.png){kind=small}
OUR EXPERTISE AND EQUIPMENT AT YOUR SERVICE
Smart Home Lab
Facilities
Development of multiple scenarios and analysis of the optimal timing, application, and interaction of various technologies. For example, linking solar panels to an electric vehicle or a home battery, or to washing machines or a heat pump, and charging the community battery when electricity prices are low
​
Our services
Development of multiple scenarios and analysis of the optimal timing, application, and interaction of various technologies. For example, linking solar panels to an electric vehicle or a home battery, or to washing machines or a heat pump, and charging the community battery when electricity prices are low
What has it been used for?
InterConnect
​
Contact:
Thierry Coosemans
Core Facility ‘Materials Characterization’
Facilities
The Core Facility houses a large variety of equipment to support the following purposes:
-
Bulk spectroscopy
-
Surface sensitive spectroscopy
-
Isotope analysis
-
Microscopy
-
Thermal analysis
Further specifications: https://matchar.research.vub.be/
Our services
The facility provides a collection of analytical tools, backed by long standing expertise of the participating research groups, enabling the characterization of all types of materials, going from organic (such as polymers, biological tissue, bones-teeth) to inorganic materials (metals, ceramics, rocks, water…) and any composites and hybrid interfaces thereof.
We can provide insights from the macro- to the nanoscale, focusing on bulk and individual phases as well as surface properties and compositional mapping at high-resolution.
​
Contact:
Anneke Hunninckx
Smart Village Lab
Facilities
In the Smart Village Lab (part of Green Energy Park), you can fully engage with energy and climate initiatives. It features a CO2-neutral, realistic testing ground within an existing work and residential environment, unique in Europe. It includes the following:
-
Community batteries
-
(Bidirectional) charging infrastructure for electric vehicles
-
An energy network that interconnects all systems
More information: https://www.vubtechtransfer.be/smart-village-lab-helps-accelerate-energy-transition-in-flanders-and-europe
Our services
Development of multiple scenarios and analysis of the optimal timing, application, and interaction of various technologies. For example, linking solar panels to an electric vehicle or a home battery, or to washing machines or a heat pump, and charging the community battery when electricity prices are low
​
What has it been used for?
​Interconnect
Contact:
Thierry Coosemans
Smart Charging Lab
Facilities
The lab is equipped with a wide range of chargers, charge boxes, plugs, and both vehicle and charging emulators, as well as all standardized communication protocols
Further specifications: https://mobi.research.vub.be/electric-hybrid-vehicle-technology-and-reliability-test-infrastructure
Our services
-
Testing of on- and off-board charging infrastructure
-
Grid-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-grid operation testing
-
Development of smart charging algorithms
​
What has it been used for?
OPTIBIDS, CLEVER
​
Contact:
Cedric De Cauwer
Lighting Technology Lab
Facilities
-
150 m² lab for artificial sky (5.4m height)
-
Fully equipped(day)light office laboratory
-
Automated BRDF LAB (collaboration with INDI)
-
Mobile Spectrometer & Photometer
Further specifications: https://mobi.paddlecms.net/lighting-technology-laboratory
​​
​
Contact:
Valéry Jacobs
Electric Vehicle & Powertrain Lab
Facilities
We have in-house infrastructure to test electric and hybrid electric vehicles, including:
-
Vehicle testing benches
-
On-road data acquisition tools
-
Speed measurement equipment
-
Electric and hybrid vehicles
-
Specialty vehicles, including 4 e-Karts and a Formula Race Electric Car
Further specifications: https://mobi.research.vub.be/electric-hybrid-vehicle-technology-and-reliability-test-infrastructure
Our services
-
Detailed roller bench and on-road testing of vehicles
-
Vehicle and fleet monitoring through our GPS and CAN-based data-loggers
-
Performance and behaviour benchmarking through the available electric and hybrid vehicles and their historical data
-
The use and testing of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in a wide range of use cases
​
Contact:
Joeri van Mierlo
Battery Innovation Centre
Lab
Facilities
For the thorough characterization of newly developed batteries, the Battery Innovation Cent has deployed a state-of-the-art battery test lab, containing several test stations allowing to test cells as well as battery modules. Additionally, a dry room has been built with a dew point of -60°C, that can handle a dew point of -55°C while two people are working in it. The lab is also equipped with a glove box and an in situ XRD.
​
Further specifications: https://mobi.research.vub.be/battery-innovation-centre-infrastructure
Our services
The Battery Innovation Centre is well equipped and organized for lifetime and ageing testing and thermal characterization of batteries.
We offer our infrastructure to conduct all kinds of standardized or custom-defined battery tests:
-
Battery fabrication for proof of concept: prototype fabrication and upscaling
-
Physio-chemical testing of battery electrodes
-
Cycling and aging, internal resistance through HPPC, high current pulse testing, drive cycle testing, fast charging testing
-
Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy
-
Mechanical pressure application and testing on cells
-
Customized testing profiles, data acquisition and logging, state estimation, and electro-thermal control development
This can be done across a wide range of controlled temperatures on every cell form factor, including cylindrical, pouch, and prismatic
​
What has it been used for?
