Master's Degree in Propulsive Systems for a Sustainable Mobility

72 credits

Credit 35,34€
(2022/2023)
Give access to scholarships

15 openings
(2023/2024)

Introduction

Climate change and global warming are some of the main environmental issues that our society must tackle in the coming decades. These critical aspects have prompted the reduction of CO2 emissions and have indirectly promoted all initiatives associated with efficient fuel consumption in all government policies related to the transport sector, which represents almost 20% of CO2 emissions in the planet.

In this regard, most EU countries will reduce their CO2 emissions per km by at least 25% until 2025. To achieve this ambitious goal, it is necessary to reduce fossil fuel consumption through the development of new technologies in the automotive industry. The electrification of vehicles is one of the main ways to be part in this reduction, and such technology will gain relevance in the future, especially through hybridization. This means that around 90% of vehicles in 2030 will still be equipped with an internal combustion engine, albeit in the context of hybrid powertrains, still using a heat engine architecture. Other solutions, mainly based on hydrogen (such as fuel cells) and the use of e-fuels, are also being studied by the industry.

The CMT-Thermal Engines University Research Institute offering this Master's Degree is a benchmark in the field of propulsion plants in means of transport, both for its basic studies, aimed at a better understanding of the relevant phenomena and cause-effect relationships in the actions of the system, and for the applied aspect of knowledge transfer and joint projects with the industry. The know-how and experience that the research group has on this subject and the available experimental and computational facilities create privileged conditions for the comprehensive training of future researchers and professionals.

Objectives

The goal is to provide students with knowledge, criteria and methodologies to obtain more efficient and environmentally friendly power plants. This generic objective can be broken down into the following partial objectives:

Contributing to the progressive decarbonisation of propulsion systems with the consequent reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, in line with the Paris commitments and the agreements between the ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers' Association) and the EU to reduce these emissions. This contribution must take place through the increase of the efficiency of propulsion systems, regardless of the technology considered.
As long as the combustion engine continues to play a key role in hybridisation, contributing to the reduction of polluting gas emissions (carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and unburned hydrocarbons) and of particle emissions. Those compounds have a direct influence on the environment and air quality, so their emission will be regulated by much stricter regulations than the current one. In the case of particles, the total amount emitted must be significantly reduced and the size of the emitted particles must be controlled as well, since there are clear correlations between the aggressiveness of the particles and their size.
Contributing to the reduction of the acoustic impact of propulsion systems, both on the environment and on the user. Market demand and emission regulations require increasingly silent propulsion systems, which makes it necessary to reduce mechanical and aerodynamic noise, and to consider aspects of sound quality or subjective noise, which are of the utmost importance in the case of electric vehicles.