Integrated Plus-Energy Laboratory

1| Laboratory of CHP Systems

The Laboratory of CHP Systems is an integral part of the Integrated Plus-Energy Laboratory. It is located mainly in the L5 building and its role is to demonstrate and test the latest technologies of combined heat and electricity generation. The laboratory equipment includes several micro CHP units with power from 1kWe and 20kWt, up to 30kWe and 80kWt, representing various technologies. These systems are based on: gas reciprocating engines, external combustion engines (Stirling), gas microturbines and fuel cells. The Laboratory also includes a heating system with a gas and biomass boiler, a gas turbine with a capacity of 120kWe, co-functioning with 20kWe ORC power system using low temperature heat, a piston engine CHP system based on syngas from biomass gasification unit, absorption cooling systems using waste heat and heat solar collectors, heat pumps and heat storage.

These laboratory units are integrated and controlled via a local energy management system managing production, distribution and consumption of electrical energy.

The Laboratory enables the following activities:

  • demonstration of innovative cogeneration technologies for applications in distributed energy systems,
  • testing and certification of new devices before their introduction onto the market,
  • cooperation of multiple devices within the distributed energy systems for various scenarios,
  • distributed energy production system simulation and experimental verification,
  • analysis of trigeneration systems: electricity, heat and cold,
  • research on hybrid systems: ORC and gas turbines: co-generation and energy storage, integrated photovoltaic systems and heat pumps (PV/PC), photovoltaic and solar collector (PVT),
  • comparative analysis of various cogeneration technologies: combustion engine, external combustion engine, ORC, cooperation with warehouses of heat and electricity,
  • integration of microCHP with unstable sources of electricity from renewable sources: small wind turbines, photovoltaics – stabilization of energy production.

2| Laboratory of Monitoring and Management of Energy in the Building

The laboratory operates on the basis of an extended BMS system and specialist software for the work devoted to the search for optimum energy balance for a variety of renewable energy devices operating in a power grid.

This laboratory also includes a set of central loT (Internet of Things) allowing for communication and control of equipment located in a statistical household.

The laboratory enables:

  • monitoring the local heating and energy networks,
  • creating different operational scenarios for specific solutions (real or virtual),
  • development of optimal managing algorithms for specific energy infrastructure,
  • cooperation with other research units on the subject of energy management in the context of a smart grid,
  • simulations of renewable energy systems integrated into a “smart-grid” network to ensure an effective management of production and distribution of thermal and electric energy,
  • operation analysis of cogeneration units under various demand scenarios for heat and electricity,
  • simulation of cogeneration units in terms of real objects.