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.
LINK
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
DOCUMENT
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).
DOCUMENT
New technologies or approaches are being widely developed and proposed to be deployed in real energy systems to improve desired objectives; however, supporting decision making processes to select best solutions in terms of performance and efficiently following cost-benefit analysis require some sort of scientific evidence based tools. These tools should be reliable, robust, and capable of demonstrating the behaviour and impact of newly developed devices or algorithms in different pre- defined scenarios. Therefore, new approaches and technologies need to be tested and verified using a safe laboratory test environment.This report is about the development and realisation of some major tools and reliable methods to calculate risks and opportunities for integrating of new energy resources into the European electricity grid. Hanze University Groningen and Politecnico di Torino worked together within the STORE&GO project sharing laboratories, knowledge, hardware facilities and researchers for the realisation of the characterisation and mathematical modelling of renewable resources. Needed to realize a stable and reliable environment for remote physical hardware in the loop simulations.For this realisation we started with the local characterisation of a PV-Field and a PEM electrolyser at Entrance Groningen by logging and measuring the electric behaviour and specific device parameters to integrate and convert these into working mathematical models of a PV-Field and electrolyser prosumer. After testing and evaluating these models by comparing the results with the real-time measurements, these test and modelling is also realised from the remote laboratory in Torino. To achieve dynamical physical hardware we also realised dynamic mathematical model(s) with real-time functionality to interact directly with the remote electrolyser. To connect both the laboratories with full duplex communication functionalities between physical hardware and models we have also realized a network which is able to share network resources on both local and remote sites.
DOCUMENT
Standard mass-production is a well-known manufacturing concept. To make small quantities or even single items of a product according to user specifications at an affordable price, alternative agile production paradigms should be investigated and developed. The system presented in this paper is based on a grid of cheap reconfigurable production units, called equiplets. A grid of these equiplets is capable to produce a variety of different products in parallel at an affordable price. The underlying agent-based software for this system is responsible for the agile manufacturing. An important aspect of this type of manufacturing is the transport of the products along the available equiplets. This transport of the products from equiplet to equiplet is quite different from standard production. Every product can have its own unique path along the equiplets. In this paper several topologies are discussed and investigated. Also, the planning and scheduling in relation to the transport constraints is subject of this study. Some possibilities of realization are discussed and simulations are used to generate results with the focus on efficiency and usability for different topologies and layouts of the grid and its internal transport system.
DOCUMENT
The application of DC grids is gaining more attention in office applications. Especially since powering an office desk would not require a high power connection to the main AC grid but could be made sustainable using solar power and battery storage. This would result in fewer converters and further advanced grid utilization. In this paper, a sustainable desk power application is described that can be used for powering typical office appliances such as computers, lighting, and telephones. The desk will be powered by a solar panel and has a battery for energy storage. The applied DC grid includes droop control for power management and can either operate stand-alone or connected to other DC-desks to create a meshed-grid system. A dynamic DC nano-grid is made using multiple self-developed half-bridge circuit boards controlled by microcontrollers. This grid is monitored and controlled using a lightweight network protocol, allowing for online integration. Droop control is used to create dynamic power management, allowing automated control for power consumption and production. Digital control is used to regulate the power flow, and drive other applications, including batteries and solar panels. The practical demonstrative setup is a small-sized desktop with applications built into it, such as a lamp, wireless charging pad, and laptop charge point for devices up to 45W. User control is added in the form of an interactive remote wireless touch panel and power consumption is monitored and stored in the cloud. The paper includes a description of technical implementation as well as power consumption measurements.
DOCUMENT
Lectorale rede waarin wordt ingegaan op de manier waarop de mens nu binnen zijn natuurlijke omgeving functioneert. Dit wordt getypeerd als een ‘mismatch’. Tegelijkertijd is de lector er ook van overtuigd dat de technologie uiteindelijk zorgt voor een beter leven.
DOCUMENT
From the article: Abstract—By using agent technology, a versatile and modular monitoring system can be built. In this paper, such a multiagentbased monitoring system will be described. The system can be trained to detect several conditions in combination and react accordingly. Because of the distributed nature of the system, the concept can be used in many situations, especially when combinations of different sensor inputs are used. Another advantage of the approach presented in this paper is the fact that every monitoring system can be adapted to specific situations. As a case-study, a health monitoring system will be presented.
DOCUMENT
Conference proceedings International Symposium on Intelligent Manufacturing Environments
DOCUMENT
From the article: "To extend the lifetime of products, an agent is connected to the product. This agent has several roles. It depends on the phase of the lifecycle what these roles will be. One of the roles in the usage or recycling phase is to negotiate for buying spare parts in case a part of the product is broken. The same agent can also decide to offer spare parts to other agents to reuse working parts of a broken product. To accomplish this idea, a marketplace for agents has to be set up, where the auctions can take place. To support this concept, blockchain technology has been used. Blockchains are a new type of technology, known from bitcoins, but there are other cases where blockchains can be used. Blockchain is known for its decentralisation, transparency and for making trustful transactions. In this paper the working of different types of blockchains will be briefly explained and determined if they can be useful for online auctions by agents. A prototype of the marketplace using blockchains has been built."
LINK
