HYBUILD is a group of 21 partners from 9 countries. Every month, a new HYBUILD partner is introduced in our Blog section. Today, Aglantzia, a urban municipality situated in the central part of Cyprus near the country’s capital Nicosia.

Situation, activities, point of interests

The history of Aglantzia dates back as far as 3888 B.C., but the Municipality itself was founded in May 1986. The Municipality of Aglantzia is located near  Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus. It is an indigenous municipality with an area of ​​31 square kilometers, of which 14 are agricultural land (occupied by Turkish troops since 1974).

Aglantzia has made much advancement during the last few years. Being spread out in the Greater Nicosia area, Aglantzia still has a great development potential and, thanks to her large green spaces, it is justifiably called the green municipality of Cyprus. The residential area of Aglantzia is located on the highest altitude in Nicosia and the city of Aglantzia combines old with new buildings, as well as a unique renovated historic center.

During this time, in a spirit of understanding and cooperation and for the sole purpose of the progress and development of the Municipality, the Mayor and the Municipal Councils succeeded in accomplishing an important work that changed the face of Aglantzia.

The town has a population of 23,000 and its economy is mainly based on the Services sector (The University of Cyprus, the National television and many banks have major offices in Aglantzia). Aglantzia has been working for several years in European projects, mainly in the field of intelligent energy and Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund.

Μr Charalambos Petrides was elected Mayor of Aglantzia in 2016 elections.

Key annual events of the municipality include:

• Aglantzia Festival (various cultural events),
• Aglantzia Jazz Festival ,
• Carnival Parade

Key points of interest include:

• National Forest Park of Athalassa,
• the “Skali” Cultural Centre,
• the Campus of the University of Cyprus.

Aglantzia has innovative activities in the following areas:

• e-government,
• intelligent energy,
• cultural activities,
• efficient waste management  “Pay  as you throw”,
• reviving old city center etc.

 

Role of the municipality in HYBUILD

HYBUILD’s hybrid storage systems will be used to upgrade facilities in existing buildings in three different demo sites. One of the project applications will be implemented by the Municipality of Aglantzia in cooperation with FOSS Research Centre for Sustainable Energy of the University of Cyprus and other partners. The proposed system will be installed on a vernacular dwelling located in the historic core of Aglantzia, which will be used as a Renewable Energy and smart solutions Center by the municipality with the support of the University of Cyprus. Particular emphasis will be placed on the preservation of the building’s cultural heritage values and on the assessment of innovative technologies’ contribution to the rehabilitation of historic buildings and settlements.

Key staff involved in HYBUILD

HYBUILD is a group of 21 partners from 9 countries. Every month, a new HYBUILD partner is introduced in our Blog section. Today, CNR ITAE (Institute for Advanced Energy Technologies).

CNR ITAE in a nutshell

CNR ITAE Institute, located in Messina (IT) is part of the National Council of Research. Since its foundation in 1983, its mission is the development of environmentally-friendly innovative technologies and energy processes, through the use of fossil and renewable energy sources. The staff of the institute currently includes 85 people among researchers, PhD students and technicians. The core research fields include thermal storage, electric storage, renewable energy conversion and integration, hydrogen production and storage, biofuels and high efficiency energy buildings. The institute carries out research and development activities, with special focus on applied research and technology transfer to promote market introduction of the developed technologies. The institute has taken part in several FP6, FP7 and H2020 projects and is currently partner of 8 active projects and coordinator of 1 active project.

CNR ITAE role in HYBUILD

CNR ITAE participates in the HYBUILD project as expert in thermal and electrical storage design and testing. CNR ITAE is leading Work Package (WP2) on core components and modules design, which aims at the design, manufacturing and laboratory of the main components of the hybrid storage systems, including both the thermal and the electric part. CNR ITAE will follow the entire design process and will cooperate with manufacturer and other consortium partners to realise the first complete hybrid prototypes that will be tested in the laboratory facilities prior to the installation in demo sites.

Moreover, CNR ITAE will contribute to WP3 and WP4, with the aim of realising models for the subsystems and the entire system, which will help in choosing the right sizing and control strategy.

