August 14, 2024
By Chloe Arrington

Srinivas Garimella, Hightower Chair in Engineering and professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, has been awarded the 2024 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Heat Transfer Memorial Award.

The Heat Transfer Memorial Award, established in 1959 by the Heat Transfer Division and elevated to a Society award in 1974, is bestowed on individuals who have made outstanding contributions in the field of heat transfer through teaching, research, practice, design, service, leadership, and inventions.

"It is very gratifying to receive this recognition from the premier heat transfer research community," said Garimella.

Garimella joined Georgia Tech in 2003 as an associate professor and director of the Sustainable Thermal Systems Laboratory. His research includes sustainable energy systems, such as absorption and vapor compression heat pumps, waste heat recovery and upgrade, electrochemical and thermochemical energy storage, power plant cooling, advanced nuclear reactor thermalhydraulics, and water conservation and purification.

Over the past two decades, the Sustainable Thermal Systems Laboratory has been exploring insights into hydrodynamics and coupled heat and mass transfer at the microscales and has used these insights to develop, implement, and demonstrate sustainable thermal technologies that address many essential human needs, such as food, water, clothing, shelter, and thermal comfort.

Garimella's research is innovative and impactful. His collaboration with Saint Gobain (with funding from the Department of Energy) is revolutionizing wallboard production and significantly reducing energy and water use.

His group is also developing chillers to extend the shelf life of fresh produce such as vegetables, fruit, and milk in developing countries with little access to a reliable electricity grid. These adsorption chillers are driven by locally sourced biomass, solar, or waste heat and do not require electricity. This technology successfully addresses the critical problem of food spoilage. It provides cold chain capabilities, even in remote areas, enhancing the livelihood of farmers and addressing food shortages in vast regions of the world with very hot climates.

Garimella's group works with Carrier to optimize large industrial chillers for diverse climates, ensuring long-term performance through advanced modeling and control algorithms.

In residential water conservation, his team has created absorption heat pumps that condition space and simultaneously purify graywater. They have also enhanced industrial condensers with innovative techniques like acoustic actuation and autofluttering reeds in collaboration with George W. Woodruff Chair in Thermal Systems and professor Ari Glezer.

In partnership with Nuclear and Radiological Engineering and Medical Physics Program Chair Steven Biegalski, Garimella developed passive cooling systems for next-generation modular nuclear reactors that ensure inherent safety even during postulated accident scenarios. They are also developing benchmark heat transfer and pressure drop data for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for novel molten salt reactors.

His current project, in collaboration with Assistant Professor Akanksha Menon, focuses on integrating thermochemical energy storage with residential heat pumps to reduce peak electricity demand and carbon emissions.

Garimella has mentored over 100 advisees in his academic career and says this award also belongs to them. "The biggest reward has been working with these brilliant young minds and watching them develop and excel in their careers."

Garimella received the award at the 2024 Summer Heat Transfer Conference in Anaheim, CA, last month.