In 2009 the Josef-Ressel-Zentrum ”CFD-Centre Austria“ was founded – it is one of three centers of excellence in the university of applied sciences field in Austria.
Through a call for project applications an expert jury identified three outstanding projects – University of Applied Sciences Burgenland, Upper Austria and Vorarlberg were selected.
The research focus of the “CFD-Centre Austria” as the Josef-Ressl-Center in Pinkafeld is called, lies in optimizing engineering processes in building technology and energy and environmental technology.
Corporate partners are, e.g.: Austrian Wind Power GmbH, Woschitz Engineering ZT GmbH and Herz Energietechnik GmbH.
Recovering waste heat, especially to generate electricity, becomes more and more important for increasing energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gases.
There exists a number of facilities designed to recycle energy that work according to the principle of thermal engines, such as steam power or Organic Rankine Cylce (ORC-Cycle) processes or Stirling engines. Nevertheless, there is no broad-scale move in the industry towards the realization of electricity production from industrial waste heat.
The “RaCiA“- project submitted by Forschung Burgenland aims at increasing energy efficiency by using up to now neglected, ideally renewable, low energy sources. If there are multiple uses of various waste heat sources in a conversion process the profitability increases thanks to an inherent cost degression. Furthermore, the project is expected to lead to an improved competitiveness of the Austrian industrial sector by allowing companies to produce their own energy and reducing CO2 – emissions at the same time.
The basis for the project proposal is a patented process to produce energy out of power and heat from waste heat (European Patent EP1 584 798 B1). For example, the patent finds application in the cement industry. Another patent for a multiple-pressure steam turbine is pending. The first patent belongs to our project partner Dr. Georg Beckmann, who also submitted the second patent.
The innovative process shall be optimized and compared to state of the art processes based on procedural simulation (IpsePro) and ecological evaluation (GaBi). The process design promises advantages in regard to efficiency and ecological compatibility when compared to similar processes (e.g. the ORC-process) in the target temperature/performance range. The methodology of procedural simulation with the “IpsePro“-software is used for the first time in a research setting at Forschung Burgenland. The application of thermodynamic process simulation also yields additional opportunities in energy and process technology.
Forty percent of the energy consumed is consumed in buildings – that is more energy than the energy used in the industry. This poses a huge challenge for building technology professionals: they need to further increase the energy efficiency of buildings.
The University of Applied Sciences Burgenland (FH Burgenland) campus in Pinkafeld now launched an innovative test stand to help tackle the problem. The project “energy4buildings“ allows systems such as chillers or heat pumps to interact via simulation programs.
The measuring of energy flows allows optimizing individual devices by means of ever new simulation scenarios. Also, the interaction of systems such as heat pumps and chillers or the interaction of electricity produced by the building with power that comes from outside the system can be measured and optimized in several test runs.
Green Tech Valley Cluster GmbH
Waagner-Biro-Straße 100
8020 Graz, Austria
+43 316 40 77 44 -0
welcome@greentech.at
Bei Problemen mit der Anmeldung wenden Sie sich bitte an welcome@greentech.at.
Neu hier? Jetzt registrieren und Green Tech Valley Cluster Partner werden.
Bei Problemen mit der Anmeldung wenden Sie sich bitte an welcome@greentech.at.