Control of Thermal Management Systems for Electric Vehicles: Energy Efficiency Optimization for the Lightyear 0

Improving the energy efficiency of electric vehicles has various significant benefits, such as increasing the driving range. The Thermal Management System (TMS) plays a large role in optimizing the vehicle energy consumption and battery lifetime. In this thesis, a nonlinear Model Predictive control (MPC) strategy is presented to regulate the...

Design of a groundwater-based Model Predictive Control algorithm for the operation of water table control systems: A proof of concept

Rapid discharge of excess water has always been the core of Dutch water management. Due to climate change, a change in strategy is required. A future-proof drainage strategy consists of three steps: 1) retention, 2) storage, and 3) controlled removal. This thesis comprises the design and evaluation of an algorithm for groundwater-based Model...

Optimal condition-based maintenance of asphalt concrete pavements

Maintenance is a necessary measure to keep the asset, in this case a road network, in good condition. Spending too much on maintenance is clearly not efficient, while not spending enough may cause the condition to drop below a desired value; moreover, it will almost always cost more to correct the emerging damages afterwards. <br/>In this report...

Time-Optimal Control for Tiny Quadcopters

Time-optimal model-predictive control is essential in achieving fast and adaptive quadcopter flight. Due to the limited computational performance of onboard hardware, aggressive flight approaches have relied on off-line trajectory optimization processes or non time-optimal methods. In this work we propose a computational efficient model...

Radar Resource Management for Multi-Target Tracking Using Model Predictive Control

The radar resource management problem in a multi-target tracking scenario is considered. Partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs) are used to describe each tracking task. Model predictive control is applied to solve the POMDPs in a non-myopic way. As a result, the computational complexity compared to stochastic optimization...

Operating power-to-heat in thermal grids: Mitigating wind power intermittency through the electrification of a heat network

Externalities of conventional energy sources encourage a transition to a sustainable energy system. Both the intermittency of renewable energy sources and the carbon-intensity of the heat sector challenge this transition. In the context of heat and renewable power integration, this report focuses on balancing uncertain wind power production...

Computational Strategies for Model Predictive Control on Switching Max-plus Linear Systems

A switching max-plus linear model is a framework to describe the discrete dynamics of the timing of events. To influence these systems one can choose the routes of jobs and the orderings of operations as input for the system. In this thesis the techniques of model predictive control are used to find good input values. The problem of finding the...

Model Predictive Control for Automated Driving and Collision Avoidance: Design of an integrated NMPC with simultaneous lateral and longitudinal control via steering and braking

The automotive sector has seen a rapid transition towards autonomous driving with an aim to achieve SAE Level 5 vehicle. The incessant drive for innovation has resulted in modern passenger cars equipped with plethora of control technologies such as ABS, VSC, AFS via EPS assist etc. all working respectively in various critical and non-critical...

Distributed Control Design of District Heating Networks

In The Netherlands, the current heat energy system accounts for 44% of the primary energy usage and relies almost entirely on fossil fuels such as natural gas. To meet the Paris Climate Agreement goals, 4th Generation District Heating (4GDH) networks are expected as sustainable heat energy system solution. The concept relies on optimally...

Online Trajectory Planning and Control of a MAV Payload System in Dynamic Environments: A Non-Linear Model Predictive Control Approach

Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) are increasingly being used for aerial transportation in remote and urban spaces where portability can be exploited to reach previously inaccessible and inhospitable spaces. Current approaches to MAV swung payload system path planning have primarily focused on pre-generating (agile) collision-free, or conservative...

Model Predictive Control Architecture Comparison for a Power Scheduling Electric Vehicle Aggregator

Energy flexibility is the ability to change power production or consumption over time. It is required for a power system to function properly, to balance supply and demand. Currently, the largest providers of energy flexibility in the Netherlands can be found on the supply side and consist mainly out of fossil fueled power plants. As these are...

Optimal Control of Water Systems Under Forecast Uncertainty: Robust, Proactive, and Integrated

Water systems consist of natural and man-made objects serving multiple essential purposes. They are affected by many types of meteorological disturbances. In order to deal with these disturbances and to serve the desired objectives, infrastructures have been built and managed by societies for specific purposes. Given a water system, and its...

Gradient-based hybrid Model Predictive Control using Time Instant Optimization for Dutch regional water systems

This thesis focusses on Dutch regional water systems. These systems are often low-lying polder-belt canal systems, where many pumps are needed to meet different requirements regarding water quantity and quality. The control of a complex water system, consisting of continuous dynamics (evolution of water flow and levels) and discrete elements (e...