Tuesday, November 19th, 9:45am-10:30am
Ravi Prasher, Ph.D
Bloom Energy
Presenting in Track 11: Heat Transfer & Thermal Engineering
Presentation Date: Tuesday, November 19th
Presentation Title: Thermo-Electro-Chemical Science & Engineering
Abstract: Ions have traditionally been explored to manipulate energy processes in material science, chemical and electrical engineering for technologies such as batteries, capacitors and fuel cells. In this talk I will discuss how ions can be used to manipulate thermal properties and how thermal properties can be used to characterize electrochemical systems. To illustrate these ideas, I will discuss the newly invented Ionocaloric refrigeration cycle, operando measurement of electrochemical properties using thermal wave sensing and finally use of heat to increase the efficiency of high temperature solid oxide electrolysis for hydrogen production.
Biography: Ravi Prasher is the Chief Technology Officer of Bloom Energy. He also serves as an adjunct professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley where he advises PhD candidates. Prior to joining Bloom Energy Ravi was the Associate Lab Director of Energy Technology Area at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). His responsibilities included managing research and development in a wide variety of areas, including fuel cells, hydrogen production, storage and transport, electrochemical and thermal storage, carbon capture, microgrids, and renewable energy among others. He was also a Senior Scientist at LBNL where he conducted research in thermal science and engineering. Postdocs from his research group have joined multiple universities worldwide as faculty members. He served as Vice President of Product Development for Shetak Inc., a startup developing thermoelectric energy converters. Ravi’s experience includes being one of the first program directors at US DOE's high-risk high-reward funding agency, ARPA-E, and serving as the technology development manager of Intel’s thermal management group. Ravi has published more than 125 archival papers in top science and engineering journals and holds more than 35 patents. He is a fellow of ASME, a senior member of IEEE and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in February 2024. Ravi obtained his B.Tech. from IIT Delhi and PhD from Arizona State University.