Simone Mancin

Co-director

Simone Mancin is an Associate Professor at the Department of Management and Engineering of the University of Padova, Italy. He is also Visiting Prof. at the Dept. of Chemical Engineering of Brunel University London and member of the Centre for Energy Efficient and Sustainable Technologies of Brunel University London. His research mainly focuses on advanced materials, nano-depositions, nano-coatings, surface treatments, single- and two- phase heat transfer in enhanced surfaces and micro-geometries for electronic thermal management and air conditioning and refrigeration and phase change materials (PCMs) for advanced latent thermal energy storages. He is the author or co-author of about 200 papers, most published in the international scientific journasl. He is associate editor of HEDH, Part C: Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science, Heat Trabsfer Research and he is member of the Editorial Board of International Journal of Thermofluids, Heliyon and Energies.

Faculty

Luca Doretti

Faculty

Luca Doretti, graduated in Mechanical Engineering, Ph.D. in “Energy Management”, is a Full Professor of Applied Thermodynamics and he teaches four different courses. Since 2013, he works for the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Eng. (ICEA) at the University of Padova (Italy). His research activities (both experimental and theoretical) are mainly concerned with enhanced heat transfer during two-phase processes for refrigeration applications (refrigeration, air-conditioning, heat pump, absorption cycle, electronic cooling, and so on), with thermodynamics of inverse cycles and with thermophysical properties of refrigerant fluids. A specific topic of his scientific research is dedicated to experimental heat transfer in metal foams with waxes or PCM and nano-fluids application and to PCM and concrete mixtures for building or renewable energies applications. Luca Doretti is the author or co-author of more than 120 papers on international journals and congress proceedings.

Luca Doretti

Giulia Righetti

Giulia Righetti graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Padova in 2012. She earned her PhD in “Industrial Engineering”, course of “Energy Engineering”, from the same University in 2016. Her dissertation focused on the application of innovative refrigerants with low environmental impact for refrigeration and thermal control. Currently, she is an Associate Professor at the University of Padova, and she is part of the team of the TEI Research Group. Her research activity is mainly devoted to the two-phase heat transfer measurements in smooth and microfin tubes as well as to phase change materials (PCMs) for thermal energy storage (TES) applications. Her research contributions have been published in more than 100 papers in international peer-reviewed journals, and in more than 60 conference proceedings presented at international and national conferences.

Claudio Zilio is a Mechanical Engineer. He is a full professor at the University of Padova, where he teaches the courses of “Applied thermodynamics” and “Thermal systems”. He is the Secretary of commission B2 (Refrigerating equipment) of the International Institute of Refrigeration. He has been involved in several European research projects, primarily concerning Refrigeration Technology and Heat Transfer and he is the author or co-author of more than 160 scientific publications (more than 80 are available in Scopus or Web of Science) dealing with topics such as thermodynamics of inverse cycles, heat transfer, both theoretical and technological aspects, energy applications related to HVAC of buildings, refrigeration for foodstuff preservation, and refrigerating equipment. He is a member of the Editorial Board of ASHRAE Science and Technology for the Building Environment Journal.

Claudio Zilio

Marco Noro

Marco Noro is an Associate Professor of Applied thermodynamics and heat transfer and Applied Acoustics at the Department of Management and Engineering of the University of Padova, Italy. He does his scientific activity in the field of energy saving technologies applied to production and utilization of thermal and electric energy in residential, tertiary and industry. The Research activity is summarized in more than 220 publications, many in international scientific journals and conferences indexed in Scopus, 3 books and 10 book chapters. He has been invited speaker and member of the Scientific Committee of international and national conferences. He participated in research projects founded by European Union, Italian Ministries, and Veneto Region and in a number of research projects founded by public and private companies. He is Supervisor or Co-supervisor of 53 Thesis and 1 PhD Thesis in the fields of energy management, cogeneration, heat pumps, renewable energy, chemical dehumidification, refrigeration, energy storage, urban heat island phenomenon. He is reviewer of a number of important international journals in the field of energy (all indexed in Scopus). He is President of the Culture Commission of AiCARR (Italian Association of HVAC engineers).

Giovanni Antonio Longo, co-director

Giovanni Antonio Longo is a Full Professor of Technical Physics at the University of Padova, Italy. He is vice-President of the Commission E1 – Air Conditioning of the International Institute of Refrigeration. His research activity deals with refrigerant two-phase heat transfer, absorption systems, and nano-fluids heat transfer. He is the author or co-author of about 200 scientific papers published in referenced national and international journals or presented at national and international congresses and conferences.

PhD students

Giacomo Favero

Giacomo Favero is a PhD student in Mechatronics and Product Innovation Engineering at the Department of Management and Engineering, University of Padova. His research project is about the feasibility of metal additive manufacturing technology in the heat transfer field. He graduated from Mechanical Engineering at University of Padova, Italy. He worked as a research fellow at the National Institute for Nuclear Physics, in Padua, Italy, designing conformal cooling channels for high-flux critical components in fusion energy. He joined the TEI research group in 2021, and he focuses on the heat transfer performance of rough and smoothed channels manufactured via metal 3D printing for cooling applications. He is also involved in performance tests of pool and flow boiling, and thermal storage optimized systems.

