Dr. Johannes Pretorius, Prof. Jaap Hoffmann and Mr. Wian Strydom recently attended the 16^th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics (HEFAT-ATE’22). The conference focusses on the fundamentals of heat transfer, fluid mechanic and thermodynamics while having a broad scope.

The conference took place virtually, over three days (8 – 10 August), where a wide range of topics ranging from nanofluids to biomedical applications where presented. Regarding CSP applications, interesting work was presented by Ruiz et al., regarding the influence of spray precooling of the inlet air to a natural draft dry cooling tower coupled to a CSP plant.

Prof. Jaap Hoffmann presented two papers, titled: “Determining the Particle Heat Transfer Coefficient for an Anisotropic Bed of Crushed Rock Particles” and “Pressure Drop Across Packed Beds of Crushed Rock, Ellipsoids and Rounded Bricks”. These papers received good feedback and ample engagement from the conference community. Mr. Wian Strydom presented a paper “Natural Draft Direct Dry Cooling System Scaling for Diverse Applications”, co-authored by Dr. Johannes Pretorius and Prof. Jaap Hoffmann.

The Solar Thermal Energy Research Group (STERG) was actively involved at the conference, with representatives being the session chairs for several presentation sittings. Overall, STERG was well represented and with these contributions have added to the global knowledge and literature regarding CSP, thermal storage and dry cooling technology.

Credit: Wian Strydom