Technology, Engineering & Agriculture Books

Book SynopsisThere is currently a great need for introductory materials to help professionals of all types to understand and deploy Human Centred Design (HCD) methods. This compendium, written in simple everyday language by authors who are experts in automotive ergonomics, UX and HMI, is inclusive and easily accessible. The 21st century is characterised by ever greater reliance on the innovation paradigm of HCD. In many sectors, the practices of "technology push" and "market pull" have been giving ground to newer ways of innovating which are based more on careful attention to the characteristics and needs of people. Where ethnographic, ergonomic and UX practices were once the remit of only the design teams, the practices and values of HCD are now permeating widely, leading in many cases to business restructuring. The automotive sector, characterised by large and sophisticated organisations, and by more than a century of success, is one sector with extensive requirements for HCD methods. This introductory book links the philosophy of the Human Centred Design innovation to the basic methods and simple everyday steps which can be taken to better understand customers and to better define briefs and tests. The book will prove a valuable reference to automotive designers who wish to more deeply integrate HCD into their everyday work, and to any professional who wishes to widen her or his skill set and understanding of HCD. The information regarding the selection of HCD methods, and their deployment, will provide a gentle introduction to the world of Human Centred Design.

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Book SynopsisThe new paradigm Industry 5.0 promises great shifts not only in industry, but also in business and consumption models. With the help of data science and internet of things, manufacturers focus on delivering in real time, and customers will benefit from personalized products. Robots and cobots will collaborate with the humans. This book explains various facets of Industry 5.0, focusing on its applications on medical research and manufacturing.

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Book Synopsis As living, economic and cultural spaces, cities require a sustainable energy system and must be designed to be highly energy efficient. The book provides a framework for practitioners and scientists on how the energy transition can contribute to achieving climate goals in the building sector. Innovations and creative approaches for solutions from the lighthouse projects of the Solar Building/Energy Efficient City funding initiative are presented.

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Book Synopsis Scientific Computing for Scientists and Engineers is designed to teach undergraduate students relevant numerical methods and required fundamentals in scientific computing. Most problems in science and engineering require the solution of mathematical problems, most of which can only be done on a computer. Accurately approximating those problems requires solving differential equations and linear systems with millions of unknowns, and smart algorithms can be used on computers to reduce calculation times from years to minutes or even seconds. This book explains: How can we approximate these important mathematical processes? How accurate are our approximations? How efficient are our approximations? Scientific Computing for Scientists and Engineers covers: An introduction to a wide range of numerical methods for linear systems, eigenvalue problems, differential equations, numerical integration, and nonlinear problems; Scientific computing fundamentals like floating point representation of numbers and convergence; Analysis of accuracy and efficiency; Simple programming examples in MATLAB to illustrate the algorithms and to solve real life problems; Exercises to reinforce all topics.

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Book SynopsisThis book contains 34 technical papers presented at the Advances in Architectural Geometry Conference held in Stuttgart 2023. Modern geometric computing increasingly plays a role in modeling environments and processing sensing information, providing a variety of tools for the efficient design, analysis, and manufacturing of complex shapes. The research area of architectural geometry (AG) has emerged at the common border of architecture, applied geometry, computational design, mathematics, and manufacturing. This book presents the state of the art of research in AG.

