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Design, control, and testing of a travelling wave thermoacoustic machine for energy harvesting
Energy harvesting with thermoacoustic engines has a tremendous potential for the development of sustainable and reliable energy systems. In this project, a new solution based on a controlled travelling wave device will be investigated and tested.
Keywords: Thermoacoustics; energy harvesting; control design; travelling wave machines
Thermoacoustics studies phenomena where the interaction between acoustic wave and heat transfer effects plays a crucial role. Machines that exploit these principles have a high potential for the development of sustainable energy systems. At the Automatic Control Lab (IfA), several student projects were carried out in the last few years to advance knowledge in this field, with particular emphasis on experimental testing.
The project aims to investigate and demonstrate the potential of thermoacoustics for energy harvesting. Specifically, a multi-stage traveling wave thermoacoustic machine will be considered owing to its advantages compared to the more common but less efficient standing wave devices.
A laboratory scale version of this thermoacoustic layout, built by a leading company in the sector (Aster Thermoacoustics), is available at IfA and will represent the starting point of the work. The research will encompass various activities, including first-principles modelling of the problem, experiments of a realistic thermoacoustic set up, theoretical design and numerical evaluation of harvesting solutions, and finally design of feedback control solutions to improve the performance.
It is noted that little work has been done on traveling wave engines coupled with harvesters (especially of piezoelectric type), hence this project, by looking at the problem from various perspectives, has the potential to originally contribute to the state of the art in the field.
Thermoacoustics studies phenomena where the interaction between acoustic wave and heat transfer effects plays a crucial role. Machines that exploit these principles have a high potential for the development of sustainable energy systems. At the Automatic Control Lab (IfA), several student projects were carried out in the last few years to advance knowledge in this field, with particular emphasis on experimental testing. The project aims to investigate and demonstrate the potential of thermoacoustics for energy harvesting. Specifically, a multi-stage traveling wave thermoacoustic machine will be considered owing to its advantages compared to the more common but less efficient standing wave devices. A laboratory scale version of this thermoacoustic layout, built by a leading company in the sector (Aster Thermoacoustics), is available at IfA and will represent the starting point of the work. The research will encompass various activities, including first-principles modelling of the problem, experiments of a realistic thermoacoustic set up, theoretical design and numerical evaluation of harvesting solutions, and finally design of feedback control solutions to improve the performance. It is noted that little work has been done on traveling wave engines coupled with harvesters (especially of piezoelectric type), hence this project, by looking at the problem from various perspectives, has the potential to originally contribute to the state of the art in the field.
The project is articulated around two main phases.
The first is concerned with modeling and testing of the available Aster Thermoacoustics demonstrator. Knowledge of the physical mechanisms featuring the problem will be first gained via first-principles modeling. Following up on this, the demonstrator will be assembled and functional tests will be performed.
The second part, which is expected to take up most of the project, will look at energy harvesting solutions and the use of feedback control.
Among the available options for the acoustic to electric conversion, piezoelectric transducers seem the most viable ones for this project. However, known issues of piezoelectric harvesters include low efficiency and achievable output power and thus improved solutions will be investigated (e.g. dynamic magnifiers). Analytical predictions of the harvesting solutions will be performed and the successful solution will be experimentally tested.
The potential of active control to improve on the energy harvesting performance and to address the limitations detected in the previous steps will finally be investigated (analytically and/or experimentally.
The tasks of the thesis (which can be partially changed to meet the candidate's preferences) include:
1) assembling and testing the Aster Thermoacoustics demonstrator
2) deriving a simple model
3) designing and testing an energy harvesting strategy
4) studying feedback control strategies
The project is articulated around two main phases. The first is concerned with modeling and testing of the available Aster Thermoacoustics demonstrator. Knowledge of the physical mechanisms featuring the problem will be first gained via first-principles modeling. Following up on this, the demonstrator will be assembled and functional tests will be performed. The second part, which is expected to take up most of the project, will look at energy harvesting solutions and the use of feedback control. Among the available options for the acoustic to electric conversion, piezoelectric transducers seem the most viable ones for this project. However, known issues of piezoelectric harvesters include low efficiency and achievable output power and thus improved solutions will be investigated (e.g. dynamic magnifiers). Analytical predictions of the harvesting solutions will be performed and the successful solution will be experimentally tested. The potential of active control to improve on the energy harvesting performance and to address the limitations detected in the previous steps will finally be investigated (analytically and/or experimentally.
The tasks of the thesis (which can be partially changed to meet the candidate's preferences) include:
1) assembling and testing the Aster Thermoacoustics demonstrator
2) deriving a simple model
3) designing and testing an energy harvesting strategy
4) studying feedback control strategies
- Andrea Iannelli, iannelli@control.ee.ethz.ch
- Samuel Balula, balula@control.ee.ethz.ch
- Prof. Roy Smith, rsmith@control.ee.ethz.ch
- Andrea Iannelli, iannelli@control.ee.ethz.ch - Samuel Balula, balula@control.ee.ethz.ch - Prof. Roy Smith, rsmith@control.ee.ethz.ch