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Electric Vehicles, Thermohdrodynamic analysis, Vehicle efficiency, Biodiesel, Journal Bearings, Hydrodynamic Lubrication, Waste Energy Harvest, High efficiency Engines
Portugal

Biography

Francisco Brito is an assistant Professor at the Mechanical Engineering Dept of the University of Aveiro (Aveiro, Portugal) and an integrated researcher of TEMA (Centre for Mechanical Technology and Automation) of the same institution. He is also a collaborating researcher at MEtRICs - Mechanical Engineering and Resource Sustainability Center of the University of Minho (Guimarães, Portugal) through the Laboratory of Thermal Engines and Applied Thermodynamics (LaMoTA).

His main research interests include:
• Efficiency improvement of vehicles and Internal Combustion Engines
• Waste Heat recovery with the use of thermoelectric modules
• Heat Pipes and Variable Conductance Heat Pipes
• Heat exchangers and cooling plates
• Energy assessment of electric / hybrid and conventional vehicles
• Alternative fuels for Internal Combustion Engines
• Hybridization of the electric vehicle (efficiency oriented range extenders);
• Hydrodynamic lubrication of bearings - thermohydrodynamic modelling and testing

He has been focusing on the subject of his Post-doctoral grant, which relates to “Waste Energy Harvesting and Energy Efficiency Optimization in Conventional and Electrified Vehicle Powertrains”.
He leads a team in the area of Thermoelectric generators for automotive and industrial applications. In this scope, he has been the Principal Investigator of some national and international projects such as FCT Project Exhaust2Energy (ongoing) and ThinHarvest (concluded), as well as team leader of the UMinho team of european M-ERA.net project THERMOSS.
In the area of Thermoelectric (TE) generation he is most interested in the heat transfer optimization, but he also works on the modelling of TE devices. His team developed some concepts of exhaust heat exchangers with thermal control. Using phase change devices such as thermosiphons and variable conductance heat pipes they were able to control the thermal level of the Thermoelectric modules under the highly variable thermal loads present in driving cycles
He collaborates in several projects related to the efficiency improvement of engines including overexpansion, unconventional crankshafts, water injection and regenerative cooling. In this scope, he has a patent on an engine (Hyper4) which incorporates many of these technologies. He has been collaborating in the Research of high efficiency engines with American companies LiquidPiston and MNC Engineering LLC (see publications).

He has also collaborated in the testing of engines with alternative fuels (Biodiesel, bio-oil, CNG, LPG, dual fuel) and on the performance improvement of racing engines with Rectificadora de Guimarães.
On the area of electric mobility, he has been researching on efficiency-oriented range extenders for EVs (see publications), on the retrofitting of combustion cars to electric. In this area, he collaborated in a project were an in-wheel motor to retrofit an existing vehicle was developed. He was part of the managing team of a big MIT Portugal Project - MOBI-MPP - Assessment and Development of Integrated Systems for Electric Vehicles. He is an author of a unique book on Electric Vehicles which provides a detailed account on the electric car models that appeared since their invention until today (see publications).

In parallel with the post-doctoral grant activity, he continues to dedicate himself (albeit to a lesser extent) to the area of the hydrodynamic lubrication of journal bearings, the specialty of his PhD research. The work developed during the PhD program was theoretical and experimental in nature, and included the development of a theoretical model by numerical simulation and the implementation of an extensive program of laboratory testing for the validation and refinement of the theoretical model. The experimental work was conducted at the Laboratory of Tribology and Machine Elements of the Mechanical Engineering Department of University of Minho (Braga) and at the Laboratoire de Mécanique des Solides (now Pprime institute) of the University of Poitiers (France);
The work included, among others, the following tasks:
• Design and performance analysis of bearings;
• theoretical modeling of fluid mechanics, viscous dissipation, and heat transfer in lubricant films;
• Analysis of the influence of the lubricant feed conditions on the performance of bearings;
• modeling of the heat transfer in the presence of a ruptured film;
• Numerical simulation environment in Visual FORTRAN 95;
• Acquisition and sensor signal processing.
He Continues to collaborate with groups in the area of lubrication Science at the University of Poitiers and the University of Minho, including a collaboration with the UM University of Shahid Bahonar (Kerman, Iran) in the area of hydrodynamic bearings in turbulent regime. He also collaborated in an exploratory team of NATO Research and Technology Organization dedicated to the study of advanced lubrication systems for gas turbine engines for military aircraft applications.

Activities

Employment (3)

Universidade do Minho Escola de Engenharia: Guimaraes, PT

2022-09-01 to present | Assistant Professor (tenure track) (Mechanical Engineering)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
F. P. Brito

University of Aveiro: Aveiro, PT

2021-09-01 to 2022-08-31 | Assistant Professor (Mechanical Engineering Department)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
F. P. Brito

Universidade do Minho: Guimaraes, Minho, PT

2013-05-01 to 2021-08-31 | Invited Assistant Professor, Postdoctoral Researcher (Mechanical Engineering Department)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
F. P. Brito

Education and qualifications (2)

Universidade do Minho: Guimaraes, Minho, PT

2003-03-01 to 2009-09-23 | PhD (Mechanical Engineering Department)
Education
Source: Self-asserted source
F. P. Brito

Universidade Técnica de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico: Lisboa, Lisboa, PT

1992-09-01 to 1998-03-01 | BSc in Mechanical Engineering ( 5 year degree) (Mechanical Engineering Department)
Education
Source: Self-asserted source
F. P. Brito

Peer review (101 reviews for 25 publications/grants)

Review activity for Applied energy. (7)
Review activity for Energy & fuels. (2)
Review activity for Energy conversion and management. (4)
Review activity for Energy conversion and management. (16)
Review activity for Energy. (5)
Review activity for Energy. (20)
Review activity for Heat transfer - Asian research. (1)
Review activity for International journal of physical sciences. (1)
Review activity for Journal of electronic materials. (3)
Review activity for Journal of energy resources technology. (2)
Review activity for Journal of marine science and engineering. (3)
Review activity for Meccanica. (1)
Review activity for Mechanics & industry. (1)
Review activity for Microsystem technologies. (1)
Review activity for Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. (1)
Review activity for Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. (1)
Review activity for Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. (8)
Review activity for Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. (6)
Review activity for Processes. (2)
Review activity for Renewable energy. (4)
Review activity for Renewable energy. (3)
Review activity for SAE International journal of engines. (3)
Review activity for Transactions of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering. (1)
Review activity for Tribology international. (2)
Review activity for Tribology transactions. (3)