Control For Energy and Sustainability
Lead Research Organisation:
Imperial College London
Department Name: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Abstract
Control engineering is concerned with the design of control systems (controllers) that can improve the performance of all dynamic processes. Relevant examples include the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from internal combustion engines and power plant, the reduction of pollutants generated by chemical plants, and improvements in a power system's ability to respond to random load and/or supply variations. New technologies for clean electricity generation, fuel efficient transport, and environmentally friendly waste disposal will all depend on a new generation of special-purpose control systems. Current research trends in control engineering, which address complexity and uncertainty, have a great, and as yet unrealised potential to contribute to these technologies.The aim of this research programme is to develop new control engineering techniques which can be applied to a number of energy and sustainability related problems in order to achieve significantadvances in the exploitation of renewable energy and vehicle fuel efficiency. The clean energy aspect of the programme will address major challenges arising from distributed renewable generation, taking account of the integration of wind power into a network, transmission, local network control, and random intermittency of supply. In transport, our goals are to develop new technologies for a future generation of fuel efficient road vehicles (focusing attention on engine management, and aerodynamic and vehicle design optimisation) and to devise new air traffic management schemes to reduce fuel consumption of aircraft resulting from air traffic congestion.
Organisations
- Imperial College London (Lead Research Organisation)
- Ford Motor Company (United Kingdom) (Collaboration)
- Wintec Waikato Institute of Technology (Collaboration)
- Alstom (Collaboration)
- Penske Racing Shocks (Collaboration)
- Government of Chile (Collaboration)
- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Collaboration)
- National Grid UK (Collaboration)
- McLaren Racing (Collaboration)
Publications
Angeli D
(2012)
A Stochastic Approach to "Dynamic-Demand" Refrigerator Control
in IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology
Arana C
(2015)
Series Active Variable Geometry Suspension application to chassis attitude control
in IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics
Arana C
(2015)
Series Active Variable Geometry Suspension for Road Vehicles
in IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics
Astolfi A
(2017)
Nonlinear Model Reduction by Moment Matching
in Foundations and Trends® in Systems and Control
Astolfi A
(2010)
Model Reduction by Moment Matching for Linear and Nonlinear Systems
in IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control
Bettiol P
(2011)
Trajectories Satisfying a State Constraint: Improved Estimates and New Non-Degeneracy Conditions
in IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control
Bettiol P
(2010)
On Trajectories Satisfying a State Constraint: $W^{1,1}$ Estimates and Counterexamples
in SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization
Bettiol P
(2011)
Estimates for Trajectories Confined to a Cone in $\mathbb{R}^{\lowercase{n}}$
in SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization
Bettiol P
(2016)
$$L^{\infty }$$ L 8 estimates on trajectories confined to a closed subset, for control systems with bounded time variation
in Mathematical Programming
| Title | None |
| Description | Nominal entry |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2010 |
| Impact | Nominal entry |
| Description | Grant established a world class research activity in the UK, developing new control engineering techniques and applying them to improve energy efficiency in electricity production and transportation, at a time of intense concern over the consequences of excessive energy use and emissions on global warming. It opened up areas of control theory to address problems of energy efficiency, beyond the reach of currently available techniques. These include new methodologies for stochastic decision making, forecasting, nonlinear control, decentralized control, control based on concepts of 'passivity' or energy dissipation, etc., that accommodate the special model structures and design constraints arising in technologies promoting energy efficiency. It provided new methodologies based on stochastic modelling, for designing and operating power systems including renewable power sources, and for quantifying risks of failure. It provided new techniques of decentralised control for power systems, inspired by TCP algorithms for information flow on the internet. It provided substantial improvements in the energy efficiency of waste recycling schemes, based on application of new theories of adaptive nonlinear control. It achieved substantial improvements in the energy efficiency of internal combustion engines, through the use of state-of-the-art hybrid control techniques for engine management. Provided control techniques to Alleviate of air traffic congestion through improved air traffic management schemes. It achieved significant improvements in energy efficiency of road vehicles through design and novel control-based suspension and steering components. It provided training of technical staff and building the skills base in areas of technology relating to green energy production and energy efficiency. The grant closed on 31/03/2015. There are no new 'key findings' to report. New publications relating to ramifications of the programme grant research have been added. |
| Exploitation Route | Follow on EPSRC and European grants and future industrial sponsorship |
