Projects

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Overview:

Current pyrotechnic igniters, used to initiate any pyrotechnic component (e.g. fireworks, airbags, seat belt pretensioners, rapid-action safety systems, and others), consist of a metal bridge surrounded by an explosive substance. heat sensitive (e.g. lead azide, mercury fulminate, lead styphnate). The discharge of electric current through the metal bridge of the igniter generates enough heat to initiate the reaction of the explosive substance, which in turn initiates the pyrotechnic component. Because they use explosive substances, current pyrotechnic igniters are classified as class 1.3G or 1.4G explosive materials, according to the Agreement Concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR) [1].

The use of components classified as ADR Class 1 hazardous substances requires the implementation and compliance with safety procedures during manufacture, storage, transportation and use that are much more restrictive than those applied to other hazardous materials (e.g. liquid fuels – Class 3). or solid fuels – class 4).

In addition to the safety issue, current pyrotechnic igniters also use materials that generate a great environmental impact due to the use of heavy metals (e.g. lead or mercury). According to the REACH Regulation (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) [2], these hazardous materials must be replaced by new materials that generate less environmental and human impact, with the restriction of the use of lead and mercury being foreseen to from April 2026, in accordance with the European Directive [3], already transposed into national legislation, through Decree-Law No. 106/2023.

Given this situation, the objectives of this project aim to overcome the two problems described above, on the one hand to develop a new ignitor that does not use explosive substances (class 1) and, on the other hand, that the materials used generate less environmental and health impact. In this way, the aim is to create an ignitor, called IIMEX - consisting only of a metal bridge that can generate a thermal stimulus, which allows the initiation of a class of more sensitive pyrotechnic components, and an IIMEX+ that includes, in addition to the metal bridge, a composition free of explosive materials and which allows the generation of a superior thermal stimulus (thermal booster), with the capacity to initiate the less sensitive pyrotechnic components.

The new igniters (IIMEX and IIMEX+) free of explosive materials must be capable of initiating pyrotechnic components. These devices will be composed of a metal bridge capable of generating a thermal stimulus to initiate a class of more sensitive pyrotechnic components (IIMEX), and an enhanced version of a “booster” composed of a composition that allows generating a superior thermal stimulus, with ability to initiate less sensitive pyrotechnic components (IIMEX+). On the other hand, these igniters must be triggered by current firing systems or with the improvement of some characteristics.

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Overview:

The new challenges posed to today's society regarding alternative energy sources have spurred a robust development of energy systems that are both more efficient and environmentally friendly, increasingly aligned with the production and use of green synthetic biofuels. Based on these principles and always maintaining underlying environmental concerns, this project will focus on developing a nozzle for cryogenic CO2 capture
through direct expansion under subsonic conditions. This initiative will not only help contribute to the energy transition and decarbonization of the transport sector but will also contribute to environmental protection by mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Cryogenic CO2 capture systems involve cooling combustion gases to temperatures that induce a phase change in CO2, enabling its subsequent separation. Among the available methods, reverse sublimation stands out due to its lower energy requirement and the absence of unsustainable chemical agents. CO2 reverse sublimation can be achieved through multiple processes utilizing a cold medium. Most of these systems employ reverse sublimation through contact and energy exchange between combustion gases and a cryogenic medium, leading to solid CO2 accumulation on heat transfer surfaces, creating a thermal barrier that reduces the efficiency of the capture process. The cryogenic cooling process induced by the direct expansion of combustion gases appears simple and compact. However, its implementation is operationally challenging, mainly when a supersonic flow is formed. Thus, the detailed study of CO2 cooling by direct expansion in a nozzle aims to optimize it to ensure subsonic flow and create the ideal conditions for CO2 reverse sublimation. Therefore, this project aims to develop and enhance a CO2 capture system through direct expansion under subsonic conditions and cryogenic cooling. Firstly, a systematic literature review aims to establish a solid knowledge base regarding current cryogenic carbon capture systems with direct expansion in scientific and industrial communities. This research will enable the selection of the most suitable nozzle geometry through a detailed and comparative analysis. The final solution for the direct expansion system is intended to be physically and numerically modeled and optimized using Computational Fluid Dynamics, with the
subsequent construction of the nozzle and the test rig. The solution obtained and the developed physical and numerical model will be validated through experimental tests under different operating conditions.
A specialized and multidisciplinary work team, consisting of 5 core researchers from the Association for the Development of Industrial Aerodynamics (ADAI), has been formed to carry out this project. These team members will collaborate effectively throughout the project, possessing expertise in various scientific areas, including Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer (particularly in reverse sublimation), Computational Mechanics,
Mechanical Design, and Instrumentation. Additionally, the team members have extensive experience in laboratory and industrial research and conducting and executing R&D projects.

