Paolo Tamburrano

Politecnico di Bari | Poliba · Department of Mechanics, Mathematics and Management

Despite the great advantages it offers, such as high-power density, precise control and large force output, conventional hydraulic valve control suffers from low energy efficiency due to substantial energy losses that occurs as the pressurized oil flows through the hydraulic circuit and its components, particularly the control-ones. Conventional hy...

Hydrogen utilization in internal combustion engines is deemed a viable solution for promoting a rapid transition towards a carbon-free mobility, especially for those hard-to-electrify applications. However, critical aspects still poorly understood remain and need to be investigated in order to accelerate the development of such a promising technolo...

In the current global energy scenario, an important role is played by the increasing production of biomethane, which is carbon-neutral when burned. In addition to production processes, it is paramount to increase the construction of liquefaction plants, in order to simplify the transportation and use of biomethane. However, biomethane liquefaction...

Digital hydraulic technology has emerged as a promising alternative to conventional hydraulic systems, offering several advantages such as improved energy efficiency, more precise control, and reduced complexity. In recent years, digital hydraulic technology applications have been widely researched in various engineering sectors, including aerospac...

As the primary fluid system in aircraft, the fuel system plays a vital role in storing, controlling, and continuously providing a clean flow of fuel to the engine throughout all flight phases. Considering that any fuel system malfunctions can lead to decreased engine performance and increased fuel consumption, it is crucial for the system to functi...

This paper presents a feasibility study using a commercially available ring stack actuator to develop a four way-two position (4/2) high frequency switching digital hydraulic valve. The excellent characteristics of multilayer piezoelectric actuators, such as a simple design, reduced moving parts, high reliability, and fast response, make them ideal...

The fuel system is one of the most important and complex parts of aircraft, being tasked with suppling the correct quantity of fuel to the aircraft engine during all operative conditions, from flight to ground operation. It must operate efficiently in any condition to guarantee safety and reliability. A fuel system for kerosene-based fuels (i.e., j...

The urgent need to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels has re-ignited the interest toward Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engines (HICEs). Nevertheless, there are still criticalities that need to be assessed for accelerating the development of this technology. The undesired but unavoidable participation of lubricant oil to the combustion process can...

The prospect of using liquid hydrogen as fuel in airliners in place of kerosene-based fuels is regarded as one of the most effective solutions to achieve low-carbon air transport in the near future, which is a target defined by the EU to reduce global warming caused by CO2 emissions. The development of hydrogen-fuelled airliners must face issues re...

Liquid biomethane, obtained from anaerobic digestion of organic biomass, upgrading and liquefaction processes, is regarded as one of the most effective renewable biofuels to be extensively employed in the transport and power generation sectors for mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. In this paper, a novel biomethane liquefaction process for sma...

Link: https://www.poliba.it/it/dottorato-di-ricerca-pagina/bando-di-concorso-borse-di-dottorato-di-ricerca-xxxviii-ciclo-pnrr?fbclid=IwAR2cd2-6pgjSxqEDTqvr9KCfIiojYHMaREtagz0y3zCqyl8MKWbFnxHuEGY

The prospect of using liquid hydrogen as fuel in airliners in place of kerosene-based fuels is regarded as one of the most effective solutions to achieve low-carbon air transport in the near future, which is a target defined by the EU to reduce global warming caused by CO2 emissions. The development of hydrogen-fuelled airliners must face issues re...

Mechanical ventilators are vital components of critical care services for patients with severe acute respiratory failure. In particular, pressure- and volume-controlled mechanical ventilation systems are the typical modes used in intensive care units (ICUs) to ventilate patients who cannot breathe adequately on their own. In this paper, a Simulink...

Recent research on thermal reciprocating engines has focused on the influence of lubricant oil on the combustion process, which can lead to highly unde-sired super-knock events. Low-Speed Pre-Ignition (LSPI) events severely limit the further development of Direct Injection Spark Ignition Engines (DISI), preventing high effi-ciencies from being achi...

This paper is a thorough review of innovative architectures of electro-hydraulic servovalves that exploit actuation systems based on piezo-electric materials. The use of commercially available piezo-electric actuators, namely, piezo stacks, amplified piezo stacks, rectangular benders, and ring benders, is very promising for the actuation of the mai...

This paper presents a feasibility study using commercially available amplified piezo-stacks for the direct actuation of four-way three-position (4/3) direct drive servovalves. The prospect of using amplified piezo-stacks in place of linear force motors is very attractive by virtue of their fast response speed and low weight. Piezo-stacks equipped w...

