Junior researchers / PhD students
Caroline Bernier is working on a project in between Robotics and Fluid Mechanics that aims at the design of robust and efficient biomimetic swimming agents. The approach used to tackle the problem distinguishes itself from a broad body of work by a unique combination of multi-disciplinary tools: (i) high-fidelity Computational Fluid Dynamics to simulate self-propelled swimmers; (ii) compliant actuators to generate energy-efficient force-controlled patterns; (iii) oscillator-based coordination to distribute the computational load within a biologically inspired controller; and (iv) advanced optimization algorithm to calibrate the control schemes for a large variety of gaits. Different and complementary swimming gaits will be investigated, like energy-efficient or fast. Using compliant actuators will allow the swimmer to sense the fluid reactions being useful for its propulsion and exploit energy storage in the elastic deformations of the actuator.
Christophe De Gréef obtained his Master's degree in electromechanical engineering at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) in 2017. Since then, he is invovled as PhD student in a industrial research project funded by the Region Wallonne. This latter aims at improving the efficiency of the powertrain of railway vehicles by replacing the induction machines by synchronous reluctance machines and the mechanical gears by magnetic gears. Christophe is contributing to this project by providing new modeling and optimization tools to ensure the optimal design of these elements.
Electro-mechanic and automotive engineer for formation, Didier Forclaz worked three years as R&D engineer principally in charge of the study for electrodeposited materials characterization by Mimotec. During his career path, he acquired competences in conception and construction (CAD) of vehicles, machines and installations as well as in the numerical simulations domain (FEM).
Didier’s beliefs and convictions steered him to finding unique ways of safeguarding the environment leading to a sustainable future. After working for the Energetic and Municipal Research Center (CREM) during his Swiss civil service, he began his employment with the Institute of Industrial System (ISI) at HES-SO // Valais – Wallis. He has now undertaken a collaboration between the IMMC of UCL and the ISI. This research concerns the use of flexibility that can be given by the individual consumers in their electrical consumption. The focus is on integrating renewable energies into the distribution grid.
Guillaume François received the Master’s degree in electromechanical engineering from the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), and graduated with a degree of Engineering from the Ecole Centrale Paris in 2017. He also owns a Bachelor's degree in applied economics from the Université Paris Dauphine, obtained in 2015. From then on, he joined the MEED division as a PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Bruno Dehez.
His research focuses on the development of high performance linear actuators, taking benefit of the PCB technology in order to build winding topologies and geometries not feasible with the classical wire technology. In that perspective, his research involves the development of new tools to optimally design such linear actuators, based on multiphysics models able to predict their behaviour.
Sophie Heins obtained her master's degree in Biomedical Engineering in 2013 from the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Belgium. She then spent a year at Sopra Banking Software, where she was a Junior IT Consultant. She started to work as a research assistant in September 2014 on the CYBERLEGs project, which was then followed up by the CYBERLEGs Plus Plus project. With the support of the Biobank of Wallonia Brussels, she also worked part time as an IT Project Leader at UCL-Saint Luc and UCL-Mont Godinne from 2015 to 2017, in close collaboration with the biobank managers. In 2016 and 2017, she was also involved in the ROBiGAME project, aiming to develop an auto-adaptive serious game for the robotic, upper-limb rehabilitation of patients with brain damage.
The aim of her PhD thesis is to develop a bio-inspired controller for a new generation of transfemoral prostheses, for level-ground walking and for other locomotion tasks. More precisely, the controller is based on three fundamental neuro-mechanical principles that were observed in healthy humans: motor primitives, local reflexes and postural support. This work also involves the investigation of the optimal combination of these bio-inspired strategies.
François Heremans obtained his master in Electromechanical Engineering at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) in 2015 and then started a PhD with iMMC/MEED/Louvain Bionics on the design of energy efficient prostheses.
Nature has evolved over millions of years to achieve the highly efficient and powerful "machine" that we are.
