This course is an introduction to power electronics. First the principles of power conversion with switching circuits are treated as well as main applications of power electronics. Next the basic circuits of power electronics are explained, including ac-dc converters (diode rectifiers), dc-dc converters (non-isolated and isolated) and dc-ac converters (inverters). Related issues such as pulse width modulation, methods of analysis, voltage distortion and power quality are treated in conjunction with the basic circuits. The main principles of operation of most commonly used power semiconductor switches are explained. Finally, the role of power electronics in sustainable energy future, including renewable energy systems and energy efficiency is discussed.

Study Goals
To get acquainted with applications of power electronics, to obtain insight in the principles of power electronics, to get an overview of power electronic circuits and be able to select appropriate circuits for specific applications and finally to be able to analyse the circuits. The focus in the course is on analysis and to a lesser extent on design.

Elementary Ergonomics is an introduction to basic physical ergonomics theory and practice for students of other - than Industrial Design Engineering of Delft University of Technology - institutes for higher learning, such as Dutch universities, universities of EU and non-EU countries, and universities of applied sciences. The course consists of the following topics: anthropometry (1D, 2D, 3D including digital human modelling), biomechanics, and comfort.

Furthermore, the role of user involvement in the design process (evaluation of existing products and environments and of created concepts, models and prototypes) will be explained. Moreover, the meaning and representation of use cues in product design will be highlighted.

Building design strongly influences the quantity of heating, cooling and electricity needed during building operation. Therefore, a correct thermal design is essential to achieve low energy and low carbon buildings, with good indoor air quality.

This course will enable you to understand the basic principles of the energy chain: demand, supply and distribution; and how they relate to design principles for sustainable and energy-efficient buildings.

Second, you will discover what type of heat losses and gains take place in buildings’ operations. You will learn how to estimate these flows using simple meteorological data and construction properties. You will acquire knowledge on how to estimate heat transfer through construction, ventilation, solar radiation or caused by internal sources or heat storage in the construction.

Third, you will learn to make estimates of buildings’ energy needs on an hourly basis by using simple static energy balances: how much energy comes in and out and which air temperature is needed? When is there heating or cooling? How much electricity is needed?

Fourth, you will discover how to extend your estimates to yearly energy demand, which is essential to make sure that a building is energy efficient and to estimate energy savings and energy costs. You will then also be able to determine the size of the needed heating and cooling equipment (which determines the costs of equipment).

Finally, you will learn how to optimize building design and will be able to find out the optimal window size or the optimum insulation thickness for your building. You will know why putting windows on the south façade is not always energy-efficient. You will understand the thermal interactions between building components and be able to make informed decisions on how to increase the energy efficiency of new and existing buildings.

This course is part of the PCP Buildings as Sustainable Energy Systems. In the other courses in this program you can learn how to choose low carbon energy supply, how to create a comfortable indoor environment, and how to control and optimize HVAC systems.

In this course, you will discover the supply side of buildings’ energy chain.

The first step is to consider how to convert natural resources into the energy needed by buildings: what are the options to create heat, cold and electricity? You will learn about efficiency and use this concept to estimate building’s primary energy use and carbon emissions. This concept is widely used in many national and international policies and building regulations, and is essential to counteract climate change.

You will study the performances of single heating systems like electrical heating, gas, or renewables like biomass, solar boilers and geothermal heat, followed by single cooling systems like evaporative cooling and environmental cold.

We will also examine the systems that concurrently produce heat and cold. Do you know for instance that a heat pump and a cooling machine are identical devices? You will learn about the basic working principles of heat pumps and how to make sure they achieve high performance levels. After this course you will know how an Aquifer Thermal Storage makes smart use of the ground to deliver cold in summer and heat in winter.

Diverse electricity generation methods using turbines (wind, hydro), photovoltaics or hydrogen fuel cells will also be examined. You will learn how cogeneration of heat and power works and why this is important for the rational use of energy resources. You will also know why heat pumps are often combined with boilers or to which extent it is worth to invest in batteries for your solar panels.

By the end of the course you will be able to decide on how to combine energy conversion systems at building level in order to match buildings’ energy demand while keeping costs acceptable, using a minimum of natural resources and producing a minimum of carbon emissions.

This course is part of the program Buildings as Sustainable Energy Systems. In the other courses in this program you can learn how to design buildings with low energy demand, how to create a comfortable indoor environment, and how to control and optimize HVAC systems.

