José Joaquín Aguilera Prado receives the Elite Research Travel Grant

José Joaquín Aguilera Prado, PhD student at DTU, was awarded the prestigious Elite Research Travel Grant for his work in the project Digital twins for large-scale heat pump and refrigeration systems.

The award was presented by H.R.H Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark and the Danish Minister of Higher Education and Science, Jesper Petersen, at the annual Elite Research Conference earlier this year. The Elite Research Travel Grant of DKK 200,000 is awarded to very talented PhD students to help them perform long-term studies in the best research environments around the world.

The travel grant is a reflection of José Joaquín Aguilera Prado’s current work on developing a framework for operation monitoring, fault detection and diagnosis, as well as operation optimization in large-scale heat pumps by means of data-driven methods and dynamic simulation models. A framework which can help increase the availability and performance of heat pumps for district heating supply.

With the development of new solutions for refrigeration and heat pump technologies which support and apply digitalization to optimize operation and increase the reliability of heat pumps for supermarkets and district heating systems, the project Digital twins for large-scale heat pump and refrigeration systems is highly relevant as it supports the green transition towards efficient and sustainable technologies.

- I am very grateful to be part of the project Digital twins for large-scale heat pump and refrigeration systems and work with a group of amazing people that aim to improve the operation of sustainable technologies by means of digital solutions, says José Joaquín Aguilera Prado, PhD student at DTU. The green aspect of the project is an important part of the reason why I want to spend three years on the project. I want to contribute to the development of technologies that reduce CO₂ emissions from energy systems.

For José Joaquín Aguilera Prado, the travel grant has resulted in an external research stay at the E.ON Energy Research Centre at the RWTH Aachen University, Germany, where he is working on the development of dynamic and adaptable models of large-scale heat pumps for advanced monitoring and optimization purposes.

José Joaquín Aguilera Prado (right side of photo) was among the twenty PhD students
who received this year's Elite Research Travel Grant.

Photos: Søren Kjeldgaard