Modeling and Simulation of Heat Transfer in Porous Media

Our group has experience in modeling and computational simulation of heat transfer phenomena in porous media, which have a lot of different important applications in several technological fields, ranging from heat storage to Process Engineering. One particular aim of our nowadays activity is the problem of obtaining practical solutions to the thermal field surrounding borehole thermal storage systems in 1, 2 and 3D configurations.

Dynamical Modeling of Thermal Systems in Buildings

The description of realistic thermal systems interacting with the heating and cooling load requirements in a building precludes the use of complex models and powerful tools to handle and optimize the use of the energy. This is particularly necessary if we aim to introduce new systems based on renewable energy such as underground heat exchangers, heat and cool storage systems or the use of structures as thermal inertia. In all these applications it is necessary to understand the detailed thermal responses to be able to build a global model of the energy distribution of the building. We are currently developing codes for standalone applications and for platforms like TRNSYS.

Design of Advanced Strategies and Algorithms for Energy Control in Buildings

An important tool to improve the energy efficiency in buildings is the control system. In this context our group is developing a set of control algorithms based on different approaches (including simple on/off criteria, programmable set-points, fuzzy logic.) and checking the benefits of all these strategies in the total use of energy in the building. We use the TRNSYS platform and our building models to select the optimal control strategy for a set of criteria.

Thermal Transfer in micro- and nanostructured systems

Our group is interested in the analysis of heat transfer processes in micro- and nanostructured systems. This is a new line of research in which the confluence with other ideas in the field of nanophotonics, nanoelectronics may produce exciting and promising ideas and technological developments.

Synthetic Biology

Looking at the genetics as modular parts and devices, assemble the biological parts in a standardized technique, using engineering tools to model biological behaviours. All of these ideas are the background of synthetic biology. This new approximation to biology works with abstraction, trying to avoid the genetic complexity. We aim at building systems in growing complexity that have emerging properties.

In this context, our group participates in the iGEM competition hosted by MIT. Annually we make a team composed of undergraduate students of different backgrounds (engineering, physics, chemistry, biology) that work on summer time to build an engineered and modelled bacteria with a specific functionality. Genetic parts and devices that mainly come from the MIT registry of parts (http://parts.mit.edu/registry/index.php/Main_Page) are used.

Metabolic modelling

In synthetic biology, a critical issue is to know the behaviour of the systems and their possible response. Describing the biochemical reactions inside the biological system is the first step to achieve a model that reflects that behaviour. This is essential to proceed to the modularity of the different parts and devices. Modelling makes easier the analysis of how a system responds to the clustering of a new device, it also gives information about the potential modularization of different wild parts.

The group is investing big efforts developing a model of cyanobacterial metabolism, focusing in the pathways involved in hydrogen production. This work is part of the BioModularH2 project.