Power Management for Energy Systems

The thesis deals with control methods for flexible and efficient power consumption in commercial refrigeration systems that possess thermal storage capabilities, and for facilitation of more environmental sustainable power production technologies such as wind power. We apply economic model predictive control as the overriding control strategy and present novel studies on suitable modeling and problem formulations for the industrial applications, means to handle uncertainty in the control problems, and dedicated optimization routines to solve the problems involved. Along the way, we present careful numerical simulations with simple case studies as well as validated models in realistic scenarios. The thesis consists of a summary report and a collection of 13 research papers written during the period Marts 2010 to February 2013. Four are published in international peer-reviewed scientific journals and 9 are published at international peer-reviewed scientific conferences

Overview of Deployment of Magnetic Refrigeration in Heat Pump Systems

The majority of cooling systems are based upon vapor-compression refrigeration technology. Its principle has been unchanged for more than a century. Miniaturization and competitiveness have been gained, but there’s still a need of alternative technologies, which can operate with better efficiency, lower energy consumption and better environmental safety. One of the most promising alternatives to a conventional vapor compression system is magnetic refrigeration. In this article, an overview of the current state of development of a room-temperature magnetic heat pump is reported