Dr Robert Taylor

BSc, MSc: Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Missouri, PhD: Mechanical Engineering, Arizona State University

Lecturer

Contact Details
Office Location: Room 318, Mechanical Engineering Building
Email: robert.taylor@unsw.edu.au
Phone: +61 2 9385 5400

Click below to view:
Robert Taylor's Research Webpages

 Teaching Areas

  • Solar Energy
  • Renewable Energy

Professional SOCIETIES

  • American Society of Mechanical Engineers
  • American Solar Energy Society
  • American Society for Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers
  • Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honour Society

Research Interests

My main research interest is in the development of ‘next generation’ solar thermal collectors.  Drawing on the fields of heat transfer and nanotechnology, I am researching new/novel working fluids and materials for solar systems.  In essence, the main goal is to provide a more efficient or more economic coupling between solar energy and useful thermal and/or electrical energy.

Current Research Projects

  • Compact thermal storage systems
  • Development and modeling of a 2-axis tracking dish concentrating thermal system (~5kW)
  • Direct, volumetrically absorbing nanofluid-based working fluids
  • Engineered optical materials (designs for high refractive indices)
  • High temperature molten salt development and properties testing
  • Hybrid thermal/photovoltaic systems

See also Energy, Fluids & Environment research priority area.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Journal Articles

  • TAYLOR RA, PHELAN PE, ADRIAN RJ, OTANICAR TP and PRASHER R, "Nanofluid optical property characterization: Towards efficient direct-absorption solar collectors", Nanoscale Research Letters, Vol 6, 225 (2011).
  • TAYLOR RA, PHELAN PE, OTANICAR TP, WALKER CA, NGUYEN M, TRIMBLE S and PRASHER R, "Applicability of nanofluids in high flux solar collectors", J. Renewable and Sustainable Energy, Vol 3, 023104 (2011).
  • OTANICAR TP, PHELAN PE, TAYLOR RA and TYAGI H, "Tuning the extinction coefficient for direct absorption solar thermal collector optimization", J. of Solar Energy, Vol 133, 024501 (2011).
  • OTANICAR TP, PHELAN PE, PRASHER RS, ROSENGARTEN G and TAYLOR RA, “Nanofluid-based direct absorption solar collector”, J. Renewable Sustainable Energy, Vol 2, 033102 (2010).
  • TAYLOR RA, PHELAN PE, OTANICAR TP, ADRIAN RJ and PRASHER RS, “Vapor generation in a nanoparticle liquid suspension using a focused, continuous laser”, App. Phys. Let., Vol 95, 161907 (2009).
  • TAYLOR RA and PHELAN PE, “Pool boiling of nanofluids: Comprehensive review of existing data and limited new data”, Int. J. of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol 52, 5339 (2009).
  • TAYLOR RA and SOLBREKKEN GL, “Comprehensive system-level optimization of thermoelectric devices for electronic cooling applications”, Comp. and Packaging Tech., IEEE Trans., Vol 31, pp 23-31 (2008).

Journal Articles in Progress

  • TAYLOR RA, PHELAN PE, ADRIAN RJ, GUNAWAN A and OTANICAR TP, “Characterization of laser-induced, volumetric boiling in nanofluids” (2011) [under review].
  • PHELAN PE, TAYLOR RA, ADRIAN RJ, PRASHER RS and OTANICAR TP, “Light-induced energy conversion in liquid nanoparticle suspensions”, Advances in Numerical Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow, Vol. 4 (2011) [in press].
  • OTANICAR TP, TAYLOR RA and PHELAN PE, "Prospects for solar cooling – an economic and environmental assessment", Solar Energy (2011) [under review].

