Meet the researchers: The Unite!Energy Doctoral Candidates
Timon Benz
DC8 – Design and optimisation of converter-fed electrolyser systems
Host institution 1
Politecnico di Torino (PoliTo)
Supervisor: Professor Massimo Santarelli
Host institution 2
Aalto University
Supervisor: Professor Marko Hinkkanen
My project
​To design and optimize a modular electrolyser system (electrolyser stack, power converter, compressor, and most important peripherals) for dynamic applications.
About me
I have always had the impression that the world of technology is facing two major problems: one about renewable energy use and one about sustainable use of materials. Solutions to one problem often tended to worsen the other, such as energy-intensive recycling methods or the difficulty to recycle wind turbine blades or PV modules. Passionate about science and intrigued by this problem I chose the energy and environmental engineering as Bachelors’ programme at the HRW, Hochschule Ruhr West, in Germany.
With a particular enthusiasm for languages and a great curiosity about other cultures I applied and gladly accepted scholarships and participated in programmes for going abroad: an exchange term on renewable energies at the UPV, Universidad del País Vasco in Spain, a research internship on fluidised beds at Chalmers University in Sweden and finally my thesis project on AI-assisted optical maintenance methods for photovoltaic cells with the UFSC, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, in Brazil.
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Inspired and delighted by the insights from international studies and research on sustainable energy systems and AI, I found the perfect master programme to continue with: an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master in Decentralised Smart Energy Systems - DENSYS. The very well-designed program aims at a T-shaped profile covering both interdisciplinarity with social, ethical and environmental aspects as the horizontal bar as well as in-depth expertise in the core disciplines of electrical, thermal, mechanical and chemical engineering as the vertical bar of the ‘T’. The first year covered smart energy systems engineering at the University of Lorraine in France and for the second year I chose the specialisation on thermal energy systems at the university UPC, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. For my thesis research project, I got the chance to join a research team at the Australian National University ANU to investigate the optimal sizing, operation, and optimal degree of variability in off-grid renewable energy systems for large-scale industrial energy needs. Now it is an honour to pursue this research direction in terms of smart hydrogen production systems within unite!energy.
Credit: Katrin Binner/TU Darmstadt
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