Alfred Rufer

Biography

Originaire de Diessbach (BE), Alfred Rufer est né en 1951. Il obtient en 1976 le diplôme d'ingénieur électricien de l'EPFL et poursuit son activité dans le même établissement en tant qu'assistant à la chaire d'électronique industrielle. En 1993, il est nommé professeur-assistant au Laboratoire d'électronique industrielle. Au début 1996, il est nommé professeur extraordinaire. En 1978, il débute son activité dans l'industrie de l'électronique de grande puissance à la société ABB, Asea Brown Boveri à Turgi, où il contribue au développement d'entraînements réglés à fréquence variable. Dès 1985, il exerce la fonction d'assistant technique et de chef de groupe. De 1988 à 1991, il poursuit le développement de nouveaux systèmes d'électronique de puissance dans différents domaines d'application. A. Rufer est l'auteur et co-auteur de plusieurs demandes de brevet, ainsi que de plusieurs publications. De 1991 à 1992, il est chef d'un département de développement d'appareils d'électronique de réglage et de commande pour l'électronique de puissance. Durant son activité professionnelle dans l'industrie, il participe activement à l'enseignement technique dans plusieurs écoles d'ingénieurs.

Official source

https://people.epfl.ch/alfred.rufer

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Increasing the Energy Efficiency of Gas Boosters for Hydrogen Storage and for Refueling Stations

Alfred Rufer

A new electrically driven gas booster is described as an alternative to the classical air-driven gas boosters known for their poor energetic efficiency. These boosters are used in small scale Hydrogen storage facilities and in refueling stations for Hydrogen vehicles. In such applications the overall energy count is of significance and must include the efficiency of the compression stage. The proposed system uses an electric motor instead of the pneumatic actuator and increases the total efficiency of the compression process. Two mechanical principles are studied for the transformation of the rotational motion of the motor to the linear displacement of the compressor pistons. The strongly fluctuating power of the compressor is smoothed by an active capacitive auxiliary storage device connected to the DC circuit of the power converter. The proposed system has been verified by numeric simulation, including the thermodynamic phenomena, the kinetics of the new compressor drive and the the operation of the circuits of the power smoothing system.

MDPI2023

In the context of the need to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from personal transportation, a new process for the production of e-methanol is presented. It is a CO2 hydrogenation process, powered mainly by renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic electricity, with direct capture of carbon dioxide from the ambient air. With the main objective of estimating the feasibility and the impact of such a large-scale plant, the various components are evaluated in terms of masses and quantities necessary for an annual fuel production of 500,000 tons. The main reactor is analyzed to assess the required quantities of hydrogen and CO2. The production of hydrogen from the electrolysis of water is estimated, as well as the electrical power required and supplied by a large photovoltaic plant. The size of a realistic plant and its footprint are estimated. In addition, the mass of seawater to be desalinized and split in the electrolyser is calculated. The CO2 capture system is evaluated in the form of the mass of air to be extracted from the ambient air. The parameters of the system and its subcomponents are summarized for ease of understanding of the significance and size of the processing plant.

MDPI2022

A High Efficiency Pneumatic Drive System Using Vane-Type Semi-Rotary Actuators

Alfred Rufer

A compressed air driven generator is proposed, where the pneumatic energy is converted into mechanical energy using two vane-type rotational actuators. The use of a second actuator with a higher displacement in order to produce a thermodynamic expansion allows to reach a better energetic efficiency in comparison to the classical operation of such actuators. The alternating movement of the angular actuators is transformed into a unidirectional rotational motion with the help of a mechanical motion rectifier. The paper analyses the enhancement of the energetic performance of the system. An experimental set-up is also described. The performance of the new system is described, and the limits of its realization is commented on the base of experimental recordings of the evolution of the pressure in the chambers.

UNIV NIS2021