions. This will also assist with conducting field measurements and evaluating their performance.

The ‘Feedstock to Function’ tool incorporates machine learning to predict desired properties of high-potential biobased molecules early in technology validation and certification process. Coupled with a lightweight technoeconomic and life-cycle assessment model, this tool enables users to identify promising molecules and blends for their application, overcome experimentally and kinetically derived property bottlenecks, identify cost and emissions bottlenecks, and potentially de-risk investments needed to scale up production.

Building from the California Energy Commission funded project developing a residential cooktop burner (see below), we have partnered with industry to evaluate the performance of the burner in a commercial appliance. If successful, this burner will be integrated into a their new line of technology.

In collaboration with a team from Boston Children’s Hospital, we advancing an infant warmer design that can be used globally in resource-limited locations to prevent neonatal hypothermia. A first iteration of the infant warmer has been field tested with success in Rwanda. Based on user feedback, we are further improving the design for mass manufacturing, while ensuing it can be reused up to 100 times, remains non-electric and easy to clean, and can be produced at low cost.

This project aims to develop a novel and cost effective process for creating advanced thermoelectric (TE) materials constructed from Si Nanowires (Si-nw) arrays, and to demonstrate, with a prototype device, its performance and ability to scale to mass-production for heat-to-electricity conversion. Implementing Si-nw will create a cost effective waste heat recovery system capable of achieving a heat-to-electricity conversion efficiency of at least 10% (~2.5 times more than market TE).