From question to process
Simulation laboratory
Each physics question has an industrial process that turns it into value. The simulation laboratory models those processes from raw material to finished product.
A simulated chain is not a commercial mock-up: it is a physical model of the process, extended by a flow model and an economic model, every assumption of which is traceable to a measurement or a calculation in the corresponding research area.
Structure shared by every chain
- 01
Physical model of the process
From the atomic to the continuum scale depending on the area: electronic structure, kinetics, coupled transfers, mechanics.
- 02
Production flow model
Throughput, material yield, downtime, inventory, energy consumption and line bottlenecks.
- 03
Economic model
CAPEX, OPEX, unit cost and break-even point, with sensitivity to the physical assumptions.
- 04
Validation
A laboratory pilot or a measurement campaign at an industrial partner. Without it, the chain remains a hypothesis.
- 05
Deliverable
A feasibility study, a showroom exhibit and a paper. All three, not one of the three.
The twelve chains
- 01Assembly line for sodium-ion, lead-carbon and flow cells
- 02Photovoltaic encapsulation line and qualification laboratory
- 03Thermoelectric synthesis and module line, on-site integration
- 04Pyrolysis, gasification and briquetting unit
- 05Fleet of run-of-river mini power plants
- 06Board tropicalisation line and accelerated-testing laboratory
- 07SiC and GaN power module assembly line
- 08ZnO surge arrester production and site protection
- 09Ore → electronic material chains
- 10The laboratory itself, and feasibility studies
- 11Calibration chain and metrology laboratory flow
- 12Production of bio-based insulation and phase-change materials
Assembly line for sodium-ion, lead-carbon and flow cells
From precursor co-precipitation to electrochemical cell formation.
Derived from
Post-lithium battery physics →
Process
- Cathode synthesis by co-precipitation, then calcination
- Slurry formulation and electrode coating
- Drying and calendering
- Cell assembly and electrolyte filling
- Electrochemical formation and grading
Simulated physics
- Calcination kinetics: furnace thermal balance and precursor phase transformation
- Electrode drying: coupled heat–mass transfer, binder migration, cracking threshold
- Formation and cycling: P2D model with degradation mechanisms
- Propagation of precursor variability through to end-of-line capacity spread
Model outputs
- Material yield per step and across the line
- Energy consumption per kWh of cell produced
- Unit cost and break-even point
- Sensitivity of capacity and lifetime to precursor purity
Validation
Coin- and pouch-format cells assembled in the laboratory from in-house powders, cycled in a regulated thermal chamber.
Photovoltaic encapsulation line and qualification laboratory
Lamination, framing and qualification testing calibrated on three climate profiles.
Derived from
Photovoltaics in the humid tropics →
Process
- Lamination of EVA or POE encapsulants
- Frame and junction box fitting
- Damp-heat testing at 85 °C / 85 % RH
- Thermal cycling and ultraviolet exposure
- End-of-line I–V tracing and electroluminescence imaging
Simulated physics
- Moisture diffusion in encapsulants: Fick's law, sorption, edge permeation path
- Thermomechanical stress in the laminate: delamination, cell cracking, ribbon fatigue
- Energy yield under diffuse-dominated irradiance, across three climate profiles: humid coastal, equatorial plateau, sudano-sahelian
- Acceleration factor between the standard test and real exposure
Model outputs
- Predicted lifetime per climate profile
- Throughput and scheduling of an accelerated-testing laboratory
- Specification for encapsulants suited to the humid tropics
- Yield gap between the standard model and a diffuse-dominated model
Validation
The ageing model checked against modules on the outdoor exposure field, measured continuously.
Thermoelectric synthesis and module line, on-site integration
From ab initio screening of a compound to a heat exchanger on a stack or a diesel exhaust.
Derived from
Thermoelectrics and waste-heat recovery →
Process
- Mechanical alloying or melting of the compounds
- Spark plasma sintering or hot pressing
- Leg cutting and metallisation
- Brazing and module assembly
- Heat exchanger integration on the heat source
Simulated physics
- Ab initio screening of the figure of merit: band structure, electronic transport, lattice conductivity
- Sintering: densification, grain growth, thermal gradients in the die
- Electrothermal model of the complete module, including contact losses
- Flow and heat-exchange simulation in the exchanger, on a cement stack or a diesel genset exhaust
Model outputs
- Power actually recoverable per type of industrial source
- Cost per installed thermoelectric watt
- Return on investment and sensitivity to electricity price
- Module lifetime under a permanent gradient
Validation
A laboratory-assembled module, instrumented on a real heat source at an industrial partner.
