Researchers from the School of Mechanical Engineering at Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China, visited the Institute of Chemical Engineering at BAS from 12 to 20 August.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nan Zhang and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zhaoli Zhang were visiting as part of a joint research project on “High-efficiency solar thermal systems integrated with engineered phase-change materials”. The team comprises researchers from the “Transfer Processes in Multiphase Media” laboratory, headed by Prof. Daniela Dzhonova-Atanasova, and colleagues from the Central Laboratory for Solar Energy and New Energy Sources of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
During the visit, the guests were introduced to the research activities of the Institute of Chemical Engineering and toured the laboratories where they had the opportunity to see the prototypes and experimental set-ups being developed by the Bulgarian research team.
A key focus of the programme was scientific exchange and the discussion of opportunities for future collaboration. Assoc. Prof. Zhaoli Zhang from Southwest Jiaotong University delivered a lecture entitled “Phase Change Solar Thermal Energy Storage: From Engineering Material to Device and Building Application” which sparked discussion and an exchange of ideas between researchers from the two scientific institutions.
