CERN connection
Professor Piotr Borkowski is a scientist working
at the Department of Electrical Apparatus 
of Lodz University of Technology.
His research interests include broadly understood,
interdisciplinary issues of contact materials
and intelligent energy management systems 
for buildings
Both of them are research topics
that are relevant to contemporary problems.
Thanks to the professor's efforts,
the European Organization for Nuclear Research CERN has taken interest
in the research conducted at the university.
The framework agreement, concluded
between Lodz University of Technology and CERN
in April 2016,
concerns such fields of science as:
electrotechnology, electronics,
IT, automation,
mechanics,
nuclear physics,
and particle physics.
These disciplines are representative
of a majority of Lodz University of Technology faculties.
CERN is a research organization operating 
in Switzerland,
with about 8,000 scientists and engineers
from more than 500 scientific institutions 
around the world.
The European Organization for Nuclear Research
is the most powerful scientific institution in the world.
All countries wish that
their scientists are given the opportunity
to work at CERN
and to contribute to collaborative research
on the behavior of particles,
both those that reach the Earth
and those that roam the universe.
The Department of Electrical Apparatus,
with its experience and portfolio of innovation,
has developed an idea which,
under the framework agreement with CERN,
is to be realized
in the form of a model switch
to be supplied to CERN
to break within about 1.5 milliseconds
the unexpected currents
that lead to a quench
a sudden loss of superconductivity
of the superconducting magnets.
CERN may not save money,
but it will avoid breakdowns.
And once there are no breakdowns,
scientists from all over the world
will be able to carry on 
with their research all year round.
You should know
that now it takes CERN
about 20 milliseconds to switch off DC currents.
So it will be a 20-fold increase in the switch-off time.
And with the amount of energy accumulated
in the superconducting magnets
in the large hadron collider,
every millisecond counts for CERN.
What is this large hadron collider?
A giant toroidal accelerator of particles called hadrons.
It is located 100 meters below the ground,
its length is about 27 km
and its diameter is about 11 km.
It is located under two countries: 
Switzerland and France.
If the solution works,
Lodz University of Technology 
will profit from licensing fees.
Researchers and students 
will have the opportunity to collaborate
with a leading research organization in the world.
Professor Borkowski is a scientist
who matches solutions with problems
and students with the job market.
He is a co-creator of the first in Poland
degree program in control systems for smart buildings,
which responds to market needs
and stringent requirements
for energy efficiency
in the construction sector.
In keeping with global trends,
researchers 
at the Department of Electrical Apparatus are working
on developing an intelligent,
self-learning control system
based on neural network technologies or fuzzy logic
that takes into account sociological behavior
of people in the building
and, accordingly,
controls building automation
to minimize primary energy waste.
At the moment,
building automation technologies are imported
and are disproportionately expensive.
The estimated cost is 400-500 zloty 
per square meter.
Our goal is to develop,
in collaboration with students, staff
and those who want to work with us,
a system whose cost will be 50 zloty per square meter.
This is not only feasible
in terms of production costs,
but also in terms of a manufacturer's profit.
The new building control system
will be concluded with a prototype,
which can be expected
- as promised by the professor -
within a year or a year and a half.
And why is it worth being a scientist?
Being a scientist is great because it keeps you young
sometimes playing like a child.