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Overview:

The BW2C project aims to develop an innovative system for cryogenic capture of biogenic CO₂, targeting post-combustion gases from forest residues. The project typology focuses on experimental research and development, promoting a pioneering technological solution for the sustainable valorization of forestry waste. The project simultaneously contributes to decarbonization and integrated and efficient forest management.

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Overview:

The Project aimed at training and certification of professional skills in the area of ​​energetic materials in the training area, created under the aegis of EDA – “European Defense Agency“.
The project is developed within the scope of a contract signed between 6 European partners: EDA, TNO (Netherlands), ADAI (Portugal), FOI (Sweden), University of Pardubice and Explosia (Czech Republic), Armasuissse (Switzerland), with TNO having project leader. Project funded by the Ministry of National Defense, through EDA.

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Aware that, both for safety reasons, namely those related to reducing the risk of fire, and for economic-environmental reasons, associated with the fact that forest products are increasingly more valuable and biomass can be used as a renewable energy vector, there will have to be a paradigm shift in the way forest management is carried out in Portugal and that, As a result, the amount of waste resulting from integrated forest management will tend to increase, the consortium will seek to take advantage of the opportunity that opens up with the increased availability of this waste to consider the production of a new energy vector, avoiding the classic solutions of energy recovery. In this phase, the main objective is to assess the technical feasibility and identify the technological challenges facing the production of this energy carrier from the aforementioned forest resource.

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Overview:

Power sector decarbonisation is one of this century’s concerns that our society must face and the only available long-term solution is exploiting extensively Renewable Energy Sources (RES). However, the increasing ratio of renewable energy in the electricity mix has a major impact in the energy systems and networks. The electricity production, especially, the one from RES as wind and solar suffers daily fluctuations which requires a high flexibe, intelligent and smart grid. The upcoming challenge to balance the mismatch between energy supply and demand craves for adjustable, low-cost and efficient Electric Energy Storage
(EES) (Staub et al. 2019).
The well-established technologies for an efficient storage of electricity are Batteries (of different types), Pumped Hydro Energy Storage (PHES), which currently represents 96% of the worldwide storage capacity, and Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) with efficiencies significantly above 50% and a high maturity level (Frate et al. 2020). However, the limited raw materials resources, geographic and geological requirements impose restrictions to the broad adoption of these technologies and pushed the development of alternative electricity storage technologies. In this context, Pumped Thermal Electricity Storage (PTES), or Carnot
Battery (CB), is a recent and promising technology to storage electricity as it promises to be cost-effective with a long lifetime (unlike many battery chemistries), and site-independent (unlike PHES and CAES). Although the implementation of EES remains limited at the moment, mainly for financial and technical reasons, it is expected to increase rapidly in the coming years (Dumont et al. 2020).
Carnot battery consists in thermodynamic two cycles. The charge cycle converts the excess of electric energy into heat to a hot reservoir with a heat pump (or another heating system) when electricity production is greater than demand. The discharge cycle is activated when electricity demand outstrips production and the PTES generates electricity from the stored thermal energy (possibly via a Rankine cycle) (Dumont and Lemort 2020). The thermal energy can be stored over several hours up to few days without considerable losses and, so, not losing the required temperature levels (Rahman et al. 2016) and initial studies reported
power-to-power efficiencies of around 50-70% (Staub et al. 2018).
The assessment of the CB technology as an EES is not yet properly addressed due to his novelty. A few different prototypes of Carnot battery have been developed and reported in the literature but only a few configurations have been tested. Different technologies for the charge and discharge processes that affect the system boundary conditions shall be examined and the trade-off between the system cost, complexity and performance determined. Moreover, the ability of the system scalability is crucial for the broad adoption of the technology.

This project aims to assess the technical and economic viability of the state-of-art Carnot Batteries technology as an electric energy storage. First, an overview of this emerging and innovative technology should be carried out to evaluate the current developments, techniques and features of the existent prototypes in the scientific and industrial communities. A previously tested and validated development strategy by the team members will be implemented for the design of a CB lab-scale prototype. The strategy starts with the development of a simplified thermodynamic model to fully understand the complete process including the charge and discharge phases, and screen different working fluids, different configurations and storage mediums. Secondly, a realistic off-design model of the system will be designed, constructed and tested in a wide range of operating conditions to assess the behaviour in part-load operation. Finally, a tecnoeconomic optimization will be carried out to plan the pilot plant. In the end of the project, the specifications of a CB system that can be built in the future should
be attained including the test-rig components selection and a pilot plant design in a CAD software.
For the performing of this project, the team comprises four members of University of Coimbra with a PhD in the area of thermodynamics and also investigators of ADAI. All the members have a background on thermodynamics and an extensive experience in organic Rankine cycle as a result of the participation in several projects and the writing of scientific publications regarding this subject.

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