Born in Zofingen (Switzerland) graduated summa cum laude in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Bologna in 1992. He received a Doctorate in Nuclear Engineering in 1996 from the same University. Assistant Professor in Applied Thermal Engineering at the Department of Engineering of the University of Ferrara from 1996 to 2002. From 2002 to 2012, Associate Professor in Applied Thermal Engineering at the Department of Industrial Engineering (DIN) of the University of Bologna. Since 2012 he is Full Professor at the University of Bologna. He is author of about 200 technical papers appeared on the most important International Journals and Conferences related to Microfluidics, Thermal Engineering and Heat Transfer.
MAIN RESEARCH FIELDS
Microfluidics, Single phase convective heat transfer in conventional systems and micro-devices, Optical measurement techniques for micro-devices (micro-PIV, PTV, Thermo-chromic Liquid crystals), Micro Heat Exchangers, Micro-droplet generators, Solar Energy, HVAC Systems, Air source Heat Pumps, Building Physics, Dynamic building energy simulation, Thermal Energy Storage (TES) systems.
MAIN RESEARCH COMMITMENTS
Since 2005 Head of the Applied Thermal Engineering Laboratory of DIN which houses experimental facilities for the thermal characterization of envelope components by means of IR thermography, a wind tunnel for research on heat sinks and heat exchangers.
From 2000 to 2006 Member of the Committee of the PhD School on Engineering Sciences, University of Ferrara. From 2007 to 2013 Member of the Committee of the DIENCA PhD School, University of Bologna.
From 2013 Member of the Committee of the DIMSAI PhD School and coordinator of the curriculum Applied Thermal Engineering, University of Bologna.
From 2002 to 2015 Principal investigator/Local Unit Scientific Leader of 5 National Research Projects (PRIN), 5 EU projects and 25 Industrial Research Contracts.
MEMBERSHIPS IN SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES AND JOURNAL (COMMITMENTS)
- Italian delegate of the EUROTHERM Committee: 2006- till today
- Scientific Committee of SHF (Societè Hydrotechnique de France): 2009- till today
- Italian delegate of Scientific Council of International Center of Heat and Mass Transfer (ICHMT): 2008 – till today
- Member of Assembly of the World Conference (AWC) on Experimental Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics, and Thermodynamics: 2009 – till today
- Associate Editor of the International Journal of Thermal Sciences (Elsevier) (2020-)
- Associate Editor of the Micromachines Journal (MDPI) (2016-)
- Guest Editor of special issues on Microfluidics of the following journals:
Biomicrofluidics (2014),
Experimental Heat Transfer, vol.27 (2014),
Microsystems Technologies, vol.10, vol.21 (2013-2015),
Microfluidics and Nanofluidics, vol. 16 (2014)
Energy Procedia, vol. 45 (2014)
Frequent reviewer for the most important journals on the field of Microfluidics and Heat and Mass Transfer
RUNNING PROJECTS
Hybrid BIO-VGE (H2020) Hybrid Variable Geometry Ejector Cooling and Heating System for Buildings driven by solar and biomass heat. Grant n°: 818012. Local budget: € 290.000. June 2019-May 2022
PRIN 2017 (Sept. 2019-Oct 2022): HEATFLEX Numerical and experimental seasonal energy performances of HVAC systems based on heat pumps
POR-FESR Emilia Romagna (Jul 2019-Oct 2022): CLIWAX Thermal energy storage systems based on PCM and metallic foams
PAR-ENEA MISE (Jan. 2019-Dec 2021): Application of electric heat pumps to innovative HVAC systems
THESIS SUPERVISION
From 1998 to 2020:
Supervision of 200 Master Degree Thesis, 7 Ph.D. Thesis in Microfluidics and 7 early stage researchers.
INVITED LECTURES
1. Single-Phase Convective Heat Transfer in Microdevices, XXI UIT National Conference, Udine (Italy), June 25 (2003).
2. Laminar forced convection of liquid flows through silicon microchannels”, 2nd Colloque SHF Microfluidique 2004, , Toulouse (France) December 17 (2004)
3. Viscous dissipation as scaling effect in microchannels, HMTMIC Midterm Meeting 2004, Rome (Italy) November 19 (2004)
4. Heat Transfer and Fluid Flows in Microchannels, I UIT Workshop on “MICROSCALE HEAT TRANSFER” , Università “La Sapienza”, Rome (Italy), 25 October (2004).
5. Scaling effects for laminar single-phase flows in micro-channels, 3th ASME ICNMM05 Int. Conf. Microchannels and Minichannels, Toronto (Canada) 13 June (2005).
6. Velocity measurements through mini and micro-channels by using micro-PIV technique”, III UIT Workshop on the Optical Techniques in Thermal Sciences, L’Aquila (Italy), 18 April (2008).
7. Single-phase Convective Heat transfer in Laminar and Transitional Regime in Microchannels, 3rd ECI International Conference on Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow in Microscale(HTFFM-III),Whistler, (Canada), 24 September (2008).
