PhD Manc, MEng NUS, BESc W Ont, MASME, MSAE, MIES

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Selected Publications

Baughn, J.W., M.A. Hoffman, B.E. Launder, D. Lee and C.R. Yap (1989), ASME Journal of Heat Transfer, 111, 870-876.

Chou, S.K. W.L. Chang, Y.W. Wong & C. Yap (1994), Energy Conversion and Management, 35(9), 751-763.

Chua, H.T., K.C. Ng, X.C. Xuan, C. Yap and J.M. Gordon, (2002), Physical Review E, Vol 65, No. 5, 2002, art. no. 056111, Part 2.

Current Research Areas and Activities

Convective Heat Transfer with High Velocity Fluid Flows in Compact Devices

Many cooling and combustion applications involve high velocity fluid flows. In this project, available computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software will be used to study parameters that affect convective heat transfer with high velocity fluid flows in compact devices such as micro pumps and turbines. Such devices will be required as advanced engineering systems rapidly diminish in size.

Forced Convection Cooling of Integrated Circuit Boards

As electronic devices diminish in size while their power increases, the dissipation of heat generated becomes a major limiting factor to further miniaturisation. Forced convection cooling of electronic components continues to be an economical and efficient technique used in these devices, which require ever-increasing heat dissipation rates. In this project, parameters affecting the forced convection cooling of Integrated Circuit Boards using high velocity air will be studied.

Impinging jet flows for micro-device applications

Impinging jet flows are widely used in industry including turbine blade cooling, electronic cooling and tempering of glass. The heat transfer rates in such flows are higher than those of conventional forced convection cooling methods.The project continues experimental work on a scaled -up model to study impinging jet flows. It may also involve the use of a vailable computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software to study impinging jet flows for microdevice a pplications such as micro combustors and engines.

Convective Cooling of Open-Celled Metal Foams

Recent developments in processing technology have led to the invention of novel lightweight materials. For one such material, metal foam, while mainly known for its advantage of a high strength to weight ratio, recent groundbreaking research has shown that it has even more promising potential for industrial applications. So far, high porosity, open-celled metal foam in particular has been found to have excellent thermal management properties. The motivation for the transport of a large amount of heat over a small volume is attributed to the high surface area density as well as enhanced flow mixing due to tortuosity. With increasing pressure to cool smaller devices with high power, open-celled metal foams could well be the solution. Several projects in the pipeline include cryogenic heat exchangers, multi-layered heat exchangers for aeronautical applications and compact heat sinks for high power electronic devices.