The day started with a wake-up call from Mart at the front of the bus, luckily not many people were still sleeping. A cold (4°C) breakfast awaited to drowsy BuEx participants. After plenty of cheese breads Tamás from AAU Department of Energy came to pick us up. A quick introduction into the structure of studying at AAU was given, we then split into three groups to visit the battery systems lab, drives and control, low power energy harvesting, photovoltaic cells, and the EMC lab.
At the battery lab we looked at ovens that are used to characterize different lithium ion cells. Each battery is warmed up to a certain temperature and then cycled through different charge or discharge phases to gain a better understanding of how the cells works. At the drives and control lab we noticed it was very similar to a lab back in Eindhoven with an inductive motor connected to a PMSM. At low power energy and harvesting we learned about how they use the heart to generate energy to power a pace maker which would in turn power the heart. Then we took a quick stroll outside to look at some solar panels. The newest innovation was roof tiles outfitted with some PVs. Finally at the EMC lab we learned about grid simulations and three phase power.
After the tour of the Energy department we moved onto the AAU racing team. Operating from small room in the back of a big workspace they welcomed us with some cool stories about their car and experiences at the recent race in the Netherlands. We also discussed their switch to electromotors in the coming years. We also got them to stick a Thor sticker on their rear wing! Afterwards were picked up by two students from the electronics systems department. After a short stroll we ended up at the acoustics lab. Where they showed a huge silent chamber where it was difficult to talk to people you weren’t facing. Even shouting “Geen Gedonder!” was very strange. We also saw a set up where they were testing the focus of people will playing different voices in the background. Afterwards we had a short lunch break after which we went to the automation and control labs where we saw the water, drone, and robotics labs. Jasper was very excited about the dogs from Boston Dynamics.
Then after a long walk across the campus we ended up in the antenna lab where we visited a huge anechoic chamber where even a car could fit inside! The walls and ceiling could also be moved to open the whole room and they can even detect signals from satellites when the timing was right.
After visiting AAU we took a bus to the city center to enjoy some free time. Somehow most people ended up in the Irish pub for a nice pint! Then we checked in to the hostel and went to have a nice Italian dinner. Then at around 8 pm we played some intense laser gaming with team death match and capture the flag modes. People were quite tired because most people lost a couple hours of sleep on the bust so then we quickly went home and hoped in bed excited for the rest of the week.