• Cathelijne Brantjes | Human & Technology, 4th year, Avans University of Applied Sciences | Inclusive Society
  Research on making blended care more understandable at general practitioners’ offices for people aged 18-40 with reduced digital skills.

• Hilde Schram | Strategic Communication, HBO Master, Fontys University of Applied Science | Communication
  Eindhoven Engine focuses on the complex challenges our society faces. Addressing these challenges requires a specific approach. Hilde is researching how this approach can be tackled through strategic communication.

• Levi Deerenberg | Business Innovation, 4th year, Avans University of Applied Sciences | Livable Region
  Develop a concept that reduces energy consumption at the residential towers Luna & Aurora on the TU/e-campus by actively influencing the behavior of the residents.

• Ivory Johan | Business Innovation, 4th year, Avans University of Applied Sciences | Livable Region
  Develop an innovative concept to increase the engagement and participation of students and staff on the TU/e campus around sustainability, by connecting them with sustainable innovations in an inspiring way.

• David Rozenberg | HBO-ICT (Software) , 4th year, Fontys University of Applied Science | Inclusive Society
  Preparing the MetMij chatbot for deployment and real-world use. MetMij easily directs people with low basic skills to appropriate support agencies.

• Santiago Triginer | Industrial Engineering, 3rd year, Eindhoven University of Technology | Livable Region
  Identifying challenges and solutions for solar panel reuse, and exploring how AI can enhance recycling processes.

• Mare Gijsbers | Business Innovation, 4th year, Avans University of Applied science | Inclusive Society
  Develop a methodology to effectively and accessibly introduce the ‘Met Mij’ app to users with low literacy, enabling them to quickly and easily receive support to participate fully in society.

• Rosalie Hendriks | Business Innovation, 4th year, Avans University of Applied Sciences | Inclusive Society
  Develop a new concept for people with low basic skills between the ages of 18 and 40 in the Eindhoven region, in such a way that these people can independently ensure the security of their financial situation.

The Career Expo is specially tailored for all TU/e students. However, if you are a non-TU/e student it is possible to walk around over the expo and have a talk with all the companies.

During the expo, students will have the possibility to introduce their selves to over 180 companies eager to answer questions and talk about their potential place in that field of study or business. Students will be able to orient their selves and develop their career like never before.

Source: Innovation Origins

The project focuses on smartly addressing grid congestion, improving connectivity and creating a sustainable testing ground for innovations. The battery plays a crucial role in optimizing energy flows on campus and enables sustainable growth.

This reveal is for invited guests only.

Introducing the GENIUS project

A promising answer to these pressing issues is the GENIUS project (Grid Efficiency and Network Integration for Universal Sustainability). With €1 million in funding, the GENIUS project is set to pioneer energy efficiency and tackle grid congestion challenges. This initiative is a collaborative effort involving 13 partners, including Eindhoven Engine, and is part of its Livable Regions program

A blueprint for nationwide application

The project aims to smartly address grid congestion, enhance connectivity, and create a sustainable testing ground for innovations. With the GENIUS project, the TU/e campus will become a smart lab for energy transition solutions. Ultimately, this project will served as a blueprint for efficiently managing energy demand. The goal is to develop solutions that can be applied to approximately 3,500 industrial sites across the Netherlands, ensuring a more stable and efficient energy network.

For more details, check out the article published by Innovation Origins.

Tackling Europe’s Invisible Health Threat

Hi, my name is Devansh Kandpal. I’m 27 years old and I’m an Acoustics R&D Engineer at Sorama as well as an EngD trainee in Smart Buildings and Cities at TU/e.

Noise pollution is one of the largest contributors to poorer health in the European Union (EU). Disturbance of sleep due to environmental noise leads to the loss of millions of hours of sleep, which is directly responsible for added stress and poorer quality of life for residents of the EU. Addressing this issue, the OpenCall project VIPNOM has been conceived to develop advanced methods for noise measurement and visualization. VIPNOM, which stands for Virtual Position Noise Measurement, is a consortium between Sorama, TU Eindhoven and ReSound. It represents a convergence of diverse engineering disciplines, all focused on innovating scalable technologies that will revolutionize how noise is measured and visualized across various scenarios. I am pleased to undertake the assignment for my EngD traineeship as part of this project. The focus will be on resolving the inaccuracies identified in noise level recordings.

