Wind energy is a clean form of energy that is used to generate electricity by the kinetic energy created by the motion of air. The nacelle is the heart of a wind turbine that integrates several components to convert low-speed incoming rotation into high-speed rotations and electricity thereafter. 

Paanduv team has put together a case study of thermal management of a nacelle overcoming all the geometric complexities. The design optimizations were performed to obtain a reduction in the overall temperature of the nacelle and in individual components, including the gearbox, generator, and fluid coupling.

Fuel cells enable the direct conversion of chemical energy into electrical energy. The reactants are constantly reacting to produce electricity and water as the by-product. Thermal and water management in these systems poses challenges to the smooth operations of fuel cells. Minimizing the pressure drop in the bipolar plate channels is yet another area of research that seems to be never-ending. The polarization curve considering all the important aspects in fuel cells to optimize the current density is also widely explored. These problems are addressed by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and we are working to capture all the physics involved in these cutting-edge research areas. Multiphase flows and reactions, electrochemical reactions, flow through porous media, conjugate heat transfer, and pressure velocity coupling have to be coupled to obtain the complete solution for the fuel cell. 

Separation processes, boilers, thermal power plants use boiling process for large scale operations. Distillation is a process where boiling is used to efficiently separate the two constituents based on their relative volatility. In thermal power plants, boiling is used to generate steam which is used to generate electricity. 

We have modeled nucleate boiling of water. The hot plate in the chamber is heated and the nucleation, bubble formation, bubble rise, bubble coalescence is analysed.

Electric vehicles are gaining enormous attention due to zero emissions. But the non-uniformity in temperature across battery cells and exothermic reactions leads to the rise in temperature and therefore comprised the performance and lifetime of the battery pack. This can also pose threat to safety due to thermal runaway reactions. Like humans, the battery works well and longer when operated at room temperature. 

We have modeled an air-cooled battery pack system of 59 cells. Physics including conjugate heat transfer, compressible flows, pressure velocity coupling, and turbulent flows is well captured. We are capable of handling more complicated cooling mechanisms such as cold plate, liquid-cooled, phase change material cooling thermal management systems. Design and parameter optimization for the optimized arrangement of cells, size, and inlet temperature are analyzed in detail.

Clean energy includes processes that are solar light-driven or can be activated in presence of light. Photo responsive such systems are solar irradiation falling onto solar panels, photocatalytic reactor systems, solar concentrators, and artificial light sources such as solar simulators and lamps. The light intensity experienced by the exposed area, or the surface is based on the surface characteristics. Parameters such as emission, reflectivity, and absorption and light flux are crucial parameters to deal with in such scenarios. This is doable and is measured using CFD simulations.  

Water splitting is a widely explored reaction for clean energy. Splitting of water is a multiphase reaction where H2O in liquid form generates H2 and O2 in gaseous form in presence of a photocatalyst and light. We have successfully validated the water-splitting reaction kinetics obtained by the solver with the analytical solution. 

We have attempted reaction-driven flows with large complexities successfully.