Antonio Colmenar Santos

Novel design and development of advanced remote electronics experiments

This article reports on the design and development of a new set of remotely controlled electronics experiments oriented to postgraduates and apprentices. Industrial‐related issues are emphasized to allow understanding of the behavior of electronics components. The experiments are fully delivered online with a high level of flexibility. Remote retrieved results are provided.

Virtual Lab platform for distance learning courses in engineering technologies for the use of renewable energies

Harnessing energy from the renewable energy sources is coming to be more and more relevant in the coming years [1], due to this fact power energy companies and manufacturing companies producing technology facilities for the renewable energy harvesting are demanding engineers skilled in this field [2]. As a general answer to that fact, all the universities are adapting their engineering curricula to that demand creating new subjects in renewable energy (RE) technology; those new subjects needs new education tools and this motivate the investigation and creation of software simulation environment specific for those technologies with the goal of engineering education. In the present work it is shown a multi-platform software architecture specially designed for distance learning and with the target to be a complementary tool to the curricula contents of the new subjects in RE engineering with the aim to offer a virtual laboratory able to simulate the most updated energy harnessing systems. Flow diagrams, management, functionality and capabilities of this multi-platform software environment development is explained in the article.

Evaluation of the cost of using power plant reject heat in low-temperature district heating and cooling networks

The purpose of this paper is to assess the economic impact following as a result of the conversion of conventional stations to cogeneration plants connected to a system for distributing heat and refrigeration. The analysis will be carried out through a financial evaluation in order to assess yearly variations of the whole scheme expenditure. In particular, yearly capital and operating costs of supplying cold and heat to urban areas that represent weather conditions in northern, central, and southern Europe were studied. In the base case scenario, today conditions are represented; they will be compared with alternative scenarios in which existing conventional thermal power stations will be converted into cogeneration plants. This research work contributes to the pool of existing knowledge by giving a (so far not addressed) weather centered system perspective. From the conducted evaluation, it was found that, in the case of deciding to convert the studied conventional thermal plants into cogeneration plants, investing in the necessary infrastructure associated means that yearly expenses for the power plants located in Oldenburg-Wilhelmshaven, Bristol, and Cartagena would decrease by 215, 89, and 192 million euros respectively, making this technology a highly attractive option from economic, energetic, and environmental perspectives.

Cogeneration and district heating networks: Measures to remove institutional and financial barriers that restrict their joint use in the EU-28

The aim of this research is to identify actions that dissipate the institutional and financial barriers that are faced by those energy projects which comprise the joint use of district heating networks and cogeneration in the EU-28. From this evaluation, institutional and financial barriers were identified, which included: distinctive competence, fuel price volatility, and much of the current regulatory framework. In order to achieve an effective removal of these barriers, and apart from generic and common actions to all the schemes, such as creating anchor loads, adopting an active marketing strategy by the local authorities, or the proposition of updating some communitarian directives on energy issues; it is also necessary to adopt those actions that respond to the casuistry of each Member State. Such actions will ultimately represent the most effective way to get a generalised implementation of energy projects that include a joint use of district heating networks and cogeneration.

Aplicaciones Didácticas de los Sistemas Multimedia e Internet en el ámbito de la Enseñanza a Distancia

El proposito de este trabajo es doble, por un lado experimentar las Nuevas Tecnologias en la construccion de aprendizajes significativos, a traves de la elaboracion de documentos multimedia en CD-ROM y la utilizacion de Internet, y por otro, ofrecer a los alumnos y profesores, en el ambito de la educacion abierta y a distancia, que tengan que enfrentarse a aprender o explicar en las areas de Teleinformatica, Energias Renovables, Diseno y Construccion de Documentos Multimedia o Bases de Datos un material de apoyo que les facilite su labor. El software/aplicacion de estas materias esta disponible, segun el caso, en CD-ROM multimedia o en la red.