Eindhoven Engine News – February 2024
In this edition of Eindhoven Engine News: Eindhoven’s Energy Initiative recieves a boost for Grid Balancing Project, Innovator in the spotlight Steven Beumer & more!
What else is happening at Eindhoven Engine?
Eindhoven’s Energy Initiative: €50K Boost for Grid Balancing Project
As the year 2024 kicks off, Eindhoven Engine, Simpl.Energy and TU/e EIRES (Eindhoven Institute for Renewable Energy Systems) are joining forces for an Energy Grid Balancing initiative, aimed at addressing the pressing energy challenges faced by the Brainport region. This pioneering project is receiving a boost with a subsidy from the Stimuleringsfonds (Stimulation Fund) of the Metropoolregio Eindhoven (MRE).
Energy Challenges in the Brainport Region
The Brainport region is grappling with energy security challenges on its journey towards a sustainable future. While planned grid investments are crucial, they alone won’t provide immediate solutions. Recognized as the Dutch high-tech industry’s national mainport, the strategic importance of Brainport demands a sustainable approach to powering its economic activities and meeting future energy demands.
The newly enacted Energiewet (Energy Act) in the Netherlands creates an opportunity to infuse flexibility into the electricity grid. The current centrally controlled system calls for operational systems at the campus level to adapt to the evolving energy landscape.
As this project unfolds, it promises not only to meet current energy demands but to also build a resilient and dynamic energy infrastructure for the future.
Collaborative Solutions for Brainport’s Future
In this groundbreaking initiative, Eindhoven Engine leads the way in crafting the playbook for simulation tools in Eindhoven-Oost. Simpl.Energy focuses on an operational monitoring and prediction system, while TU/e EIRES connects with ongoing university research and engages stakeholders for effective project dissemination.
Paving the Way for Sustainable Solutions
The Energy Grid Balancing project shines as a beacon of collaborative innovation, harnessing the strengths of Eindhoven Engine, Simpl.Energy, and TU/e EIRES. With MRE Stimuleringsfonds’ support, this initiative is set to forge the path to sustainable energy solutions, addressing Brainport’s unique challenges and contributing to the broader goals of the Dutch high-tech industry’s energy transition. As this project unfolds, it promises not only to meet current energy demands but to also build a resilient and dynamic energy infrastructure for the future. Get ready for a grid revolution in the heart of Brainport.
Empowering Epilepsy Care: Decoding Transcranial Electric Stimulation
Hi all, my name is Steven Beumer (30 years old) and for the last four years I’ve been doing my PhD at the TU/e, specifically the Electromagnetics group of Electrical Engineering. I was born and raised in Geldrop, a small village next to Eindhoven, so studying at this university was almost a no-brainer.
My research is focused on using transcranial electric stimulation for epilepsy patients that cannot be treated using medicine or surgery and is part of the PerStim project. This project was conceived from the wish to be able to reduce the treatment gap in epilepsy and thus lower the burden of this disease on the patients and society.
Electrical stimulation is simple, but very complex
Together with the Ghent University Hospital, Kempenhaeghe and Philips we started to research the use of electrical stimulation for epilepsy treatments. Through extensive literature studies, we found that the working mechanism of this technology is still poorly understood. Thus, we set out to answer a fundamental question using clinical studies: “Are we stimulating the brain with currents that go straight through the skull, or is it taking a more complicated route like the facial nerves?”
This method holds great promise for the future because of its affordability, simplicity, and potential for home use, which could ultimately reduce the need for frequent hospital visits.
To support these studies, I was tasked with making patient models, optimizing the electrode positions as well as analyzing the data. Together with students from Fontys and the TU/e, we built a full workflow to do this in a very quick and efficient manner. Eindhoven Engine enabled us to cooperate with the students from the Fontys. Their working mentality and different way of approaching problems were fundamental to significant parts of this work. Our clinical studies are still running, but preliminary results have shown that the answer to the abovementioned question might be that the stimulation works via both the direct and the indirect paths.