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Book SynopsisThis book is about how electricity has profoundly changed the way we live, work, and play. Some twenty topics are covered, with an abundance of graphs and images to build a comprehensive picture. Each looks at the developments, and the people who initiated them, together with how one led to the next and their subsequent impact on society. Topics include electric supply, lighting through X-rays, and all those appliances that make our homes so comfortable.Most homes at the end of the twentieth century were full of electrical equipment, much of which was regarded as essential. It ran from lights, washing machines, fridges, freezers, kettles, telephones and so on, to the more subtle things such as wipers and starter motors on cars. In 1900, in all but a tiny minority of houses, there were none of these things. It is very difficult for us now to imagine a world without electrical equipment everywhere, and yet it has only taken a century. The Electric Century examines how we got from then to now. The nineteenth is often described as the century of steam from the impact it had on employment and transport, and The Electric Century makes a similar claim as the description of the twentieth. Electricity and the equipment using it are so pervasive that they have affected every corner of modern life.Trade Review“Williams is very thorough, and as with the electronics book, he or she is at his or her best when giving us historical statistics and nuggets of information about, for example, the early fragmented electricity generation companies, or Marconi's work or the development of batteries. … if you'd like to fill in some gaps in the history of technology, it's worth taking on.” (Brian Clegg, Popular Science, popsciencebooks.blogspot.com, January, 2018)“There is a good table of contents, a detailed bibliography, and a good index. This is an interesting treatise on the impact of electricity on our world. Williams’ book differs from others on this subject in the diversity of aspects covered and by also considering their social impacts on our society. A very enjoyable book.” (David B. Henderson, Computing Reviews, March, 2018)Table of Contents

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Book SynopsisThis book features the reduction and removal of selenium in wastewater via bioremediation. Arranged over five chapters, this book provides information regarding the interaction between micro-organisms and selenium, and it also explains the biogeochemistry of selenium in engineered ecosystems designed for wastewater treatment. The analytical approaches currently adopted by the scientific community are also described and discussed. Readers will find examples of the biological treatment of selenium contaminated wastewater, and discover a concise overview of selenium removal processes that are currently implemented at lab-scale as well as at industrial scale.Table of Contents

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Book SynopsisThis book shows some contributions presented in the 2010 International Conference on Robotic Welding, Intelligence and Automation (RWIA’2010), Oct. 14-16, 2010, Shanghai, China. Welding handicraft is one of the most primordial and traditional techniques, mainly by manpower and human experiences. Weld quality and efficiency are, therefore, straightly limited by the welder’s skill. In the modern manufacturing, automatic and robotic welding is becoming an inevitable trend. In recent years, the intelligentized techniques for robotic welding have a great development. The current teaching play-back welding robot is not with real-time functions for sensing and adaptive control of weld process. Generally, the key technologies on Intelligentized welding robot and robotic welding process include computer visual and other information sensing, monitoring and real-time feedback control of weld penetration and pool shape and welding quality. Seam tracking is another key technology for welding robot system. Some applications on intelligentized robotic welding technology is also described in this book, it shows a great potential and promising prospect of artificial intelligent technologies in the welding manufacturing.Table of ContentsPart I: Intelligent Techniques for Robotic Welding.- Part II: Sensing of Arc Welding Processing.- Part III: Modeling and Intelligent Control of Welding Processing.- Part IV: Welding Technics and Automations.- Part V: Special Robot Technology and Systems.- Part VI: Intelligent Control and its Applications in Engineering.

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Book SynopsisThe terms "mind" and "matter" appear to signify two concepts irreplaceable and permanent in nature. The increasing challenges and modes of reflection of digital life and cultural creation have contributed to a productive doubting of said dichotomy. Net culture has exposed the causality of the two only superficially contradictory systems and translated these into new technological realities. This publication, using an interdisciplinary approach, strives to investigate the entanglement of cultural, artistic and technical praxis, to document the developments, to clarify the status quo of the scientific community in a practical and exemplary fashion and to enable glimpses of potential future developments.

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Book SynopsisWhy do Japanese artists team up with engineers in order to create so-called "Device Art"? What is a nanoscientist's motivation in approaching the artworld? In the past few years, there has been a remarkable increase in attempts to foster the exchange between art, technology, and science - an exchange taking place in academies, museums, or even in research laboratories. Media art has proven especially important in the dialogue between these cultural fields. This book is a contribution to the current debate on "art & science", interdisciplinarity, and the discourse of innovation. It critically assesses artistic positions that appear as the ongoing attempt to localize art's position within technological and societal change - between now and the future.