If you’re interested in the concept of building with nature, then this is the engineering course for you. This course explores the use of natural materials and ecological processes in achieving effective and sustainable hydraulic infrastructural designs. You will learn the Building with Nature ecosystem-based design concept and its applications in water and coastal systems. During the course, you will be presented with a range of case studies to deepen your knowledge of ecological and engineering principles.

You’ll learn from leading Dutch engineers and environmental scientists who see the Building with Nature integrated design approach as fundamental to a new generation of engineers and ecologists.

Products and equipment all around us are made of materials: look around you and you will see phones, computers, cars, and buildings. We face challenges in securing the supply of materials and the impact this has on the planet. Innovative product design can help us find solutions to these challenges. This course will explore new ways of designing products.

The design of products is an important aspect of a circular economy. The circular economy approach addresses material supply challenges by keeping materials in use much longer and eventually returning materials for new use. The principle is that waste must be minimized. Products will be designed to last longer. They will be easier to Reuse, Repair, and Remanufacture. The product will eventually be broken down and Recycled. This is Design for R and is the focus of this course.

Experts from leading European universities and research organizations will explain the latest strategies in product design. Current design approaches lead to waste, loss of value and loss of resources. You will learn about the innovative ways in which companies are creating value, whilst securing their supply chains, by integrating Design for R.

This course is suitable for all learners who have an interest in product design, innovative engineering, new business activity, entrepreneurship, sustainability, circular economy and everyone who thinks that the current way we do things today needs a radical rethink.

Are you an entrepreneur, or do you have a passion for building your own technology startup? This course will help and encourage you to start a successful technology-based venture.

If you always wanted to become an entrepreneur, or if you are simply interested in putting a new technology to innovative use, this course is for you.

This course helps you understand the process of entrepreneurship from a technology-oriented background.

The course is made up of modules that are presented by experts in the field of entrepreneurship and technology. Modules include:

Team Building
Opportunity Recognition
Financing
Customer Acquisition

This course will introduce you to entrepreneurship for global challenges in emerging markets. You will get to know other like-minded entrepreneurs around you, and discover how institutions in your target region are working on innovation and entrepreneurship.

As an entrepreneur in an emerging market, you may be faced with many challenges that need to be solved. These might include scarcity of fossil fuels, climate change or water, food and health security. This Delft University of Technology course will provide you with examples from partner universities and affiliated entrepreneurs in emerging markets which explain the opportunities and obstacles that they faced as they established themselves and created value.

You will acquire a set of practical tools which will enable you to discover the opportunities in your own environment and how these can be used to make an actual change! You will learn how to rethink your value proposition with your own case study, or with one we provide.

After the course, you will be able to develop your value proposition more quickly by getting to know your customers and partners better and understand local values and institutions.

Ontwerpen is een combinatie van logisch redeneren en het creatief combineren van bestaande technieken om tot nieuwe, innovatieve ideeen te komen. Een goede werktuigkundig ontwerper put zijn creativiteit uit kennis van een groot aantal bestaande werktuigbouwkundige systemen. Hoe groter die kennis, hoe groter de kans dat nieuwe, innovatieve ontwerpconcepten ontstaan. Vooral kennis over niet-conventionele techniek bevordert dit creatieve ontwerpproces.

Het doel van het vak Evolving Design is om studenten de onderhavige werkprincipes te tonen van een grote hoeveelheid niet-conventionele werktuigbouwkundige systemen. Er wordt hierbij zowel gekeken naar bijzondere ontdekkingen uit het verleden als uit het heden, met een blik op de toekomst. De ontwerpprincipes worden niet simpelweg opgesomd, maar geplaatst in hun fascinerende, historische ontwikkeling om te laten zien hoe de ontwerpers hun creativiteit en vernuft gebruik(t)en om goedwerkende oplossingen te vinden binnen de beperkingen van de beschikbare fabricageprocessen en beschermingsmogelijkheden (patenten). Veel oplossingen uit het verleden zijn klaar om te worden toegepast in de technologie van de toekomst!

Het vak richt zich primair op het kwalitatief beschrijven van de werkprincipes van bestaande technologieen, met de nadruk op bewegende mechanische constructies. Hoewel het kwantatief, in detail uitwerken van de kracht-bewegingsvergelijkingen niet het hoofddoel van het vak is, zijn mechanische vergelijkingen wel essentieel als zij leiden tot een beter begrip.

Is a good, solid argument enough to make an impact? How would your data improve the stance that man-made global warming is just an “opinion”? How would you explain your opinion on school tests, budget cuts, crime, immigration, safety and security issues? No doubt that your persuasiveness relies on your arguments. But your ability to influence and convince critically depends on the way you frame your message.

