The Department of Renewable Energy Sources specializes in research of using various types of renewable energy, their transformation and application in various energy and industrial processes. The big part of the department’s capacity focuses on heating, identification and analysis of the heat comfort and research in the field of photovoltaic systems and intelligent buildings. The department owns modern laboratories equipped with top-notch technological infrastructure to analyze composition of renewable energy sources, detection of their energy potential and to evaluate their impact on the environment. Besides those, the department is also equipped with infrastructure to monitor the energy levels in photovoltaic power plants and testing capabilities to evaluate the heat comfort inside of buildings. The department also provides consultations and analyses for industrial companies.
Members
Ing. Peter Hrabovský, PhD.
Ing. Nikola Čajová Kantová, PhD.
Ing. Pavol Belány, PhD.
Ing. Anna Krišková, PhD.
The members of the department actively cooperate with various scientific institutions across Europe as well as with leading technological and industrial companies. Results of the research are published in high-ranked scientific journals such as Energy Reports, Bio Resource, Applied Science, Fire, and so on. Within the research activities projects in the scope of UNIZA, VEGA, APVV grant agencies were successfully realized as well as projects financed from the EU structural funds.
The main research fields of the department are:
• Application and monitoring of photovoltaic energy. Within this topic the department focuses on the possibilities to maximize energy from the photovoltaic power plants. Research activities are focused on various configurations of photovoltaic panels, their connection and interaction. The department also focuses on mathematical modelling, calculation and prediction of photovoltaic power plants with the aim to optimize their performance.
• Study of renewable energy sources specializes in applied research in the field of fuels and emission measurement with the aim to improve the air quality. The research activities are mainly focused on detection of chemical elements contained within fuels, measurement of humidity, volatile elements, compact carbon, ashes and determination of ash melting points.
• Study of the heat comfort of workplaces is related to evaluation of the microclimate in work areas and offices, which is defined by temperature, relative humidity and velocity of air movement. The efforts are focused on obtaining the ideal temperature comfort in the workplace, and on monitoring the basic microclimatic parameters.
• Evaluation of the heat obtained from removable energy sources. The research activities are focused on the transformation process and thermal energy transfer, study of solar energy effectiveness and study of low-potential Earth energy application for heating and accumulation of thermal energy into Earth. Study of the possible combining various heat sources through complex energy devices is also within the scope.