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Book Synopsis"Resonant Alterities" bridges the gap between sound studies and literary criticism. A queer ghost story by Vernon Lee, an occultist novel of psychic adventure by Algernon Blackwood, a dystopian science fiction tale by J.G. Ballard and a post-traumatic short novel by Don DeLillo are its primary objects of analysis. Each is explored within the context of its contemporary cultural debates on sound. Meanwhile, all four theory-enriched readings focus on intersecting and desire-laden processes of meaning making, knowledge production and subject formation. Focal points are aurally/audio-visually structured phenomena expressive of both collective and individual anxieties.Trade ReviewReviewed in: The Chronicle, 01.05.2015

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Book SynopsisRobots as social companions in close proximity to humans have a strong potential of becoming more and more prevalent in the coming years, especially in the realms of elder day care, child rearing, and education. As human beings, we have the fascinating ability to emotionally bond with various counterparts, not exclusively with other human beings, but also with animals, plants, and sometimes even objects. Therefore, we need to answer the fundamental ethical questions that concern human-robot-interactions per se, and we need to address how we conceive of "good lives", as more and more of the aspects of our daily lives will be interwoven with social robots.

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Book SynopsisIn the face of the enormous destruction caused by the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami event, it is necessary to utilize more effective means of tsunami mitigation to prevent such tragedies. Based on the experiences gathered in storm wave damping by using submerged structures, Agnieszka Strusinska examines the applicability of artificial reefs as an integrated part of a multi-defence line strategy for tsunami attenuation. In her study, she first discusses the results of laboratory experiments in order to identify the difference in the nonlinear interaction of storm and tsunami-like solitary waves with an impermeable submerged structure of a finite width (including generation of wave breaking and wave fission). With this basic knowledge, the damping performance of an artificial reef under tsunami impact is determined as a ratio of wave transmission, wave reflection, and wave energy dissipation for varying reef geometries and incident wave conditions using a Boussinesq-type numerical model.

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Book SynopsisEven though traditional microfinance has successfully paved the way for offering financial services to low-income populations without traditional collateral, many microfinance institutions (MFIs) are still reluctant to move into rural areas and agricultural finance, due to the perceived high risks and costs. Daniela Rottger's research demonstrates how MFIs can mitigate risks and costs of lending to smallholder farmers by using a combination of proven traditional microfinance mechanisms while adapting specific loan features and lending mechanisms to the particularities of smallholder agriculture. She systematically compares traditional microfinance risk management mechanisms with agricultural microfinance approaches and identifies successful strategies. For this purpose, eight MFIs providing agricultural finance to smallholder farmers in four countries in East and West Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Benin, Cameroon) were interviewed and their loan features and agricultural lending mechanism were analyzed. The study shows that MFIs can successfully serve smallholder farmers in rural areas. However, the extent of adaptations is reason enough not to commit to such an endeavor lightly. A strong commitment combined with sound in-house knowledge of agricultural value chains and the flexibility to adapt loan terms and lending procedures to the particularities of agriculture are needed to successfully develop and sustain agricultural microfinance.Trade Review"This book is a concrete example of how very good practical, field based re-search can help practitioners and the sector in general to better understand some of their key challenges and to open new opportunities for development and innovation." --Philippe Guichandut, Head of Development and Technical Assistance at the Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation

