Innovating Works

ET4PCM

Financiado
Electrical tomography for phase change monitoring
Heating/cooling demands represent more than half of energy consumption in households and drive most of energy-related GHG emissions in the residential sector. To achieve decarbonisation goals heating/cooling demands must be suppli... Heating/cooling demands represent more than half of energy consumption in households and drive most of energy-related GHG emissions in the residential sector. To achieve decarbonisation goals heating/cooling demands must be supplied with heat pumps driven by renewable electricity. However, the mismatch between energy availability and heating/cooling demand needs to be reconciled with low-cost, efficient and flexible energy storage. Latent thermal energy storage (LTES) with phase change materials (PCMs) is becoming a key enabling technology for low-carbon heating/cooling. However, smart control of LTES systems require monitoring of the liquid fraction, which determines the total stored energy. The present research proposal, ET4PCM, aims to develop a first-of-a-kind, smart, non-invasive, versatile impedance sensor to evaluate in real-time the liquid fraction evolution of PCMs in LTES. The ET4PCM sensor will provide detailed information regarding phase distribution evolution during freezing/melting of PCMs in macrocapsules (spherical or cylindrical shells). The project planning contemplates four key tasks, which correspond to the sub-objectives: SO1) Characterization and enhancement of electrical properties of PCMs, SO2) design of the electrical sensing system, SO3) experimental implementation and validation of the proposed sensing system, and SO4) Validation of ET4PCM technology in a real LTES. The research approach involves experimental, numerical, and theoretical research activities. I, Dr. Carolina Mira-Hernández will develop the ET4PCM project under the supervision of Pr. Simone Mancin at University of Padua (UNIPD), who is renowned expert in LTES. In addition, I will spend 3 months during a secondment at the start-up COWA, where I will deploy the ET4PCM sensor in a real-world LTES, and I will have a non-academic placement at HEXXCELL, a consulting company on predictive analytics, where I will develop in silico smart control tools for LTES. ver más
08/07/2025
216K€
Duración del proyecto: 33 meses Fecha Inicio: 2022-09-30
Fecha Fin: 2025-07-08

Línea de financiación: concedida

El organismo HORIZON EUROPE notifico la concesión del proyecto el día 2022-09-30
Línea de financiación objetivo El proyecto se financió a través de la siguiente ayuda:
Presupuesto El presupuesto total del proyecto asciende a 216K€
Líder del proyecto
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA No se ha especificado una descripción o un objeto social para esta compañía.
Perfil tecnológico TRL 4-5