Research News

The board of NWO Domain Applied and Engineering Sciences awards funding to seven research projects through the Open Technology Programme, a programme that gives companies and other organisations a way to join scientific research that should lead to applicable knowledge. One of the seven proposals has been awarded to Othon Moultos.

NWO has awarded six research projects in the KIC call ‘Key enabling technologies for minimally invasive interventions in healthcare’, including the research of Tim Horeman, Assistant Professor of Sustainable Surgery & Translational Technology at the Department of Biomechanical Engineering.

The energy transition is not only technically challenging, there are also complex geopolitical interests at play. TU Delft Gamelab, together with the University of Stavanger, Technical University of Munich and the University of Ghent, developed a serious game for students in which all these challenges come together: the Geopolitics game.

Understanding why certain materials work better than others when it comes to storing energy is a crucial step towards developing the batteries that will power electronic gadgets, electric vehicles and renewable power grids. Researchers at Drexel University and Delft University of Technology have developed a new technique that can track the electrolytes inside energy storage mechanisms quicky and precisely.

The annual Girls’ Day took place again on 30 March. It’s a day that gives girls the opportunity to experience how valuable and fun a technical education can be. Fifty pre-university students aged between 13 and 16 from Schiedam visited TU Delft’s 3mE faculty to learn more about mechanical engineering and – new this year – marine technology.

A new research project by DRIFT, Erasmus UPT, TU Delft and CIEP explores the implications of geopolitical developments for energy security in the Netherlands and the ARRRA cluster (Antwerp-Rotterdam-Rhine-Ruhr Area). Based on future scenarios, the H2ToBe project now comes up with eight investment strategies for (port) industry and government. TPM researchers Aad Correljé and Toyah Rodhouse contributed to the project.

Physicists at Delft University of Technology have built a new technology on a microchip by combining two Nobel Prize-winning techniques for the first time. This microchip could measure distances in materials at high precision, for example underwater or for medical imaging. The instrument could lead to new techniques to monitor the Earth’s climate and human health. The work is now published in Nature Communications.

Een algoritme dat voor een hogere energieopbrengst van windparken zorgt én een onderzoek waaruit blijkt dat niet alleen brandstofverbruik maar ook seizoenseffecten een belangrijke rol spelen bij het optimaliseren van vliegroutes en vlieghoogtes. Dit zijn – in één zin samengevat – de twee grote winnende publicaties van de Beste Climate & Energy Paper Award. De awardceremonie, die woensdag 15 maart plaatsvond op de TU Delft, stond volledig in het teken van grote en kleine innovaties die een bijdrage leveren aan het versnellen van de energietransitie en het beteugelen van klimaatverandering.

The ICAI Lab 'AI for Energy Grids' is one of 17 new ICAI labs part of the NWO LTP ROBUST programme. It will be officially launched on March 23rd. The lab will research the application of AI to distribution networks in order to accelerate the energy transition. It will combine Alliander's considerable industrial capabilities with the academic strength of TU Delft, Twente University, Radboud University and the HAN University of Applied Sciences. TPM researchers Eva de Winkel, Zofia Lukszo and Roel Dobbe are involved and will focus on responsible design, deployment, operation and governance of AI functionalities to enable the grid of the future, tackling urgent capacity problems.

From suggesting a better topological configuration of the energy grid, to detecting anomalies in the energy trade and suggesting more efficient energy trading strategies: there are countless ways in which AI can help streamline the energy transition. In fact: these are just the first three research directions Jochen Cremer and his team are investigating together with the Austrian Institute of Technology. To find out what other green pastures lie beyond these three approaches, this week TU Delft organized a Hackathon, together with the Austrian AIT.

Record your own video's in the DIY VideoBox in the TU Delft Library! Available for all TU Delft students, lecturers, researchers and staff for free.

The board of the NWO domain Applied and Engineering Sciences (AES) appoints dr. ir. Aimée Sakes as new board member. She will join the board as of 1 April 2023.

Nature published an article ‘Autonomous ships are on the horizon: here’s what we need to know’ about autonomous ships that highlights research gaps in six key areas. Rudy Negenborn and his co-authors touch upon critical challenges in the development and deployment of autonomous ships in practice, that are not receiving sufficient attention in research and innovation.

Minister Adriaansens of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate recently appointed Laurens de Vries as a member of the Advisory Committee Maatwerkaanpak Verduurzaming Industrie. With the tailor-made approach, the Dutch government offers the 10 to 20 largest industrial emitters (including chemicals, refining, steel and fertilisers) in the Netherlands the opportunity to further accelerate sustainability.