In the department Measurement Technology and Process Automation we are involved with methodical and experimental research and development tasks around energy supply, measurement methods, process automation, digital safety control systems as well as modeling and simulation.
The experimental work requires the development, design and project planning of specific test stands. This includes, among other things, the design, dimensioning and construction of plant components, the integration of process and control technology, the flexibilization and process optimization as well as the implementation of measurement technology and automation concepts for the precise operation of the plants.
Experimental investigations include concept and component tests using the major test stand THERESA (thermal energy storage facility) and additional, connected test stands (DAQUA, AUTOKLAV, TMS, SCTF). They include experimental analysis of measurement and automation concepts as well as static and dynamic performance of measurement methods. Another focus of the department is at experimental validation of simulation models in the areas of process automation, flexibilisation of thermal facilities and energy storage. Further research tasks include experimental investigations and simulations with the subjects CARNOT-Battery (thermomechanical storage, TMS), steam quality measurement system (DAQUA), water-steam compression.
Moreover, our tasks include development of measurement methods which analyse the performance of systems and determine required measurement configurations. One comprehensive area involves development of models, simulation of static and dynamic performance of storage processes in connection with the system performance as well as measurement and control technology. In addition, there is the simulation-based analysis of measurement methods and the simulation of thermal process engineering processes. For this simulation tools like EBSILON, ATHLET, Matlab/Simulink, R and Python are used as well as the inhouse-developed DynStar for simulation of dynamic processes.
In the area of digital safety control technology, we deal with structural analysis as well as the safety-related evaluation of structures in the field of energy and process engineering. Through our simulation software DynStar we are able to adapt or extend our tool for new challenges.
Research Content (compact):
Technology Development:
In the field of measurement technology/process automation, we deal with methodical and experimental research and development work in the areas of energy supply, measurement methods, process automation, digital safety control technology as well as modeling and simulation.
The experimental work requires the development, design and project planning of focus-specific test facilities. This includes the design, dimensioning and construction of system components, process and control technology integration, flexibility and process optimization as well as the implementation of measurement technology and automation concepts for the precise operation of the systems.
The experimental investigations include concept and component tests on the large-scale test facility THERESA (thermal energy storage facility) and other connected test rigs(DAQUA, AUTOKLAV, TMS, SCTF). This includes the experimental analysis of measurement technology and automation concepts as well as the static and dynamic behavior of measurement processes. Another focus of our department is the experimental validation of simulation models in the fields of process automation, flexibilization of thermal systems and energy storage. Other current research topics include the experimental investigation and simulation of CARNOT batteries (thermomechanical storage, TMS), steam quality measurement systems (DAQUA) and water-steam compression.
In the field of district heating supply, we are involved in the development of transformation concepts from fossil fuels to heat generation based on renewable energies for regional and supra-regional heat suppliers. We also deal with the topic of water as a heat source for central and decentralized heat supply tasks. In addition to the current AQVA-HEAT project, which deals with year-round heat generation based on water heat using vacuum liquid ice technology, the Saale-to-Heat project should also be mentioned here, in which a concept was developed to cover the required summer base load for the city of Halle (25 MW thermal) from river water using a heat pump process.
Our tasks also include the development of measurement methods to analyze the behavior of systems and determine the required measurement configurations. An extensive field of work includes model development, the simulation of the static and dynamic behavior of storage processes in connection with the system behavior as well as measurement and control technology. This is supplemented by the simulation-based analysis of measurement methods and the simulation of thermal process engineering processes. Simulation tools such as EBSILON, ATHLET, Matlab/Simulink, R and Python as well as DynStar, which was developed at IPM for the simulation of dynamic processes, are used.
In the area of digital safety control technology, we deal with structural analysis and the safety-related evaluation of structures in the field of energy and process engineering. Thanks to our DynStar simulation software, we are able to adapt or expand our tool for new challenges.
Research content (compact):
Technology development: