• Energy Research
• 2017 close
• 2020 close

Regarding NdFeB PM technology for WT, it is still necessary to break through 3 important barriers: Strong dependence on China for supply and high price of REE present in PM, high difficulty of substitution of REE in PM, and technical and economic barriers that avoid establishing commercially viable, large-scale REE recycling framework. In this context, NEOHIRE main objective is to reduce the use of REE, and Co and Ga, in WTG. This objective is mainly achieved through the development of: a) New concept of bonded NdFeB magnets able to substitute the present state-of-the-art sintered magnets for WT, and b) New recycling techniques for these CRM from the future and current PM wastes. In this way, the EU external demand of REE and CRM for PM in WTG will be reduced in a 50%. The specific objectives are: i) To develop a new NdFeB material solution that reduces the use REE and CRM amount in PM for WTG (100% of HRE, 30% of LRE Nd/Pr, and 100% of CRM Co and Ga), ii) To increase the deliverable electric power in wind power electric generators from current 2.74 MW to 3.56 MW per 1Tn of REE owing to novel electric machine designs, iii) To research and develop two recycling processes to highly increase the CRM recycling rates in NdFeB PM wastes for sintered PM from current WT (increase from 0 to 70% the recovered Nd, separate 100% of Dy and recover 90% of Co) and novel Bonded NEOHIRE PM (recycling almost 95% of Nd), iv) To achieve an economic and technically feasible large-scale framework for NdFeB PM commercial recycling, and v) To ensure the economic and technical sustainability of NdFeB resin-bonded PM developed technologies. NEOHIRE will count on PM material RTD experts (CEIT, UOB), material recycling experts (UOB, KU LEUVEN), material characterisation RTD experts (CEIT, UPV, LBF), JP Powder manufacturer (AICHI), PM manufacturer (KOLEKTOR), LCA experts (UNIFI) and WT manufacturer (INDAR). AICHI (Japan) will be involved by providing advice and raw materials to the project.

Market trends show clearly that the wind energy sector keeps growing up in Europe and worldwide. However, this industry faces serious investor confidence which hinders many wind projects from taking off. The viability, profitability and trustworthiness of any wind energy project is crucial to make the project bankable and de-risk the investment for our clients, namely utilities, investors, greenfield developers, consultants, wind turbine manufacturers and operators. At MeteoPole Zephy-Science we have developed a disruptive, opensource wind modelling software package called ZephyTOOLS to help our clients in performing critical tasks during wind farm project development. We have recently made a step ahead and launched ZephyCloud, a cloud-based simulation platform that brings unlimited computational power to accelerate ZephyTOOLS calculations and enables users to gain a significant amount of time (hours instead of weeks!) and reduce dramatically the IT costs thanks to our pay-per-use model. On top of it, we aim to build ZephyCloud-2, a major evolution of the current ZephyCloud platform towards an integral solution for wind analysis and optimization along the entire project lifecycle by (1) scaling up ZephyCloud and building a completely new user experience based on web applications, (2) opening our advanced cloud calculation engine to third-party developers thus encouraging open innovation and (3) extending our toolbox ZephyTOOLS with innovative post-construction applications that will help our clients to optimize wind turbine performance and reduce O&M costs. ZephyCloud-2 is the result of our willingness to reduce natural uncertainties and maximize the economic value of wind energy sites. With Phase 2, we will be able to accelerate the development of our next-generation wind power simulation and analysis cloud platform with the aim of boosting the deployment of renewables and contributing to the achievement of EU and global objectives for clean energ

A step change in our noise mitigation strategies is required in order to meet the environmental targets set for a number of sectors of activity affecting people through noise exposure. Besides being a hindrance to our daily life and subject to regulations, noise emission is also a competitive issue in today’s global market. To address these issues, new technologies have been emerging recently, based on radically new concepts for flow and acoustic control, such as micro-electro-mechanical devices (MEMs), meta-materials, porous treatment of airframe surfaces, airfoil leading-edge or trailing-edge serrations, micro-jets, plasma actuation, … Some of these new ideas appear nowadays promising, but it now appears to this consortium that the development and maturation of novel noise reduction technologies is hindered by three main factors. The first factor is an insufficient understanding of the physical mechanisms responsible for the alteration of the flow or acoustic fields. In absence of a phenomenological understanding, modelling and optimization can hardly be successful. Secondly, tight constraints (safety, robustness, weight, maintainability, etc.) are imposed to any novel noise mitigation strategy trying to make its way to the full-scale industrial application. Thirdly, there is an insufficient knowledge about the possibilities that are nowadays offered by new materials and new manufacturing processes. With this project, we intend to setup a research and training platform, focused on innovative flow and noise control approaches, addressing the above shortcomings. It has the following objectives: i) fostering a training-through-research network of young researchers, who will investigate promising emerging technologies and will be trained with the inter-disciplinary skills required in an innovation process, and ii) bringing in a coordinated research environment industrial stakeholders from the aeronautical, automotive, wind turbine and cooling/ventilation sectors.