About Us

The MCIA Research Center Overview

The working areas of the MCIA Center can be grouped in: Electric traction drivesEnergy efficiencyHigh voltage systemsIndustrial electronicsIndustrial maintenance and Mechatronics. However, each of these six areas of knowledge can be divided in more specific topics as it is explained next.
The contacts with local industry and research groups on Terrassa Campus, are common and have been intensified in recent years, resulting in the participation and leadership of numerous research projects and technology transfer contracts, with public and private funding.

Energy efficiency

KeyWords: Intelligent energy management systems, Micro-grid management, RES integration and energy predictions, Energy optimization, Power quality Water recycling & Waste recovering control systems, Energy processes information and monitoiring and Circular Economy.

 

The optimized control of the energy flow is critical in order reach a better use of the available energy resources. The MCIA Center experience in this research line is being applied in different projects: optimization of energy consumption in buildings and industrial plants, intelligent control of electrical networks and consumption patterns for the prognosis, diagnosis and optimization.

 

Example of related project: EuroEnergest

                           
 

 


Industrial Electronics

KeyWords: Power electronics converters, Digital Control of Industrial Systems, Smart electronics, Industrial communications, Customized industrial electronics solutions, Drive diagnosis and fault tolerant drives, Specific Power Converters Design, Advanced Intelligent Drivers, Fault Tolerant Power Converter, New high voltage&freq technologies, Wastewater & residuals recycling by electromechanical processes, Electrocoagulation - Electrooxidation treatments and New high efficiency power electronics.
The experience acquired during years of work on industrial electrical applications and designs implies a considerable experience in power converters, digital control, instrumentation and industrial communication systems. This knowledge represents an important background to face successfully singular industrial electronics needs.
Example of related project: Visiopal
 

 

Electrical traction and Mechatronics

KeyWords: Electric power train, Energy management in electric and hybrid vehicles, Vehicle recharge systems, Vehicle communications, Design and control of electric machines, Electromechanical actuators, Motor control implementation, Drive diagnosis, fault tolerant drives, Advanced motor design, Aeronautic/automotive applications and EV/PHEV power drive control.
The MCIA Center has extensive experience in the design of electromechanical actuators. The Center has worked and developed new knowledge in motor control, design and diagnosis of electrical machines. In recent years the Center has applied this knowledge to fault tolerant electric traction developments. The activity developed by MCIA Center in this area is focused on the research and development of electric and electronic technologies, mainly related with the design of electric drives for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and electric vehicles with energy recovering capabilities, higher power density, higher efficiency and lower weight. Interesting achievements have been found in electromagnetic and thermal design of the machines

Example of related project: VERDE

 

Industrial Maintenance

KeyWords: Decision support systems, Predictive maintenance, Fault Analysis and Equipment Reliability, Sensor networks, Measurement systems, Design of electronic devices, Transducers adaptation and acquisition systems, Local processing, Wired/Wireless local/remote communications, Industrial data driven models, Novelty detection, Automatic learning, Electromechanical multifault analysis, Ultrasonic propagation and models and 2D &3D AE imaging and fracture detection.

 Activities in motor control have now given way to research on supervision and diagnostics systems. The initial work on electrical actuators has shown that the current needs of the industry are the development of techniques for diagnosis and monitoring of its electromechanical systems. Research in this area is focused on improving the classical diagnostic techniques by providing new techniques for signal processing, pattern recognition and expert systems.

As a clear evolution of motor diagnostics, the center activities have evolved into the diagnostics in general for other systems. The merge of instrumentation and processing capabilities with intelligence systems allow the development of high added value systems that are becoming more common since are the natural evolution of the traditional systems for the products which are already in the market. Experience in this area ranges from surveillance projects, biometrics for access control and verification personnel to quality control systems for the industry.

Example of related project: MOSYCOUSIS


 

High Voltage Systems

KeyWords: Dielectric tests: PD, RIV up to 1400kV DC, Current tests: Heating stability up to 10 kA AC, Mechanical tests: Pull tests up to 20Tn, Life cycle test: Environmental corrosion, 3D electromagnetic  design and simulations, Lab ISO 17025 Accreditation, High voltage&temp Connectors and Scale Test.

Increasing renewable energies leads to an inevitable increase of transmission capacity, which is often envisaged by building HVDC power lines or either increasing power system capacity. High Voltage Systems is focused on research and test activities related to high voltage apparatus which are intended to support high voltage and/or high currents for a more efficient and sustainable power transportation.

 Activities in High Voltage Systems are divided into research activities related to gas dielectric insulation, mainly atmospheric air, aiding to assisting the design of high voltage apparatus to minimize corona activity and associated power loss. Reduced scale testing research has become an emergent area of interest to minimize the costs of full-scale testing. Finally electromagnetic field optimization covers redesign of high voltage apparatus to improve their efficiency, by means of optimizing magnetic field distribution and balancing inflow currents.

Testing activities in High Voltage Systems are aimed to support research activities and to conduct normalized tests according to international standards. Tests are divided into dielectric tests, high current tests, mechanical tests and accelerated corrosion tests. In addition, High Voltage Systems offers multiphysics simulations to assist engineer’s designs, including electro-magnetic or electro-thermal among others.

Examples of related project: SBI