Meet our staff

The following staff is involved in the HYBUILD project:

is the CNR ITAE project leader of HYBUILD. He got his Master Degree in Materials Engineering in 2008 and the Ph.D. in Engineering and Chemistry of Materials in 2012 at the University of Messina. He is currently researcher at the CNR-ITAE in Messina. His main research activity focuses on the development of materials and components for heat storage and transformation technologies, both for residential and industrial applications. He is in charge for the CNR ITAE activities within other three ongoing H2020 projects, dealing with thermal storage and renewable heating and cooling technologies. He is CNR ITAE representative in different Tasks and Annexes of the International Energy Agency (IEA) on the same topics. He published about 40 papers on international journals, 2 books, more than 50 papers at international conferences, 2 patents and he is editor of a book focusing on thermal energy storage technologies.

got her Master’s Degree in Materials Engineering at University of Messina in 2013. She holds a Ph.D. in Engineering and Chemistry of Materials and Structures and is currently working as post-doc researcher at CNR-ITAE in Messina. Her research is mainly involved with thermal systems for energy conversion and storage, especially in the field of adsorption heat pumps/chiller and thermal energy storage. During her PhD she was a visiting researcher at Fraunhofer ISE and University of Lleida. She authored 20 publications on ISI-indexed journals and 13 contributions to conferences.

got his degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Pisa, post graduate Stage at Studio PSE (Power Systems Projects), Ph.D. in Materials for Environment and Energy at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. He is currently Researcher at the CNR-ITAE of Messina, performing research on fuel cells  (FC)  at  low  and  high  temperature  (PEFC  and  SOFC),  on  energy  storage  technologies  and  on integration between new technologies and renewable energy sources. Author of  more than 30 international publications,  was  the  designer  of  numerous  production  plants  and  utilization  of  electrical  energy,  using renewable  energy  sources,  energy  storage  systems  and  also  hydrogen.  He  is  ITAE representative,  in  the European Renewable Energy Research Centers Agency (EUREC Agency), in the Working group Energy Supply Networks of the EERA Joint Programme Smart Cities and in the JP EERA Smart Grids

got his degree in electronics engineering (telecommunication branch) at University of Catania in 2004, defending a master degree thesis on microwave telecommunications devices and simulation codes. Ph.D. in Materials for Environment and Energy at University of Rome “Tor Vergata” in 2010. He works at CNR-ITAE “Nicola Giordano” as a researcher. At present his research activities deal with development, test and characterization of (high and low temperature) fuel cell systems for stationary and automotive applications. Author and co-author of more of 30 publications on international journals.

, graduated in March 2010 in Electronic Engineering at the University of Messina with honors. From January 2011 to December 2013 he obtained a PhD in “Advanced Technologies for Photonic, Optics and the Electromagnetic Modeling “at the University of Messina Engineering Faculty. In December 2013 he won the “Megatalenti” scholarship awarded by the Technological District of Catania, Plast_ICS project, an advanced training course for the figure of “Expert technologist in virtual prototyping of integrated circuits on flexible supports”. In December 2014 he left the scholarship to take a research grant won at the CNR ITAE Institute of Messina. From this date to now he has worked on several projects of the research group on smart grids, hybrid systems, advanced battery technologies.

, Mechanical Engineer, got his University degree at the “Università degli Studi di Palermo”. Today he is researcher at CNR, Project Manager (Italian Institute of Project Management – ISIPM), and he led several European (FP7) and National Projects. From 2009 to 2015 he led the “Stationary Applications” team under CNR ET.P03.008 “Innovative Energy Systems”. Today he is CNR Representative at Working Group FCH JU (Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking) on “Energy Pillar “ and at the European Energy Research Alliance Joint Programme on Energy Storage. He published 56 articles in SCI journals.

: Project leader Distributed Energy Systems of CNR, Dept Energy and Transportation and Research Manager of Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Project at CNR- ITAE, President of Commission CEI (Italy IEC section) WG 105 Fuel Cells, energy expert (MIUR Ministery of Research Italy, DG Tren, IEA) Member SRA and IP Working Group HFC Platform, Member Italian HFC Platform and Leader Deployment Group, Member of Management for the definition of Energy Plan for Sicily Region, Authors of more of 250 papers in Hydrogen and FC sector, in the top list (first 10 rank 6) of the authors in the Thomson  reference list in Fuel Cell field. Vice Chair of the Research Grouping in the JTI (European Commission) for the planning of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell activities in of the  FP7. Experience in production, storage, distribution of hydrogen, fuel cells systems for transportation and distributed energy systems.

