TU Dublin Researcher Secures European Funding for Breakthrough Digital Twin Project to Reduce Industrial Energy Use
Dr Sajad Alimohammadi of TU Dublin's School of Mechanical Engineering has secured competitive European funding for iTWIN-TIS (Intelligent Platform for Rapid Deployment of Scalable Digital Twins in Thermal Industrial Systems), an international research project that aims to reduce industrial energy consumption and carbon emissions through advanced digital twin technology.
The project will develop an intelligent platform that enables the rapid, scalable and cost-effective deployment of digital twins for thermal industrial systems, including energy-intensive manufacturing processes and data centres. By combining advanced modelling with live operational data and innovative technologies such as a multilevel core architecture, iTWIN-TIS will help industries optimise heating and cooling systems, improve efficiency and reduce environmental impact.
Discussing the funding and project, Dr Dympna O’Sullivan, Vice President for Research and Innovation at TU Dublin, said:
This award is a strong endorsement of the quality and ambition of TU Dublin's research and innovation. Through iTWIN-TIS, our researchers are working alongside leading European industry partners to develop technologies that address some of the most pressing sustainability challenges of our time. The project demonstrates how internationally collaborative research can deliver practical solutions with real economic and environmental impact.
The iTWIN-TIS consortium brings together five partners from Ireland and Spain. The project is coordinated by Nabladot, S.L. in Spain, alongside fellow Spanish innovators Electroingeniería Industrial XCLC, S.L. (Electroingenium) and Kalfrisa S.A.U., with two Irish partners: TU Dublin and HPE Ireland.
TU Dublin leads the scientific modelling at the heart of the project, developing the sophisticated thermal and fluid-flow models that underpin accurate and reliable digital twins. This work is led by Dr Alimohammadi, who heads the award-winning Thermo-Fluids and Energy Systems (TFES) Research Group. He is joined on the TU Dublin team by Mr. Eoin Oude-Essink a final year PhD student at TFES group, whose work as an intern at HPE during 2025 formed the foundation for iTWIN-TIS.
TFES is internationally recognised for its expertise in applied physics and engineering, with extensive experience investigating heat transfer and fluid dynamics in industrial processes, electronics cooling and data centre thermal management. The group's research combines advanced computational modelling with experimental testing, ensuring that digital twins accurately reflect the behaviour of real-world systems.
Speaking about the project, Dr Alimohammadi said:
For our group, this is as much about experiments as it is about modelling. We have spent years in the laboratory measuring how heat and fluid flow behave, as well as building the models that predict them. iTWIN-TIS is not just a modelling project, it captures live data from the partners' operating equipment and continually validates the models against what the sensors record. That is what creates a digital twin that industry can trust.
The platform creates digital replicas of industrial heating and cooling system - live virtual models that mirror the performance of physical equipment in real time. By continuously monitoring these virtual systems, operators can detect issues early, optimise performance and significantly reduce energy waste.
Project Coordinator Dr Antonio Gómez, Research and Development Manager at Nabladot, said:
Digital twins can transform how energy-intensive industries operate, but they have been too costly and complex for many companies to adopt. iTWIN-TIS brings the right partners together to change that.
Heating and cooling account for a substantial proportion of industrial energy consumption, meaning that even modest efficiency improvements can deliver significant reductions in both operating costs and carbon emissions.
The platform will be validated through demonstrations at the industrial partners' own facilities, including cooling systems telemetry provided by HPE, and Kalfrisa's high-temperature industrial equipment. Testing the technology in live operational environments will allow the consortium to measure genuine energy savings while accelerating commercial adoption.
Dr Damien Fay, Senior Research Manager, AI Research, HPE Labs, Ireland said:
Cooling can consume up to 40% of a data centre's total power usage, while also requiring significant amounts of water. There is enormous potential to reduce, eliminate and better target this usage for everyone's benefit.
The iTWIN-TIS project has secured approximately €910,000 in funding across the international consortium through Eurostars, the world's largest international funding programme for collaborative research and development led by innovative small and medium-sized enterprises. Eurostars is delivered through the Eureka network and co-funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme, with funding administered in Ireland by Enterprise Ireland.