Two U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory scientists recently were named fellows in prestigious engineering associations.
Two U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory scientists recently were named fellows in prestigious engineering associations.
Principal Mechanical Engineer Sreenath B. Gupta has been designated as a fellow by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Principal Research Scientist Christopher F. Powell has been recognized as a fellow by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).
Gupta has contributed to advanced ignition systems that have helped revolutionize the power and propulsion industry. Specializing in building complex electro-mechanical and combustion systems, he is a leader in developing laser ignitors for engines and decarbonization technologies for power generation. He has varied expertise in areas including optics, lasers, mechanical design and thermo-fluids engineering.
“I am so honored to receive the ASME fellowship recognizing my work over 24 years at Argonne,” Gupta said. “Along with the many successes, there were failures and disappointments, which often tend to get overlooked. I would like this ASME recognition to serve as an example for young engineers and scientists who experience failures. Ultimately, your efforts will be recognized.”
Among his many achievements, Gupta has focused on developing and testing technologies that improve engine combustion efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. He invented a groundbreaking laser-based ignition system for use with stationary natural gas reciprocating engines that outperforms traditional sparkplugs.
Gupta has patented six of his innovations and has 75 published papers, including 15 publications in the ASME Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power.
“Sreenath’s expertise is a unique blend of academic rigor and pragmatism that has resulted in the development of several field deployable laser-based devices/instruments,” said Sibendu Som, director of Argonne’s Advanced Propulsion and Power Department.
In his 25-plus years at Argonne, Powell has made significant contributions towards understanding and developing fuel injectors and components for next-generation engines for the automotive industry. Powell leads experimental work studying fuel injection and sprays that play a critical role in automobile design. He specializes in using X-ray diagnostics that provide unparalleled insights into fuel injection processes.
“It’s very satisfying to have my contributions to the field of automotive engineering, including my work on fuel injection systems, recognized by my peers,” Powell said. “Even more so from SAE, a very large association that covers such a broad range of issues. At the dinner honoring new SAE fellows, it was very rewarding to be congratulated by so many people that I have looked up to throughout my career.”
Powell began as a post-doctoral researcher at Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source (APS), premier storage-ring-based high-energy X-ray light source and DOE Office of Science user facility. Harnessing the power of APS, Powell and his team were the first to apply synchrotron X-rays to the study of fuel injection research. This technology generates unique, physics-based datasets used by computer modelers at Argonne and around the world to develop more accurate fuel injection simulations.
Widely used by U.S. engine manufacturers, the simulations speed the development and adoption of highly efficient engines and zero-carbon fuels. A prolific researcher, Powell has more than 150 publications including many SAE conference and journal papers.
“Chris is a true stalwart in the field of fuel injection and sprays. His work has brought tremendous visibility to his research group and the laboratory at-large. It has been a privilege for me to collaborate with Chris during my early research career at Argonne,” Som said.
About the Advanced Photon Source
The U. S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory is one of the world’s most productive X-ray light source facilities. The APS provides high-brightness X-ray beams to a diverse community of researchers in materials science, chemistry, condensed matter physics, the life and environmental sciences, and applied research. These X-rays are ideally suited for explorations of materials and biological structures; elemental distribution; chemical, magnetic, electronic states; and a wide range of technologically important engineering systems from batteries to fuel injector sprays, all of which are the foundations of our nation’s economic, technological, and physical well-being. Each year, more than 5,000 researchers use the APS to produce over 2,000 publications detailing impactful discoveries, and solve more vital biological protein structures than users of any other X-ray light source research facility. APS scientists and engineers innovate technology that is at the heart of advancing accelerator and light-source operations. This includes the insertion devices that produce extreme-brightness X-rays prized by researchers, lenses that focus the X-rays down to a few nanometers, instrumentation that maximizes the way the X-rays interact with samples being studied, and software that gathers and manages the massive quantity of data resulting from discovery research at the APS.
This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357.
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