LAB LOGA page on LabLog, a review site (not the lab's official page)
Thermal Energy Conversion Engineering Lab
Machine-translated · View original
The lab studies boiling, evaporation, and adsorption to make effective use of thermal energy.
AboutAbout the lab
Aiming for innovative, effective use of thermal energy
The Thermal Energy Conversion Engineering Lab aims for innovative, effective use of thermal energy and conducts research on boiling, evaporation, multiphase flow, and adsorption.
The generation, conversion, and transfer of thermal energy, as well as temperature control, are major issues in energy technology, electronics, production technology for new materials, and the analysis of environmental problems and safety.
Because advanced, effective use of energy is essential in addressing global warming, the lab conducts research toward solving these problems.
The lab belongs to the Thermal Engineering Division of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Graduate School of Kyushu University.
Key terms
- Critical heat flux
- The limit of the heat that boiling cooling can remove. If the heat load is increased beyond it, thermal equipment is damaged.
- Capillary action
- A phenomenon in which a force that draws liquid in (capillary force) acts inside thin tubes or pores. The thinner the tube or pore, the greater the force.
- Honeycomb porous material
- A porous material with dense pores. One example is the kind used to treat exhaust gas from cars and factories.
- Adsorption
- A reaction in which steam or hydrogen attaches to the surface of a solid. Adsorption releases heat, and desorption, in which it leaves the surface, absorbs heat.
NewsLab news
A doctoral student won a Poster Award at WFCC2026
Assistant Professor Umehara, Professor Mori, and colleagues won the Academic Award of the Heat Transfer Society of Japan
Assistant Professor Zhang Huacheng won the Encouragement Award of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan
Assistant Professor Zhang Huacheng won the Division Award (Encouragement Award) of the Thermal Hydraulics Division of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan
A doctoral student won an Outstanding Presentation Award at the National Heat Transfer Symposium of Japan
ResearchResearch themes
To use thermal energy effectively, the lab studies phenomena such as boiling, evaporation, multiphase flow, and adsorption. Its subjects include cooling that combines boiling with porous materials, the generation of superheated steam, the behavior of liquid films, and heat and mass transfer in adsorption and absorption reactions.
*Illustrative imageHigh-performance cooling with honeycomb porous materials
The lab combines the large amount of heat that boiling can carry with capillary action to aim for high-performance cooling that requires no external power. It studies methods that raise the critical heat flux by attaching a honeycomb porous material to a heat transfer surface, as well as rapid cooling of ultra-high-temperature objects.
*Illustrative imageInstant generation of high-temperature steam with water-containing porous materials
The lab has devised an instant superheated steam generator that uses a thin heater wire and a water-containing porous material, aiming to produce the needed amount of superheated steam whenever it is needed. It aims to clarify how superheated steam can be produced from room-temperature water in a few seconds, and to improve the performance of evaporation.
*Illustrative imageHow gas and liquid properties affect the behavior of liquid films
Focusing on disturbance waves, which strongly influence the dryout of a liquid film, the lab investigates the effects of gas and liquid density, surface tension, and viscosity. It also proposes a method for creating, at low pressure, flows close to those in actual boiling water reactors.
*Illustrative imageHeat and mass transfer in adsorption and absorption reactions, and applications
The lab studies heat and mass transfer in reactions where steam or hydrogen is adsorbed onto and desorbed from solids, and where steam is absorbed into liquids and hydrogen is absorbed into and released from solids. By adding and removing heat to control the reaction rate, it aims to apply these reactions to energy conversion.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Thermal Energy Conversion Engineering Lab are faculty members and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2025
- ProfessorShoji Mori
- Associate ProfessorYoshinori Hamamoto
- Assistant ProfessorYutaro Umehara
- Project Assistant ProfessorHuacheng Zhang
VoicesStudent voices
Ratings and reviews reflect the experiences of individual current or former students, not the lab's official views. Whether a lab has reviews, or how many, says nothing about the lab itself.
Students who take part in an interview may receive a thank-you gift worth ¥1,000, regardless of what they say.
Student ratings (0 students)
--
--
--
--
--
--
Student voices answer questions like these
- What's great about this lab?
- What did you learn after joining?
- What's the vibe, and what is the professor like?
- Who is this lab for?
- Where do graduates go?
Your experience can help younger students choose their lab. Your name won't be shown.
Write a lab reviewAnonymous · Your draft is saved if you stopRelatedLabs similar to Thermal Energy Conversion Engineering Lab
Thermal Energy Utilization Science LabFaculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical EngineeringEducation and research field on thermal energy utilization t…
Thermophysical Engineering LabFaculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical EngineeringExperimental research aimed at understanding heat transport …
Hydrogen-Compatible Materials and Fracture Science LabFaculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical EngineeringHydrogen-compatible materials and fracture science: strength…
Interfacial Thermofluids LabFaculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical EngineeringThe Interfacial Thermofluids Laboratory focuses on diverse w…The information on this page is compiled by the LabLog team from the lab's public information and interviews. For corrections or removal requests, please contact LabLog, not the lab.
Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Marakkanam Salt Pans” Dey.sandip / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- High-performance cooling with honeycomb porous materials: “Porous Geopolymer Structure” Eva Santini, Michela E. Pedretti, Giovanna Canu, CNR-ICMATE / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Instant generation of high-temperature steam with water-containing porous materials: “Bubbles inside boiling water” Snehit Jamere / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- How gas and liquid properties affect the behavior of liquid films: “Liquid helium Rollin film” I, AlfredLeitner, took this photograph as part of my movie "Liquid Helium,Superfluid" / Public domain (cropped)
- Heat and mass transfer in adsorption and absorption reactions, and applications: “Disassembled chiller heat exchanger” Rsparks3 / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (熱エネルギー有効利用科学): “Chiller” P199 / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (熱物理工学研究室): “Thermal Conductivity Measurement, Modified Transient Plane Source Technique” JimRocket / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (水素適合材料・破壊学研究室): “Toyota Mirai high-pressure hydrogen tank SAO” Mariordo (Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz) / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (界面熱流体研究室): “Water droplet lying on a damask” Petar Milošević / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
About LabLog
LabLog is a lab review app for students only. Student members at each university interview students in labs and publish what they say. Student voices can only be read by students who sign up with a university email address. Operated by bestiee Inc.
Learn more about LabLog ↗Search engines and AI may reference the basic lab info and rating summaries on this page and the description of LabLog. Student voices are for student members only. Automated collection by programs (scraping, or input to or training of AI) is prohibited under Article 8 of the Terms of Service. If you need data for research or analysis, please contact us.