Statement of interest ´ Experimental investigation of high-temperature thermal

storage with recycled materials ´

Ricardo Andres Toledo Quiroz
ritoledoq@gmail.com
PhD program in Mechanical, Manufacturing and Mechatronic Engineering

Since childhood I have been curious to understand how things work. This made me decide
to study applied physics, where I discovered my vocation for experimental research.
Due to the fact that in my country there are several problems with the use of fossil fuels
(pollution), drinking water deficit and recycling, when I finished my undergraduate degree I
decided to direct my studies in topics related particularly to renewable energy, recycling,
and renewable resources. Therefore, when I applied to my master's studies, I chose a
mention in mechanical engineering and developed research in heat transfer applied to the
thermal efficiency of lithium-ion cells, since this technology is one of the possible solutions
for energy storage and it use of renewable energies. Additionally, and because my interest
in the future is to work in a research center (or university), the PhD program in Mechanical,
Manufacturing and Mechatronic Engineering that I am applying in your university and
specifically to the project 'Experimental investigation of high-temperature thermal storage
with recycled materials', will allow me to expand my knowledge in other energy storage
methods and generate learning instances that help me to adquire other tools in experimental
methods, numerical modeling and improve contact networks with other researched in this
areas.
This project, offered by Professor Gary Rosengarten, caught my attention because it
encompasses two of my primary interests, energy and recycling, where this project has the
potential to improve packed bed thermal storage using gases such as air or helium that pass
through of recycled elements, this study in the future could reduce the cost of this
technology and make it more attractive in energy storage, which would facilitate the
process of switching between energies from polluting sources to renewable ones. In
addition, the university has a solid reputation in scientific research, and offers me
infrastructure and facilities that I can hardly find in my country.
In this way and with my experimental knowledges in instrumentation acquired when
developing a system for measuring radiofrequency noise in a cryostat as an undergraduate
thesis, and my comprehension in thermodynamics and programming when doing my
master's thesis on improving the thermal performance of cells through its packaging, where
the experience that my postgraduate thesis gave me to carry out a scientific publication
helped me to understand the processes and times in research and will allow me to make
new publications about the scientific/technological advances that would be developed in the
project. And Finally with my experience in fluid dynamics simulation and data acquisition
in a turbine prototype at my work as a project engineer in Quillagua (a Chilean start-up), I
feel be able to contribute to the successful development of this project.