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Book SynopsisThis unique book offers an introduction to the development of renewable energy in Australia in the early 2000s. Examining the rise of dispersed, embedded solar energy systems in Western Australia, it looks specifically at the Solex project in Carnarvon, WA, which pioneered the harvest of solar energy from what was once considered the pursuit of the lunatic fringes of society to a viable energy source for mainstream society and industry. In this fascinating case study Fullarton shows how a practical demonstration of innovative existing technology can have an incredible impact on a national scale. The ideas behind the Solex project slowly became adopted by the broader community and were eventually taken up enthusiastically by the general population of Australia. Analysing government and utility policies throughout the 2000s, the book traces how ambivalence was followed by whole-hearted incentives to the roll-out of alternative energy and subsequent active opposition to alternative energy in favour of traditional fossil fuel as government philosophies changed.Trade Review"I do not know of any other critique of [Australias Renewable Energy Target] scheme as in-depth as this. Not only is it comprehensive and incisive but, in Fullartons usual inimitable way, what he has produced is entertaining reading to boot!" -- David Harries, School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Western Australia"Pioneer is a title earnt, while visionary is a title often claimed, but in reality can only be ascribed by others. Lex Fullarton's efforts in a remote part of Australia reveal him as pioneer of the renewable energy sector Down Under, while his visionary efforts to deliver a solar project in Australia's Outback flew in the face of the conventional wisdom espoused in the Australian Government's 2003 Renewable Energy Target that mostly ruled out the value of solar, and pushed instead in favor of biomass and wind. Fully' was right - the future is clean, and making the most of solar in all ways that we can is the key." -- Ray Wills, School of Earth and Environment, University of Western Australia

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Book SynopsisThe water resources of the Selenga River/Lake Baikal system are of fundamental importance for the ecosystems and socio-economic development of the region. In this large-scale river and lake basin, there are strong contrasts between regions of relatively pristine nature and massive anthropogenic impacts on the environment. Climate change effects are more pronounced than in most other parts of the earth, and the transition from socialism into a more market-oriented economy has led to a boom in mining but also to a partial collapse of environmental monitoring and urban waste water management systems. Moreover, the expansion of agriculture and mining has triggered a considerable land cover change, rising water consumption, and the release of contaminants that had previously been unknown to the region. The consequences for the water resources and the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems depending on them have become increasingly visible in recent years. This book, which is based on contributions to the 2014 "Bringing Together Selenga-Baikal Research Conference", provides a multidisciplinary insight into current water-related challenges and strategies for their solution from the viewpoint of the international scientific community.

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Book SynopsisThis book, based on wide-ranging research on water, views the world through the rippling, complex lens of water. It looks at the emergence of civilizations and their decay, delves into creation myths, ponders the place of water in the human psyche as expressed in art and poetry and folklore, considers its role as a factor of production, a source of energy, a conduit of transportation, and a consumer good, examines changing concepts of physical and spiritual cleanliness, and notes the magical powers of springs and wishing wells and rainmakers. It reveals how this colorless, tasteless, and odorless substance has made such an impact on our bodies and our souls. Like water itself, it meanders far and wide, and it may, just possibly, restore our sense of wonder at this elixir of life. Nina Selbst's pellucid and friendly style of writing and her overflowing enthusiasm for her subject assure the reader not only an enlightening experience but also a pleasurable one.

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Book SynopsisSmoking chimneys are a symbol for environmental impacts of industrial processes. Indeed, industrial processes are major contributors to environmental problems such as global warming. Beyond emission-related problems, industrial processes deplete limited resources because they require raw materials. Raw materials are directly linked to costs, emission-related impacts cause indirect expenditures, e.g., through the European emissions trading scheme (EU-ETS) for greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, industrial enterprises seek to reduce costs by reducing environmental impacts of their processes.Two well-known strategies for reducing environmental impacts of industrial processes are process integration and recycling. Process integration establishes interconnections between formerly separate processes by utilizing co-products. Process integration thereby relies on unit processes with multiple products, so-called multi-product processes. Similarly, recycling uses waste as raw materia

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Book SynopsisIn this thesis, two novel synthesis methodologies are proposed to facilitate the use of optimization for efficient and reliable DESS synthesis, thus making optimization accessible for practitioners: The automated superstructure-based and the superstructurefree synthesis methodology. The proposed methodologies avoid both the a priori definition of a superstructure and the manual definition of many technology-specific replacement rules while accounting for the major characteristics inherent to DESS synthesis problems. The superstructure-based framework (chapter 4) relies on an algorithm for automated superstructure-generation. The method employs a successive superstructure expansion and optimization strategy that continuously increases the number of units included in the superstructure until the optimal solution is identified. The superstructure-free approach (chapter 5) combines evolutionary optimization and deterministic optimization for simultaneous alternatives generation and opti