This paper is a thorough review of innovative architectures of electro-hydraulic servovalves that exploit actuation systems based on piezo-electric materials. The use of commercially available piezo-electric actuators, namely, piezo-stacks, amplified piezo-stacks, rectangular benders and ring benders, is very promising for the actuation of the main...

The innovative combination of ultrasound (Us) with a thermal exchanger to produce high quality extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) was studied using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and multivariate analysis (MVA). Major and minor metabolomic components of Apulian Coratina EVOO obtained using the two methods were compared. Early and late oli...

To whom it may concern, I am very pleased to inform you that the journal “Actuators” is currently running a Special Issue entitled “Recent Advances on Servovalves” (Guest Editors: Paolo Tamburrano, Riccardo Amirante, Elia Distaso, Pietro De Palma). The submission deadline is August 31, 2021. You may send your manuscript at any point until the deadl...

Despite being widely used in several applications, commercially available spool valves, both servovalves and proportional valves, are inefficient components because they cause high power consumption due to the large pressure drops across the metering orifices. A recent research field aims at substituting spool valves with on/off valves having high...

After some hesitations, the scientific community is jointly converging on the benefits due to the ultrasound treatment by means of mechanical effects generated by acoustic cavitation phenomena occurring into the olive oil paste proposed initially by Amirante and Clodoveo. In recent works, many authors have now confirmed that this promising emerging...

The articles in this Issue will be concerned with one of the most important sectors of the global economy: the production of energy for humanity. Energy production, efficiency, storage, and transportation have been topics of interest since the steam age, since they correspond to the power of nations. At present, with the increasing global emphasis...

An experimental study has been conducted to provide a characterization of the transformations that particle size distributions and the number density of soot particles can encounter along the exhaust line of a modern EURO VI compliant heavy-duty engine, fueled with compressed natural gas. Being aware of the particles history in the exhausts can be...

In part I of this study, we experimentally and numerically investigated the pilot stage of a novel two-stage servovalve architecture. The novelty of the proposed configuration is the torque motor being removed and replaced with two small two-way two-position (2/2) valves actuated by piezoelectric ring benders, which can effectively control the open...

Electrohydraulic servovalves are widely used for precise motion control in aerospace and other industries due to their high accuracy and speed of response. However, commercial two-stage servovalves have several undesirable characteristics, such as the power consumption caused by the quiescent flow (internal leakage) in the pilot stage, and the comp...

In this paper, we investigate the idea of using, in place of recent linear force motors, amplified piezo-stack actuators for the actuation of direct drive servovalves, in order to exploit the fast response of piezoelements accompanied by the increased displacement ensured by mechanical amplification systems. Some possible architectures are proposed...

This paper proposes a modelling approach for simulating mechanical ventilators for intensive care units (ICUs). The shortage of ventilators during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has focused attention on their design and performance. The proposed modelling approach consists in using the Mathworks ® Simulink software tool and the Si...

The internal leakage in two stage servovalves causes unwanted power consumption; it is the sum of two contributions: the internal leakage in the main stage and the internal leakage in the pilot stage. While the latter can be assumed almost constant regardless of the spool position, the former is maximum at null and decreases with increasing opening...

A fundamental component of two-stage servovalves is the flexure tube, since it both constitutes a low friction pivot for the inner flapper and allows the torque motor to be separated from the hydraulic fluid, thus avoiding contamination particles being trapped inside the torque motor. The inertia of the torque motor armature interacting with the fl...

The two-year research has developed a novel architecture for servovalves that is based on the use of two small piezovalves capable of changing the pressure at the extremities of a main stage spool. Each piezovalve is actuated by a piezoelectric ring bender, which can provide a good level of force and displacement. The main advantage of this archite...

This paper presents research aimed at understanding the effects of geometrical imperfections and tolerances upon the internal leakage occurring around null in the main stages of servovalves. Specifically, a two-dimensional (2D) computational fluid dynamic analysis was used to predict the direct leakage flow as a function of the overlap and clearanc...

Recent needs of reducing pollutant emissions of internal combustion engines have pushed the development of non-conventional ignition systems. One of the most promising techniques appears to be the so-called pre-chamber turbulent jet ignition combustion system in which a jet of hot combusting gases is employed to initiate the combustion in the main...

This paper provides a review of the state of the art of electro-hydraulic servovalves, which are widely used valves in industrial applications and aerospace, being key components for closed loop electrohydraulic motion control systems. The paper discusses their operating principles and the analytical models used to study these valves. Commercially...

The production of increasingly clean engines has become imperative. More stringent regulations for internal combustion engines are constantly proposed, and recent number-based regulations have become a new challenge, since historically only a mass-based regulation needed to be met. It is known that soot particles detectable at the exhaust of an eng...