Conference Proceedings

  • TAYLOR RA, PHELAN PE, ADRIAN RJ and OTANICAR TP, "Characterization of a small direct volumetric steam generator", ASME 5th International Conference on Energy Sustainability, Washington DC, August (2011).
  • TAYLOR RA, PHELAN PE, ADRIAN RJ, OTANICAR TP and PRASHER RS, "Nanofluid extinction coefficients for photothermal energy conversion", Proceedings of the ASME/JSME 8th Thermal Engineering Joint Conference, Honolulu, HI, March (2011).
  • TAYLOR RA, PHELAN PE, OTANICAR TP, TRIMBLE S, PRASHER RS and ADRIAN R, “Nanofluids and their solar thermal energy applications", Nanofluids: Fundamentals and Applications II [Invited Speaker], Montreal, Canada (2010).
  • PHELAN PE, TAYLOR RA, ADRIAN RJ, PRASHER RS and OTANICAR TP, “Photothermal energy conversion in liquid-nanoparticle suspensions”, 8th International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels, and Minichannels, Montreal, Canada (2010).
  • TAYLOR RA, PHELAN PE, OTANICAR TP, TYAGI H and TRIMBLE S, “Applicability of nanofluids in concentrated solar energy harvesting", ASME 4th International Conference on Energy Sustainability, Phoenix, AZ, ES2010-90055 (2010).
  • OTANICAR TP, PHELAN PE, TAYLOR RA and TYAGI H, “Tuning the extinction coefficient for direct absorption solar thermal collector optimization", ASME 4th International Conference on Energy Sustainability, ES2010-90022 (2010).
  • TAYLOR RA, PHELAN PE, ADRIAN RJ, OTANICAR TP and PRASHER RS, “Experimental results for light induced boiling in water-based nanoparticle suspensions”, ASME Summer Heat Transfer Conference, Paper No. HT2009-88176 (2009).
  • TAYLOR RA, PHELAN PE, OTANICAR TP and WITT M, "Solar collection and utilization using nanotechnology", EUEC Energy and Environment Conference, Phoenix, AZ (2009).
  • OTANICAR TP, TAYLOR RA, PHELAN PE and PRASHER RS, “Impact of size, shape and scattering mode on the optimal solar absorbing nanofluid”, ASME 3rd International Conference on Energy Sustainability, Paper No. ES2009-90066 (2009).
  • TAYLOR RA and SOLBREKKEN GL,“Optimization of thermoelectric cooling for microelectronics”, 10th Intersociety Conference on Thermal and Thermomechanical Phenomena in Electronic Systems, San Diego, CA (2006).
  • TAYLOR RA and SOLBREKKEN GL, “An improved optimization approach for thermoelectric refrigeration applied to portable electronic equipment”, ASME Pacific Rim Technical Conference and Exhibition on Integration and Packaging of MEMS, NEMS, and Electronic Systems, San Francisco, CA (2005).

Conference Articles in Progress

  • TAYLOR RA, COULOMBE S, OTANICAR TP, PHELAN PE, GUNAWAN A, LV W, ROSENGARTEN G, PRASHER RS and TYAGI H, “Critical review of the novel applications and uses of nanofluids”, Micro/Nanoscale Heat & Mass Transfer, Atlanta, Georgia (2012) [under review].
  • PHELAN PE, OTANICAR TP, TAYLOR RA, PRASHER RS and PHELAN B, “The socieconomic impacts of heat transfer research”, 2nd Asian-US-European Thermophysics Conference in Hong Kong Thermal Science for Sustainable World (2012) [under review].
  • KHULLAR V, TYAGI H, PHELAN PE, OTANICAR TP, SINGH H and TAYLOR RA, “Solar energy harvesting using a nanofluid-based concentrating solar collector”, Micro/Nanoscale Heat & Mass Transfer, Atlanta, Georgia (2012) [under review].
  • LV W, OTANICAR TP, PHELAN PE, DAI L, TAYLOR RA and SWAMINATHAN R, “Surface plasmon resonance shifts of a dispersion of core-shell nanoparticles for efficient solar absorption”, Micro/Nanoscale Heat & Mass Transfer, Atlanta, Georgia (2012) [under review].