8. Experimental techniques for the analysis of gaseous microflows, 3rd ECI International Conference on Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow in Microscale (HTFFM-IV), Fukuoka (Japan) September 9 (2011).
9. The rules of single-phase forced convection in microchannels, 10th ASME-ICNMM12 Int. Conf. on Nano Micro and Minichannels, Rio Grande (Puerto Rico), July 10 (2012).
10. Main Issues on the Experimental Analysis of Forced Convection in Microchannels, 8th World Conference on Experimental Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics, and Thermodynamics, Lisbon, (Portugal) June 17 (2013)
11. Experimental Techniques for the Analysis of Single-Phase Forced Convection in Microchannels, Int. Symp. on Convective Heat and Mass Transfer (CONV-14), Kusadasi (Turkey), June 8–13 (2014)
12. Experimental Techniques for the Analysis of Gas Forced Convection in Microchannels, 2nd European Conference of Non-Equilibrium Gas Flows (NEGF15), Eindhoven (The Netherlands) 9-11 December (2015).
13. The challenge to measure single-phase convective heat transfer coefficients in microchannels, 5rd Micro and Nano Flows (MNF16) Conference, Milan (Italy), September 11-14, (2016)
14. Scaling effects in microdevices, 1st MIGRATE Summer School, Strasbourg, France, June 27-28 (2016)
15. Micro Heat Exchangers, 2nd MIGRATE Summer School, Sofia, Bulgaria, June 26-27 (2017)
16. The design of mini/micro heat exchangers: a world of opportunities and constraints, International Heat Transfer Conference IHTC-16, August 10-15, Beijing, China (2018)
PUBLICATIONS
More than 250 scientific papers published from 1994 on the main Journals of the field of Thermal Engineering and Microfluidics
INDICATORS
SCOPUS (Jul 21, 2021): h-index: 26; Citations: 2800
GOOGLE SCHOLAR (Jul 21, 2021: h-index: 29; Citations: 3678; i10-index: 69
ORGANIZATION OF INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES AND SCHOOLS
Co-chair (with Stefano Piva) of the XVII National Heat Transfer Conference (UIT), Ferrara (Italy), 30 June-2 July 1999
Co-chair (with Stephane Colin and Juergen Brandner) of the European Conference on Microfluidics (mFlu): (i) Bologna, Italy, 10-12 December 2008; (ii) Toulouse, France, 8-10 December 2010; Karlsruhe, Germany, 3-5 December 2012; (iv) Limerick, Ireland, 10-12 December 2014.
Co-chair (with Antonio Barletta) of the 14th UIT Summer School on MICRO/NANO SCALE HEAT TRANSFER AND FLUID FLOW, Certosa di Pontignano (Italy), Sept. 8-13, 2014
Co-chair (with Michele Bianchi, Alessandro Cocchi, Cesare Saccani) of 68th Conference of Italian Thermal Machines Engineering Association, ATI2013, Bologna, Sept. 11-13 2013
Member of International Scientific Committee of the 7th World Conference on EXPERIMENTAL HEAT TRANSFER, FLUID MECHANICS AND THERMODYNAMICS (ExHFT-7), Krakow (Poland), 28 June-3 July 2009.
Member of the International Scientific Committee of the ICHMT International Symposium "CONV-09: Convective Heat and Mass Transfer", Hammamet (Tunisie), 26 April -1 May 2009.
Member of the International Scientific Committee of the ICHMT International Symposium "CONV-14: Convective Heat and Mass Transfer", Kusadasi (Turkey), 26 April -1 May 2009.
Member of the International Scientific Committee of the 3rd Colloque SHF on Microfluidique, Toulouse, France, 12-14 December 2006.
Member of the International Scientific Committee of the 5th European Thermal Sciences Conference EUROTHERM, Eindhoven, The Netherland, 19-22 May, 2008.
Member of the International Scientific Committee of the 6th European Thermal Sciences Conference EUROTHERM, Poitier, France, September 4-7, 2012.
Member of the International Scientific Committee of the 7th European Thermal Sciences Conference EUROTHERM, Krakow, Poland, June 19-23, 2016.
Member of the International Scientific Committee of the 1st European Conference on Gas Micro Flows, Volos, Grece, 6-8 June, 2012.
Member of the International Scientific Committee of the Micro and Nano Flows conference (MNF): (i) Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK, 1-2 September 2009; (ii) Thessaloniki (Greece), August 22-24, 2011; (iii) University College London, 7–10 September 2014; (iv) Milan (Italy), 11-14 September, 2016
PRIZES
Best Paper Award at Thirteenth International Conference on Sustainable Energy Technologies (SET 2014)
Most Cited Article - International Journal Heat and Mass Transfer (2008) for the paper:
The Viscous Heating in Liquid Flows in Microchannels, Int. J. Heat and Mass Transfer, 48, pp. 3637-3647, (2005)
Most Cited Article - International Journal Thermal Sciences (2008) for the paper:
Single-phase Convective Heat Transfer in Microchannels: a Review of Experimental Results”, Int. J. of Thermal Sciences, 43, pp. 631-651, (2004)