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Book SynopsisText in English & German. If laziness is the mother of all inventions, then the car is its masterpiece. The earliest means of locomotion was walking, followed by riding on horses or camels; finally, with the invention of the wheel, came the ability to use carriages, which not only made locomotion far more comfortable but also brought the transportation of goods to a whole new level. However, it then took millennia for carriages to go from being propelled by horses or oxen to engines, initially steam-driven, then propelled by internal combustion engines and early experiments with electric propulsion. Cars were initially the result of pure craftsmanship, and as passenger cars were based on the concept of the carriage. The assembly line had not entirely abandoned the carriage look, but already showed a typical automobile profile: equal-sized wheels, engine bonnet, passenger compartment. The predominant body colour of cars manufactured between 1910 and 1930 was black, while all makes of car had an almost uniform appearance. As manufacturers moved away from metal-panelled wooden frames to an all-steel design, they hesitantly ventured to adopt new forms. Improved undercarriages and higher engine performance were initially limited by air resistance, which above a speed of 60 kilometres per hour is the strongest of all driving resistances. This led to the development of new body shapes that offer less resistance to the airstream. Engineers still determined the form of the car, sometimes even achieving formal elegance. It was only rarely that members of other professions, such as the architects Le Corbusier or Walter Gropius, were commissioned to design a car. Between the two World Wars North America had the worlds largest fleet of cars; this also meant that their design became an increasingly important sales factor. Professsional automobile design was established. As they continued to develop technically, cars in the 1950s moved further and further away from the physically logical form of a moving body. One of the last and most outstanding examples of a form with optimum resistance to the airstream is the Citroën ID/DS of 1955. Others, indeed almost all, opted for the pure symbolism of speed and power, whose most important ingredients were tail fins and chrome. Today, with a global annual production of close to 100 million passenger cars, automotive style has come to be represented by a wide range of almost every imaginable form. Architect Hans-Ulrich von Mende has worked with partners in an independent practice since 1990. For 50 years his writings and drawings on automotive design have appeared in books, trade journals (mot, autobild) and the daily press (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung).

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Book SynopsisExploring nursery schools and childcare facilities from an architectural perspective, this publication provides a cultural-historical account of their development, defines design tasks, and formulates quality standards for playing-learning architecture and environments. This publication explores nursery schools and childcare facilities from an architectural perspective. The aim is to provide a cultural-historical account of the development of educational buildings for children, to define design tasks, and to formulate quality standards for play-learning architecture and environments.

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Book SynopsisThis monograph presents the results of theoretical and experi­mental studies as well as the design and construction ­features of structural systems with rational parameters. It starts by outlining issues around the topological (bionic) optimization of structures and suggests ways to address them. The computational compiler underlying the proposed approach incorporates the finite element method and the ­adaptive ­evolution method. Thus, this volume outlines new energy principles that speak in favour of the proposed methodology. The solutions presented here were verified experi­mentally using new methods for testing structures for the effects of force and temperature. The theoretical studies also provide a methodology for assessing the technical condition, ­durability, and service life of ­structures. The book sets out the specific features of the design and construction of systems produced using the proposed approach. New reinforced-­concrete, steel-reinforced-concrete, and steel systems, as well as manufacturing and construction technologies, are described in detail. Designs for buildings, structures, and pedestrian and road bridges are shown. Examples of erected structures are cited, and ­issues with regard to designing large-span suspension systems with rational parameters are considered. The manual is intended for engineers and researchers dealing with creating, studying, designing, and erecting engineering structures and systems thereof; structural- and civil-engineering teachers and students may also find it handy.

