Björn Palm

Senior professor in energy technology at KTH, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

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Björn Palm is senior professor in energy technology at KTH, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, where he for more than 20 years was heading the Division of Applied Thermodynamics and Refrigeration. His research covers components and systems for heat pumps and refrigeration systems, from microstructures of boiling surfaces, to combinations of heat pumps and thermal energy storage for load shifting in the energy system. Publications include two-phase flow in plate heat exchangers and microchannels, nanofluids and enhancement of heat transfer, thermal energy storage, geothermal heat pumps and heat transfer in the ground. A special interest has been the application of natural refrigerants like hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide, but also the use of ammonia in small systems. This has led to investigations of how to design systems with minimum charge of refrigerant. Safety with flammable refrigerants and charge reduction are topics of ongoing research.