Looking into the future
Even though the use of transcranial electric stimulation is more complex than initially assumed, we have just started to unravel the actual working mechanism and I wholeheartedly believe that as we gain a deeper understanding, we can improve the methods and their efficacy. This method holds great promise for the future because of its affordability, simplicity, and potential for home use, which could ultimately reduce the need for frequent hospital visits.
My time at the university is running out, but I am still as fascinated by the world of brain stimulation as I was when starting this project and I’ll keep working in this field to improve the understanding of these techniques and unlock their potential for patients.
Janne Brok receives Knaller 2024 Award
A Catalyst for Eindhoven Engine’s Ambitious Plans
Our Managing Director, Janne Brok, was honored with the Knaller 2024 award at the Gerard & Anton Awards last Thursday! This recognition signifies the anticipation of significant achievements for her in the year ahead. Aligned seamlessly with the Eindhoven Engine’s 2024 plans, we’re set to embark on exciting initiatives in the year ahead. Also, many congratulations to all the winners!
More about the Gerard & Anton High Tech Piek Awards: https://lnkd.in/emPx6gGN
Media: Smart shed powers buildings year-round
Two dynamic startups, CALOSOL and Cellcius , on the TU/e campus are collaborating on a groundbreaking project to drive forward the energy transition. They integrate revolutionary heat wall panels with intelligent energy storage encapsulated within a specially designed shed – introducing the innovative Smart Heat Shed
This pioneering solution guarantees a reliable energy source for winter heating needs in residential or office spaces. To enhance the system’s efficiency, an experimental setup has been established at Eindhoven Engine on the TU/e Campus. The project is one of 28 projects of Eindhoven Engine and was partly made possible by Regio Deal Brainport Eindhoven.
Source: Brainport Eindhoven
Festival of Disruption filled with energy and enthusiasm
The Festival of Disruption’s second edition thrived with energy and enthusiasm. Kicking off the day, architect and urban designer Floris Alkemade offered a compelling perspective on how to embrace transformative changes.
Engaging workshops
Following this inspiring start, attendees were presented with seven engaging workshops, each delving into methods to expedite innovation, including ‘Design doing’, ‘Accelerating transitions via disruption’ and ‘1+1=3.’ Moreover, they had the chance to stay up to date on the latest developments in Eindhoven Engine’s OpenCall projects and the Emergence Lab initiative focusing on low literacy. As the day drew to a close, the atmosphere was charged with excitement during the wrap-up quiz, concluding a day, filled with learning, inspiration, and networking.
Did you miss out on the festival or do you want to relive the day? Get an impression of it here!
Empowering future-proof companies with Eindhoven Engine
In August of last year, Kay Smits, a fourth-year student of Business Innovation, embarked on his graduation assignment with Eindhoven Engine. The purpose of his assignment is to identify a systematic approach that stimulates accelerated innovation.
In this task he conducted extensive field research and organized brainstorming sessions with creative business innovation professionals and Eindhoven Engine’s office team. Kay’s efforts led to the conceptualization of the ‘Innovation Tool’, a gamified tool to propel projects with innovation objectives in a more cutting-edge direction. The goal was to provide tangible support to projects and organizations in accelerating their innovations. This tool represents a significant step forward in Eindhoven Engine’s commitment to overseeing innovation projects, serving as a visual aid in project management and future-proofing strategies.
Innovation Tool
The ‘Innovation Tool’ fosters a culture of innovation by promoting creative problem-solving and encouraging the establishment of ambitious long-term goals. Its framework enables projects to gain a broad perspective, allowing for a systematic approach to accelerating innovation and getting ready for the market.
This tool, presented to the management of Eindhoven Engine, has been identified as a pivotal asset for the organization. Recognizing its potential to accelerate innovation with social impact, the management has expressed a desire for its further development.
Consequently, Kay has been tasked with exploring the feasibility of creating a digital version of this tool. His role as project owner of Innovation Development for Eindhoven Engine commenced last summer, marking a significant milestone in the organization’s pursuit of sustained innovation.
