Laboratory experiments are important pedagogical tools in engineering courses. Restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic made it very difficult or impossible for laboratory classes to take place, resulting on a fast transition to simulation as an approach to guarantee the effectiveness of teaching. Simulation environments are powerful tools that can be adopted for remote classes and self-study. With these tools, students can perform experiments and, in some cases, make use of the laboratory facilities from outside of the University. This paper proposes and describes two free tools developed during the COVID-19 pandemic lock-down that allowed students to work from home, namely a set of simulation experiments and a Hardware-in-the-loop simulator, accessible 24/7. Two approaches in Python and C languages are presented, both in the context of Robotics courses for Engineering students. Successful results and student feedback indicate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches in institutions in Portugal and in the Netherlands.
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The installation of facilities replicating the realworld condition is often required for carrying out meaningful tests on new devices and for collecting data with the aim to create realistic device model. However, these facilities require huge investments, as well as areas where they can be properly installed. In this paper, we present a test infrastructure exploiting the concept of Remote Power Hardware-In-the-Loop (RPHIL), applied for characterizing the performances of a 8kW Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyser installed at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen (The Netherlands). The electrolyser is subjected to different test conditions imposed both locally and remotely. The results show that this measurement procedure is effective and can open new perspectives in the way to share and exploit the existing research infrastructure in Europe
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The project STORE&GO aims to investigate all the aspects regarding the integration of large-scale Power-to-Gas (PtG) at European level, by exploiting it as means for long term storage. One of the aspects that should be properly addressed is the beneficial impact that the integration of PtG plants may have on the electricity system.In the project framework, WP6 devoted its activities to investigate different aspects of the integration of PtG in the electricity grid, with the previous delivered reports.This deliverable focused in particular on how integrate the information about the facilities replicating the real world condition into a simulation environment. For doing this, the concept of remote Physical Hardware-in-the-Loop (PHIL) has been used and exploit.Remote simulation with physical hardware appears to be an effective means for investigating new technologies for energy transition, with the purpose of solving the issues related to the introduction of new Renewable Energy Sources (RES) into the electricity system. These solutions are making the overall energy systems to be investigated much more complex than the traditional ones, introducingnew challenges to the research. In fact:• the newly integrated technologies deal with different energy vectors and sectors, thus• requiring interoperability and multidisciplinary analysis;• the systems to be implemented often are large-scale energy systems leading to enormously complicated simulation models;• the facilities for carrying out the experiments require huge investments as well as suitable areas where to be properly installed.This may lead to the fact that a single laboratory with limited expertise, hardware/software facilities and available data has not the ability to secure satisfactory outcomes. The solution is the share of existing research infrastructures, by virtually joining different distant laboratories or facilities.This results in improvement of simulation capabilities for large-scale systems by decoupling into subsystems to be run on distant targets avoidance of replication of already existing facilities by exploiting remote hardware in the loop concept for testing of remote devices.Also confidential information of one lab, whose sharing may be either not allowed or requiring long administrative authorization procedures, can be kept confidential by simulating models locally and exchanging with the partners only proper data and simulation results through the co-simulation medium.Thanks to the realized method it is possible to real time analyse renewable devices at remotepower plants and place them in the loop of a local network simulation.The results reported show that the architecture developed is strong enough for being applied also atnew renewable power plants. This opens the possibility to use the data for research purposed, butalso to act in remote on the infrastructure in case of particular test (for example the acceptance test).
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The consistent demand for improving products working in a real-time environment is increasing, given the rise in system complexity and urge to constantly optimize the system. One such problem faced by the component supplier is to ensure their product viability under various conditions. Suppliers are at times dependent on the client’s hardware to perform full system level testing and verify own product behaviour under real circumstances. This slows down the development cycle due to dependency on client’s hardware, complexity and safety risks involved with real hardware. Moreover, in the expanding market serving multiple clients with different requirements can be challenging. This is also one of the challenges faced by HyMove, who are the manufacturer of Hydrogen fuel cells module (https://www.hymove.nl/). To match this expectation, it starts with understanding the component behaviour. Hardware in the loop (HIL) is a technique used in development and testing of the real-time systems across various engineering domain. It is a virtual simulation testing method, where a virtual simulation environment, that mimics real-world scenarios, around the physical hardware component is created, allowing for a detailed evaluation of the system’s behaviour. These methods play a vital role in assessing the functionality, robustness and reliability of systems before their deployment. Testing in a controlled environment helps understand system’s behaviour, identify potential issues, reduce risk, refine controls and accelerate the development cycle. The goal is to incorporate the fuel cell system in HIL environment to understand it’s potential in various real-time scenarios for hybrid drivelines and suggest secondary power source sizing, to consolidate appropriate hybridization ratio, along with optimizing the driveline controls. As this is a concept with wider application, this proposal is seen as the starting point for more follow-up research. To this end, a student project is already carried out on steering column as HIL
