Digitalization of thermal energy technologies - modelling and simulation methods

The course focuses on the application of modelling and simulation systematics to ensure the development of models that are conceptually, physically and mathematically consistent. The students will learn how to apply a structured modelling and simulation process to develop models for various applications (including digital services) and will further learn to select the appropriate model complexity.

The students will be introduced to the principles of different numerical solvers such as Newton-Raphson and Runge-Kutta and the practical applications of these. Further, the students will gain practical experience in the use of simulation software suitable for simulating thermal energy technologies. An introduction will be given to Engineering Equation Solver (EES) and Modelica as well as fluid properties software such as CoolProp or Refprop.

During the first part of the course, students will work on the systematic development of component models of typical components in thermal energy technologies, e.g.; volumetric and dynamic compression and expansion machines, heat exchangers such as evaporators and condensers, as well as vessels and valves. This work will be documented with an individual model portfolio with both model description and model code.

In the second part of the course, students will work on a group project focused on defining a digital service and developing a suitable model of a complete energy technology consisting of several components. This model is connected to measurement data to fulfill the defined simulation objective. The group project will be documented and analyzed in a technical group report.

Digital solutions such as digital twins are expected to play a major role in the realization of the future energy sector i.e. smart grids and smart cities as well as the industrial sector i.e. industry 4.0. The backbone of such digitalization relies on the development of numerical models that are conceptually, physically and mathematically consistent and tailored to the specific objective of the application.

The aim of the course is to give the students experience in developing numerical models of complex thermal energy technologies such as: heat pumps, organic Rankine cycles, refrigeration systems, gas turbines and industrial process facilities. Further, the students will learn to apply these models to simulate and analyze the technologies in question. Further, the students will learn to couple numeric models with measurement data to provide digital services, such as advanced monitoring using virtual sensors, fault detection or predictive maintenance.

The course is taught as a flipped class room course where the theoretical background needed for completing the project work will be presented in a series of on-line instructional videos and written material, while course hours will be used for exercises,