In today’s world, you often need to reduce a complex reality to a concise and convincing message. Framing is an approach that deals with the way we convey our message: our words, images, and metaphors. To take one basic characteristic, a good frame engages the listeners’ values and emotions – it is easy to remember and it is something that people will usually agree with intuitively.

When you enter into a debate, you might be faced with frames of your opponents – and you will have to reframe the debate. This game of framing and reframing makes the debate to look like a chessboard made out of words. Of course, politicians play this game, trying to pull the debate towards their own words and metaphors in order to win their audience. But the game can be found everywhere: in the world of business, science, media – even at home.

We invite you to join our journey of learning the game of framing and reframing. You will discover how this game is played, and how you can play it yourself.

This course suits people who are engaged with and interested in public and political debates. Not only people from the public sector will find it useful, but also engineers, consultants, managers and anyone who wants to make an impact in discussions and debates.

Building adequate housing is a pressing issue worldwide. With close to a billion people currently living in slums, accommodating a growing population, and improving dwelling conditions is a critical issue for society.

This challenge cannot be solved with a one-size-fits-all approach. Every city, region and country demand their own housing models and prototypes. That’s why housing design needs to negotiate many aspects simultaneously to achieve sustainable urban environments and inclusive dwelling communities.

This course uncovers how social, economic and environmental factors are interrelated in the design of housing settlements. For this, the course dives into three key aspects that anyone involved in housing design should take into consideration: time, environment, and community. Each of these aspects will be examined through a specific design approach, respectively:

Incrementality: how dwelling environments should be able to accommodate growth and change through time.
Typology Mix: how design can be responsive to different patterns of inhabitation, aspirations and cultural backgrounds, creating inclusive dwelling environments.
Clustering: what methods and strategies can shape the association of dwelling units in order to create meaningful communities.

Software engineering operates ever more frequently in globally distributed settings, in a practice that is known as Globally Distributed Software Engineering (GDSE). In this course, you will obtain a practical overview of the organization and operation of software engineering of this practice. As such, it is aimed at professionals in distributed software development teams, and executives setting up and leading such teams who would like to develop the required technical and organizational skills.

The course covers the subject in an accessible and practical manner. Through video lectures, group assignments and exercises, you will be familiarized with the advantages and disadvantages of GDSE, the practical consequences of GDSE and its technological feasibilities and infeasibilities. You will learn about real-world experiences of users and examples of GDSE applications such as outsourcing, offshore software development, near-shoring and multi-partner systems development.

You will apply the knowledge gained through hands-on experience with GDSE by working together with team members from different countries as a distributed team; and through analysis of best-practice examples. Together with other course participants you will prepare a number of artefacts that build on the body of knowledge of GDSE and so have the chance to contribute to this growing field of knowledge.

Guest lectures from industry experts and researchers will be an integral part of the course. These lectures will demonstrate how GDSE is handled in industry, how decision-makers lead their teams in this context, and what is the state-of-the-art in GDSE research

Groningen, a province in the northeast of the Netherlands, is experiencing earthquakes due to the extraction of gas. This phenomenon is called induced seismicity. But what is induced seismicity? And how can the risk to life safety and the consequences for the built environment be reduced? The Groningen situation is unique and for this reason, solutions for the built environment cannot simply be copied from abroad. To contribute to a basic understanding of the various topics in this field, knowledge lectures have been developed as Open Course Ware by a large number of scientists and practitioners.

This Open Course Ware is initiated by TU Delft in cooperation with Arup, TU Eindhoven and TNO. This public and private initiative combines engineering, architecture and management perspectives. The 30 video lectures provide conceptual knowledge of seismicity and basic seismic concepts. This knowledge is then related to the different structures and their behaviour under seismic loading. Finally, in the last theme more procedural knowledge will be outlined, related to the multidisciplinary challenges in Groningen.

Runway extension, construction of works in protected areas, subsidizing sustainable projects... they all happen within a design space, limited amongst others by legal rules and requirements. To make optimal use of the design space, you have to know about these rules and requirements. When does a contract have to be tendered out, what rules are then applicable, what can be subsidized and what are the restrictions, how to comply with air quality requirements and can a frog really block a project? What alternative designs can be given in order to avoid legal problems? These and other problems will be addressed in this course.

Do you have a passion for buildings and want to contribute to a sustainable environment? Then this is your chance to make a difference! The biggest sustainability challenge for cities worldwide is adapting existing obsolescent buildings and making them future-proof. In this course, you will learn about adapting buildings for sustainability.

