Professor Tadhg O'Donovan

Dr Tadhg O’Donovan graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering in 2001. He continued in Trinity College and worked on research projects funded by Enterprise Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland before completing his Ph.D. (Thesis title: "Fluid flow and heat transfer of an impinging air jet") in early 2005 and a prestigious Eurotherm Award for this work in 2008. He was appointed as a lecturer in Mechanical Engineering in Trinity College in 2005 and worked primarily on the development of synthetic air jets for application in electronics thermal management. Tadhg joined Heriot-Watt University in 2007 as a lecturer in Mechanical Engineering.

His research now includes the thermal management of High Concentrating Solar Photovoltaic Cells (HCPV), Electronic Components and Solar Thermal and CPV/T Systems. In 2011 he formed part of a successful bid for a project to help Bridge the Urban Rural Divide (BURD) by installing a renewable energy power plant in small town in rural India. More recently he has led research projects to develop cooling technology for Unmanned Air Systems and a feasibility study aimed at driving down the cost of renewable energy from solar thermal power plants.

Tadhg currently supervises 5 PhD students and is the author of 24 peer reviewed journal publications. He has won grant funding from Enterprise Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland, the UK and India Education and Research Initiative, the Science and Technology Facilities Council and the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory

Dr O’Donovan’s research interests concern convective heat transfer and fluid flow. His research has developed techniques to measure the temporal nature of surface heat flux. This is used to investigate and enhance heat transfer rates to impinging air jets for electronics cooling applications. Temporal investigation of the surface heat flux to arrays of synthetic air jets has enhanced their cooling potential by 36%.

Dr O’Donovan’s research also contributes to the development of solar energy technology. Solar receivers with a helical coil geometry have been designed to develop a Dean vortex flow to enhance mixing and surface heat flux with only minimal extra pumping requirement. In collaboration with the UK Astromony Technology Centre (UKATC) he has conducted a feasibility study and preliminary design of a fixed focus tracking solar concentrator and solar thermal store as part of a 5kW power plant. Solar energy research has also included the thermal management of high concentrating solar cells; the electrical conversion efficiency of PV cells can be substantially increased by decreasing their operating temperature.

Other research interests include solar thermal storage in molten salts, water purification using membrane distillation, the thermal regulatory system of the body and blood perfusion measurement and thermal management of Fischer-Tropsch process for Gas to Liquid conversion.

Book chapters

1. Moffat, R., and O'Donovan, T. S., 2017, “Temperature and Heat Transfer Measurements,” in R Chhabra (ed.), CRC Handbook of Thermal Engineering. 2 edn, 4.25, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Series, CRC Press.

Refereed articles

Advances in thermochemical energy storage and fluidised beds for domestic heat. Marie, L. F., Landini, S., Bae, D., Francia, V. & O'Donovan, T. S., Sep 2022, In: Journal of Energy Storage. 53, 105242. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Effect of thermal load on performance parameters of solar concentrating photovoltaic: High-efficiency solar cells. Maka, A. O. M. & O'Donovan, T. S., Apr 2022, In: Energy and Built Environment. 3, 2, p. 201-209 9 p. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review.

Design of tunnel drier for the non-centrifugal sugar industry. Raj, S. P., Srinivas, M., Sravya, B., O'Donovan, T. S. & Reddy, K. S., May 2021, In: International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies. 16, 2, p. 407-416 10 p. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Landini, S., and O’Donovan, T. S., 2019, “Li-ion batteries Thermal Management Systems: Literature Review,” Journal of Energy Storage (under review, submitted Februry 2019).

Ghani, F., and O’Donovan, T. S., 2019, “The impact of degradation on the characterisation of Copper Indium Diselenide (CIS) and micromorphic (µc-Si:H) photovoltaic modules,” Energy (under review, submitted August 2018).

Maka, A. O., and O’Donovan, T. S. 2019, “Analysis of thermal response and electrical characterisation of triple-junction solar cells based on variable solar spectral irradiance and air mass,” Thermal Science and Engineering Progress, (in press).

Maka, A. O., and O'Donovan, T. S., 2019, "Modelling of the thermal behaviour of solar high concentrating photovoltaic receiver," Thermal Science and Engineering Progress, 9, pp. 281-288.

Amber, I., and O'Donovan, T., 2018, "Natural convection induced by the absorption of solar radiation: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 82, pp. 3526-3545.

Ghani, F., Waser, R., O'Donovan, T., Schuetz, P., Zaglio, M., and Wortischek, J., 2018, "Non-linear system identification of a latent heat thermal energy storage system," Applied Thermal Engineering, 134, pp. 585-593.

Theristis, M., Fernández, E. F., Georghiou, G. E., and O'Donovan, T. S., 2018, "Performance of a concentrating photovoltaic monomodule under real operating conditions: Part II–Power rating," Energy Conversion and Management, 156, pp. 329-336.

Waser, R., Ghani, F., Maranda, S., O'Donovan, T., Schuetz, P., Zaglio, M., and Worlitschek, J., 2018, "Fast and experimentally validated model of a latent thermal energy storage device for system level simulations," Applied Energy, 231, pp. 116-126.

Amber, I., and O’Donovan, T., 2017, "A numerical simulation of heat transfer in an enclosure with a nonlinear heat source," Numerical Heat Transfer, Part A: Applications, 71(11), pp. 1081-1093.