The full programme of Sustainable Places 2018 is now available here

HYBUILD is organising a workshop entitled “the future of energy storage” with several other EU-supported projects on the 27th of June – further details available here. We look forward to meeting you in Aix-les-Bains next week !

HYBUILD is featured in the 7th edition of the EeB PPP Project Review which has just been released by ECTP – the European Construction Technology Platform. This yearly publication presents the progress of a portfolio of 168 European research projects aiming at developing new technologies for energy efficient buildings. 110 projects are co-funded within the EeB PPP under the 7th Framework Programme (FP7) from 2010 to 2013 and 58 projects are co-funded under the Horizon 2020 programme between 2014 and 2017.

The 2018 edition of the Project Review highlights current results and achieved or expected benefits of the EeB PPP projects. The overall target is to develop breakthrough affordable technical and business driven solutions at building and district scale. The projects demonstrate scientific and technological excellence, across the whole value chain, from early stage conception to demonstration of almost ready-to-market innovations. Distributed into 7 technology-clusters defined according to the construction-related research and innovation value chain from the EeB PPP Roadmap (Design, Technology Building Blocks, Advanced materials and nanotechnology, Construction process, Energy performance monitoring & management, ICT and BIM), the 168 research projects featured in this brochure illustrate the diverse innovation approaches and the importance of embracing all aspects of the building and construction sector.

Further info and download at : https://www.ectp.org/news-events/news/news-detail/the-eeb-ppp-project-review-2018-is-now-available

HYBUILD is a group of 21 partners from 9 countries. Every month, a new HYBUILD partner is introduced in our Blog section. Today, Engineering S.p.A., an IT company specialised in providing its customers a complete offer of business integration, application and infrastructure outsourcing, innovative solutions and strategic consultancy.

ENGINEERING in a nutshell

Engineering Ingegneria Informatica S.p.a. is the head company of the Engineering Group, a leading provider of advanced Information Technology systems and services to diverse commercial and governmental customers, with a particular attention to the Energy and Smart Grid sector. The Engineering Group is currently the first IT group in Italy, it has about 10.300 employees and 50 sites distributed in Italy, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Republic of Serbia, South America (Brazil and Argentina) and United States.

The group produces IT innovation to more than 1.000 large clients, with a complete offer combining system and business integration, outsourcing, cloud services, consulting, and proprietary solutions. Moreover, Engineering Data Centres offer business continuity and IT infrastructure management to about 17.000 servers and over than 200.000 workstations.

The Engineering Group has a consolidated presence on all vertical markets and operates through the following business units: Finance, Public Administration and Healthcare, Telco & Utilities, Industry and Services. Its innovation capability is supported by the Research and Innovation Department, with around 250 researchers located across 6 different locations in Italy and in Europe currently involved in over 70 research projects co-funded by national and international authorities.

ENGINEERING role in HYBUILD

Engineering along with its team participates in the HYBUILD project as expert in development of control and optimization tools. Engineering is the Work Package (WP) 4 leader. WP4 aims at designing and developing a Smart and Intelligent environment, which will manage and drive the final building system.

In particular, Engineering is in charge of developing the Smart Building Energy Management System (Smart BEMS). Engineering’s Smart BEMS will be able to provide efficient monitoring of the operation of all building thermal and electrical components, and the integration of the solar heat and power system in order to achieve the highest electrical and thermal performance.

The smart BEMS unit will also monitor requests coming from the DSO/Energy retailer and will take them into account during the optimisation phase including a Demand Response component in order to permit the integration with district level aggregator/energy retailer.

Meet our staff

The following staff is involved in the HYBUILD project:

He got his University Degree in Electronics Engineering at the “Università degli Studi di Palermo”. Today, he is the head of Smart Energy Systems research area in the Engineering’s R&D laboratory. Since the beginning of 2010, his main research interest moved towards energy efficiency, energy consumption awareness and energy management systems. He coordinates the Engineering team of technicians that works on many Italian and European research projects. He is author of many scientific papers published on many conference proceedings and journals. He has been serving the European Commission (Information Society and media ICT for Sustainable Growth) as Scientific Expert in the evaluation of proposals.

