The Centres under this cluster will work towards achieving the goals of sustainable gas turbine technology, Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage, development of source technologies for operation of microgrids, research the area of photo- and electro- chemical research , developing technologies and carrying out commercialisation for Energy Storage, Management, and Integration,etc.
Advanced Gas Turbine Engines
CoE on AGTET develops complementary technologies towards future aviation, with focus on significant reduction in carbon footprint with need for more efficient, less polluting, hybrid and lighter gas turbines. scale hybrid electric technologies.
It has four verticals with the following goals:
- Futuristic Fuel Based Combustion - combustor technology for H2 and H2-HC blends, and SAF
- Thermal management – Innovative, compact, high performance next-gen heat exchangers
- Seals and Rotor dynamics - Develop architectures for future engines
- Hybrid electric components - high power to weight ratios, reducing usage of core GT air and design flexibility
These Technologies will exploit advanced manufacturing like additive technology to enable reduction in number of parts, to enable complex geometries at low cost and weight.
Principal Investigator: T.M. Muruganandam
Carbon Dioxide Capture, Utilisation and Storage
The Carbon Dioxide Capture, Utilisation and Storage lab represents a multi-disciplinary approach towards mitigation of CO2 emissions. The wicked problem of reducing emissions of CO2, particularly for a fossil-fuel heavy nation like India, provides a rich playground for research and development in several promising areas. The vibrant CCUS lab team works on a 3600 solution scheme, encompassing studies on CO2 separations using specialised materials, development of optimal routes for CO2 storage and sequestration via gas hydrates, and a slew of reaction options for converting CO2 to useful and value-added chemicals.
Principal Investigator: Preeti Aghalayam
Energy Storage and Conversion
Advanced Centre for Energy Storage and Conversion (ACESC) focuses mainly on two areas:
- Li-S Battery Research:
- (i) Development of layered cathode materials for controlling the polysulfide shuttling effect besides modification of the separator/interlayer (ii) Understanding the polysulfide shuttling effect mitigation of the cathode materials by Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, and (iii) Development of 2032 coin cell Li-S battery and Optimization for a cell capacity of 1 Ah/g
- Solar Cell Research:
- (i) Development of cheap HTMs for efficient and stable perovskite solar cells (ii) Evaluation of PSC’s stability under extreme climatic (temperature and pressure) conditions.
Principal Investigator: Kothandaraman R.
Microgrid Technologies
This project aims to do the following:
- Develop technologies of microgrids that are suitable for diverse sites, keeping specially Indian conditions in mind.
- Maintain focus on methods of energy and grid management and hence techniques which would work even if a preponderance of one particular source is not feasible.
- Energy sources would be considered as distributed and not co-located, which would offer considerable flexibility for deployment. Each site offers potentially different types of energy sources locally available.
Hence a smart energy microgrid design framework proposed here would need to optimize the size of the energy system, the LCOE or LACE of the system, by developing suitable computational models for the sources, sinks of power and load curves. Another aspect is the design of load curves that maximize renewable consumption.
Principal Investigator: Krishna Vasudevan
Photo- and Electro- Chemical Energy Sciences
The Centre for Photo- and Electro- Chemical Energy Sciences & Technology (C-PEC) is proposed to carry out basic scientific research and technology development in the areas of photochemical, electrochemical and photoelectrochemical energy conversion and storage. Many important energy related problems associated with energy conversion and storage devices including, solar fuels, batteries, supercapacitors, fuels cells, and electrolyzers shall be encompassed under this centre. A selective set of challenging, but at the same time achievable targets related to solar water splitting and metal-air batteries are proposed to carry out in next five years, aiming at high impact research papers and product development leading to startups.
Principal Investigator: Aravind Kumar Chandiran
Renewable Energy Systems
The Project aims to demonstrate a definitive pathway "Towards 100% Renewable Energy in India." The key focus of the project is renewable energy generation mechanisms supported by energy storage systems that includes Battery storage and Chilled Water storage, along with an energy management system to optimally manage the overall generation, storage and consumption. A pilot demonstration at the IIT Madras Research Park will showcase the technology readiness and economic viability of shifting towards a 100% renewable energy in a commercial complex, which could then be similarly adopted by other sectors such as industrial and residential.
Principal Investigator: Ashok Jhunjhunwala
Solar Desalination and Cold Storage
This project consists of a seawater (or) brackish water desalination system and the development of cold storage by harnessing solar energy. First, in the desalination project, we will develop an accurate and sophisticated film measurement technique with heat transfer enhancement surfaces. Then, we plan to develop a compact stand alone desalination system using solar energy by employing these results. In the cold storage project, we are going to develope refrigeration systems by employing Vapour Absorption Refrigeration System (VARS) and Vapour Jet Refrigeration System (VJRS) principles. Initially, in this cold storage project, visualization studies in absorber, ejector and generator are planned. Then, employing these results, compact cold storage will be developed with solar energy as input.
Principal Investigator: Mani A.