| Sectors | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Education,Energy,Environment,Transport |
| URL | http://divf.eng.cam.ac.uk/cfes/Main/CfesResearch |
| Description | The research from this portfolio grant has advanced basic understanding of control engineering, extended applications of control engineering in the energy and transportation sectors, promoted public understanding of the field and resulted in stronger links between universities and industry. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2009 |
| Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Education,Environment,Transport |
| Impact Types | Economic |
| Description | Impact of wind generation |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | Prof Strbac (co-investigator on Programme Grant) provided the research supporting recommendations by House of Common's Energy and Climate Change Committee, on the role of wind energy in meeting the UK's CO2 emissions reduction targets |
| URL | http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmenergy/194/19402.htm |
| Description | European Union EU Brussels (Marie Curie Fellowship) |
| Amount | £209,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | European Research Council (ERC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Belgium |
| Start | 01/2011 |
| End | 01/2013 |
| Title | None |
| Description | Nominal entry |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Nominal entry |
| Title | None |
| Description | Nominal entry |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Nominal entry |
| Description | Active Design ofBuilding Structures |
| Organisation | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries |
| Country | Japan |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Supervision of a postdoc supporting the Project EET-A of Programme Grant (Control for Energy and Sustainability) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Funding for postdoc supporting the Project EET-A of Programme Grant (Control for Energy and Sustainability) |
| Impact | New concepts for structural design of buildings, for earthquake protection, that Mitsubishi might use in future buildings |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | Active Suspension Design |
| Organisation | McLaren Racing |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Advice and technical support to company to improve active damping of their racing cars. McLaren funded a PhD student at Cambridge University. This is part of a collaboration with McLaren, within which Cambridge university provided world leading improvements to the suspension of their vehicles. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Supply of prototypes, hardware and software support and technical support. |
| Impact | Improved suspension design |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Development of Inerter |
| Organisation | Penske Racing Shocks |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The ideas behind the inerter. (Penske Racing Shocks has been involved in commercialising an active suspension device based on the inerter concept developed at Cambridge University.) |
| Collaborator Contribution | supply of prototypes, hardware and software support and technical support |
| Impact | A new fluidic device available to the motor industry and other sectors |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Engine Management |
| Organisation | Ford Motor Company |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Research into new engine management schemes, analysis of laboratory tests, etc |
| Collaborator Contribution | Supply of prototypes, hardware and software support and technical support |
| Impact | New energy saving engine management schemes that Ford might incorporate in future vehicles |
| Start Year | 2009 |
| Description | HVDC Networks |
| Organisation | Alstom |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Funding for two extra PhD students to work on the Programme Grant research programme, in the area of High Voltage Direct Current network design for wind energy exploitation. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Supervision of two research students |
| Impact | New design for HVDC networks, originating in Imperial College, that will be used for bringing wind energy ashore form the North Sea. |
| Start Year | 2012 |
| Description | Power Systems Risk Profile Studies |
| Organisation | Government of Chile |
| Country | Chile |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Supervision of a PhD student working in an area related to project PS-C of Portfolio Grant (Control for Energy and Sustainability) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Funding for a PhD student |
| Impact | Student completed PhD and developed new modelling and analysis tools for power system system infrastructure planning |
| Start Year | 2009 |
| Description | Risk profile of future power systems |
| Organisation | National Grid UK |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Two studies undertaken by Programme Grant researchers ('Quantifying Risks of Smart Grid Technologies' and 'Integrating wind uncertainty in transmission network planning') connected to Project PS-C of Programme Grant (Control for Energy and Sustainability) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Funding for researchers to conduct studies as above |
| Impact | Recommendations to National Grid will influence their future infrastructure policies |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | Wind Generator Design |
| Organisation | Wintec Waikato Institute of Technology |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Research student supervision, and consultancy services to WinTech |
| Collaborator Contribution | Funding for a PhD student to support wind energy work for the Programme Grant, and also , free use of simulation software and Windrive technical support |