He got his University Degree in Computer Software Engineering magna cum laude at the “Università degli Studi di Palermo”. Since 2004 he has been working as researcher at Engineering R&D Laboratory. In the last years he focused on ICT in green energy and smart grid universe, oriented to innovation and new leading edge technologies working on many Italian and European research projects. He is the author of several papers published on national and international conference proceedings.

He got his Master Degrees in Electrical Engineering magna cum laude at the “Università degli Studi di Palermo” and he is a Ph.D. in Energy and Information Technologies. Since 2014, he has been working as researcher at Engineering’s R&D laboratory working on many Italian and European research projects in the field of smart energy management systems and energy optimisation frameworks. He is the author of several papers published on national as well as international conference proceedings and journals.

HYBUILD is a group of 21 partners from 9 countries. Every month, a new HYBUILD partner is introduced in our Blog section. Today,  the GREiA research group of University of Lleida.

GREiA research group at the University of Lleida

The research group GREiA (www.greia.udl.cat), headed by Prof. Dr. Luisa F. Cabeza, has long experience in thermal energy storage (TES) technologies, buildings energy efficiency, artificial intelligence, and energy use optimization. Since its foundation in 1999, the group has been developing TES concepts and systems for different applications, such as solar water tanks, building envelops, buildings HVAC systems, industrial applications, and CSP plants. One of the main objectives of GREiA is to contribute to increase the competitiveness of enterprises, through the collaboration in the development of new products and with technological assessment. The group is active in several working groups of the International Energy Agency, as well as the RHC European Technology Platform. GREiA collaborates with a big variety of companies, from local SME to multinationals, doing R+D+I or developing new products, and it also participates in different H2020 projects.

GREiA role in HYBUILD

The head of the group, Prof. Dr. Luisa F. Cabeza, is responsible for the technical coordination of the project. Furthermore, GREiA is the leader of the work package on life cycle assessment, life cycle cost analysis and standardization. Due to its wide expertise, GREiA is in charge of thermal energy storage components development, and has a key role in the control prototyping and artificial intelligence incorporation. Finally, the group is leading the task on exploiting synergies between HYBUILD and other global initiatives

Get in touch!

Prof. Luisa F. Cabeza holds a degree on Chemical Engineering (1992) and one on Industrial Engineering (1993), as well as a MBA (1995) and a PhD on Industrial Engineering (1996), University Ramon Llull, Barcelona, Spain. She started to work on thermal energy storage (TES) in 1999 and today she leads the GREiA research group at the University of Lleida, one of the biggest groups in the world working on the topic. She has an h-index of 47 and 336 documents in Scopus, 7 patents on TES, and over 200 papers on journals with impact factor. She has coordinated or led 8 national projects on TES, has coordinated the following EU projects: EFFIBUILDINGS, INNOSTORAGE and INPATH-TES, and has participated in MOPCON, REWASTEE, MERITS, Innova MicroSolar, HYBUILD, and SWS-Heating.

Dr. Gabriel Zsembinszki holds a PhD degree in Physics from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. Since 2010 he has been part-time lecturer at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Lleida. Currently he is a post-doc researcher at the GREiA research group at the University of Lleida, on topics related to thermal energy storage based on the use of phase change materials, energy optimisation in industrial processes, energy systems, and modelling of refrigeration systems. So far he appears as inventor of 2 patent applications and published 14 articles in SCI journals (h-index 7 on Scopus. He participated in different European projects (FP7 andH2020), and he was involved in the coordination of the EU H2020 funded project INPATH-TES (H2020-CSA No 657466).