The authors propose a novel small-scale power plant capable of generating electricity and thermal energy from both solid and gaseous biomass, to be employed in rural electrification projects. The proposed system is based on mature and cheap technology, derived from the automotive sector, ensuring very low capital costs and minimum maintenance. The...

This paper proposes a novel architecture for the pilot stage of electro-hydraulic two-stage servovalves that does not need a quiescent flow and a torque motor as well as a flexure tube to operate. The architecture consists of two small piezoelectric valves, coupled with two fixed orifices, which allow variation of the differential pressure at the m...

Agro-biomass residues can play a crucial role in promoting the fossil-fuel replacement in agro-food farms. Apulia, a region in Southern Italy, concentrates 22% of farms and 57% of total national olive and olive oil production, resulting the leader producer of the Country. So that, a high quantity of biomass (olive pomace) can be recovered from the...

This paper reviews the state of the art of directly driven proportional directional hydraulic spool valves, which are widely used hydraulic components in the industrial and transportation sectors. First, the construction and performance of commercially available units are discussed, together with simple models of the main characteristics. The revie...

A reaction mechanism, suitable for simulating the lubricant oil influence on the combustion process of gasoline-like fuels, is developed. The proposed work is motivated by evidences reported in the literature highlighting that lubricant oil droplets can be the most likely inducer of pre-ignition phenomena, as well as the fact that lubricant oil can...

Agro-biomass residues can play a crucial role in promoting the fossil-fuel replacement in agro-food farms. Apulia, a region in Southern Italy, concentrates 22% of farms and 57% of total national olive and olive oil production, resulting the leader producer of the Country. So that, a high quantity of biomass (olive pomace) can be recovered from the...

This paper develops a detailed simulation model, realized by the software Simscape, which can be a powerful tool to analyze the performance of a double nozzle flapper valve actuated by a piezoelectric ring bender. The particularity of this valve is that the use of the torque motor and flexure tube is avoided, thus reducing the complexity, manufactu...

The objective of the present work is to provide an exhaustive characterization of size distributions and number density of the particles emitted from a modern EURO-VI heavy-duty 4-cylinder engine, fueled with compressed natural gas. To achieve this goal, a wide range of operating conditions (for a total of 60 operating points) were investigated dur...

This paper proposes the implementation of cost-effective commercially available automotive components in small-scale power plants for the energy generation from carbon-neutral biomass. Specifically, a turbocharger and a power turbine of turbo-compound systems are proposed to be coupled with an external combustor and a high temperature heat exchange...

This paper aims at proposing a general design procedure for the application of the Immersed Particle Heat Exchanger to a novel, small scale, externally fired combined cycle capable of generating electrical and thermal power from carbon-neutral biomass. The Immersed Particle Heat Exchanger serves as the high temperature heat exchanger needed to coup...

The aim of this paper is to investigate the thermodynamic performance of a novel small-scale power plant that employs a combined cycle for the energy generation from carbon-neutral biomass, such as pruning residues. The combined cycle is composed of an externally fired Joule Brayton cycle followed by a bottoming steam cycle. The topping cycle has t...

In the present paper, an innovative and cost-effective open test rig for small and medium wind turbines is proposed. The main aim is to develop a valid alternative to wind tunnels, which present unresolved problems such as the unmatched Reynolds numbers for downscaled wind turbine tests. The proposed test bench concept is an open field, subsonic fa...

This paper presents a research activity aimed at exploiting combined cycles (gas turbine plants coupled with steam cycles) for small-scale energy generation from carbon-neutral biomass. Such a goal has never been achieved before, since combined cycles are generally suited only for large-scale applications and for clean fuels. In order to adapt comb...

The virgin olive oil extraction process has changed very little over the past 20 years when the mechanical crushers, malaxers, horizontal and vertical centrifuges, took place in the olive mills. However, malaxation process remains the main critical step due to the discontinuity of this process. In previous activities, the same authors demonstrated...

Natural gas is increasingly used as an alternative to petroleum fuels in internal combustion engines and industrial power plants because of its smaller environmental effects, as well as for economic reasons. Many applications, such as the spark-ignition engine simulations and the design of burners, require an accurate calculation of its laminar fla...

Since the needle displacement exerts a fundamental influence on the operation of Common Rail injection systems, accurate measurements of the control piston position can be crucial for a more thorough analysis of the behaviour of injectors, in particular when multiple injections are employed. Eddy current sensors have traditionally been used in lab...

The laminar flame speed plays an important role in spark-ignition engines, as well as in many other combustion applications, such as in designing burners and predicting explosions. For this reason, it has been object of extensive research. Analytical correlations that allow it to be calculated have been developed and are used in engine simulations....