Understanding and replicating the human body is a fascinating and definitely a challenging task. Our research focuses on the development of a lower limb, transfemoral prosthesis for amputees. The use of smart materials is combined with advanced mechatronics to produce a novel device being light, energy efficient and highly performing. The ultimate goal is to help patients regaining normal mobility in daily life activities.
Aleksandar Janjic
Caroline Leroi received her master's degree in Electro-mechanical engineering in 2014 from the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Belgium. She started to work as a research and teaching assistant in January 2015. From then until September 2016, she worked on a research project about small wind turbines for the industrial energy group Engie in collaboration with UMons. She began a PhD thesis under the supervision of Prof. Emmanuel De Jaeger in October 2016. The aim of her PhD thesis is to contribute to a better understanding of the origin, the propagation and the consequences of conducted disturbances in the frequency range 2-150 kHz. This work involves the development of models for grid components (LV cables, MV-LV transformer) and HF disturbances sources (solar panels, wind turbines, Electric Vehicle battery chargers,..) but also the determination of typical impedance levels.
Thomas Mercier received the Master’s degree in electromechanical engineering, energy, from Université catholique de Louvain, in 2013, and the Master’s degree in economics, from the same university, in 2016. He also graduated with a Master’s degree in energy and markets, from IFP School, in 2015. From 2013 to 2014, he has been an Optimisation Engineer at Ecometering Smart Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of ENGIE. Since 2015, he is a Research Assistant with the department of Mechatronic, Electrical Energy and Dynamic Systems at Université catholique de Louvain, where he is working on the techno-economics of variable-speed pumped-storage hydropower. His research interests include energy storage and economics, optimisation and forecasting in the field of energy, and modelling and control of electromechanical systems. Mr. Mercier has been awarded the 2016 R&D prize of the Royal Belgian Society of Electricians (SRBE-KBVE).
Sébastien Timmermans obtained his master in Electromechanical Engineering at the University catholique de Louvain (UCL) in 2017 and then he joined iMMC/Meed to start his PhD and research activities about the development of an haptic keyboard for digital pianos.
The touch of a piano keyboard is an essential sensory information for pianists and results from the dynamics of the actions equipping traditional acoustic pianos. Present-day digital instruments offer the possibility of nuancing sound thanks to certain dynamics which imitates that of a traditional piano, but which is far from reproducing the finessed required by pianists.
His project aims at developing a haptic feedback device for digital keyboards, based on (i) multibody models of piano actions using Robotran software, (ii) the use of movement sensors and high dynamic actuators (iii) the study of the phenomenon of touch, with our partners in musicology (the Museum of Musical Instruments of Brussels and the Museum of Philharmonic Music of Paris).
Maxence Van Beneden obtained his master's degree in electromechanical engineering, with specialization in energy in 2012 from the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Belgium. In 2014, he joined iMMC/MEED to start his PhD thesis under the supervision of Prof. Bruno Dehez.
His thesis is linked to a research project ECOPTINE supported by the Wallonia region in collaboration with Alstom, Citius engineering, Ateliers de la Meuse, Infrabel and Université Libre de Bruxelles. The project concerns flywheel energy storage system for railway application. Since September 2017, he is teaching assistant at UCL.
His research focuses on passive magnetic bearings more precisely on the design, optimization and comparison of permanent magnet thrust bearings.
Joachim Van Verdeghem received the electromechanical engineering degree in 2016 from the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Belgium. From then on, he joined the MEED division as Ph. D. student. His research focuses on magnetic electrodynamic bearings as well as self-bearing machines. More precisely, he is working on the development of a new type of passively levitated self-bearing motors within which both the driving and axial guidance functions are integrated in a single winding. His main purposes are to design new topologies of such a machine, to derive models allowing us to study the six degrees of freedom of the rotor and to optimize the performance on the basis of key criteria that have to be defined. In addition, several prototypes will be constructed to demonstrate the feasibility of this new machine as well as to validate the dynamic models.
