Min Suk Cha, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

Associate Professor​ of Mechanical Engineering​

Current

Research Interests

Visit Google Scholar page
Innovative technologies need to be developed to cope with current energy/environmental issues. Due to electron impact reactions in electrical discharges, a plasma technology can be considered to create innovative ideas to many energy/environmental applications. Plasma assisted combustion is my focused area, which includes a fuel reforming, electrically assisted flame control, and electrical discharge assisted combustion based on various plasma sources in atmospheric pressure.

Selected Publications

  •  The reformation of liquid hydrocarbons in an aqueous discharge reactor 
    X. Zhang and M. S. Cha
    J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys., in press (2015)
  • Tip opening of premixed Bunsen flames: extinction with negative stretch and local Karlovitz number
     T. M. Vu, M. S. Cha, B. J. Lee, and S. H. Chung
    Combust. Flame, 162:1614-1621 (2015)
  • AC electric field induced vortex in laminar coflow diffusion flames
     Y. Xiong, M. S. Cha, and S. H. Chung
     Proc. Combust. Inst. 35:3515-3520 (2015)
  • Partial oxidation of methane in a temperature-controlled dielectric barrier discharge reactor
     X. Zhang and M. S. Cha
     Proc. Combust. Inst. 35:3447-3454 (2015)
  • Fuel density effect on near nozzle flow field in small laminar coflow diffusion flames
     Y. Xiong, M. S. Cha, and S. H. Chung
     Proc. Combust. Inst. 35:873-880 (2015)
  • Soot reduction under DC electric fields in counterflow nonpremixed laminar ethylene flames
     D. G. Park, B. C. Choi, M. S. Cha, and S. H. Chung
     Combust. Sci. Tech., 186:644-656 (2014)
  • Stability enhancement of ozone-assisted laminar premixed Bunsen flames in nitrogen co-flow
     T. M. Vu, S. H. Won, T. Ombrello, and M. S. Cha
     Combust. Flame, 161: 917-926 (2014)
  • Electron-induced dry reforming of methane in a temperature-controlled dielectric barrier discharge reactor
     X. Zhang and M. S. Cha
     J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys., 46: 415205 (2013)
  • Premixed combustion under electric field in a constant volume chamber
     M. S. Cha and Y. Lee
     IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci., 40:3131-3138 (2012)
  • Efficient use of CO2 reforming of methane with an arc-jet plasma
     N. K. Hwang, Y.-H. Song, and M. S. Cha
     IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci., 38:3291-3299 (2010)

Education

  • Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, 1999
  • M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, 1995
  • B.S., Mechanical Engineering, POSTECH, Pohang, Korea, 1993

Professional Profile

  • ​2011-2015: Principal Research Scientist, Clean Combustion Research Center, KAUST, Saudi Arabia 
  • 2000 – 2011: Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials (KIMM), Daejeon, Korea
    - Head, Department of Technology Management and Marketing (2010 – 2011)
    - Principal Researcher (2008 – 2011) 
    - Senior Researcher (2000 – 2007)
  • 2005 – 2011: Adjunct Professor, University of Science and Technology (UST), Daejeon, Korea
  • 2007 – 2009: Adjunct Professor, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Korea
  • 2004 – 2005: Visiting Scholar, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
  • 1999 – 2000: Research Fellow, Institute of Advanced Machinery and Design, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea

Awards

  • Best Paper Award, Korean Society of Combustion, 2008
  • Ji Seok-Young Award (Patent of the year) Korea Intellectual Property Office, 2007
  • Newtech Korea Award (Technology of the year) Ministry of Knowledge Economy, 2007
  • Young Investigators Award, Third Asian Pacific Conference on Combustion, 2003

KAUST Affiliations

  • Clean Combustion Research Center (CCRC)

  • Division of Physical Sciences and Engineering (PSE)

Research Interests Keywords

Plasma assisted combustion Fuel reforming Plasma sources Flame dynamics