The production of increasingly efficient as well as clean engines has become imperative. Oxygenated fuels are often added to gasoline in order to achieve more efficient combustion. However, the effect on particulate emissions is not well understood. Chemical mechanisms are still uncertain for practical oxygenated fuels. In the present study, to avo...

This work presents experimental tests where lubricant oil was added to the engine in order to highlight its contribution to particle emissions from both gasoline and compressed natural gas spark-ignition engines. Three different ways of feeding the extra lubricant oil and two fuel-injection modes—port fuel injection and direct injection—were invest...

The aim of the virgin olive oil extraction process is mainly to obtain the best quality oil from fruits, by only applying mechanical actions while guaranteeing the highest overall efficiency. Currently, the mechanical methods used to extract virgin oils from olives are basically of two types: the discontinuous system (obsolete) and the continuous o...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose an effective methodology for the industrial design of tangential inlet cyclone separators that is based on the fully three-dimensional (3D) simulation of the flow field within the cyclone coupled with an effective genetic algorithm. Design/methodology/approach The proposed fully 3D computational flui...

This paper evaluates the effects of cavitation upon the performance of a hydraulic, proportional, directly-operated, directional valve by means of thorough experimental and numerical investigations. The experimental campaign is performed to estimate how cavitation changes the performance curves of the valve; in particular, the experimental equipmen...

Nowadays, the development of new power plants capable of effectively using non-conventional energy sources is strongly desirable in order to obtain a significant reduction in costs of energy. In this regard, this paper proposes a new small scale (about 100kW) combined cycle plant which can be fired externally by any kind of biomass. Particularly, th...

Due to the new challenge of meeting number-based regulations for particulate matter (PM), a numerical and experimental study has been conducted to better understand particulate formation in engines fuelled with compressed natural gas. The study has been conducted on a Heavy-Duty, Euro VI, 4-cylinder, spark ignited engine, with multipoint sequential...

This paper proposes the design of an innovative high temperature gas-to-gas heat exchanger based on solid particles as intermediate medium, with application in medium and large scale externally fired combined power plants fed by alternative and dirty fuels, such as biomass and coal. An optimization procedure, performed by means of a genetic algorit...

This article proposes an effective methodology for the fluid-dynamic design optimization of the sliding spool of a hydraulic proportional directional valve: the goal is the minimization of the flow force at a prescribed flow rate, so as to reduce the required opening force while keeping the operation features unchanged. A full three-dimensional mod...

The present paper proposes a very simple one dimensional (1-D) model that accounts for the energy loss caused by the fluid dynamic losses occurring in the vaneless diffusers of centrifugal compressors and pumps. Usually, the present techniques to design turbomachines (pumps, compressors and turbines) emphasize numerical methods and their use is rel...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a full 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis of the flow field through hydraulic directional proportional valves, in order to accurately predict the flow forces acting on the spool and to overcome the limitations of two-dimensional (2D) and simplified three-dimensional (3D) models. Design/...

Purpose - This paper presents a full 3D CFD analysis of the flow field through hydraulic directional proportional valves, in order to accurately predict the flow forces acting on the spool and to overcome the limitations of 2D and simplified 3D models. Design/methodology/approach - A full 3D CAD representation is proposed as a general approach to...

The aim of this paper is to propose an effective technique which employs a proportional-integral Fuzzy logic controller for the thrust regulation of small scale turbojet engines, capable of ensuring high performance in terms of response speed, precision and stability. Fuzzy rules have been chosen by logical deduction and some specific parameters of...

This paper focuses on the analysis of the complementary energy losses of a gas to gas heat exchanger using an intermediate medium with high thermal capacity to transfer heat between two gas streams at different pressure. In fact, such a heat exchanger requires two mechanical devices, namely a pressurization system capable of transferring the partic...

The aim of this paper is to propose an effective technique which employs a proportional-integral Fuzzy logic controller for the thrust regulation of small scale turbojet engines, capable of ensuring high performance in terms of response speed, precision and stability. Fuzzy rules have been chosen by logical deduction and some specific parameters of...

An innovative heat exchange device has been recently proposed, which employs an intermediate solid medium to transfer heat from a gas flow at low pressure and high temperature to another gas flow at higher pressure but lower temperature, with negligible pressure losses. In this paper, a key component of this innovative heat exchanger is analyzed in...

This paper proposes a Fuzzy technique for the thrust control of small-scale turbo-jet engines, as an effective alternative to conventional PID techniques. Fuzzy rules have been preliminarly chosen and tuned so as to achieve rapidity and stability of response, as well as absence of overshoots, by simulating the transient operation of the Pegasus MK3...