Researcher in the Spotlight: Enzo Evers

Advanced identification and control of thermal systems

I’m Enzo Evers and I am researching advanced identification and control of thermal systems in the Control Systems Technology group at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, where my supervisor is Maarten Steinbuch. My special focus lies on thermal behavior within precision mechatronic systems.

Control-oriented system model 

The distributed and slow nature of thermal dynamics makes accurate modeling expensive, both in terms of time and complexity. Moreover, the problem is inherently an inferential control problem, as in most applications the main interest is controlling the thermal induced deformations by using only a limited set of thermal sensors and actuators. I am employing experimental modeling techniques, like identification, to construct a control oriented model of the system that can then be used to control thermal induced deformations.

Low-cost, low (environmental) impact 

The initial research direction is black-box identification using techniques that have been successfully tested on classical mechatronics systems. Initial results show that by using state-of-the-art techniques, use can be made of transient response data that otherwise must be discarded, saving valuable experiment time. My research Is relevant to control and systems engineers that are facing thermal challenges, both in modeling and control. Better control of undesired thermal deformations enables smaller and faster mechatronics, which means that the manufacturing industry will be able to produce at lower cost and environmental impact per product.