is a scientist in the Laboratory for Applied Mechanical Design (LAMD) at the Swiss university Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). His research focuses in the area of small-scale turbomachinery, oil-free bearing technology, integrated system simulation and optimization, and fuel cell systems. In February 2019 he received the doctoral title from EPFL for his thesis entitled Integrated Design, Optimization, and Experimental Realization of a Steam-Driven Micro Recirculation Fan for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) Systems. The novelties of this thesis is the operation of herringbone-grooved journal and spiral-grooved thrust gas film bearings at temperatures up to 220 °C, the experimental characterization of one of the smallest steam turbine (diameter of 15 mm) and recirculationlation fan, as well as the world-first coupling of a such a recirculation fan to an SOFC system. The results were published on the epfl.ch website, at various international conferences (Modval 13, ECS SOFC XIV and SOFC XVI, and ASME Turbo Expo 2019), as well as in international journals, as the ASME Journal of Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage, the ASME Journal of Gas Turbines and Power, and the Elsevier Journal of Applied Energy.
Since the technical outcome of his doctoral thesis was a success, he is currently commercializing the first steam-driven recirculation fan with his compay OTurb. The company focuses on highly efficient, small-scale, and high-speed turbomachines lubricated on gas film bearings for energy conversion.
In 2013 he received his Diploma in Aerospace Engineering at the Technische Universität München. This diploma is equivalent to a Master of Science (M.Sc.). The focus of his studies was Flight Propulsion and Turbomachinery, and Numerical Simulation.
He wrote his diploma thesis, entitled Thermodynamic simulation of solar thermal power stations with liquid salts as heat transfer fluid, at the Institute of Solar Research which is part of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Based on this research he wrote a paper on the influences of different operation strategies for the Elsevier Energy Procedia journal that he presented at the SolarPACES 2013 conference. He is also the winner of the Desert Energy Best Paper Award and had the honour to present a poster on the Dii Conference Desert Energy 2013.
During and after his studies he worked as a research assistant for Germanys' leading institutes for renawable energy research: the Bavarian Center for Applied Energy Research (ZAE Bayern), the DLR, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE).
He is a member of the Verein Deutscher Ingenieure e.V. and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
After finishing the high school in 2006, he engaged himself for a voluntary social year in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Besides this international experience, he did a study exchange at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. In his free time he likes to do swimming (German Life Saving Association silver lifeguard), mountain sports, and ski (Swiss Snowsport kids instructor).
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact him by mail, add him in Skype, the Linkedin, e-fellows.net, ASME, or ResearchGate community. See also the Impressum for further information.