The fluctuating nature of renewable energy sources makes it attractive to heat or cool a building at moments when this would not be required for comfort, letting it serve as an energy storage system. To make this type of storage efficient, real-time temperature and airflow regulation is required. Modern buildings are typically equipped with complex sensor systems. However, their climate control system is in general solely based on the information acquired from the sensor network, not considering convective heat transport. A breakthrough in climate control systems can be accomplished by complementing state-of-the-art sensor networks with predictive physics-based simulations. Within this project, you will develop a sensor network and a hierarchical digital twin ('Gemini Digitalis') incorporating convective heat transport, together forming a real-time building thermal management system.
Job Description Within the Gemini Digitalis project, you will develop a hybrid physics- and data-based hierarchical digital twin, consisting of three resolution scales. Each scale has a different level of detail and, if predictions at a certain moment do not match measurements, the subsequent scale is activated to enrich the physical fidelity of the model. Furthermore, you will design a modular sensor prototype to calibrate the hierarchical models. The most prominent components of the Gemini Digitalis project are:
- The design of a hierarchical thermo-fluids model with three resolution scales that are activated to enrich the physical fidelity depending on the current requirements.
- The design of a modular sensor to collect the necessary data for the hierarchical digital twin. You will investigate both the sensor type and information that is required.
- The development of performance-enhancing techniques to allow for a real-time evaluation of the digital twin. Hereby, you will make use of methods such as space and time parallelization as well as model order reduction techniques.
- The calibration of the digital twin with the data obtained from the sensor network.
- The final optimization of the placement of the sensor modules within the building.
The Gemini Digitalis project is part of the multi-disciplinary 'Engineering Design research program' of the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). The project is a collaboration between the sections
Dynamics and Control (focused on systems, dynamics and control),
Power and Flow (focused on convective heat transport) and
Energy Technology (focused on modeling and experimentation for energy systems) and is closely linked with scientists from the Department of Built Environment. Therefore, the setting, as well as the content of the project, e.g. the multi-physical nature of the digital twin, requires multi-disciplinary work. You will be embedded into the group of Dynamics and Control and assume educational tasks like the supervision of master students and internships.