Solar energy systems course for Energy Engineering students in the context of the European higher education area

The Bologna Process is a voluntary intergovernmental European cooperation initiative that led to the creation of the named European Higher Education Area (EHEA). EHEA was formed to promote mobility, increase academic recognition and attract students and staff from around the world to Europe. In this framework, since 2009, the Barcelona College of Industrial Engineering (Escuela Universitaria de Ingeniería Técnica Industrial de Barcelona – EUETIB) of the Technical University of Catalonia – BarcelonaTech (UPC) is offering the 4-year Bachelor Degree in Energy Engineering since 2009 with a total number of ECTS credits of 240. Current article deals with the inclusion of the sizing and design of solar energy systems in the context of this degree. In particular, and although this topic was eventually abandoned in the initial degree curriculum, the paper deals with the development of a 3rd-year course, Energy Integration, that focuses on this topic.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Comparative aspects in control strategies for hybrid DC-DC converters

Linear-switching hybrid DC/DC converters consist of a voltage linear regulator (classic NPN or nMOS topologies and LDO) connected in parallel with a switching DC/DC converter. In order to control these hybrid structures, different strategies exist, allowing to fix the switching frequency as a function of some parameters of the linear regulator. This article compares two control strategies that, although can be applied to the same circuital structure of linear-assisted converter, are sensibly different. The first one, reported in previous literature, cancels completely the average current through the linear regulator in steady state to achieve a reduction of the losses. Thus the efficiency of the whole system increases and almost equals the one of the standalone switching converter. The proposed approach, in spite of a slightly increment of linear regulator’s losses, reduces the output ripple due to the crossover distortion of linear regulator output stage.Postprint (published version

I.A.C. Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

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La Teoria de la Relativitat

Peer Reviewe

I.A.C. Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

Peer Reviewe