Léna Vanthournhout obtained her master's degree in electromechanical engineering, with specialization in mechatronics in 2013 from the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Belgium. Then, she joined iMMC/MEED to start her PhD thesis and research activities in collaboration with St-Luc hospital and under the supervision of Prof. Benoît Raucent.
Her project is focused on the design of an adaptive robotic assistance for microsurgery. The targeted gesture is the microanastomosis - a connection by suture between two very small blood vessels (diameter < 1 mm), used in procedures such as breast reconstruction, face allograft, or torn member saving. However, this gesture requires a precision that goes beyond human dexterity.
Her project aims at providing an ergonomic robotic assistance that would be integrated transparently and intuitively into standard procedures performed under a microscope. The objective is to push back the current frontiers of microsurgery and scale it down to the sub-millimeter scale of so-called super-microsurgery. The main scientific goal is to propose adaptive teleoperation schemes that enables the surgeon to be both fast and accurate, and to compare the experimental performances of these smart interfaces on a tailor-made robot prototype.
Guy Wanlongo Ndiwulu received the Master’s degree in electromechanical engineering, energy, in 2015 from Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL), Belgium. He also MSc Electromechanical Engineering, from Université Kongo, in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Since December 2015, he joined the iMMC/MEED as Ph.D. student. His research focuses on the control and the dynamic operation of islanded microgrids, in African context. The hybrid microgrids are considered. They are composed of multiple and miscellaneous micro-sources (photovoltaic, small hydropower and diesel generator), and energy storage devices such as a battery.
Senior researchers / Post-docs
Gabriel Abedrabbo received his Mechanical Engineer degree in 2006 from the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), Quito, Ecuador. Before he started his PhD, he worked in a plastics industry for four years. At this work, he oversaw the development of new products and the production process.
In 2017, he obtained a PhD degree from the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Louvain-la-Neuve. During his thesis, he developed a clinical protocol, based on experimental data and a multibody model of the upper body, to quantify the intervertebral efforts for idiopathic scoliotic adolescents, during moderate gait.
He is currently working on a Spin-Off project financed by INNOVIRIS. This project aims at developing a software that will assist physicians in the surgical planning of the spine.
Xavier Bollen obtained his master's degree in electromechanical engineering, with specialization in mechatronics in 2011 from the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Belgium. In 2016, he obtained his PhD degree from the UCL.
During his thesis, under the supervision of Pr. Benoît Raucent and Pr. Parla Astarci (Cliniques universitaires Saint Luc, Brussels), he developed a new device for minimally aortic valve resection. The device was used on patients undergoing open heart surgery in order to validate its design and its functional principle.
Now he still works on the design of the device and he also works on additive manufacturing inside the IMAP department. Since September 2015, he is invited lecturer at the Polytechnic School of Louvain where he teaches technical drawing to the first year bachelor's students in engineering.
Nicolas Docquier obtained is master in Mechanical Engineering in 2005 from the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) and his PhD from the same university in 2010 thanks to a doctoral fellowship of the F.R.S-FNRS. For the last ten years, he has been working on the modelling of multi-body systems (MBS), focusing on applications related to railway and road vehicle dynamics. He participated to many research projects, in collaboration with several industry partners.
In particular, his PhD was dedicated to the modelling of railway vehicles equipped with pneumatic suspensions, in collaboration with a major train manufacturer. In 2014, he did a postdoc stay in Mechanical and Civil Engineering Lab (LMGC, Université de Montpellier, France) where he worked on the coupling between MBS and the Discrete Element Method for modelling interactions between mechanical device and granular media such as the railway ballast.
He is now working on the WholeTrack research project, aiming at developing new railway track components based on both experimental test and simulation models of the whole railway system. He also coordinates the development of the Robotran software dedicated to MBS.
He is invited lecturer at UCL where he teaches multibody dynamics via a project based approach and at the CIEM where he introduces railway technologies to students of the specialized master in transport and logistics.
Virginie Kluyskens obtained her master in Electro-mechanical Engineering in 2004 from the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) and her PhD from the same university in 2011. She has been mainly working on research projects including passive magnetic bearings, for academic research or for research in collaboration with industry partners.
