Dr Bo Li

Dr Bo Li is a Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at Kent and he is a lead in heat transfer and thermal energy research. Prior to join University of Kent, he was Senior Research Fellow in the Fluids & Thermal Engineering group at the University of Nottingham since 2017. He has 16 years of research experience in Thermofluids with 70+ refereed journal papers and 50+ international conference papers. His H index is 28 with 3500 + citations (i10-index = 45, Google Scholar).

As principal investigator, he has attracted funding from research councils and industries including Royal Society, EPSRC, Innovate UK, Dynex Semiconductor UK, European Centre for Power Electronics and FAW China, States-Grid China and ZeroAvia. He is university principle investigator in ATI programme with ZeroAvia (£17.5m in total, £1m for Kent). His researches were also supported by research councils through awarded by Innovate UK (101328, Co-I, £8m in total), ECPE (PI-£100k) and The Royal Society (IEC\NSFC\181373, PI-£12k), etc. . He is a member of the EPSRC Peer Review College, expert reviewer in Royal Academy of Engineering.

He is a Chartered Engineer, a member of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), and a member of the turbulent heat transfer group of the UK Fluid Network, and member of the Heat Exchanger Action Group (HEXAG) in the UK, Sustainable Innovation in Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heat pumps (SIRACH) in UK.

From 2023, Dr Bo has been the Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA). He serves external editor and reviewer roles in many journals and conferences, he is an associate Editor Board of Next Energy, youth Editor Board for Energy Reviews by Elsevier, academic Editor of Automotive Innovation, Editor and Session Keynote Speaker at the International Heat Transfer Symposium and Heat Powered Cycles Conference (2014, 2016), Guest Editor of Applied Energy, Guest Editor of the Journal of thermal science, Guest Editor of Frontiers in Thermal Engineering.

He has researched on a wide range of theoretical and experimental topics in the area of thermofluids and advanced cooling methods, such as novel heat exchanger design, new methods of heat transfer enhancement, thermal management method in aerospace propulsion, water management in fuel cell, industrial scale waste heat recovery, high temperature energy storage and integrated propulsion systems (automotive, marine, and aviation).

His research focuses on thermal management through both experimental and simulation (Ansys Fluent, Comsol and LBM) studies of the fundamentals of phase change cooling and thermal sciences. He has strong research interests in new energy materials, such as fuel cells system for advanced propulsion, renewable energy conversion and utilisation, extra thin heat pipes for high performance heat transfer components, high performance ejector for carbon capture technologies.

Please check out his Google Scholar or ResearchGate Page for further information regarding his research.

Dr Bo has many years’ experience in teaching undergraduate and postgraduate modules and mentoring under/postgraduate students in Mechanical Engineering courses.

His current teaching responsibilities include:

• EENG3050: Introduction to Electronics (Module Convener)
• EENG5190: Introduction to Fluid Dynamics (Module Convener)
• EENG5620: Second Year Group Project (Module Convener)
• EENG6480: Dynamics of Machines (Module Convener)
• EENG6000: Final year project (Module Convener)

Dr Bo obtained several awards including “University of Kent Teaching Award 2022 (as a team)” . Dr Bo is also the Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and holds the Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE).

Bo welcomes enquiries from potential PhD candidates and post-doctoral researchers from Home, EU and international countries who are interested in the following research areas:

1. Thermal management for fuel cell stacks;
2. Pore-scale computational methods for multiphase flows;
3. High-power electronic cooling;
4. Metal Hydrides hydrogen storage energy system;
5. Ultra-thin heat pipe design;
6. New advanced propulsion.

Current Research projects

1. Principle Investigator. ATI programme - Project 10097017 - AFCAD (Advanced Fuel Cells for
2. Aviation Decarbonization, £17.5m in total, £1m in UoK) KTP project-3D solid mechanics-CFD modelling of a PEM fuel cell stack.

Past Research Projects

1. APC8 project - Innovate UK (£8m ) : Lead Researcher and project manager, AceDrive-Advanced Integration and Cooling of Electric Drives.
2. The Royal Society- International Exchanges Scheme - Cost Share Programme (£12k): Project lead: Advanced manufacturing and performance optimization of ultra-thin micro heat pipes.
3. Low Carbon Vehicle projects sponsored by FAW Group Corporation (£200K, First Automobile Works, Changchun, China). The projects aim to prominently reduce carbon emission from passenger cars by means of converting exhaust waste into useful electricity.
4. Innovate UK project (£200k, Lead researcher): Intelligent and Efficient Thermal Managed Power for Low Carbon Vehicles. New power electronic cooling methods were explored which related to phase-change cooling and high-performance vapour chamber.
5. Key member in Horizon 2020 (Project: 778104, € 1,962,000): EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions: Smart thermal management of high-power microprocessors using phase-change.
6. Principal investigator. ECPE awards from Power Electronic Network in Europe (Continental, Danfoss, Dynex sponsored. £100k). Phase change cooling system for high power density IGBT module for electrified powertrain.
7. Key member and major propose writer in EU-FP7 project (295224, € 220 500) - Biomimetic Approaches of Natural Functional Surfaces with hierarchical micro & nano structure and the extreme Wettability.
8. Key member in Horizon 2020 (Project: 778104, € 1,962,000): EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions: Smart thermal management of high-power microprocessors using phase-change.