Revolutionizing stadiums and highways

VIPNOM’s breakthroughs have notably enhanced smart stadiums and highways. By integrating advanced, real-time audio capture algorithms, Sorama’s  acoustic monitors can now effectively map noise data. This technology has transformed stadiums into intelligent arenas that utilize noise levels to foster positive fan conduct, thereby ensuring a secure and welcoming atmosphere.

In parallel, these principles have been adapted to monitor vehicular noise on highways. Sorama’s acoustic cameras serve as ‘noise radars’, pinpointing excessively loud vehicles to cultivate a more serene environment. These two applications have been adopted worldwide.

Enhancing accuracy through innovation

In some cases Sorama encounters inaccuracies in noise level recordings due to environmental variables and hardware constraints. The VIPNOM team is proactively addressing these issues through multiple approaches. These include designing predictive machine learning models to compensate for losses, using acoustic models to account for environmental conditions and how noise propagates in the same, and using physics-based compensation solutions for acoustic inaccuracy.

As part of this effort, I focus on crafting digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms essential for calibrating acoustic monitors in expansive venues like sports arenas. My work extends to creating simulations and visualizations that improve the spatial accuracy of beamformers within Sorama’s acoustic monitors, as well as developing transfer functions derived from acoustic modeling to further refine their performance.

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?”

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.

Our socials

Daardoor is bijvoorbeeld ook ‘s winters voldoende energie beschikbaar om een woning of kantoorpand te verwarmen. Om het systeem verder te verbeteren is een proefopstelling gebouwd op de TU/e Campus. Het project is één van 28 projecten van innovatieaccelerator Eindhoven Engine en is mede mogelijk gemaakt door Regio Deal Brainport Eindhoven.

Source: Brainport Eindhoven

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!

Improving indoor air quality

My research is focused on improving indoor air quality (IAQ) in schools in the Netherlands as part of the ECOS-IAQ project. The project aims to propose new strategies for improving the performance of ventilation systems in Dutch schools. The study explores the concept of ventilation effectiveness as a strategy to improve IAQ in classrooms. It demonstrates the potential of improving the effectiveness of ventilation rather than merely increasing airflow rates to meet indoor air quality needs.

Promising results

The results of my research so far have been promising. I have been able to use Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations to analyze the airflow distribution in a classroom and assess the performance of different ventilation systems. The insights gained from these simulations have been instrumental in understanding the impact of various factors on indoor air quality. One of the key findings of my research is the potential impact of implementing multi-zone ventilation concepts and methodologies in classrooms. This approach has shown promise in improving the effectiveness of ventilation and indoor air quality.

Limitations

However, there are several challenges that I still need to address. One of the main challenges is the limitations of CFD simulations. The quality of the input data has a significant impact on the accuracy of the results. Additionally, the complexity of physical phenomena such as turbulence and heat transfer can also affect the accuracy of the CFD simulations. Another challenge is the generalization of ventilation types. The study focused on two specific types of ventilation concepts: displacement ventilation and mixing ventilation. However, there are other ventilation concepts that were not considered in the study.

Impact is significant

Despite these challenges, I am optimistic about the impact of my research. Indoor air quality is a critical factor that significantly impacts the health and academic performance of students in schools. By improving the ventilation systems in schools, we can enhance the indoor air quality, leading to better health, thermal comfort and higher energy efficiency. This research addresses the social problem of poor indoor air quality in schools, which has been linked to a decrease in students’ cognitive abilities.

In conclusion, while there are challenges to overcome, the potential impact of this research is significant. The insights gained from this study will not only contribute to the academic field but also have the potential to bring about meaningful change in the real world. I look forward to continuing my work on this project and making a positive impact on the lives of students in schools.