Problem based project organised work in groups. The project can be made in cooperation with external partners and the project can be a disciplinary project, a cross disciplinary project or a part of a multi-disciplinary project, where several groups from the department do different parts of a larger project.

Finally, the project can also be a part of a so-called MEGA project also in cooperation with industry, where several project groups from more departments are participating, each doing their part of the large project to find a total solution.

The project work must be documented by a scientific paper (max. 8 pages) accompanied by a project summary report. The project summary report should elaborate the project details and conclusions. The maximum length of the summary report (report without appendices) is 50 pages. For more information see semester description in Moodle.

The scientific paper will be presented at a conference arranged within the Department of Energy Technology prior to the project examination.

The project work should be based upon a thermal energy and process engineering system to which an optimisation, control or diagnostic system is to be set up. First, the system is to be modelled and different system identification methods can be applied to determine the parameters of the system. The system model is verified by simulations and data time series from either a real system or a laboratory set-up. Based on the model, the optimisation, control or diagnostic system is set up to improve the performance of the system, either with regard to power output, energy efficiency, life time extraction, fault detections etc. and the system should be implemented and verified experimentally.

Due to special technical or scientific documentation requirements, the student documents the project work in a project report, which can be prepared individually or in a group within the project theme; however the student’s special preferences for the semester must be approved by the Study Board in advance.