During her PhD, she developed a lumped parameter model, in which the electromagnetic forces acting inside an electrodynamic bearing are modelled by their mechanical equivalents. This model is particularly well suited to centering homopolar electrodynamic bearings in which the magnetic field presents a rotational symmetry. After her PhD, she collaborated to research projects enlarging the topic to heteropolar centering electrodynamic bearings (characterized by a magnetic field presenting numerous poles along the rotation), to thrust electrodynamic bearings, and to self-bearing motors including an electrodynamic bearing.
She is now working on the Ecoptine project, aimed to develop a flywheel energy storage system for railway systems, and more particularly on the design of the permanent magnet bearing which will be included in the system.
Visiting researchers
/
Alumni
Guillaume Beckers obtained a Master degree in Electromechanical Engineering, with a specialization in mechatronics, from the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) in 2011.
In February 2018, he obtained his PhD degree with his thesis entitled "Modelling of electromagnetic and piezoelectric peristaltic micropumps".
It was dedicated to the development of an efficient tool for modelling two new design of peristaltic micropumps. The main goal was to obtain a good approximation of the displacement of the diaphragm, but also of the stresses and electric field, at low computational price. For this purpose two theories have been tested, one based on Euler-Bernoulli beam assumptions and another on Kirchhoff-Love plate assumptions. The last one was the more effective and the dynamics of plates which bend under the action of Lorentz force or of a piezoelectric effect and possibly enter in contact with a rigid obstacle has been developed.
A finite element discretization has been proposed and a primal-dual active set strategy has been added to handle frictionless contact constraint. The established numerical scheme compared well to three dimensional models in several case studies and a huge saving in computational time and memory was noticed.
Marine Bion works on the AVATAR² project since September 2015 as a research assistant in Meed. The team realizes a medical device which removes the calcified aortic valve. Appointed for 2 years on the project, her contract has been prolonged until December 2017.
She comes from France where she obtained her engineering diploma in 2015 (ESIGELEC, Rouen).
Benoît Martin
Benoît Martin obtained his master degree in electromechanical engineering from Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Belgium in 2012. He worked 13 months in the field of energy in the building sector. In January 2014, he started a PhD at the CEREM under the supervision of Prof E. De Jaeger and F. Glineur (CORE, UCL). His research is mainly focused on the planning of active distribution networks, with particular emphasis on autonomous networks, that is local networks that have the ability to be operated without any connection to the main network.
Matthias Tummers graduated as a biomedical engineer at the Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium in 2016. He then spent some time in France where he obtained ski patroller and rescuer diplomas. In March 2017, he came back to MEED division to work as a research assistant on the AVATAR² project.
Aortic stenosis is a heart disease that consists in a hardening of the aortic valve, reducing its capabilities. The current treatment is a very traumatic surgery and is thus inaccessible to one part of the patients. Yet, some new mini-invasive technologies allow for a larger portion of patients to be operated. However, these very promising new techniques have some disadvantages because the native valve is not resected.
The AVATAR² project aims to develop a new medical device that will allow to resect the native valve before placing the new one. This new medical device will permit to these new techniques to reach the performances of the open-heart surgery with a reduction of the per- and post-operative traumatisms.
Nicolas Van der Noot was born in Brussels, Belgium, in 1990. He received the Engineering MS degree (electromechanical orientation, with specialization in mechatronics) in 2013 from Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. In 2017, he obtained a PhD degree, as the result of a joint PhD thesis between UCL and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
During his thesis, he developed controllers for humanoid robots to achieve human-like locomotion. More precisely, his purpose was to take inspiration from the impressive human walking capabilities to design bio-inspired controllers capable of generating fast, human-like and energetically efficient gaits.
This was tested on torque-controlled biped robots, both in simulation and on real hardware. In particular, gait robustness and richness were two key aspects of this work. In other words, the gaits developed could be steered by an external operator, while being resistant to external perturbations.