Prototyping of HEV powertrains is cumbersome, expensive, and time-consuming. Thus, design optimization is the most feasible alternative process for accomplishing a good design. This project will identify key system components and develop a high-fidelity model of the hybrid drive train capturing key dynamics. Modes such as engine mode, motor mode, hybrid-parallel mode, regenerative braking mode, and driving modes, such as crawling, take-off, cruise, traffic mode, heavy and frequent braking mode, will be investigated.

As Ontario’s electricity grid continues to evolve, all technologies must be evaluated on a life cycle basis. This will ensure that potential environmental impacts and economic costs are understood in advance of installation, and will permit fair and comprehensive comparisons amongst alternatives.
This project seeks to investigate the life cycle environmental and cost performance of utility-scale photovoltaic (PV), wind, small modular reactor (SMR), and battery technologies for use in Ontario.

Humans are constantly surrounded by electromagnetic fields (EMF) either at work or at home or while performing day-to-day activities. This is due to the need for devices such as mobiles, laptops, computers, Wi-Fi modems and so on. But these cause detrimental health effects leading to anxiety, depression, insomnia and other adverse effects. To reduce EMF exposure, SleepGift manufactures silver infused weighted blankets. The proposed project aims at validating the shielding effectiveness of the SleepGift blankets.

The aim of this project is the development of a novel approach, as to how e-mobility and charging needs are achieved through consideration of factors including mobility need, vehicle capability, charging capability, and facility capacity.

With e-transportation gaining traction within Canada (and N. America), the demand for superior battery performance over a range of operating conditions is garnering interest; especially over varied temperatures (-40ºC to +65ºC). The EV industry is finding it impractical to prove performance over a wide variety of state-of-charge (SOC) and state-of-health (SOH). Instead, testing can be performed using a single cell; however, this requires accurate SOC information, whereby the battery must be charged/discharged often, which is tedious.

Fuel channel inspection is critical to safe operation of CANDU reactors. However, the existing techniques used to inspect fuel channels are slow. Fuel channel inspection represents a major bottleneck during maintenance shutdowns of CANDU reactors. To reduce inspection time, it is proposed to develop a robotic inspection system. Multiple copies of this inspection system can be utilized simultaneously to reduce inspection time. In previous work, a proof-of-concept robotic crawler capable of pushing an inspection head through a fuel channel was developed.

3D object reconstruction is a crucial task for autonomous driving. Many important fields in autonomous driving such as prediction, planning, and motion control generally require a faithful representation of the 3D space around the ego vehicle. Reliable and accurate 3D reconstruction with one RGB video alone in autonomous driving is the goal of this project. This project will present a reliable and accurate method for perspective projection reconstruction of rigid and non-rigid objects from single-view and realistic videos.

According to a recent report, when it comes to animal protection laws Canada has not been performing adequately, receiving a grade of “D” on the Animal Protection Index (API). The low marks received were for not having adequate legislation protecting wildlife in captivity, working animals, farm animals, animals used in research and companion animals. At the same time, public support for improving animal welfare is high.

Through decades of mining and oil exploration, over 10,000 contaminated sites are found in Canada with toxic levels of heavy metals and harmful contaminants. In many cases, the contamination is on local farmland and the impacts on the environment and especially on the native communities and Indigenous inhabitants is devastating. This project will be committed to use abandoned mines in order to provide biomass by planting poplar trees which are resistant to the contaminations in order to lead biomass to the biohydrogen production.

It is well known that space heating is the largest component of energy consumed by Canada’s building sector. Additionally, 64% of the energy used for space heating is from non-renewable sources. For Canada’s remote and rigid communities, which are our immediate target market, this percentage is even higher, greater than 75%. Heat energy naturally flows from higher to lower temperatures. However, heat pump-based technologies can transfer heat energy from lower to higher temperatures with the aid of an external energy source.