Applied Sciences Webinar | Applied Thermofluids Science for Increasing Efficiency and Reducing Emissions of Clean Propulsive Powertrains

On Thursday, 21 April 2022, MDPI and the Journal Applied Sciences organized the 5th webinar on Applied Sciences, entitled "Applied Thermofluids Science for Increasing Efficiency and Reducing Emissions of Clean Propulsive Powertrains".

Transport and energy production are responsible for a considerable part of greenhouse gasses emissions worldwide and other pollutants harmful to the health of humans and live organisms. It is universally agreed to increase the efficiency when using primary sources of energy (renewable or not) as the first action to fight against global warming consequences. The UN SDGs aim to abate local pollution emissions to cover energy and transport needs. Applied Thermofluids science is a mighty tool to achieve both objectives. This Webinar will explain several examples of thermofluids science applied to transport and energy production for minimizing its associated global and local emissions impact. Since there is no silver bullet to achieve these goals, thermofluids will be applied to diverse systems

The introduction was held by the Chair of the webinar, Prof. Dr. Jose Ramon Serrano, a Professor at Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain. His research interests focus on the field of thermo- and fluid dynamics applied to the processes of gas exchange and emissions control of reciprocating internal combustion engines (ICE).

The first speaker to kick off this webinar was Prof. Dr. Pablo Olmeda. In his presentation, Prof. Olmeda discusses how the electric drive vehicles (xEVs) market will continuously grow in the coming years as lithium-ion battery (LIB) technology is expected to be the energy storage of choice xEVs. In these batteries, the temperature has a significant impact on life, performance, safety, and cost. On one hand, higher temperatures degrade LIBs more quickly, while on the other low temperatures reduce power and energy capabilities, resulting in cost, reliability, safety, range, or drivability implications. To keep LIB inside the optimum temperature range, battery thermal management is needed for xEVs. Bearing in mind this need, in this talk a lumped thermal model integrated with an electric model of the LIB is presented. Both models are validated with experimental data measured in a cell. With the model different cooling solutions are studied in different running conditions (from stationary to transitory), showing the effect of different strategies on the LIB temperatures.

The second presentation with the title "Oxyfuel Combustion SI Engines for Ultralow Pollutant Emissions" was held by Prof. Jaime Martín. His research broadly focuses on on the combustion analysis from in-cylinder pressure and the experimental integral thermal balance of reciprocating engines (RICE), the predictive modelling of engine-system with 0D-1D tools, and currently he is involved in the research of RICE operating with oxy-fuel combustion. He is a Professor at the Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain. His presentation focuses on a combination of modelling and experimental approaches, including results from a SI single-cylinder research engine operating with both conventional and oxy-fuel combustion.

Dr. Francisco J. Arnau, also from tUniversitat Politècnica de València was the third speaker and his presentation was entitled "CI Engines with Oxyfuel Combustion for CO2 Capture". Dr. Arnau has over two decades of experience in thermo and fluid-dynamic simulation and turbocharging working as a researcher at CMT-Motores Térmicos Institute being one of the main developers of VEMOD simulation tool, a 1D simulation code fully developed in CMT.

The final presentation, entitled "A Real-Time Modelling Approach for Flow-Through Catalysts Based on the Explicit Solution of Chemical Species Conservation Equations" was held by Dr. Pedro Piqueras. He is an Associate Professor at Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain. He lectures in Propulsion and Emission Control topics. His research activity involves the development of experimental and computational techniques for the analysis of exhaust aftertreatment systems as well as their efficient integration into powertrain systems.

The presentations were followed by a Q&A and a discussion, moderated by the Chair. The webinar was offered via Zoom and required registration to attend. . The full recording can be found here on Sciforum website. In order to stay updated on future webinars from Applied Sciences, be sure to sign up for our newsletter by clicking on “Subscribe” at the top of the page.