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Book SynopsisIn 2007 the International Telecommunication Union, Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) published evaluation guidelines for future mobile broadband radio networks including a minimal VoIP capacity that the IEEE 802.16m WiMAX system had to meet, proven by system level simulation. These evaluation guidelines are the foundation of this work that shows that relayenhanced 4G networks do not only meet the requirements but exceed them by far. The key-requirement for packet based VoIP services that has been set in the evaluation guidelines demands that the end-to-end packet delay of at least 98% of user data traffic stays below 50 ms.Since 2011 proposals of ComNets to implement relays into mobile radio networks to increase system capacity are part of all 4G systems (LTE and WiMAX). This work investigates the voice over IP (VoIP) capacity of the relay-enhanced WiMAX system by system simulation. The work presents a modular approach that has been developed by my colleagues and myself to im

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Book SynopsisEver since humans have existed, they have impacted the earth in many different ways (Redman, 1999). Currently, important impacts are associated with the excessive use of non-renewable fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas. Most fossil fuels are used for electricity generation, heating and mobility (eia, 2011), and as feedstock in the chemical industry (IEA et al., 2013). Moreover, the use of fossil fuels is associated with carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) (IEA, 2014; Leimkuhler, 2010). Emitting CO2 into the atmosphere leads to global warming and disrupts the natural carbon cycle (Stocker et al., 2013). To close the disrupted carbon cycle, CO2 can be captured and re-utilized, thereby mitigating global warming and saving fossil resources (Styring et al., 2014).CO2 can be captured from current anthropogenic CO2 sources or directly from the atmosphere. Captured CO2 can then be utilized as valuable physical product as suchor as alternative carbon feedstock for fuels, chemicals and materials. The general concept of CO2 Capture and Utilization (CCU) can be considered established: already today, CO2 is captured and utilized in processes in the chemical industry (Aresta et al., 2014). However, the scope of CO2 utilization is limited. Despite the existing industrial implementations as well as continuous progress and current efforts in CCU research, most CCU technologies are still in early stages of development. Besides the limited technological readiness, CCU is intrinsically challenging since both capture and utilization of CCU typically require substantial amounts of energy (Sakakura et al., 2007). If the provision of energy relies on fossil resources, indirect CO2 emissions are caused. Therefore, the intuitively expected environmental benefits from using CO2 are not given by default (Peters et al., 2011b). In fact, it cannot be ruled out that a tediously accomplished CCU process is finally environmentally less sustainable than a conventional fossil-based route. Therefore, it is desirable to know whether a specific CCU process is environmentally favorable. For this purpose, a reliable environmental assessment of CCU is required.As indicators for the environmental performance of CCU, a large variety of approaches are proposed ranging from qualitative design principles (Anastas andWarner, 1998) and metrics for green' chemistry (Constable et al., 2002) to CCU-specific ad-hoc criteria (Peters et al., 2011b; Muller and Arlt, 2014). These approaches are rather intended to guide the development towards sustainable' CCU processes than to systematically quantify the actual environmental impacts. In contrast to these approaches, Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a systematic and standardized methodology to analyze the actual environmental impacts of products and processes (ISO 14040, 2009). Although LCA is frequently advocated for the environmental assessment of CCU (Aresta and Dibenedetto, 2007b; Peters et al., 2011b; Quadrelli et al., 2011), it is not yet standard practice (Schaffner et al., 2014). The reasons for this are the complexity of LCA as well as the limited data availability of many CCU processes at early design stages (Quadrelli et al., 2011). In this context, this thesis pursues two major goals: First, the thesis enables and supports the reliable environmental assessment for CCU processes using LCA. To overcome the complexity of LCA and to enable LCA novices to apply LCA to CCU, a jargon-free introduction is presented for LCA in the context of CCU. Furthermore, a framework for LCA of CCU is derived to avoid severe pitfalls in LCA of CCU. A case study for CO2-based polymers illustrates the application of LCA as well as the size and origin of environmental benefits of CCU. The second goal of this thesis is to provide an LCA-based approach to support the design of environmentally beneficial CCU processes at early stages. In summary, the thesis is intended to facilitate the utilization of LCA for CCU from early design stages to industrial implementation.

