Jordi Brufau Penella received his degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Barcelona (UB) in 2002.  From 2002 to 2003 he worked at TRADIA S.A. (private telecom company.)  In 2003 he was a research assistant in the SIC (Instrumentation and Communications Systems) group form the Electronics Department at the UB.  From 2004-06 he worked on the IST6 European project I-SWARM (Intelligent Small World for Autonomous Robot Micromanipulation).  In 2006 he won a four-year FPI national grant on modelling and control of Smart Materials for autonomous applications.  In 2007 he received a Masters degree on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and in 2008 he received a Masters degree in Electronics Engineering.  In January 2009 he received a PhD, (Cum Laude) with “European mention” in Engineering and Electronics Technologies, from a dissertation entitled “Smart Materials for Microrobotics: Motion Control and Power Harvesting”.  This work focused on modelling and control of the electroactive properties of materials as piezoelectric ceramics and polymers and Ionic Polymers Metal Composites (IPMC.)  He was visiting researcher at the Electronics Department from the “Università degli studi di Catania” in Italy, investigating the capabilities of IPMC to work as vibrational energy harvesters.  He also was visiting Research Assistant in the Electronics Department of the Aristotle University of Thessalonica in Greece to develop a model reference adaptive control for an IPMC actuator working underwater.  He has published in different journals, and has contributed to numerous international conferences.  In January, 2010 he joined IREC as a Researcher.  He works jointly in the Control Systems Thrust Area of the IREC Lighting Group, and the Energy Storage and Energy Harvesting Group in the Advanced Materials for Energy Area.

 

Brufau-Penella, J; Puig-Vidal, M.

“Piezoelectric energy harvesting improvement with complex conjugate impedance matching”

Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, vol. 20, no. 5, 597-608 (2009) 

 

Tsiatmaikis, K.; Brufau-Penella, J.; Puig-Vidal, M.; Laopoulos, Th.

“A camera based method for the measurement of motion parameters of IPMC actuators” IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 58, no. 8, 2626-2633 (2009)

 

Arbat, A.; Edquist, E.; Casanova, R.; Brufau-Penella, J.; Canals,J.; Samitier, J.; Johansson, S.; Dieguez, A.;

“Design and validation of the control circuits for a micro-cantilever tool for a micro-robot.”

Sensors and Actuators A. Physical. vol. 153 no.1, 76-83 (2009) 

 

Brufau-Penella, J.; Puig-Vidal, M.; Giannone, P.; Graziani, S.; Strazzeri, S.

“Characterization of the harvesting capabilities of an ionic polymer metal composite device”

 Smart materials & structures, vol. 17, 015009 (15p.)  (2008) 

 

 Brufau-Penella, J.; Tsiakmakis, K.; Laopoulos, Th.; Puig-Vidal, M.

“Model reference adaptive control for an ionic polymer metal composite in underwater applications”