This course first introduces you to the challenging management task of redeveloping buildings for future use. Then you will learn how different management tools can be used to convert old buildings for sustainable reuse.

Prior experience with studies or jobs related to the built environment is not essential for this course, but will be a great advantage.

This MOOC is especially relevant for students who are interested in Real Estate, Project Management, Urban Planning, Architecture, Construction, Engineering, and Sustainability.

The course is taught by a multi-disciplinary team of instructors and professors with relevant practical and theoretical experience. You can use the practical knowledge you obtain during this course to tackle many challenges related to the built environment.

Physical and digital design skills are key to practitioners in art, design, and engineering, as well as many other creative professions. Models are essential in architecture. In design practice all kinds of physical scale models and digital models are used side by side.

In this architecture course, you will gain experience that will help and inspire you to advance in your personal and professional development. You will attain skills in a practical way. First, we will focus on sketch models for the early stages of a design process, then we will continue with virtual representations for design communication and finally more precise and detailed models will be used for further development of the ideas.

In the theoretical part of the course, you will learn about many different sorts of models: how architects use these and how they are essential in the design process.

The practical part of the course addresses a number of challenges. In small steps we will guide you through technical and creative difficulties in exciting, playful, and pleasant ways.

How can ecosystems contribute to quality of life and a more livable, healthier and more resilient urban environment?

Have you ever considered all the different benefits the ecosystem could potentially deliver to you and your surroundings? Unsustainable urbanization has resulted in the loss of biodiversity, the destruction of habitats and has therefore limited the ability of ecosystems to deliver the advantages they could confer.

This course establishes the priorities and highlights the direct values of including principles based on natural processes in urban planning and design. Take a sewage system or a public space for example. By integrating nature-based solutions they can deliver the exact same performance while also being beneficial for the environment, society and economy.

Increased connectivity between existing, modified and new ecosystems and restoring and rehabilitating them within cities through nature-based solutions provides greater resilience and the capacity to adapt more swiftly to cope with the effects of climate change and other global shifts.

This course will teach you about the design, construction, implementation and monitoring of nature-based solutions for urban ecosystems and the ecological coherence of sustainable cities. Constructing smart cities and metropolitan regions with nature-based ecosystems will secure a fair distribution of benefits from the renewed urban ecology.

This course forms a part of the educational programme of the AMS Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions and will present the state-of-the-art theories and methods developed by the Delft University of Technology and Wageningen University & Research, two of the founding universities of the AMS Institute.

Instructors, with advanced expertise in Urban Ecology, Environmental Engineering, Urban Planning and Design, will equip designers and planners with the skills they need for the sustainable management of the built environment. The course will also benefit stakeholders from both private and public sectors who want to explore the multiple benefits of restored ecosystems in cities and metropolitan regions. They will gain the knowledge and skills required to make better informed and integrated decisions on city development and urban regeneration schemes.

This course makes students familiar with the design of offshore wind farms in general and focuses on the foundation design in particular. The course is based on actual cases of real offshore wind farms that have been built recently or will be built in the near future.

In dit vak leert de student programmeren in een procedurele programmeertaal en wel in C. Aan de orde komen onder meer: fundamentele programmeerconstructies (datatypen, toekennings-, keuze-, en herhalingsopdrachten), procedurele abstractie (methoden en parameters) en data-abstractie (arrays, structures). Verder wordt behandeld: het gebruik van dynamische datastructuren zoals lijsten en binaire bomen, het lezen en schrijven van files en het gebruik van een compiler. Ter illustratie zullen een aantal algoritmen worden behandeld zoals priemgetallen generatie, grootste gemene deler en sorteren.

Are you involved in the development and execution of technical projects and eager to know what it takes to fund a project successfully? Would you like to be more in touch with the latest developments in project finance and able to use these to your advantage? If so, you’re in the right place!

This course will provide you with the fundamental knowledge and necessary tools to create the optimum financing structure for your project and enhance its potential to attract funding.

The approach taken is both theoretically sound and practically relevant. This is achieved by using case studies to illustrate the topics, as well as assignments that give learners first-hand experience in what it takes to put together a financeable project.

At the end of the course, you’ll understand what is required to achieve successful project financing.

Those who work on infrastructure and industrial projects, especially, will need to have a good understanding of how project financing works and how project investors and lenders think and assess the risks of a project.

Projects are increasingly set up through cooperation between different groups of stakeholders such as Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). Project contracts are evolving to facilitate and structure such co-operations, which has in turn led to a range of novel contracts and methods of financing.