Dr Narayanan is a Mechanical Engineer with a diverse range of experiences which include industrial experience as a Mechanical Engineer, innovative research experience and several academic experiences in a variety of roles over different universities and programs.
He has expertise in sustainable energy systems, renewable energy heating and cooling, energy efficiency, transient heat and mass transfer modelling, and mechanisation of processes.. He has completed several research projects in this area with internal and external partners including international collaborators.
He completed PhD Mechanical Engineering from the University of South Australia on a CSIRO solar flagship project in 2012. His thesis was on the development of solid desiccant systems for dehumidification and cooling in a solar air-conditioning system. During this period, he also worked at UniSA as a Lecturer/ Research Assistant and also completed a Graduate Certificate in Research Commercialisation from UniSA.
In 2013, he worked with the South Australian Government- DIMTRE (Department of Manufacturing, Industry, Trade, Resources and Energy) as Energy Project Officer, providing energy efficiency advice on appliances for the Energy Advisory Group and related projects.
He was featured in a leading industry journal, EQUILIBRIUM, Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Airconditioning, and Heating (AIRAH); his research work has been honoured with a few research excellence awards by several bodies such as AIRAH, SA Govt, and UniSA, etc.
His main area of expertise is low-carbon air-conditioning, particularly solar thermal cooling incorporating the desiccant evaporative cooling system. He has also expertise in the mechanisation of processes, particularly in the Ag Tech Industry. He has carried out several theoretical and experimental investigations on the dehumidification process, developed innovative desiccant drying systems and invented the non-adiabatic desiccant wheel which has high effectiveness in moisture removal. He has over 20 years of experience in the energy field and successfully carried out several joint projects with internal and external partners, including international collaborators. He received several awards which include an award from the Australian Institute of refrigeration, air conditioning and Heating (AIRAH) for outstanding scholarship in the industry.
He has received external research grants of more than 2.5 million Australian dollars in the past five years which belong to different categories including Cat 1 funding. The details of these projects are given on the research page. He has supervised many research students for PhD and Research master courses.
Currently, he is working on novel cooling technologies such as desiccant cooling incorporating the non-adiabatic desiccant wheel and the dew-point evaporative cooler which is superior to the current finalists' project in the global cooling prize (https://globalcoolingprize.org). He also working on a project on integrated green hydrogen production facility with desalination unit powered by low-cost solar photovoltaic thermal (PVT) systems also.
At present, he is a committee member of the special technical group (STG) for the Renewable Energy Heating and Cooling of AIRAH. He is also the Chair of Engineers Australia’s Bundaberg Regional Committee for the year 2019. He is a member of the editorial board member and reviewer of a few international journals such as Energies, Applied Thermal Engineering, Solar Energy Engineering etc.
University of Kerala -Bachelor of Technology (Mechanical Engineering)
University of Kerala -Master of Technology (Mechanical Engineering)
Curtin University, Australia- Graduate Cert in Tertiary teaching
University of South Australia - PhD( Mechanical Engineering)
University of South Australia - Grad Certificate in Research Commercilaisation
Tafe College Seremban, Malaysia and affiliated program of Charles Darwin University, Northumbria University , UK. and Robert Gordon University, UK.
Curtin University, Australia
University of South Australia -
Featured in the liAIRAH magazine ‘ECOLOBRIUM’ December 2012 edition, for the achievement in the PhD research
https://www.bundabergnow.com/2021/02/27/dr-narayanan-awarded-national-teaching-citation/
https://www.cqu.edu.au/cquninews/stories/general-category/2021-general/engineering-expert-recognised-for-outstanding-contribution-to-learning-and-teaching
https://www.cqu.edu.au/cquninews/stories/general-category/2021-general/cquniversity-educators-recognised-for-national-teaching-excellence?
https://cqunilife.com/2016/09/14/cquni-spotlight-featuring-dr-ramadas-narayanan/
Member - Australia Institute of Refrigeration,Air conditioning and Heating (AIRAH)
Committee Member , Special Technical Group- Renewable Heating and Cooling -AIRAH
Member, Engineers Australia
Chair, Engineers Australia Bundaberg Regional Committee
· Member, the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Quality Assurance in Engineering and Technology Education (IJQAETE).
· Reviewer, International Journal for Heat and Mass Transfer, Elsevier.· Member, the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Quality Assurance in Engineering and Technology Education (IJQAETE).
I am currently accredited for supervision in the following:
At the level of Principal Supervisor
Mechanical Engineering - Energy generation, conversion and storage (excl. chemical and electrical)
Solar Thermal Engineering
PVT system, Dehumidification
Greenhouse Heating and Cooling
Mechanisation of processes
Green Hydrogen
Solar cooling
Heat and Mass transfer
Mechanical Engineering - Mechanical Engineering not elsewhere classified
Mechanisation of Agricultural processes,
Harvest and post-harvest operations, Drying