Dr. Cèsar Fernández

Dr. Cèsar Fernández is an associate professor since 2002. He graduated as Telecommunications Engineer in 1987 at the Polytechnical University of Catalunya (Spain), worked as communications engineer in projects related to the European Space Agency at INISEL (Spain) and obtained the PhD in 2001 at the same university. In 2001 he was hired as post-doctoral researcher at Cornell University (USA), working on constraint programming. Until 2017 he managed the Artificial Research Group at University of Lleida, focused on; using machine learning techniques for planning and scheduling industrial operations to optimize energy usage; planning energy purchase decisions for companies; and intelligent control tools for thermal storage. As an associate professor at the University of Lleida, among other positions he was vice-director of the Polytechnical School (2000), vice-rector for infrastructures and information technologies (2003-2007) and director of the Computing Research Center (2009-2014). Since 2000, Dr. Fernández has published 38 scientific index papers with a H-index of 11 and contributed to more than 25 international conferences, 15 of them rated as A/A+ JCR/CORE. He has managed 4 national funded research projects involving research teams of Spanish universities and research centers and actively participated as a researcher 8 national and international research projects.

Dr. Carles Mateu

Dr. Carles Mateu is an associate professor since 2014. He graduated from Computer Science Engineering in 2003 at the Open University of Catalonia. He has been working as systems and networks engineer in the University of Lleida from 1996 to 2003. From 2003 to 2007 he acted as director of the Information Systems and Communications department of the University, managing all IT resources of the university, either from central services to faculties and departments. In 2009, he got his PhD on Computer Science Engineering with research or artificial intelligence, focusing on solving computationally hard problems and optimizations. In 2009, after a 6 months postdoc contract at the Institute for Research in Artificial Intelligence, depending on the Spanish Council for Scientific Research, he joined the University of Lleida as lecturer and researcher on artificial intelligence, focusing on optimization and machine learning. From 2009 to 2011 he acted as deputy vicerector for IT systems. Since 2004, Dr. Carles Mateu has published 12 scientific indexed papers, with an H-index of 7, and contributed to more than 20 international conferences, 9 of them rated as A/A+ JCR/Core. He has actively participated as a researcher in 11 national and international projects.

Dr. Alvaro de Gracia Cuesta

Post-doc researcher at University of Lleida, Dr. Alvaro de Gracia participated in several international (2 H2020 and 5 FP7) national (4 Spanish, 1 Chilean).  Finished his PhD in 2013 and has been working at University of Lleida, Universidad de Antofagasta, and University Rovira i Virgili. He appears as inventor of 2 patent applications and published 55 articles in SCI journals (h-index 17 on Scopus). He has supervised 3 PhD Thesis. He was granted with a Juan de la Cierva Research Contract during 2016-2017, and recently was granted by a TECNIOSpringPlus Marie-Curie Actions. His expertise is focused on experimental analysis, numerical modelling, and smart control of thermal energy storage systems.

Dr. Eduard Oró

Juan de la Cierva Incorporación post-doctoral researcher at UDL. Recently, Dr. Oró has joined UDL as post-doctoral researcher but he has spent the last four and a half years working at the Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (Barcelona, Spain) as senior researcher, involved in different EU funded projects and leading the greenIT research line. He studied Mechanical Engineering at University of Lleida and Industrial Engineering at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. In 2013 he presented his PhD at the University of Lleida about thermal energy storage solutions. His research interests are energy efficiency, renewable energy and thermal energy storage for industrial processes, IT sector and buildings. He has more than 30 papers published, h-index 18 and over 1700 citations in Scopus.

Margalida Fullana Puig

Ms Margalida Fullana Puig has enrolled her PhD in November 2017 within co-tutelle between University of Lleida, Spain and University of Perugia, Italy. The title of her thesis is “Development of sorption materials for thermal energy storage (TES)”. The development of sorption or thermochemical materials (TCM) for thermal energy storage (TES) can be an answer to reduce the CO2 emissions and resources depletion contribution of energy and building sectors. This PhD thesis will focus on the characterization of physical and chemical properties to assess its performance; the ascertainment of the reaction efficiency by means of a corrosion, kinetics and cyclability studies; the design and implementation of a new laboratory scale set-up to validate various parameters of the reaction and the modelling and simulation, which will allow to easily change variables and to check their effects on the system. (Supervisors in University of Lleida: Prof. Luisa F. Cabeza, Dr. Aran Solé – Universitat Jaume I, and Supervisors in University of Perugia: Dr. Anna Laura Pisello, Prof. Franco Cotana)