Pyrolysis, gasification and briquetting unit
From seasonal residue collection to cleaned gas feeding an engine or a boiler.
Derived from
Materials physics for biomass and combustion →
Process
- Collection and storage of cocoa, palm and rice residues
- Drying and milling
- Pyrolysis or gasification in a fixed or fluidised bed
- Tar cleaning and gas cooling
- Gas engine or boiler; briquetting of green charcoal
Simulated physics
- Pyrolysis kinetics: detailed reaction mechanisms reduced to reactor-scale models
- Fixed or fluidised bed: coupled heat–mass transfer, limiting regime, tar formation and cracking
- Full energy balance of the unit, from drying to engine
- Feedstock logistics under harvest and moisture seasonality
Model outputs
- Sizing of 50 kW to 2 MW units for an agricultural cooperative or an oil mill
- Gas yield and heating value versus feedstock moisture
- Cost per kWh produced and break-even point
- Storage capacity required to absorb seasonality
Validation
Instrumented tube reactor and bench gasifier, fed with the residues characterised by thermogravimetry.
Fleet of run-of-river mini power plants
From the hydrology of an ungauged basin to the pre-design of a series-manufacturable turbine.
Derived from
Physical hydrology and small hydropower →
Process
- Site selection and instrumentation
- Low-head turbine design
- Manufacturing: casting, machining, balancing
- Civil works for intake and channel
- Mini-grid connection and operation
Simulated physics
- Basin hydrology from rainfall series: rainfall–runoff, floods and low flows under climate variability
- Flow in low-head Kaplan and Banki turbines: separation, cavitation, off-design efficiency
- Mini-grid stability: frequency regulation, load steps, islanding
- Probabilistic annual production and uncertainty at ungauged sites
Model outputs
- Atlas of simulated sites, ranked by producible energy and uncertainty
- Probabilistic production curves rather than a single figure
- Standardised pre-design for series manufacturing
- Cost per kWh by power range
Validation
A reduced-scale hydraulic rig in the laboratory and control gauging on the instrumented basins.
Board tropicalisation line and accelerated-testing laboratory
From conformal coating applied to a board to predicted lifetime by product class.
Derived from
Reliability physics in tropical environments →
Process
- Cleaning and residual ionic contamination control
- Conformal coating or potting
- HAST testing and thermal cycling
- Salt spray for boards in coastal environments
- Failure analysis of boards taken off test
Simulated physics
- Moisture diffusion in coatings and potting compounds, and internal stresses from water uptake
- Electromigration in interconnects under high current density
- Finite-element thermomechanical fatigue of solder joints under coupled temperature–humidity cycling
- Electrochemical corrosion and electrolytic migration under condensation
Model outputs
- Lifetime by product class and climate profile
- An enforceable qualification protocol, with its acceleration factors
- Capacity, throughput and cost of an accelerated-testing laboratory
- Lifetime gain delivered by each level of tropicalisation
Validation
Test vehicles aged in a cycled chamber, checked against the failures found on boards collected in service.
SiC and GaN power module assembly line
From a DFT-computed interface defect to the junction temperature of an inverter at 40 °C ambient.
Derived from
Wide-bandgap semiconductors for power electronics →
Process
- Die attach on metallised ceramic substrate
- Silver sintering of the joints
- Wire or clip bonding
- Encapsulation and gel filling
- Electrical test and thermal grading
Simulated physics
- Ab initio defects and interface states, linked to threshold-voltage drift
- Electrothermal model of the module: junction thermal resistance, die-to-die coupling
- Thermomechanical stress in the die–attach–substrate stack under active cycling
- Circuit simulation of solar converters built on these modules
Model outputs
- Operating junction temperature at 40 °C ambient
- Drift of losses over module life
- Lifetime in active cycles
- Conversion efficiency of a complete inverter
Validation
Commercial devices characterised by I–V–T and deep-level transient spectroscopy, then aged under bias and temperature.
ZnO surge arrester production and site protection
From a ceramic grain boundary to the protection design of a line or a plant.
