Postgraduate Courses

This course aims to introduce principles in the design of experimental research and practical skills in the statistical analysis of results. Topics will include construction of research hypotheses, principles of statistical inference, confidence interval estimation, and differences in statistical approaches in the trials setting. It will also introduce students to skills and tools for optimal experimental design, experimental data extraction, validation, comparison and uncertainty analysis.

This course aims to introduce techniques for the architecture design, optimization modelling and the economic evaluation of industrial processes and energy systems and to develop the skills required to identify the opportunity and implement optimization-based decision support tools in energy processes and systems. It covers the problem statement, modeling of processes and systems, solving methods for the simulation and the single and multi-objective optimization strategies. Topics cover process systems engineering, process and system modelling and simulation, economic evaluation, optimization strategies, and data reconciliation.

Rechargeable batteries, as one of the most versatile energy storage technologies, play a central role in the ongoing transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy. This course will focus on the environmental footprint, sustainability, and the diagnostics of batteries. History, fundamental science, and cutting-edge research will be covered in the lectures.

The subject of transport phenomena includes three closely related topics: fluid dynamics, heat transfer, and mass transfer. Fluid dynamics involves the transport of momentum, heat transfer deals with the transport of energy, and mass transfer is concerned with the transport of mass of various chemical species. In this course, we study these three transport phenomena together. This course will also introduce various solution methods and software tools to tackle the transport phenomena equations in the form of coupled differential equations. Transport phenomena applications in several example systems (e.g., chemical and electrochemical reactors, fuel cells and batteries) will be highlighted.

The aims of this course are to assist students understand emission characteristics of greenhouse gas and air pollutants and their sources, how to characterize and quantify emissions for diverse source sectors, and how to mitigate greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions. The topics will include: the introduction of greenhouse gases and air pollutants; the characteristics of sector-based greenhouse gas and air pollutant emission sources, sampling and measurement techniques, and commonly used bottom-up estimation methods for major sectors such as energy, industry, transportation, households, and others; the uncertainty and validation of bottom-up emission inventory; the application of big data and innovative methodologies to emission inventory development; and major strategies and green technologies for mitigating greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions.

The development of sustainable energy heavily relies on the advancements of corresponding key energy materials. The material’s quality and system stability are closely determined by the related physical chemistry process. This course introduces main concepts and practical application of thermodynamics and kinetics of the key energy materials. It includes basic laws of classical and irreversible thermodynamics, phase equilibria, theory of solutions, chemical reaction thermodynamics and kinetics, surface phenomena, diffusion etc. This course would provide students with insights and deep understandings of the physical chemistry aspects of materials and enable the students to conduct energy material syntheses and energy system experiments with advanced thermodynamic and kinetic foundations.

This course covers hydrogen properties, use and safety, fuel cell technology and its systems, fuel cell engine design and safety, and design and maintenance of a heavy-duty fuel cell engine. The different types of fuel cells and hybrid electric vehicles are presented. The system descriptions and maintenance procedures focus on proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells with respect to heavy-duty transit applications. The PEM fuel cell engine was chosen as it is the most promising for automotive applications, and its transit application is currently the most advanced.

This course systematically introduces world energy system and the energy transition, together with theoretical and practical understanding of how energy policies are designed, shaped, advocated and implemented. Trends and projections of global energy will be evaluated, including key technologies, investment trends and subsidy policies. Afterwards, case-based teaching will be given to understand the drivers and constraints associated with national energy policy decision-making. Finally, regional and global energy policies and associated stakeholders will be discussed.

This course aims to introduce the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of integrated ‘source-grid-load-storage’ multi-energy system frameworks. Environmental impacts will be specifically analyzed, associated with the entire life cycle of a particular product or process. Introduction to Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) will be given for evaluating the economic performance of a specific technology. Three different LCA approaches are introduced, i.e., attributional LCA, consequential LCA, and a hybrid (benchmarking) LCA approach. Physical meaning andcalculation approach of multiple indexes will be holistically introduced, including net direct energy consumption,levelized cost of energy, net present value, discounted payback time, LCA carbon emission, and so on. Afterwards,different application scenarios (like PV, wind turbine, battery, latent heat storages, and integrated PV-battery-building-grid systems) of LCA approach will be given to help students to learn how to apply the approach forlifecycle energy and economic analytics.