Jaume Gasia

Mr Jaume Gasia his PhD in September 2014 under the supervision of Prof. Luisa F. Cabeza (Universitat de Lleida) and Dr. Steven Tay (Newcastle University) and he is presenting and defending his PhD in 2018. The topics of his PhD are on one hand the study of the partial load operating conditions in a mid-temperature range latent heat TES system, and on the other hand on the study of the dynamic melting concept in a low-temperature range latent heat TES system. During the development of his PhD, he has also participated in different European (H2020 and FP7) and Spanish projects, as well as in the IEA-ECES Annex 30 work group. His expertise is focused on experimental analysis and numerical modelling of thermal energy storage systems.

HYBUILD is a group of 21 partners from 9 countries. Every month, a new HYBUILD partner is introduced in our Blog section. Today,  DAIKIN, a leading innovator and provider of advanced, high-quality air conditioning solutions for residential, commercial, and industrial buildings. DAIKIN is involved in HYBUILD through its Greek branch.

DAIKIN in a nutshell

Daikin presence in the Greek market goes back to the 80s. In 2004, Daikin Europe NV established a branch in Greece, Daikin Europe Hellas Office. In 2006, Daikin Europe Greek Office became a 100% subsidiary of the Daikin Group, under the name of Daikin Airconditioning Greece SA. Since 2006,  Daikin Greece has established a strong sales network of professional installers offering excellent pre and after sales support to its residential, commercial and industrial customers on a B2B and B2C basis. Daikin Greece occupies more than 30 people with a sales turnover in FY17 to reach 44M€ in Greece and Cyprus. In addition to air conditioning, Daikin Greece has established itself in the Greek market of heating systems and refrigeration, and has also developed advanced direct technical service activity.  Especially for heating, Daikin Greece is driving the way of decarbonization of the market playing a leading role in the introduction of the Air to Water (A2W) heat pump technology since 2007. Daikin Greece is an active member of  Applia Hellas local branch of Applia (former CECED) and member of the Union of Greek Companies for Heating and Energy (UHHE). Daikin Greece is certified according to the standards ISO 9001:2015 & ISO 14001:2015 for its quality and environmental management systems. Daikin is committed to providing homes, businesses and industry with the most efficient and safest solutions to meet all cooling and heating needs, today and in the future. DAIKIN is aware of its responsibility to protect the environment in everything it does: all its policies, practices and processes are developed and implemented with environmental sustainability in mind.

DAIKIN Role in HYBUILD

DAIKIN, as a technological leader in the HVAC market, is in charge of the selection, modification and provision of the heat pumps needed for the HYBUILD hybrid storage system for the Mediterranean climate. The heat pump is a key element of the overall HYBUILD system, since it allows the efficient conversion of the electric energy produced by the PV panels in thermal energy, which can be either stored (in the Phase-Changing Material (PCM) storage, connected to the evaporator, or the sorption storage connected to the condenser), or directly cover the space cooling and/or DHW and heating demands. With the compressor connected directly to a Direct Current (DC) bus, this configuration will further enhance the electrical efficiency of the system.

Besides, DAIKIN’s long experience in heat pump technology and market, will lead to useful recommendations within HYBUILD regarding the integration of the subsystems with the selected heat pump and the economic analysis of the whole system.

Meet our staff

Managing Director at Daikin Hellas, since August 2014. He studied mechanical engineer at the National Technical University of Athens and holds a master of Science in Automation Control from the same University. He also got a Masters in Business Administration from the Cardiff Business School of Whales.

Senior Expert Engineer. Assistant manager of the After Sales Department of Daikin Greece. He studied mechanical engineer at the National Technical University of Athens and he holds a Master of Science in Control Systems Engineering from University of Sheffield and a Master of Philosophy in Control Systems from City University of London. Member of the scientific committee of the Greek Division of CECED. He has also knowledge over the current National and European legislation related to HVAC efficiency and F-Gas.

Dimitris Kalogeras

Senior Expert Engineer. Assistant manager of the Sales Department of Daikin Greece. He studied mechanical engineering at the National Technical University of Athens. He has high skills and experience in the evaluation of current heating, ventilation and Air- Conditioning systems and also in the field of supporting consultants in developing solutions custom made for each installation by utilizing the different available technologies. He has also deep knowledge in the field of Energy Efficiency in the Building Sector.