Amber, I., and O’Donovan, T., 2017, "Heat transfer in a molten salt filled enclosure absorbing concentrated solar radiation," International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 113, pp. 444-455.

Ghani, F., Fernandez, E. F., Almonacid, F., and O'Donovan, T. S., 2017, "The numerical computation of lumped parameter values using the multi-dimensional Newton-Raphson method for the characterisation of a multi-junction CPV module using the five-parameter approach," Solar Energy, 149, pp. 302-313.

Theristis, M., Fernández, E. F., Sumner, M., and O'Donovan, T. S., 2017, "Multiphysics modelling and experimental validation of high concentration photovoltaic modules," Energy Conversion and Management, 139, pp. 122-134.

Theristis, M., Fernández, E. F., Georghiou, G. E., and O'Donovan, T. S., 2017, "Performance of a concentrating photovoltaic monomodule under real operating conditions: Part I–Outdoor characterisation," Energy conversion and management, 154, pp. 311-321.

Odunsi, A. O., O'Donovan, T. S., and Reay, D. A., 2016, "Temperature stabilisation in Fischer–Tropsch reactors using phase change material (PCM)," Applied Thermal Engineering, 93, pp. 1377-1393.

McGuinn, A., Rylatt, D. I., and O’Donovan, T. S., 2016, "Heat transfer enhancement to an array of synthetic air jets by an induced crossflow," Applied Thermal Engineering, 103, pp. 996-1003.

Theristis, M., Fernández, E. F., Ferrer-Rodríguez, J. P., Stark, C., O’Donovan, T. S., Wiesenfarth, M., Bett, A., and Muller, M., "Energy yield assessment of a high concentration photovoltaic receiver based on simulated spectra from typical meteorological year datasets," Proc. AIP Conference Proceedings, AIP Publishing, p. 090009.

Conference papers published as proceedings

1. Maka, A. O., O’Donovan, T. S., 2017, “Thermal performance modelling of a solar concentrating photovoltaic CPV receiver,” 15th UK Heat Transfer Conference

2. Ghani, F., O'Donovan, T. S., and Zaglio, M., 2017, “Solar thermal technologies for domestic hot water applications: an energy and economic investigation comparing flat plate and evacuated tube type collectors," ISES Solar World Congress, IEA SHC International Conference on Solar Heating and Cooling for Buildings and Industry.

3. Ghani, F., O'Donovan, T. S., and Zaglio, M., 2016, “Rapid Calculation of Series and Shunt Resistance Values for a Solar Cell," 32nd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference Munich, Germany.

4. Theristis, M., Stark, C., and O'Donovan, T. S., 2015, “Determination of the cooling requirements for single cell photovoltaic receivers under variable atmospheric parameters,” Proceedings of Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC), IEEE 42nd, IEEE, pp. 1-5.

5. Maka, A. O., O’Donovan, T. S., 2015, “Temperature dependence of energy band gaps in triple junction solar cell,” 14th UK Heat Transfer Conference

6. Amber, I and O’Donovan, T. S., 2014, “Numerical simulation of heat transfer in a directly illuminated solar thermal energy store,” 15th International Heat Transfer Conference, Kyoto, IHTC15-9290

7. Theristis, M. and O’Donovan, T. S., 2014, “An integrated thermal electrical model for single cell photovoltaic receivers under concentration,” 15th International Heat Transfer Conference, Kyoto, IHTC15-9239

8. Rylatt, D. I. and O'Donovan T. S., 2014, “The effects of stroke length and Reynolds number on heat transfer to a ducted confined and semi-confined synthetic air jet,” Journal of Physics, Conference Series, 525 (1), 012012

9. Theristis, M., Mallick, T. K. and O’Donovan, T. S., 2013, “Numerical Investigation of heat transfer within a High Concentration Photovoltaic (HCPV) system,” Eurotherm Seminar 98: Concentrating Solar Energy Systems,

10. Theristis, M., Arnaoutakis, G., Sarmah, N., Mallick, T. K. and O’Donovan, T. S., 2013, “Solar spectrum dependent thermal model for HCPV systems,” 13th UK Heat Transfer Conference, No. 124

11. Theristis, M., Sarmah, N., Mallick, T. K., and O’Donovan, T. S., 2012, “Design and numerical analysis of enhanced cooling techniques for a high concentration photovoltaic (HCPV) system,” Proceedings 27th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC).

12. Brown, K. J., Byrne, G., O’Donovan, T. S. and Murray, D. B., 2012, “Effect of thermal boundary condition on heat dissipation due to swirling jet impingement on a heated plate,” Journal of Physics, Conference Series, 395 (1), 012039

13. Amber, I., and O’Donovan, T. S., 2012, "Numerical simulation of heat transfer in a directly illuminated solar thermal energy store," Proceedings 15th International Heat Transfer Conference

14. Rylatt, D. I. and O’Donovan, T. S., 2012, “Time and frequency domain investigation of the heat transfer to a synthetic air jet,” Journal of Physics, Conference Series, 395 (1), 012046

15. Hughes, A. J., O'Donovan, T. S., and Mallick, T. K., 2012, “Development of a membrane distillation system with concentrating photovoltaic/thermal energy source for seawater desalination,” 13th IWA UK National Young Water Professionals Conference, Exeter.