Research Interests and History
Internal combustion engine
Lin-Shu Wang is the inventor of “Turbo-Cool turbocharging system,” which utilizes the expansion of exhaust gas from internal-combustion piston engine through exhaust-gas-driven turbine to achieve higher engine effective expansion ratio in a straightforward manner . The novelty of the concept is that the excess power from higher gas expansion through turbine (rather than being considered as an object for power recovery, as in the classical turbocompound concept) is used for conditioning intake charge-air—for the purpose of engine-loss reduction and, simultaneously, engine power gain.
Variable geometry turbine (VGT) turbochargers are used in Turbo-Cool turbocharging systems. The temperature of Turbo-Cool conditioned charge-air is around or even-below ambient air temperature. Thus, the perception of the knock-prone tendency of turbocharged gasoline engines due to their higher charge-air temperature is dispelled. Turbo-Cool turbocharging systems, in an indispensable partnership with VGT turbochargers, enable turbocharged gasoline engines to produce engine performance of unsurpassed torque and power with excellent torque back-up, as well as improved engine-efficiency.
Thermodynamics, dualistic naturalism and the unity of knowledge
In What makes biology unique? (2004) Ernst Mayr, who has been called “the Darwin of the 20 th century,” wrote, “all biological processes differ in one respect fundamentally from all processes in the inanimate world; they are subject to dual causation. In contrast to purely physical processes, these biological ones are controlled not only by natural laws but also by genetic programs. ” In interpreting a genome, not just as a sequence of individual genes loosely organized like “beads on a string” in a narrowly interpreted reductionist sense, but as an organized whole functioning as a genetic program, Mayr identifies himself as a modern-day revolutionary who breaks away from the scientific worldview that is solely based on the laws of nature.
Making a broader consideration of this dualistic view, Wang argues (going back to the dawn of western science in ancient Greece ) that the concept of eidos (form) introduced by Plato and Aristotle should be subjected to a conceptual differentiation: Plato's eide may be interpreted, as by many Platonists, as universal mathematical laws of nature. Eidos for Aristotle is a fundamentally different concept, and his eide should be interpreted as the genetic programs or the operational principles of particular objects—that is, as “prescriptive how” statements. The conceptual differentiation of eide leads to a dualistic scientific worldview, dualistic naturalism ,
Biological processes and animate and human activities are bound by, but not exhausted (“caused” exhaustively) by natural laws. Unlike the descriptive universal laws of nature, which are inexorable, unalterable and constant, the causation in the form of prescriptive principles for particular objects/processes (e.g., genetic programs or operational principles) are not perfect in execution, changeable and changing, and of essentially historical origin—leaving room for novelty and emergence.
This is not an argument against reductionism or the unity of knowledge. This is an argument for the unity of knowledge and that the conceptual differentiation of eide is the critical step in achieving the integration of biology and physics, and the unity of knowledge.
Thermodynamics, traditionally considered to be a fundamental branch of physics, is shown by Wang to be based on the “descriptive is” thermodynamic laws and the “prescriptive how” auxiliary-components. In comparison with all the other nomothetic physical sciences, thermodynamics is unique: thermodynamic theory has a hybrid structure building on a particular kind of dualistic foundation.
The following are some of the goals of his research in this area:
• the synthesis of the classical realisms of Plato and Aristotle towards the unity of knowledge,
• the completion of the hybrid structure of thermodynamic theory,
• relating “descriptive is” statements to “prescriptive ought” statements through “prescriptive how” statements,
• a suggested synthesis of the classical realism and transcendental idealism: science as the process and the product of knowing,
• formulating a hypothetical “prescriptive how” entropy principle for the planet earth, which is added to the “descriptive is” entropy law, and
• articulating the technology concept of natural rule for designing, and the vision of endless technology creativity and progress.
He also put forth the hypothesis of turbulence effect as an apparent volume force.