Research News

TU Delft is one of the academic partners in an innovative aviation hydrogen handling and refuelling project, led by Airbus and supported by academic partners, airport operators and leading hydrogen-industry companies that was launched on 16 May in Brussels. The project, co-funded by the European Union, has been launched to demonstrate small-scale liquid hydrogen aircraft ground operations at three European airports, including Rotterdam The Hague Airport.

A team of researchers at Delft University of Technology has developed a drone that flies autonomously using neuromorphic image processing and control based on the workings of animal brains. Animal brains use less data and energy compared to current deep neural networks running on GPUs (graphic chips).

In a dynamic collaboration between academia and young minds, 12 enthusiastic children from a school in Delft recently embarked on an enriching journey into the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). This event was part of the project “Bliksemstage” of JINC organisation.

What determines the cycle life of batteries? And, more importantly, how can we extend it? An international research team led by TU Delft has discovered that local disorder in the oxide cathode material increases the number of times Li-ion batteries can be charged and discharged. Their results have been published in Nature.

On the 2nd of May 2024, a scaled version of a large passenger aircraft with distributed electric propulsion undertook its maiden flight. Further testing will follow to qualify and measure its dynamic flying behaviour, aimed at understanding the advantages of this Distributed Electric Propulsion technology for large passenger aircraft.

Did your grandmother also do the laundry when a sunny day was forecast? Now that so many households have solar panels and the electricity network is experiencing problems due to overload at peak times, it would also be better if households with solar panels run appliances such as the washing machine on sunny days.

Platforms that offer rides to passengers, such as Uber and DiDi, thrive on socio-economic inequality. By modelling the behaviour of passengers and self-employed drivers, researchers of TU Delft simulated the market for ridesourcing platforms, evaluating a broad spectrum of (in)equality levels in societies. It explains why in some cities ridesourcing services can be big players in the mobility system, while in other cities they don’t get off the ground. This research was published in Nature Scientific Reports recently. 

Professor in the Department of Biomechanical Engineering, DirkJan Veeger, was appointed Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau on 26 April. He receives this distinction for his exceptional achievements and contributions within science and society.

Professors Paul Althuis, Frances Brazier, DirkJan Veeger, Sabine Roeser and Serge Hoogendoorn all received royal honours on 26 April 2024.

Taking the ski lift to work. That's not something many people can say. For postdoc and TU Delft alumnus Koen Muller, this has been a reality for almost 1 year. Next to a ski slope near Davos, he is building a unique measurement setup with which he wants to collect data on snowstorms to gain more insight into the interaction of snowflake aggregation and atmospheric turbulence.