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Book SynopsisThermal energy storage (TES) helps to reduce energy consumption and peak demands by balancing heat supply and demand on all time scales from short-term to seasonal. Thus, TES is an important technology to improve flexibility and efficiency of energy systems. In particular, adsorption TES systems, which exploit the enthalpy of adsorption, provide high energy storage density and high efficiency.The present thesis therefore analyzes an adsorption TES unit for residential and industrial applications. Industrial energy supply can be made more efficient by integrating waste heat into the process heat supply and by using energy-efficient technologies. Adsorption TES contributes to both approaches: waste heat can be integrated via the heat pump effect and TES allows for energy-efficient cogeneration heat supply for batch processes.We evaluate the energy efficiency of the heat supply for an industrial batch process by adsorption TES and cogeneration. To evaluate the performance

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Book SynopsisIn recent years, the conversion of CO2 to basic chemicals with one carbon atom (C1-chemicals) such as methane and methanol has gained increasing interest. The major motivation for the utilization of CO2 is the reduction of global warming and fossil depletion impacts. However, these reductions are not guaranteed because all C1-chemicals require hydrogen besides the abundantly available CO2. Thus, the goal of this thesis is the life cycle assessment of CO2-based C1-chemicals (methane, methanol, carbon monoxide and formic acid). The assessment is based on a system-wide perspective, which means that for limited resources such as renewable electricity also the utilization of the limited resources is in other processes is considered.First of all, the CO2-based processes are compared to fossil-based processes for C1-chemicals. Formic acid has the highest potential to reduce global warming and fossil depletion impacts followed by carbon monoxide, methanol and methane. Even if hydroge

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Book SynopsisWorldwide heating and cooling demand will rise significantly over the next decades. Adsorption energy systems, namely adsorption chillers and heat pumps, have the potential to provide parts of this demand environmentally friendly by employing solar heat or waste heat.Designing adsorption energy systems is challenging due to the following reasons: (1) intrinsic dynamics, (2) multi-objectiveness, (3) large variety in design parameters, (4) strong influence of control, and (5) a large impact of input parameters such as temperatures. In many studies, these effects have been investigated separately by conducting sensitivity analyses. To explore also the interactions between design, control, and input parameters, a simultaneous optimisation approach is presented and exemplified in this thesis.Key to simultaneous optimisation are fast simulation models which capture the effects of all optimisation parameters. To quickly model new advanced adsorption energy systems, an object-

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Book SynopsisVapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) data are of major importance for the chemical industry. Despite significant progress in predictive methods, experimental VLE data are still indispensable. In this work, we address the need for experimental VLE data. Commonly, the characterization of VLE requires significant experimental effort. To limit the experimental effort, VLE measurements are frequently conducted by synthetic methods which employ samples of known composition and avoid complex analytics and sampling issues. In contrast, analytical methods provide independent information on phase compositions, commonly based on sampling and large amounts of substance.In the first part of this work, we employ a synthetic method, the well-established Cailletet setup, to characterize the high pressure VLE of two promising binary biofuel blends. The Cailletet method serves as a state of the art reference method that enables collecting data of remarkable accuracy. However, extensive infrastructur

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Book SynopsisThe emerging interest on the application of vacuum interrupter (VI) in medium and even high-voltage application has led to increase of comprehensive and fundamental research on VIs. Application of these interrupters is however hindered by limitation of interrupting capability, when high-current anode phenomena occur.The goal of the work is to investigate the high-current anode phenomena using spectroscopic methods se well as electrical measurements. Different current waveforms, i.e. AC and DC pulses are applied. Moreover, the impact of vacuum interrupter properties, e.g. electrode diameter and geometries, contact materials, opening time and opening speed on the formation of high-current anode phenomena are investigated.The results reveal that the threshold current of the high-current anode formation is dominated by the current in case of high-frequency pulsed, whereas in case of pulsed DC, it is controlled by transferred charge.Along with typical and already kno