Derived from
Discharge and lightning physics →
Process
- Varistor forming: pressing of doped zinc oxide powders
- Sintering and face metallisation
- Column assembly and housing
- Current impulse and energy withstand testing
- Site protection design: lines, substations, plants
Simulated physics
- ZnO ceramic sintering: microstructure, grain-boundary chemistry, threshold-voltage spread
- Non-linear electrical response of the grain-boundary network, and degradation under repeated impulses
- Lightning–line electromagnetic coupling by finite-difference time-domain and transmission-line theory
- Risk mapping from measured lightning flash densities
Model outputs
- Varistor manufacturing specification: composition, sintering cycle, tolerances
- Protection design per industrial site
- Product catalogue by energy withstand class
- Failures avoided, set against the cost of the protection
Validation
Laboratory-sintered varistors driven by the impulse generator, and disturbances recorded on instrumented distribution lines.
Ore → electronic material chains
Bauxite → alumina → ceramics; iron → magnetic laminations; rutile → conducting oxides.
Derived from
Electronic materials from abundant resources →
Process
- Ore concentration and purification
- Conversion to oxide or metallurgical powder
- Ceramic sintering, or lamination rolling and annealing
- Thin-film deposition for conducting oxides
- Composition and functional property control
Simulated physics
- Thermodynamics of extraction and reduction, Ellingham diagrams and mass balances
- Sintering and microstructure development, effect of residual impurities
- Magnetic properties by micromagnetic modelling: hysteresis and eddy-current losses
- Band structure and doping of conducting oxides, conductivity–transparency trade-off
Model outputs
- Material and energy flows across the complete chain
- Achievable purity per step, and the disqualifying impurity threshold
- Cost per tonne, compared with the imported material price
- Energy consumption per kilogram of functional material
Validation
Powders and ceramics synthesised in the laboratory from assayed ore samples, characterised for composition and properties.
The laboratory itself, and feasibility studies
The computing infrastructure carrying the other eleven chains, and the feasibility studies it makes possible.
Derived from
Computational physics →
Process
- Building the physical model of the process, at the relevant scale
- Coupling to the production flow model
- Coupling to the economic model and sensitivity analysis
- Uncertainty quantification, propagated to the output indicators
- Delivery: feasibility study, published datasets and code
Simulated physics
- Electronic structure, phonons and defects, at theory levels matched to each system
- Molecular dynamics and learned interatomic potentials for intermediate scales
- Continuum multiphysics simulation: thermal, electrical, mechanical, fluid
- Model reduction: which level preserves predictive power over the duration of a process
Model outputs
- A costed feasibility study per chain, with traceable physical assumptions
- Reusable, versioned models published alongside the papers
- Sizing of the computing infrastructure each chain requires
- A feasibility-study capability open to any project developer
Validation
Every model is checked against its chain's laboratory pilot or measurement campaign. An unchecked model is not delivered.
Calibration chain and metrology laboratory flow
Uncertainty propagation from the top of the chain to the field instrument, and laboratory throughput.
Derived from
Metrology and secondary standards →
Process
- Linking transfer standards to a higher-order standard
- Calibration of working standards
- Calibration of field instruments and test benches
- Periodic recalibration and drift monitoring
- Interlaboratory comparison
Simulated physics
- Uncertainty propagation along the chain, including correlations
- Instrumental drift models under uncontrolled temperature and humidity
- Optimisation of recalibration frequency against the risk of non-conformity
- Reference-value statistics in a small-participant comparison
Model outputs
- Complete uncertainty budget per quantity and chain level
- Optimal recalibration interval per instrument family
- Throughput, queues and staffing of a metrology laboratory
- Cost of a traceable calibration, per quantity
Validation
Drift monitoring of the laboratory's transfer standards and participation in an interlaboratory comparison.
Production of bio-based insulation and phase-change materials
From the manufacturing process to the costed cooling savings on a real building.
Derived from
Building materials and building thermal physics →
Process
- Preparation of bio-based fibres and aggregates
- Formulation and binder, panel or block forming
- Encapsulation of phase-change materials
- Drying and stabilisation
- Thermal conductivity and moisture resistance control
Simulated physics
- Thermal conductivity and diffusivity versus moisture content, and the stability of these properties
- Coupled heat–moisture transfer in walls
- Calorimetry and melting kinetics of phase-change materials under small thermal swing
- Dynamic thermal simulation of the complete building, hour-by-hour cooling load
Model outputs
- Cooling savings by building type and climate profile
- Cost per insulated square metre and payback time
- Manufacturing process specification
- Comparison with imported insulation, at equal performance and humidity
Validation
Instrumented test cells under real conditions and calibrated hot-box measurements on the materials produced.
A feasibility study on one of these chains, or on a neighbouring process, can be discussed directly.