The key areas of LUT’s research have been organised into independent research units that maximise efficiency.
Centre for Separation Technology CST
The LUT Centre for Separation Technology (CST) was established a decade ago to promote mutual cooperation between the laboratories of the Department of Chemical Technology and between the laboratories and industry.
Nearly all of LUT’s chemical technology laboratories are involved in the activity of CST, and their common denominators are expertise and research in separation, purification and recycling technologies. CST includes all in all approximately twenty businesses in the chemical, food, pulp and paper industries, which need separation and purification expertise in their processes. Moreover, CST organises annual conferences and seminars.
Thanks to the European Regional Development Fund and additional financing from businesses, CST has been able to acquire a significant amount of research equipment during the years 2003-2007. The funding has allowed acquiring different kinds of separating devices (e.g. membrane separation device, decanter centrifuge) and expensive analysis equipment for research and teaching purposes. The centre’s modern measuring instruments have created a unique environment in Finland for high-level postgraduate and other research in separation technologies.
Carelian Drives and Motor Centre CDMC
The Carelian Drives and Motor Centre (CDMC) was established in 1998 and is a joint venture of the Department of Electrical Engineering at Lappeenranta University of Technology and ABB. The centre focuses on long-standing, high-level research and development involving electrical motors and drives. CDMC initiates and implements new ideas and research topics and applies its research results to product development and production at ABB.
The centre’s challenging research translates into Master’s theses and doctoral dissertations that are of great interest to the scientific community. Energy efficient electricity consumption and consequent decreases in greenhouse gas specific emissions have been taken into account in the activity of the CDMC ever since the beginning. The centre focuses on e.g. very powerful permanent magnet motors and modern power electronics. During its ten-year history, the centre has refined a number of Ampère’s, Faraday’s, Lenze’s, Maxwell’s and Lorentz’s theories into success stories on the global market of energy efficient electrical machines.
Centre of Computational Engineering and Integrated Design CEID
The Centre of Computational Engineering and Integrated Design (CEID) is a research institute that supports the LUT strategy on scientific computing and modeling of industrial processes, which is one of the three strategic research areas of the university. CEID is located in the Faculty of Technology, but it also integrates research carried out in other units of the university into its focus areas. CEID works closely with the Department of Mathematics and Physics and the Department of Information Technology in methodology development, whereas industrial applications are studied together with the LUT Energy, LUT Metal Technology and LUT Chemistry departments.
The mission of CEID is to perform high-level research on computational engineering and integrated design, to enhance cooperation between LUT laboratories and research groups and their networking with national and international research groups. CEID also assists in the education of computational sciences in Finland.
The centre develops and coordinates the use of computational methods in research and teaching, participates in research programs of the Academy of Finland and Tekes (the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovations), and manages collaborative projects between LUT laboratories. The centre coordinates computational resources and software in computational engineering and integrated design, organizes education for researchers and scientific seminars, and offers research services to industry in its specialty areas. More information can be found from CEID home page.