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Book SynopsisDiffusion is the rate-limiting mass transport step in many (bio)chemical processes. Diffusion data is therefore necessary to design unit operations, e.g., extraction. However, diffusion data on multicomponent mixtures in liquids are scarce, as diffusion measurements are intrinsically time-consuming and laborious. Also, several measurements are required for one diffusion coefficient matrix in a multicomponent mixture.Microfluidics promises to reduce experiment time and experimental effort, while Raman spectroscopy reduces the number of necessary experiments for multicomponent mixtures. To reduce the measurement effort for diffusion coefficients in multicomponent mixtures, microfluidics and Raman microspectroscopy were combined in this work for the first time for the measurement of diffusion coefficient matrices in multicomponent mixtures: Two liquids of different concentrations co-flow in parallel in a microfluidic H-cell, while changes of concentration due to diffusion are qu

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Book SynopsisThe synthesis of energy systems is a complex task, since a plethora of conditions needs to be regarded during decision making. Thus, mathematical optimization is an excellent tool to accomplish this task and to identify an optimal system design. However, energy system synthesis is intrinsically uncertain, since the availability of components is inherently uncertain as well as the input parameters, such as energy demands. As a result, neglecting uncertainties might lead to a lack of energy supply. An insufficient energy supply possibly causes both high unexpected costs and environmental damage. Thus, uncertainties need to be regarded during optimization of energy systems. At the same time, sustainability is a further major aspect in the synthesis of energy systems. To regard sustainability performance, multiple decision criteria, such as economic, environmental, and social criteria, need to be taken into account. For this purpose, employing multi-objective optimization is perfectly s

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Book SynopsisClimate change mitigation requires a reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The main emitter of GHG emissions is the energy sector, which today is based on fossil fuels. To mitigate climate change, we need to transform the energy systems to low-carbon technologies. For this purpose, new energy system designs are required along with appropriate operational strategies. In principle, these new designs and operational strategies can be identified best using mathematical optimization. However, low-carbon technologies impose challenges in solving and assessing the resulting optimization problems.Low-carbon technologies are volatile, which increase the complexity of optimal synthesis and operation. To cope with the complexity of operational optimization, we develop a time-series decomposition method. The method decomposes the complex, time-coupled operational problem into smaller subproblems, while still providing feasible, near-optimal solutions. For the increased complexity

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Book SynopsisThe key measure to mitigate climate change is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Hereby, energy-intensive industry plays a key role due to its substantial greenhouse gas emissions. A substantial share of these greenhouse gas emissions is caused by energy supply. Thus, energy supply needs to be more efficient in industry.In large industrial sites, on-site energy systems often supply production systems. Both systems thereby optimize their operation with respect to an objective such as operational cost or revenue. This thesis provides optimization methods for these large industrial sites. The optimization methods reflect two relationships between both systems: Both systems can either follow the same objective or system-specific objectives. The same objective exists, e.g., if both systems belong to one company. System-specific objectives exist, e.g., if both systems belong to different companies.For the case that both systems follow the same objective, a method is

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Book SynopsisBig data raises new opportunities for deep insights and supporting decision-making. To seize these opportunities, methods that derive useful knowledge from large amounts of data are needed. Such methods can help meet urgent challenges in many fields. An urgent challenge for energy systems is the necessary transformation towards sustainability to mitigate climate change. One crucial aspect of this challenge is a permanent optimal operation of energy systems. In principle, mathematical optimization can best determine the optimal operation of energy systems. However, manual model generation and operational optimization of energy systems are time-consuming and can thus prevent an application of mathematical optimization in practice. This thesis presents methods that use measured data to automatically generate mathematical models of energy systems to tackle the challenge of time-consuming model generations. Additionally, methods are presented that accelerate the operational optimization

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Book SynopsisThis compact texbook presents a solid fundamental treatment of the essential comcepts of technical drawing that can be taught in one semester of the engineering courses both at degree and diploma levels.

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