Prof. TSO Chi Yan (曹之胤)

Dr. Tso is currently an Assistant Professor of School of Energy and Environment at the City University of Hong Kong (CityU). He received his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering with 1^st class honors, MPhil degree in Environmental Engineering and PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) in 2010, 2012 and 2015, respectively. During the period from Nov. 2014 to May 2015, Dr. Tso exchanged at the University of California, Berkeley as a Fulbright Visiting Research Scholar. From Sep. 2015 to Aug. 2016, he was a Research Associate/Post-doctoral Fellow at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE), HKUST. From Sep. 2016 to Aug. 2018, he served as Research Assistant Professor at the MAE, HKUST and a Junior Fellow at the HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study (IAS).

Dr. Tso joined the CityU as Assistant Professor in the School of Energy and Environment in Sep 2018. His research interest covers thermofluid, energy conversion in a built environment, particularly, in the fields of heat transfer, adsorption technology, thermal rectification, nanofluids, smart windows and passive radiative cooling using numerical simulations as well as advanced experimental techniques.

In early 2018, Dr. Tso has established a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) named Introduction to Indoor Air Quality with Prof. Christopher Y.H. Chao (Dean of Engineering and Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong) on Coursera. Besides, Dr. Tso is also active in entrepreneurship and technology transfer, and has obtained more than 5 patents and has been involved in setting up a start-up in 2012.

Adsorption Cooling/Dehumidification Systems; Passive Radiative Cooling; Thermochromic Smart Windows; Energy and Built Environment; Thermal Rectification; Nanofluids Heat Transfer; Energy Efficient Systems; Thermal Management for High Performance Systems; Smart Green Buildings Technology.

• Fulbright Scholar, Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, USA. (Nov 2014 – May 2015)
• Visiting Scholar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA. (Aug 2012)
• Member, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, (ASME), USA. (2013 – Date)

SEE 2003, Introduction to Energy and Environmental Data Analysis (Semester A 2018/19), CityU

• Co-Author of the HKIE Best Transactions Paper Prize by X.J. Wang (2018)
• Co-Author of the Best Student Paper Award by S. Jeong, 4^th International Conference on Building Energy and Environment (COBEE 2018), Melbourne, Australia (2018)
• PhD Research Excellence Award, School of Engineering, HKUST (2016)
• Fulbright – Research Grant Council (RGC) Hong Kong Research Scholar Award (2015)
• Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fellowship for Postgraduate Study (2014)
• JEC Outstanding Engineering Project Award, Jardine Engineering Co., 2^nd runner up (2013)
• Research Paper Award (Third Prize), Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Conference on Low Carbon Town and Physical Energy Storage, Changsha, China (2013)
• HKUST One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition, 1^st runner up (2012)
• Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Award (2012)
• Ove Arup Research Prize Award (2012)
• Final Year Design Project (FYDP): Development of a Torsional Wave Demonstrator (displayed in the Hong Kong Science Museum for long-term exhibition) (2010 – 2018)

• News: Hong Kong Headline News 頭條日報, Topic: Adsorption Cooling Systems, a new environmentally-friendly cooling system, no refrigerants, no compressors. Date: 23 Nov 2012, Page: P40.
• Radio: Commercial Radio Hong Kong 香港商業電台雷霆881, <<人生交叉盤>>, Invited by 陳永陸(陸叔), Topic: How to make our planet greener. Date: 22 Feb 2013.
• TV Advertisement: Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks, Topic: Green Life, Making things happen (Hong Kong Science Park Phase 3). Date: Feb 2013.
• RTHK: 香港電台節目《日常8點半》, 空內空氣質素. Date: Sep 2018

1. C.Y. Tso and C.Y.H. Chao, Passive Thermal Diode, U.S. Provisional Application Serial No, 62/231,701 filed on July 14, 2016.
2. C.Y. Tso, C.Y.H. Chao and G.N. Sze To, Activated Carbon/Silica-gel/CaCl₂ Composite Adsorbent Material for Air-Conditioning Applications and a Method of Preparing the Same, US Full Application, US Patent No. 8962520,  24 Feb 2015.
3. C.Y. Tso, C.Y.H. Chao and G.N. Sze To, Activated Carbon/Silica-gel/CaCl₂ Composite Adsorbent Material for Air-Conditioning Applications and a Method of Preparing the Same, Chinese Full Application, Chinese Patent No. ZL201210109454.3, 9 July 2014.
4. C.Y. Tso, C.Y.H. Chao and G.N. Sze To, Activated Carbon/Silica-gel/CaCl₂ Composite Adsorbent Material for Air-Conditioning Applications and a Method of Preparing the Same, Hong Kong Full Application, Hong Kong Patent No. HK1176033, 19 Dec 2014.
5. C.Y. Tso, C.Y.H. Chao, K.C. Chan, C.L. Wu, G.N. Sze-To and H.H. Qiu, A Novel Evaporator for Adsorption Cooling Applications, Chinese Utility Models, Patent No. ZL201320877468.X, 20 Aug 2014.
6. C.Y. Tso, C.Y.H. Chao, K.C. Chan and C.L. Wu, A Spray Cooing Evaporator with Nanofluid as Adsorbate for Adsorption Cooling Applications, Chinese Utility Models, Patent No. ZL201320877484.9, 20 Aug 2014.