 

The 21 partners of the HYBUILD project gathered in Lleida (Spain) on 12-13 April 2018 in order to review the overall progress and discuss key technical aspects for the next steps of the project.

The meeting was hosted by the University of Lleida and a visit of the Spanish pilot site was organised in Almatret.

Almatret intends to become a reference in the use renewable energy and sustainable development. HYBUILD is therefore a major element within the town “ALMI – Almatret + Energy” overall vision and roadmap which is further presented on the following dedicated website https://almiaenergy.com/

 

 

HYBUILD is a group of 21 partners from 9 countries. Every month, a new HYBUILD partner is introduced in our Blog section. Today, FAHRENHEIT, a company specialised in cooling innovation.

FAHRENHEIT in a nutshell

FAHRENHEIT is a pioneer in adsorption technology. Based in Germany, the company designs and manufactures the most advanced adsorption cooling devices on the market. It applies innovative research to delivering energy efficient cooling solutions. Its products have made their way into hundreds of installations worldwide across a diverse range of industries and applications.

FAHRENHEIT was founded in 2002 as a spin-off from Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE). From the very beginning, research and technological excellence have been the pillars of the company.  Its original research coupled with a keen awareness of our customers’ requirements resulted in ground breaking patents in energy solutions. FAHRENHEIT develops and manufactures innovative and efficient solutions to generate and store cold anywhere cold is needed and waste heat is available.

Adsorption chillers by FAHRENHEIT can be used wherever there is residual heat available. Its cooling technology reaches a new dimension of energy efficiency because it does not rely on electrical power for cooling. Its chillers and its adsorption modules are widely used in industrial manufacturing, for air conditioning, in data centers, in solar cooling and in various other applications. They are also ideally suited for combined heat and power plants – turning them into tri-generation units –, and they can save substantial amounts of energy and CO2 emissions in mobile applications such as cars and transport cooling.

FAHRENHEIT role in HYBUILD

FAHRENHEIT chillers operate on the principle of adsorption. Adsorption occurs when molecules of a liquid (in our case water) adhere to the surface of a solid (in our case zeolite crystals or silica gel). This causes the liquid to evaporate, generating cold. Once the solid material is saturated, heating it will cause it to release the adsorbed liquid, allowing the process to start again.

Within the HYBUILD project FAHRENHEIT focuses on the development of advanced adsorption heat exchangers for the Mediterranean region and the efficient integration of the vapour compression heat pump with the adsorption storage part in order to enhance its EER.

Figure : Adsorption heat exchanger with Al fibre material (Fraunhofer IFAM) coated with zeolite by FAHRENHEIT with detailed view of zeolite coated fibres (left: schematic, right: microscopic picture)

Meet our staff

The following staff is involved in the HYBUILD project:

Walter Mittelbach is the Chief Technology Officer of FAHRENHEIT. He founded SorTech AG, the predecessor of FAHRENHEIT, in 2002. He holds several patents on adsorption technology and, together with his team, won numerous awards for developing efficient and compact adsorption chillers.

Walter Mittelbach laid the foundation for FAHRENHEIT as a researcher at Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE). He studied physics at Graz University and at Free University Berlin.

Dr. Ralph Herrmann is in charge of research and development at FAHRENHEIT. Trained as a chemist, Dr. Herrmann dedicated a large part of his professional life to researching and evolving zeolite crystals. He holds numerous patents in this field. Since 2004, he has been applying his expertise at FAHRENHEIT.

Prior to joining FAHRENHEIT, Dr. Herrmann obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Halle and spent several years at the University of Erlangen as a researcher and as a lecturer for chemical engineers.

Ursula Wittstadt joined FAHRENHEIT in 2016 to work in the development of the next generation adsorption chiller and the co-ordination of research projects.

Ursula Wittstadt holds a diploma in Energy and Process Engineering of the Technical University in Berlin. Before joining FAHRENHEIT she worked as a researcher and project leader at the Fraunhofer Institute of Solar Energy Systems (ISE) in Freiburg within the field of adsorption heat exchanger development.