| Impact | New, energy efficient designs for wind generators for Wintech to commercialise |
| Start Year | 2010 |
| Title | None |
| Description | Nominal entry |
| IP Reference | |
| Protection | Copyrighted (e.g. software) |
| Year Protection Granted | |
| Licensed | No |
| Impact | Nominal entry. The main outcomes of this research were ideas, publications etc., |
| Title | None |
| Description | Nominal entry |
| Type | Therapeutic Intervention - Medical Devices |
| Current Stage Of Development | Initial development |
| Year Development Stage Completed | 2010 |
| Development Status | Closed |
| Impact | Nominal entry |
| Title | Imperial College London Optimal Control Software (ICLOCS) |
| Description | The code allows users to define and solve optimal control problems with general path and boundary constraints and free or fixed final time. It is also possible to include constant design parameters as unknowns. ICLOCS is implemented in MATLAB. It includes the ability of using the nonlinear optimization code Ipopt and the SUNDIALS ODE solver CVODES for sensitivity analysis. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2010 |
| Open Source License? | Yes |
| Impact | Used by universities in the UK and abroad to compute optimal controls |
| URL | http://www.ee.ic.ac.uk/ICLOCS/ |
| Description | 1st CFES Workshop: Control of Electrical Power Systems |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Participants in your research and patient groups |
| Results and Impact | This was a workshop to launch to Programme Grant 'Control for Energy and Sustainability'. All participants attended, in addition to members of the steering committee, sponsors, etc Team building, defined the goals of the programme grant |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009 |
| URL | http://divf.eng.cam.ac.uk/cfes/Main/CfesWorkshops |
| Description | 2nd CFES Workshop: Control of Transportation Systems |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Participants in your research and patient groups |
| Results and Impact | Brought together all participating researchers and other stakeholders in transportation aspects of the Porgramme grant, defined goals etc. Team building for research staff in the programme grant. Informed external participants of the research programme. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| URL | http://divf.eng.cam.ac.uk/cfes/Main/CfesWorkshops |
| Description | 3rd CFES Workshop: Nonlinear Control and Optimization |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Participants in your research and patient groups |
| Results and Impact | This was a major, international workshop on Optimization, which took place at the Royal Society, having numerous international participants,with special emphasis on work being done in the Programme Grant. Stimulated much discussion on trends in optimisation and control research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| URL | http://divf.eng.cam.ac.uk/cfes/Main/CfesWorkshops |
| Description | 4th CFES Workshop: Optimal Control |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Participants in your research and patient groups |
| Results and Impact | An three day, international workshop in optimal control, including presentations and short courses on aspects of the subject covered by the Programme Grant An international audience of researchers, working in optimal control, interacted with participants in the Programme Grant (comments on presentations, proposed alternative methods of approach, etc) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| URL | http://divf.eng.cam.ac.uk/cfes/Main/CfesWorkshops |
| Description | 5th CFES Workshop: Network Synthesis |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Participants in your research and patient groups |
| Results and Impact | Workshop, with speakers from abroad, on control systems design, with emphasis on the network synthesis, and including presentations on work done in the programme grant Very well received presentations on Malcolm Smith's programme grant research, by international audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | 6th CFES Workshop: Modeling of Multi-body Systems |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Participants in your research and patient groups |
| Results and Impact | Workshop, with international speakers, including presentations on work done within the Programme Grant, on vehicle modelling and control Strong interest shown in work by David Limebeer and Simos Evangelou, coming out of their participation in the Programme Grant |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| URL | http://divf.eng.cam.ac.uk/cfes/Main/CfesWorkshops |
| Description | 7th CFES Workshop: Control for Energy and Sustainability |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Participants in your research and patient groups |
| Results and Impact | Special session on Programme Grant research at an international control conference, and a panel discussion on future of control, organised by Programme Grant Director and Co-Director Panel discussion was well attended. Strong interest in presentations on future directions, and calls for future such meetings |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://divf.eng.cam.ac.uk/cfes/Main/CfesWorkshops |
| Description | 8th CFES Workshop: Control of Uncertain Systems |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Participants in your research and patient groups |
| Results and Impact | Major workshop celebrating the contributions of Prof Keith Glover (co-investigator on Programme Grant) and including presentations on research from Programme Grant Presentations concerned with future directions of control were of principal interest |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://divf.eng.cam.ac.uk/cfes/Main/CfesWorkshops |