The Competence Centre for Advanced Control Technologies ( CC ACT ) is a research & development centre in the field of control technology (automation, informatics and cybernetics) for systems, processes and devices. During the project of establishing and operating the first phase of the centre from 2009 to 2013, our research group had a key role as its members have been involved in the establishment of the centre, overall project management, coordination of all research activities and in several (12) centre’s research subprojects. CC ACT connects 17 partners from industry and the research sector. In CC ACT participate 4 academic partners, 7 engineering firms specialized on automation and production informatics, 5 manufacturing enduser companies and one technology centre. The total budget of CC ACT program for the period 2011-2013 was € 9,360,000, of which the partners own contribution was € 3,004,500. During its work, the CC ACT has achieved many innovative results, which already have or will have an important impact in the technological and economic development of Slovenia. Quantitative examination shows that they exceeded the project’s planned results. Namely, the centre has created 33 new technological solutions (planned 28), of which 14 have been already proven in the form of demonstration projects (planned 5). An innovativeness of solutions is reflected in five patent applications (planned 3) and 18 technological innovations (10 planned). In addition, the centre enabled many other results: more than 50 scientific and professional papers, 1 new business model, two educational workshops, 1 new program of lifelong learning and the opportunity for launching one to two spinoff companies. The final effects of the Competence Centre for Advanced Control Technologies are the introduction of advanced solutions on the market and the creation of new added value. The real effects may be expected in 2014 and beyond, but the effects of diffusion of new solutions into company’s offer and their outcomes in the market have been already detected. Namely, The companies in CC ACT are (in 2012), according to the state before the project increased sales by 33 %, the share of exports in sales for 2% in average, the number of employees averagely for 2% and GVA per employee by an average of 8 %. We believe that CC ACT also in the next period can significantly contribute to advanced production control, energy issues, to addressing societal challenges in health, living and care for people.
D.02 Establishment of a research centre, laboratory, study course, association
COBISS.SI-ID: 27623463For the Domel company, the most important European producer of electromotors for vacuum cleaners, we have developed a diagnostic system for total endquality control and diagnostics of possible faults during the production process. The system is designed to calculate features based on short online measurements of electric values, vibration, noise, etc. and excludes all units not meeting the predefined criteria of quality. In this way the "human factor" is eliminated from the endquality assessment, so only faultless products are delivered to the market. The installations of this system on several production line for different types of electromotors have contributed significantly also to reducing the production costs and lowering the scrap rate. The system has already been installed on 7 production lines for different types of vacuumcleaner motors and up to now around 100 million motors have been tested! According to the representatives of Domel d.o.o. use of this system contributes to high quality of electromotors and is one of the essential elements for increasing the company's competitiveness in the global market. In 2010 the diagnostic system received the TARAS award for the most successful cooperation between research team and industrial sector in Slovenia.
F.17 Transfer of existing technologies, know-how, methods and procedures into practice
COBISS.SI-ID: 24501543Oscillations in the control systems appear due to disturbances or inappropriate controller structure or parameters. Oscillations in the system result in increased power consumption, decrease of product quality and lower actuator’s life expectancy, which leads to higher production costs and stalls in production. The members of our program group, together with the development team from Danfoss Trata, Ltd. have developed an innovative procedure that effectively eliminates oscillations in closedloop systems and successfully implement this solution into motor two types of iMVC valves : linear drive ( 0-10V) and threepoint drive (24V or 230V AC). The task of the program group was mainly design and implementation of a dedicated electronic circuit and special control algorithms for positioning the valves. It has been crucial to optimize quality and prices of the product within the predefined constraints. We also carried out all performance verification and validation of the new family of valves. The effectiveness of the developed solution is reflected in the very good sales results of Danfoss Trata company. Namely, a new family of valves has been selling successfully in the global market to the extent of several thousand pieces/year. For this innovative solution for intelligent valve drives our program group was in 2012 awarded with the highest National award for inventions, technological achievements and the transfer of scientific results into industrial practice.