Gianluca Slaviero

Gianluca Slaviero is a PhD student in Mechatronics and Product Innovation Engineering at the Department of Management and Engineering (DTG) of University of Padova. He graduated from Mechatronics Engineering at the DTG of University of Padova. He is currently conducting research in collaboration with Genius Watter and Genius Cold (Carmignano di Brenta), companies that operate in developing countries in Africa to bring clean water and cold storages. The aim of his project is to develop a new concept for an off-grid photovoltaic-driven cold room coupled with a Latent Thermal Energy Storage to be used by local farmers and fishermen.

Francesca Valentini

Francesca Valentini is a Ph.D. student in technologies for fundamental research in physics and astrophysics at the Department of Management and Engineering at the University of Padova. She graduated in Materials Engineering at the University of Padova, with a thesis focusing on enhancing the corrosion resistance of additively manufactured aluminum components through a functionalized conversion coating. er Ph.D project involves a collaboration between the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) and the Department of Management and Engineering of University of Padova. The project focuses on the development and the optimization of metal additive manufacturing components for thermal control in the fields of nuclear fusion and fundamental research in Physics and Astrophysics.

Postdoctoral Researchers and Research Staff

Carolina Mira-Hernandez

Carolina Mira-Hernández research focuses on the sustainable use of thermal energy, two-phase heat transfer and thermal energy storage. She graduated from Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Physics and Master in Engineering at Eafit University in Medellín, Colombia. She completed her PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, USA. After her PhD studies, she returned to Colombia and joined the research collaboration program Energética 2030, where she designed and tested household appliances with thermal energy storage and driven by photovoltaic electricity. She joined the TEI research group in 2023 as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow for the project ET4PCM, which aims to develop a non-invasive impedance sensor to evaluate in real-time the liquid fraction evolution of phase change materials and will enable smart control of latent thermal energy storages.

Francesca Martelletto

Francesca Martelletto is an assistant professor at the Department of Management and Engineering. She obtained her PhD in Sciences of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, and her Master's and Bachelor's degrees in Civil Engineering at the University of Padova. Her research focuses on the incorporation of Phase Change Materials (PCM) into building systems and materials with the aim of enhancing the performance of thermal energy storage systems. For her PhD dissertation, she investigated the potential improvements that can be achieved through the integration of PCM into a concrete matrix, exploring various applications, arrangements, and types of PCM. Specifically, her research examined the synergistic combination of PCM and concrete matrix for multiple purposes, such as enhancing thermal comfort in buildings, storing energy for electricity generation, and facilitating underground thermal storage.

Dario Guarda

Dario Guarda completed his PhD in Mechatronics and Product Innovation Engineering in 2024 at the Department of Management and Engineering, University of Padova. He graduated from Product Innovation Engineering at the Department of Management and Engineering at the University of Padova. He is conducting his research in collaboration with the Competence Center for Thermal Energy Storage (CCTES) from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU). His research activities relate mainly to Phase Change Materials (PCMs). In his PhD, he uses X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) technique to analyze PCMs during solidification and melting. The obtained insight into the phase change process dynamics can lead to a better understanding of the segregation phenomenon afflicting salt hydrates and to alternatives to counteract it.

Davide Cester

Davide Cester graduated from Materials Engineering at University of Padua, Italy. His thesis work focused on thermal, electrical and mechanical characterization of Tungsten, produced by Laser Powder Bed Fusion. He is a research fellow at the National Institute for Nuclear Physics in Padova, Italy, working on thermo-mechanical finite element analysis. He joined the TEI research group in 2023 and he investigates the hydraulic properties and heat transfer performance of smoothed copper channels manufactured via metal 3D printing for cooling applications.

Safa Sabet

Safa Sabet started his academic career with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at Izmir Institute of Technology (Turkey). Later he continued his education at the same university with master’s and PhD degrees in mechanical engineering in the field of thermo-fluid dynamics. His PhD journey was a collaboration between Izmir Institute of Technology and Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” (Italy), in which he practiced theoretical and numerical study on gas transport at the micro/nano-scale porous media. After graduating with a PhD in 2022, he was involved in the PRIN-2017 project entitled “Heat Transfer and Thermal Energy Storage (TES) Enhancement by Foams and Nanoparticles” funded by the Italian research ministry as a post-doctoral fellow. At the beginning of 2024, he joined the TEI research group as a post-doctoral researcher and was involved in a European project called “TheMa4HERA”. In this project, he will focus on developing theoretically and numerically novel and innovative heat exchangers for vapor cycle systems used in aeronautical applications. His research activities mainly rely on micro/nanofluidic, heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and thermodynamics.

Nur Çobanoğlu

Nur Çobanoğlu received her B.Sc. degree from Department of Mechanical Engineering at Ege University. She earned her M.Sc. degree in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, and her Ph.D. in Department of Mechanical Engineering from İzmir Kâtip Çelebi University. Her research interests include nanofluids, passive heat transfer technologies, refrigeration systems, ventilation and indoor air quality. She joined the TEI research group in 2024 as a postdoctoral researcher for the EU funded project Clean Aviation THEMA4HERA "Thermal Management for the Hybrid Electric Regional Aircraft” with the aim of developing novel and innovative models of heat exchangers to be integrated inside the digital twin of the aircraft.