Greg Wilk
Masters Student
Greg is a second year graduate student working on the development of prototype components for using liquid metal as a high temperature heat transfer fluid. Greg earned his B.S. in engineering mechanics in 2013 from the UIUC. While attending UIUC, Greg participated in various activities and research related to energy sustainability. He was a committee member in the Student Sustainability Committee and helped allocate 3 million dollars to campus sustainability projects. He also worked on helical plasma research with the US Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Laboratory and during the summers, he interned at Northrop Grumman and Caterpillar, where he worked on missile warning sensors and engine simulations respectively. Greg also led a senior design team that designed, built and tested a hydraulic hybrid bicycle that featured energy storage and regenerative braking.
Greg’s current research is focused designing, building and testing a compact heat sink that can transfer heat from liquid metal at 1500°C to oil at room temperature. The heat sink relies on radiation between the hot and cold finned tubes in order to avoid high thermal stresses from convective exchange. The challenges are using materials that are compatible with molten metal while having a large thermal conductivity to allow effective heat transfer. Greg is also investigating ways to control temperatures within the heat sink and adjust for different experimental conditions. The heat sink research has further potential regarding high temperature heat exchangers that can be used to transfer stored thermal energy to power cycle working fluids in the context of high temperature concentrated solar power (CSP). Ultimately he is interested working in a national laboratory environment researching sustainable energy solutions.
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