The digital edition is set for release in early 2024. For more information on the tool or to initiate a detailed discussion, please reach out to us by clicking the button below.
How the tool works
The process kicks off with an initial project intake session with Eindhoven Engine, aiming to assess the project’s current innovation status and placement. Following the intake, the project integrates into the innovation tool. Eindhoven Engine collaborates with the project team to strategize and determine the necessary steps to get closer to market application.
Tailored sessions
Tailored sessions are available, catering to the project’s specific needs and progress. These sessions cover a range of topics, from expediting market integration using existing methodologies to solving challenges creatively and bolstering innovation knowledge. Additionally, there is the option to participate in sessions focused on enhancing innovation knowledge and addressing the challenges associated with slower progress due to linear planning.
This innovation tool gives its users an overview of an introduction to the many existing methodologies that are useful in making impact from knowledge. It is not only easy to use, it is also fun!
Eindhoven Engine News – November 2023
In this edition of Eindhoven Engine News: Flashback Festival of Disruption 2023, Innovator in the spotlight Petros Zimianitis & more!
What else is happening at Eindhoven Engine?
Towards automated personal comfort systems for heating, cooling and ventilation
Hello, my name is Petros Zimianitis (31 years old). I come from Greece and I was an EngD trainee in the Smart Buildings and Cities program at Eindhoven University of Technology. I studied Physics as my bachelor’s and did my master’s in Computational Physics in Greece.
Driven by my curiosity and my eagerness to come up with innovative solutions to interesting technical challenges, I started my Engineering Doctorate traineeship in 2021, to contribute to the world of the built environment.
Are we using energy efficiently?
In the Netherlands, buildings are responsible for a great proportion of the total energy consumption. It is estimated that there can be significant energy savings by improving building installations and conditioning systems. Another important issue is the reported dissatisfaction of occupants in non-residential buildings regarding their perceived comfort and air quality. This is not a very efficient way of using energy, especially now that the world is moving to more sustainable energy generation. There are also a lot of research findings regarding the differences in perceived comfort across individuals.
Individualizing comfort in offices
My project, ‘Towards automated personal comfort systems for heating, cooling and ventilation’, is part of the Brains4Buildings consortium. It aims to take the step from research towards design and, thus to develop and test a prototype personalized comfort system (PCS), controlled by a machine learning model, as a module for building management systems for office buildings. The control inputs for the system come from both objective measurements of the environmental conditions around the occupant as well as the occupants’ perceived thermal comfort and perceived air quality.
System development
The prototype PCS was developed in a real office environment, in the living lab of Kropman in Breda. Prior to now, there was been a lot of research performed in controlled experiment rooms (climate chambers) at universities and other institutes. The benefit of developing such a system in a real office environment is that the system and the interaction that the occupants have with it can be tested in real-world conditions.
Performance
During the tests, the system showed promising performance. The machine learning models were able to predict the perfect settings for the volunteers the majority of the time. It was also reported that the volunteers that were using the PCS were felt comfortable throughout the day, whereas other people that worked in the same building in normal offices were experienced some kind of discomfort throughout the day.
What does this mean?
By individualizing comfort systems, there are huge gains that can be made in energy use. PCSs are using significantly less energy for the same task than central conditioning systems. A combination of these systems can prove to be much more energy efficient than the systems currently in use, thus, enabling buildings to easily integrate sustainable on-site energy generation solutions. All this is possible, while still providing increased levels of comfort to the occupants, which also extends to higher productivity and overall improvement of the occupants’ well-being!
By individualizing comfort systems, there are huge gains that can be made in energy use. PCSs are using significantly less energy for the same task than central conditioning systems
Interns join Smart Heat Shed and Low Literacy projects
Since September, two interns have been actively engaged at Eindhoven Engine . Jamy has taken on responsibilities within the Smart Heat Shed project, while Nivar is currently working on an assignment for the Low Literacy project.