​
Contact:
Solid Porous Materials Lab
Facilities
The lab contains unique, high-throughput measurement setups, often custom- designed for non-standard test conditions, as well as state-of-the-art equilibrium and breakthrough modelling tools & software. Additionally, a large variety of equipment for semi-automated material fabrication is available.
Our services​
We specialize in the characterization of solid porous materials, providing in-depth insights into adsorption, diffusion, and structural properties. In addition, we develop (hybrid) material structures with optimized properties tailored for chemical separations and purifications.
-
Advanced experimental and modelling-based characterization of porous materials (zeolites, MOFs, AC, CMS, hybrids, etc.)
-
Design for multi-functionality, including kinetics & heat effects, ppm-selectivity, electrified heating compatibility, durability
-
Formulation and shaping into structured material prototypes (laminates, foams, honeycombs, monoliths, coatings, etc.)
​​​
​
Contact:
Marleen Claeys
Sustainable Separations Lab
Facilities
A wide range of installations and equipment is available, including the following:
-
Setups for gas and vapor phase breakthrough separation experiments
-
Large pilot-scale multi-column swing adsorption units
-
Custom-built experimental setups for challenging applications
-
Mobile container-sized PSA/VPSA pilot units
-
Computing cluster & tools for cyclic swing to full process modelling
Our services
We specialize in adsorption-based separation technologies, combining adsorption expertise and process design to develop customized solutions for industrial separation challenges, including carbon capture, renewable fuels, and waste valorization.
-
Selecting and optimizing adsorbents for industrial applications.
-
Modelling & simulation of adsorption and separation processes
-
Process development & scale-up (from lab to pilot scale)
-
Experimental validation under industrial conditions
-
Scalability, technoeconomic, and lifecycle assessments
-
Training programs (with experimental units & modelling tools
​​
Contact:
Marleen Claeys
GHz-THz Lab
Facilities
Included among the available equipment in the lab are the following items:
-
Vector Network Analyzers
-
Oscilloscopes:
-
Portable Transient radar system for NDT
-
Imaging systems
Further specifications: http://bmkitmef.etrovub.be/Research/mm_Waves/
Our services
GHz-THz measurement infrastructure has a pivotal role in multiple disciplines:
-
Nondestructive testing of materials and multi-layer structures:
-
Buildings: status and renovation issues, humidity, density, porosity
-
Processes: curing, ageing, recycling, self-healing
-
Novel nano-materials designs
-
-
Nondestructive Real-Time monitoring of carbon capture in materials such as cements and special absorbers
-
Study of meta-materials: modelling and design of single and multi-layer Left Handed Materials, including symmetric and asymmetric split ring resonators, derivation of equivalent circuits and investigations of ultra-sensitive thin film sensors for all kind of materials, etc.
-
Dielectric Spectroscopy of materials in the GHz-THz range
​
​
What has it been used for?​
​
Contact:
Johan Stiens
Embedded systems and IoT Lab
Facilities
Included among the available equipment in the lab are the following items:
-
IoT and Wireless Sensor Networks
-
Low-power embedded devices and FPGAs
-
The necessary licensing model and usage rights for FPGA design and development tools ​
​
Our services
-
Profiling of the energy and power consumption of embedded devices, including IoT and wireless sensor network devices
-
Design and evaluation of secure, lightweight protocols for resource-constrained and wireless systems
-
Development and testing of rust-based IoT stacks on embedded platforms
-
Embedded security benchmarking and low-power secure protocol evaluation
-
Deployment and optimization of AI/ML (TinyML, Edge AI) on low-power or FPGA-accelerated devices
-
Evaluation of low-power techniques for wearables and battery-operated systems
-
Hardware-software co-design for efficient, secure, and energy-aware edge computing applications
​
​
What has it been used for?​
​
Various TETRA projects (technology transfer projects based on applied research): The lab is used to set up experiments that demonstrate the use of new networking stacks, security protocols and IoT-Edge-Cloud solutions
​
Contact:
Prof. Kris Steenhaut, Prof. An Braeken, Prof. Bruno da Silva
DC and AC Microgrid Lab
Facilities
The lab enables to build a DC and AC microgrid which can be controlled by a fully digitized smart energy management IoT system. Up to 12 sources and loads can be connected with each other via various busbars, such as a programmable battery emulator, solar panels, V2X capable charging infrastructure, multiple electrical machines, etc.
Further specifications: https://mobi.paddlecms.net/power-electronics-and-smart-charging-lab-infrastructure
Our services
-
Microgrid Simulation and Testing
-
Smart Energy Management: Integration with a fully digitised IoT-based energy management system for real-time control and optimisation of energy distribution.
-
Testing of renewable energy sources (including programmable battery emulators, charging infrastructure, and solar panels) to assess their performance within microgrid configurations
​
Contact: Prof. Joeri Van Mierlo