Dr. Bach awarded Willis H. Carrier IIR Young Researchers Award

Monday, March 2, 2015

Dr. Christian Bach, assistant professor in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Oklahoma State University (OSU), has been selected by the International Institute of Refrigeration as the winner of the Willis H. Carrier IIR Young Researchers Award for his research that deals with flow maldistribution that can be caused by frost build-up. Maintaining and improving energy efficient operation of the unit can be managed through refrigerant flow distribution control, which was shown to increase energy efficiency by more than 10 percent for some extreme operating conditions. Bach will be receiving the award at the 24th IIR International Congress of Refrigeration in Yokohama, Japan.

The Willis H. Carrier Award is given for outstanding research work such as thesis, dissertation or various shorter publications of similar importance, performed by young researchers on subjects in the domain of air conditioning and heat pumps. Researchers have to be 35 years-old or younger on the date of conferring of the award.

Bach joined OSU’s building and thermal sciences research group (BETSRG) in fall 2014.  The group is comprised researchers with common interests in this area who have been working together since the 1990s. The special interests of the group include building heat transfer, HVAC systems modeling, building energy simulation, unitary equipment, hydronic heating systems, geothermal heat pump systems and ground loop heat exchanger technology. His startup project is a large testing loop for heat exchangers, which will extend BETSRG’s testing capabilities toward lower temperatures and larger capacities, allowing for testing refrigeration units intended for commercial application.

Bach is teaching and hopes to move classes, especially Thermodynamics II, from a purely theoretical exercise toward a more hands-on experience.  He recently obtained funds from American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers for a two-semester senior design project, which will establish an experimental setup for this purpose. Currently he co-advises two senior design project groups.