This course is to systematically and comprehensively introduce energy consumption and carbon emission in buildings. Heat transfer mechanism and thermodynamics in HVAC will be introduced. Effective solutions on how to achieve low-carbon buildings will be introduced, such as energy-saving in green building technologies (active and passive strategies), distributed renewable energy systems, energy storages (thermal/ electrical/hydrogen), building energy conversion and management. Techno-economic-environmental analysis will be introduced, together with lifecycle carbon quantification and carbon reduction.

This course aims to introduce the current situation on biologically inspired intelligence in smart buildings. Students will be well trained to conduct statistical analysis and programming experiments; to learn the principles of Artificial Neural Network, fuzzy logic, optimization algorithms and their applications to engineering problems. Technologies for the building role transition from traditional consumers towards prosumers will be comprehensively introduced through ‘source-grid-demand-storage-usage’. Peer-to-peer energy trading, cost-benefit business models and internet of energy things will be introduced. Lastly, in order to guarantee the power supply reliability during extreme weather or war period, energy resilience of distributed energy supply systems will be introduced. Multi-disciplinary areas will be involved in this subject, like fundamentals of artificial intelligence, thermodynamics, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, system modelling and simulation, renewable energy, energy economics, energy policy, and so on.

The course will discuss kinetic energy harvesting devices and systems, including: Principles of energy harvesting from wind, wave, water flow, vibration, and human motion; Architectures and design; Mechanism, electromechanical modeling and analysis of electromagnetic, piezoelectric, triboelectric, electrostatic generators; Lab experiments; Wind turbines and fluid-structure interaction; Fundamentals of vibration; Control and power conditioning circuits; Performance evaluation and optimization; Potential applications and sensing.

Materials are critical for the developments of advanced energy systems, which play a pivotal role towards the sustainable, carbon-neutral future. This course will introduce the working principles of a few energy systems such as fossil fuel, renewable energies, batteries, and supercapacitors. Special focus will be placed on the material aspects of these energy systems through the interrelationships of composition, processing, structure, properties, and performance.

This course aims to introduce energy technologies that are inspired by bio systems and those that can be potentially applied in bio systems. Bio-inspired energy technologies such as biomimetic functional surfaces, bioinspired energy conversion or fuel production, and bionic energy and mass transport and distribution will be covered. Meanwhile, the applications of advanced energy technologies in bio systems such as bio-compatible energy systems, energy supply for artificial skeleton, and self-powered bio sensing will be reviewed.

The course aims to introduce main machine learning techniques and their applications in energy systems. The topics will include: 1) the basic concept of machine learning, big data, and energy system; 2) both basic and the state-of-the-art techniques in machine learning; 3) the application of machine learning in energy systems, especially for power systems and smart grids. The goal of the course is to prepare the students for careers in energy and artificial intelligence related areas by teaching data-driven perspective.

This course aims to introduce electrical power systems and electrical to mechanical energy conversion, which has become increasingly important as a way of transmitting and transforming energy in industrial, military and transportation uses. It focuses on the power storage, transmission, and conversion as well as control technologies in sustainable energy systems and electric transportation systems including electrical and hybrid electric cars. It covers fundamentals energy handling electric circuits, power electronic circuits such as inverters, and electromechanical apparatus, modeling of power systems, and control and management in power systems.

Photovoltaic plays a critical role in harvesting solar energy and secures our future sustainable and carbon-neutral society. This course introduces the mainstream photovoltaic technologies specially focused on the ones based on inorganic materials. It covers the fundamental operation and design principles for inorganic photovoltaics, technological challenges, and applications. It also provides the students with the future technological trend and basic knowledge as well as visions in the research and development of inorganic materials based photovoltaic technologies.

Selected topics of current interest in emerging areas and not covered by existing courses. May be repeated for credit if different topics are covered. May be graded by letter or P/F for different offerings.

An independent study on selected topics carried out under the supervision of a faculty member.

Master's thesis research supervised by co-advisors from different disciplines. A successful defense of the thesis leads to the grade Pass. No course credit is assigned.

Original and independent doctoral thesis research supervised by co-advisors from different disciplines. A successful defense of the thesis leads to the grade Pass. No course credit is assigned.