Alumni Profiles

Alexander Rattner

  • Program Years: 2011-2015
  • Academic Institution: Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Field of Study: Mechanical Engineering
  • Academic Advisor: Srinivas Garimella
  • Practicum(s):
    Idaho National Laboratory (2012)
  • Degree(s):
    Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2015
    B.S.E. Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics, University of Pennsylvania, 2009

Current Status

  • Status: Assistant Professor, The Pennsylvania State University
  • Research Area: Mechanical Engineering
  • Personal URL: http://sites.psu.edu/mtfe

Publications

Journal Publications:

Rattner, A.S., Garimella, S., 2015. Vertical upward intermediate scale Taylor flow: experiments and kinematic closure. International Journal of Multiphase Flow (in press).

Bustamante, J.G., Rattner, A.S., Garimella, S., 2015. Toward air-cooled power plant condensers approaching wet cooling performance. Applied Thermal Engineering (in press).

Rattner, A.S., Garimella, S., 2015. Coupling-fluid heated bubble pump generators for low-temperature fully thermally activated single pressure absorption systems. Science and Technology for the Built Environment 21 (3): 332–347. DOI: 10.1080/10789669.2015.1004978.

Goyal, A., Rattner, A.S., Garimella, S., 2014. Model-based feedback control of an ammonia-water absorption chiller. Science and Technology for the Built Environment 21 (3): 357–364. DOI: 10.1080/10789669.2014.982412.

Rattner, A.S., Garimella, S., 2014. Simple mechanistically consistent formulation for volume-of- fluid based computations of condensing flows. Journal of Heat Transfer 136 (7): 71501-1–9. DOI: 10.1115/1.4026808.

Viswanathan, V.K., Rattner, A.S., Determan, M.D., Garimella, S., 2013. Dynamic model for a small- scale ammonia-water absorption chiller. HVAC&R Journal 19 (7): 865–881. DOI: 10.1080/10789669.2013.833974.

Rattner, A.S., Garimella, S., March 2012. Simulación a nivel de componente y sistema acoplados en un sistema de refrigeración por absorción difusión para aplicaciones residenciales. Frio Calor Aire Acondicionado: 3–12.

Rattner, A.S., Garimella, S., 2011. Energy harvesting, reuse and upgrade to reduce primary energy usage in the USA. Energy 36 (10): 6172–6183. DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2011.07.047.

Rattner, A.S., Nagavarapu, A., Garimella, S., Fuller, T.F., 2011. Modeling of a flat plate membrane- distillation system for liquid desiccant regeneration in air-conditioning applications. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 54 (15-16): 3650–3660. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2011.02.064.


Conference Publications:

Rattner, A.S., Bustamante, J.G., Garimella, S., 2015. Air-cooled power plant condensers at water- cooled performance levels – is it possible? Thermal and Fluid Engineering Summer Conference, New York City, NY.

Goyal, A., Rattner, A.S., Garimella, S., 2014. Model-based feedback control of an ammonia-water absorption chiller. International Sorption Heat Pump Conference, College Park, MD.

Guillen, D.P., Rattner, A.S., Joshi, A., Garimella, S., 2013. Extensible framework for illustrative visualization of time-varying flows. ANS Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA.

Rattner, A.S., Garimella, S., 2012. Design and analysis of the absorption component in waste-heat- driven diffusion absorption refrigeration systems. ASME Heat Transfer Conference, San Juan, PR. DOI: 10.1115/HT2012-58608.

Rattner, A.S., and Garimella, S., 2011. Coupled component- and system-level simulation of a diffusion absorption refrigeration system for residential applications. International Sorption Heat Pump Conference, Padua, Italy.

Rattner, A.S., Garimella, S., 2010. Temperature-weighted assessment of waste heat availability with matched end-use applications for optimal primary energy usage in the USA. International Mechanical Engineering Conference and Exposition, Vancouver, BC. DOI: 10.1115/IMECE2010-39332.

Awards

Best Paper Award, International Sorption Heat Pump Conference (2014)

New Fellows First Place Award, Poster symposium, DOE CSGF Annual Conference (2012)

Honorable Mention, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (2010)

Ralph Teetor Engineering Student Award from University of Pennsylvania (2009)

William K. Gemmill Memorial Award for senior design project, University of Pennsylvania (2009)

University Scholar, University of Pennsylvania (2005 – 2009)