ADRIANO: A new technology for construction 4.0 based on 3D printing
May 16, 2024
EU.FFICIENT: CO-CREATION, THE FUTURE OF COLLABORATIVE INNOVATION IN EUROPE
June 7, 202404/06/2024
The Heat and Mass Transfer Technology Center (CTTC) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) participated in the Economic COgeneration by Efficiently COncentrated SUNlight (ECOSUN) project to develop a low-cost, concentrated thermal and photovoltaic cogeneration system that increases the system’s electrical efficiency. This was achieved by reducing the absorption temperature of solar radiation and utilising the residual heat obtained from cooling the photovoltaic modules, to meet the thermal needs for heating or cooling through an absorption machine.
The CTTC of the UPC worked on the thermal and fluid dynamic optimisation of the thermal-photovoltaic concentration receiver by numerically simulating the entire device under different geometries and working conditions. This technology is designed for domestic and industrial applications. Potential application cases were studied under various environmental conditions for different regions and countries of use. A first prototype was validated under real operating conditions. The numerical results indicate an increase in the overall heat transfer coefficient of between 25% and 30%.
Consortium, budget and funding
The project also involved the Institute of Electrical Measurement and Sensor Systems of the University of Graz (Austria) and the Solar Energy Research Center of Ankara University. ECOSUN started in February 2020 and ended in January 2023. It had a total budget of €1,281,639 from the European ERA-LEARN programme.
Related Projects
- The Casa Bosc project explores a lightweight, modular and prefabricated timber construction system designed to reduce the environmental impact of housing while making it easier to build and adapt to different contexts. The project has been developed by researchers from the Architectural Rehabilitation and Restoration Research Group (REARQ) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) and the company ÀGORA.
- The Control, Data and Artificial Intelligence (CoDAlab) research group at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) is taking part in the ATHENS project, which is developing recyclable thermoplastic composite materials with advanced real-time monitoring systems to improve the manufacture, safety and service life of lightweight structures.
- The MICROTECH LAB - Microtechnology for the Industry research subgroup, part of the Centre for Advanced Technologies in Mechanics (CATMech) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC), is leading the technical development of a minimally invasive platform to monitor biomarkers and physiological indicators related to stress and emotional wellbeing.
- A research team from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) has participated in the M3LEC project, coordinated by the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), a joint centre of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA), with the Universidad de Sevilla (US) / Instituto de Microelectrónica de Sevilla (IMSE) also participating. M3LEC aimed to contribute to the characterisation of the Martian atmosphere and meteorology, and to investigate new instrumentation for future planetary exploration missions.
