Engineering: Connecting Cosmos & Consciousness - Groep T

Dr. Geert Waeyenbergh,
campus coordinator
Intelligent Mobility.
GROUP T goes for sustainable mobility
Intelligent mobility:
new focus, new campus
We already had Intelligent Mechanics, Intelligent Manufacturing and Intelligent Electronics. As of 2011-
2012, a new master focus will be added to these: ‘Intelligent Mobility’. At the same time GROUP T will set
up a new campus in the Leuven Business & Research Park amidst high-tech companies. The new campus
will be home not only to the Solar Team and the CQS GROUP T Racing Team but also to a research and
development center for mobility. We spoke to the campus coordinator Dr. Geert Waeyenbergh.
GROUP T - LEUVEN ENGINEERING COLLEGE
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Flanders is setting itself up as the logistic epicenter
of Europe ever more emphatically. To
meet the growing demand for logistics staff,
GROUP T started up the International Postgraduate
Program in Logistics Management four
years ago. “GROUP T’s engineering students, too,
have found their way to sustainable mobility”, Geert
Waeyenbergh says. “For starters there is the Solar
Team that, six years after the first team with the first
Belgian solar car, is now working on an even more
proficient version to participate in the prestigious
World Solar Challenge in Australia, regarded as the
unofficial world championship for solar powered cars.
Following in the footsteps of the Solar Team was the
CQS GROUP T Racing Team. This is a group of 31 passionate
master’s students who went to work on two
specimens of the legendary old timer 2CV and turned
them into modern environmentally friendly race cars:
one hybrid and one electric. Not only technologically
but also logistically a tour de force.”
Broad and diverse
The expertise that GROUP T has accumulated in the
field of logistics and mobility is now centered in a
new master focus in the Electromechanical Engineering
program and in a new campus. “Intelligent
Mobility deals with the sustainable, applying smart
solutions”, Geert Waeyenbergh clarifies. “The application
area is very broad and diverse. One example
involves electric or hybrid cars fitted with intelligent
recharging systems. Another example would be vehicles
that can warn each other against accidents or
traffic jams. Intelligent Mobility also has to do with
choosing materials or production methods that have
as small an impact on the environment as possible
and with optimally gearing transportation systems to
one another.”
The new master focus comprises four courses for a
total of 15 credits. “The first course ‘Transportation
and Mobility Management’ covers supply and
jg. 20, nr. 3, 16 augustus 2011
demand in the area of transportation, the optimal
use of transportation modes but also safety and
risks in the world of transportation”, according to
Geert Waeyenbergh. “The students also learn traffic
simulation techniques like measuring the effect of a
rotary on a busy intersection.”
“More and more electric
vehicles are entering the
market place, but are
not yet given enough
attention.”
The three other courses are more technical in nature.
“In ‘Vehicle Systems’ we explore drive trains in vehicles,
the latest developments in combustion engines,
electric and hybrid power trains as well as data transmission
and communication systems in modern vehicles.
The course ‘Vehicle structures’ is aimed more
specifically at new materials, lightweight structures,
the dynamic and aerodynamic behavior of vehicles
and active control systems. Finally, in ‘Sustainability:
Aspects of Mobility’, we deal with topics like ecodesign
and life cycle engineering, various energy
sources and transportation systems.”
Multifunctional
The new GROUP T campus will serve a very multifunctional
purpose. As stated above, the campus
offers the Solar Team and the CQS GROUP T Racing
Team spacious and safe accommodation. But there’s
more. “The campus can also serve as space for seminars,
practical sessions and laboratories where students
will be able to conduct experiments on the
electric and hybrid vehicles that are available there”,
Geert Waeyenbergh continues. “The results of their
experiments can immediately be fed back into the
theory so that a beneficial cross-fertilization is established.
The new campus also allows students to
engage in bigger projects. This way, we want to create
a breeding ground for new Solar or CQS teams.”
The Intelligent Mobility campus, in addition, is also
developed into a professional research center. “We
will set up research projects there on the optimization
of battery packs or on electrically geared reluctance
motors”, explains Geert Waeyenbergh. “We
will focus primarily on innovative lightweight structures,
recyclable bio-composite materials, electric
propulsion systems and intelligent vehicles.”
Educational and recreational
Geert Waeyenbergh and his colleagues are also
closely involved in the ‘Electric Vehicle for O’ (EV4O)
project of the Flemish government which aims at creating
an educational and recreational environment
to familiarize the greater public and young technical
people in particular with electric vehicles.
“More and more electric vehicles are entering the
market place, but we find that the new technologies
are not yet given enough attention in the education
of mechanics and technicians”, Geert Waeyenbergh
observes. “We want to do something about that.
Also, together with the province of Vlaams-Brabant,
we intend to install charging stations for electric
vehicles near a number of tourist attractions. People
will be able to visit these attractions with an electric
car. At the same time, they will discover new and
intelligent forms of mobility.”
Campus Intelligent Mobility
Haasrode Business & Research Park,
Technologielaan 11, 3001 Leuven.
Y.P.
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