Finding ICE in His Veins, Thanks to the Right Professor
Modified to modern ecological and energy-efficiency standards, internal-combustion engines (ICE) will always have their place, even in the electric-vehicle age. And it won’t always be under the hood.
Welcome to Stony Brook University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, where Assistant Professor Dimitris Assanis – winner of a 2022 Excellence in Teaching Award from SBU’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences – and other amazing educators are leading the charge toward cleaner, better ICE technologies.
For Dr. Assanis – who earned his bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and PhD (all in mechanical engineering) at the University of Michigan and spent 12 years as principal engineer at Assanis & Associates, his family’s Detroit-based automotive-tech consultancy – the focus is on carbon-free combustion engines.
But that goes way beyond traditional transportation. Combustion engines powered by hydrogen and other clean renewables could operate “planes, trains, ships or distributed power generation,” according to Dr. Assanis, and “working [at the AERTC], we have the best chance to develop the technology and determine its best uses.”
Among those working on this at the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center is graduate student Teddy Hafif, on course for a master’s degree in mechanical engineering next spring and knee-deep in a project that could improve engine efficiency not in motor vehicles, but in a Nassau County wastewater-treatment plant.
The Cedar Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, operated by Veolia North America, relies on compression-ignition engines to do its dirty work: treating some 72 million gallons of contaminated water per day. Those engines can run on various fuels – diesel, natural gas, even manufactured biogas – each with its own environmental and performance parameters.
Hafif analyzed the engines, first understanding their mechanics then tracking the performance of different fuels under various operating conditions, always looking to improve efficiency and functionality and “ultimately reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
“I first needed to classify the engines and understand the mechanics of the power-generation system and the power demands of the plants,” he says. “Next, I began to look at the fuels used in the engine and the associated thermodynamic energy-conversion cycles.”
All that accumulated data fed advanced computer simulations that further tested engine efficiency – “not only from a performance basis,” Hafif notes, “but also understanding the technoeconomic and life-cycle assessment of each fuel choice.”
In the world of advanced ICE mechanics, this is as heady as it gets. Material this thick requires an expert guide, and Hafif has that in Dr. Assanis – an instructor whose No. 1 objective, according to the student, is not good grades.
“Throughout my time knowing the professor, he was always adamant about students learning the material,” Hafif says. “Not just focusing on maintaining a high GPA.
“This was made obvious through the professor’s teaching style, his accessibility outside of class and his eagerness for students to be active in class,” he adds. “This sentiment resonated heavily with me.”
Also resonating are the next-generation technologies inside Dr. Assanis’ AERTC-based Advanced Combustion & Energy Systems Laboratory, multiplied by the high-performance computing clusters of SBU’s Institute for Advanced Computational Sciences.
Those world-class resources – along with system-analysis software designed by Argonne National Laboratory and direct access to Veolia North America’s inner workings and best minds – gave Hafif a new understanding of engine architecture and alternative fuels.
And they prepared him well for his next adventure: studying abroad.
“As we continue this work next semester, I will be remotely at SUNY Korea,” Hafif notes. “I will work with Prof. Assanis’ graduate students, who will perform representative combustion experiments to help further guide our improvements.”
That’s important, he adds, since better understanding ICE technologies “will help shift society’s dependencies on carbon-based fuels” – a lesson the student learned well under the wing of a master.
“Professor Assanis explains things in a tangible and digestible manner,” Hafif says. “He has a talent for interacting with students in ways that engage them – even in subjects that they wouldn’t normally be interested in.
“This has completely shifted my viewpoint on ICEs and energy.”