F.06 Development of a new product
COBISS.SI-ID: 27323687Program group was during the period 2009-2014 very active in the research areas of alternative energy and cleaner environment. The group has initiated the use of hydrogen technologies in Slovenia and is a cofounder of the Centre for Hydrogen Technologies and the Centre of Excellence LowCarbon Technologies, which through several projects introduce hydrogen technology, Li-ion batteries and photovoltaics in Slovenia. In the field of fuel cell based systems implementation for various applications our program group has been developing algorithms and dedicated modules to increase the efficiency, reliability and price competitiveness of such systems. Within the framework of the project "HyMIV" a fuel cell based electric generator was installed as an auxiliary power source for electronic equipment installed in military vehicles. The system is a novelty in comparison with neighbouring armies of NATO alliance. It was tested in the everyday activities of the Slovenian Armed Forces and also during various military exercises and is characterized by survival even at very low outdoor temperatures. The next project was "GCCOGEN" the development of a demonstration prototype of a fuel cell based cogeneration system. The largest project in the field of hydrogen technologies was a development of a laboratory "TESTLAB" to demonstration and validation of hydrogen technologies. It consists of 1kW PEM fuel cells stack, various types of H2 storages, electrolyser, solar cells, electrical and thermal converters or storages. The primary objective of the project was to get knowledge and skills for the development of various fuel cell based applications. A secondary objective is to use this experimental test environment as a polygon for testing and validation of the various newly developed dedicated components for fuel cell applications. Complementary to this activities we also participated in the project "HyCore" aiming to integrate knowledge and skills of some industrial and academic groups in the Slovenian area from the fields of hydrogen technology and fuel cells in order of being able to produce some new (or unobtainable ) prototypes for some key components of fuel cell based systems. This aims to ensure greater possibility of industrialization and commercialization of fuel cell applications and to help Slovenian industry to penetrate into already structured international supply chains in this area. The results of these projects are some dedicated algorithms and new electronic modules (e.g. DC / DC converter , power management module for Li-ion battery module for monitoring stack voltage, etc. ), some of which have been already successfully sold at home and abroad. We also succeeded to get involved in in three FP7 projects dealing with hydrogen technologies. In the field of efficient use of energy we have developed the algorithm for selecting the optimal heating and cooling systems in residential or commercial buildings. The algorithm integrates various independent energy heating and cooling systems in a building into a single system, its innovation is the optimal selection and the switching time of particular energy source by taking into account also the weather forecast and current occupancy of the building. In the field of energy production from renewable sources we were dealing with an implementation of the anaerobic reactor for the production of biogas from organic waste in biogas plants and sewage treatment plants. We have developed an algorithm that properly dose a substrate in the fermenter for ensuring stable operation of the reactor during the digestion of a variety of waste materials and maximizes biogas production. The algorithm was tested on a pilot plant of industrial biogas plant. For wastewater treatment in sewage treatment plants we have developed a series of simulation models and management strategies for functional optimization of biological processes in terms of both the quality of treated wastewater and energy consumption. For the
F.17 Transfer of existing technologies, know-how, methods and procedures into practice
In 2013 the book entitled »Case Studies in Control - Putting Theory to Work« has been published in the Springer series "Advances in Industrial Control". The book editors, Prof. Stanko Strmčnik and Prof. Đani Juričić, raised the topic of advanced control based on a number of case studies contributed by 18 members of our research group. The book summarizes the long-standing efforts and knowledge of our research group in the field of research of advanced control methods and their transfer to the industrial practice. Case Studies in Control presents a framework to facilitate the use of advanced control concepts in real systems based on two decades of research and our over 150 successful applications for industrial end-users from various backgrounds. Highlights: - A variety of case studies indicate how to apply advanced ideas from control theory to specific real problems - The book explains how theory can be shaped to comply with the realistic constraints - Case studies demonstrating the emergence of theory triggered by realistic problems is hoped to challenge researchers to invest more effort in the related issues.
C.01 Editorial board of a foreign/international collection of papers/book
COBISS.SI-ID: 26888999