The Energy and Bio-Thermal Systems (EBTS) Group is one of 6 groups in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Research interests of staff in EBTS fall mainly in the fields of thermodynamics and heat and mass transfer with specific focus on energy, drying processes, micro and bio-thermal systems and thermal management of electronic equipment. The Group has 8 faculty members and a complement of research fellows, engineers and experienced laboratory officers.

Energy related research activities in EBTS include: modelling and performance of absorption and adsorption chillers, compact heat exchangers for waste heat recovery and dehumidification, co-generation systems, ice storage for cooling and air-conditioning, and energy performance of buildings and building envelopes. In addition, solar energy research is carried out on: solar drying, solar desalination, solar air-conditioning and hot water heating. More recently, the EBTS Group has embarked on research into micro and bio-thermal systems covering: combusion in the micro-scale, micro thermophotovoltaic power generators, solid propellant micro-thrustors, and miniaturization of electro-adsorption chillers.

On bio-thermal systems, the Group has initiated a number of research projects on bone drilling and cryo-surgery and cryoprobe development. To address the issues of thermal management in electronic packaging in the ever growing electronic industry, the Group is involved in projects such as: heat transfer analysis in electronic packaging, moisture migration and its effects on electronic packaging, electronic cooling using phase change materials, thermo-mechanical reliability analysis of integrated chip packages, and thermal analysis in the wafer level packaging.

Other current research topics in EBTS include explosive boiling and transport processes in steady and unsteady impinging and opposing jets.

The main facilities of the EBTS Group are located in four laboratories, namely, the Thermal Process Laboratory 1 & 2, Energy Conversion Laboratory and Air-conditioning Laboratory and, additionally, EBTS research is also carried out in the Department's Microsystems Technology Lab. These laboratories are equipped with state-of-the-art apparatus and data acquisition systems to support projects undertaken by undergraduate and graduate students and staff research.