"The opportunity to look at industrial, social and environmental aspects in the field of thermodynamics (keyword: energy transition) still has a special appeal for me today."
Editorial team: Prof Göpfert, you have held the Chair of Applied Thermodynamics at the Faculty of Engineering since the beginning of April 2025. What are your new areas of responsibility as a professor?
Prof Göpfert: I am very pleased to be part of the HTWK and the Faculty of Engineering since April 2025. The "Applied Thermodynamics" professorship is a basic and core professorship for training students with a focus on energy technology. As a scientific discipline, thermodynamics combines mechanical engineering, physics, chemistry, electrical and environmental engineering, as a science about the types and transformation of energy. This forms the basis for many advanced subjects, particularly in the higher semesters of the degree programme. In addition to the basics of energy theory in "Thermodynamics I", students will learn about the possibilities of transferring heat in the form of conduction, convection and radiation as well as the possibilities of diffusion and mass transfer in practical applications in the subsequent teaching areas of "Heat and Mass Transfer". In order to put this information into a broader context, students learn in the subjects "Thermodyamics II" and "Systems & Apparatus" how they can combine the knowledge from the previous semesters in order to be able to calculate and design more complex machines and apparatus. This build-up of knowledge enables students to better understand problems in the context of the energy transition, to abstract the problems and to develop solutions.
The following are taught in the summer semester: Thermodynamics I (Energy Technology EGB, Industrial Engineering Energy Technology SGB), Thermodynamics II (Mechanical Engineering MBB) and Special Topics in Thermodynamics (Master's degree programme - Energy Technology EGM).
The following are taught in the winter semester: Thermodynamics I (Mechanical Engineering MBB programme), Heat and Mass Transfer (Energy Engineering EGB, Industrial Engineering Energy Technology SGB programme) and Systems and Apparatus (Energy Engineering EGB, Industrial Engineering Energy Technology SGB programme).
My goals and wishes: I would like to give students a deep insight into the scientific field of thermodynamics and, in particular, enable them to independently understand and abstract complex issues and develop solutions. I would like to further develop teaching in such a way that as many students as possible develop motivation and interest in my subject area.
As a personal goal, I would like to expand the research area of "Applied Thermodynamics" and set new priorities. The increasing demands of industry and environmental protection require new innovative and constructive solutions. I would like to integrate these new solutions and approaches back into teaching in order to prepare students for the increasing demands mentioned above. In addition to traditional engineering skills, this increasingly includes the use of AI systems and the critical handling of information. For me, reflecting on my own knowledge, scrutinising facts and developing a feel for the problems of thermodynamics are essential topics that I would like to introduce to my students.
Editorial team: How did you decide to specialise in this area of research and teaching? Did you already know which path you wanted to take later on before you started your studies?
Prof Göpfert: After completing my degree in energy technology, I asked myself how I could continue my professional and academic career. I had already worked for a while as a student assistant and later as a research assistant at the Chair of Technical Thermodynamics at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, with my future doctoral supervisor Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Hans-Joachim Kretzschmar. This gave me a deeper insight into processes and relationships in the context of determining and describing the properties of fluids. The contact with companies and the exchange with colleagues showed me that there is a considerable need for research and knowledge in this area, which aroused my own curiosity as to how these open questions could be solved. I was able to investigate one part of this in more detail as part of my thesis on "Calculating the thermodynamic state variables of ethanol and other ORC working fluids, as well as coolants and water ice in energy technology process simulations". I realised that, surprisingly for me at the time, little research had been carried out into polymer solutions in particular, as they occur in lubricants.
In dialogue with my future doctoral supervisor Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ullrich Hesse at the TU Dresden, I learned that precisely these problems exist in a large number of sub-areas of technical thermodynamics. This led me from my training in high-temperature mechanical engineering in energy technology to refrigeration technology, which enabled me to familiarise myself with the special features of particularly high and low temperatures in thermodynamics. I found the behaviour of disperse mixtures, which are frequently used in technical applications but receive relatively little attention in refrigeration engineering teaching and research, particularly interesting. In addition, as a result of increasing environmental requirements and new European standards, a large number of classic chemicals and working materials can no longer be used or can only be used to a limited extent. For the industry, this means in particular that substitute substances need to be developed that have precisely defined properties. In co-operation with companies and with public funding from the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU), I was able to approach these topics and successfully write my dissertation "Experimental and theoretical investigation of the thermophysical properties of carbon dioxide, ethane and ethene in a mixture with low-viscosity polyol esters".
As part of my doctorate, I was able to develop solutions, set up my own laboratory and take my ideas to industry so that they could be realised. I wanted to pursue this feeling of seeing an idea grow and become a reality, which is why I continued my R&D activities as a freelance engineer after my doctorate. In this new job, I also had the great fortune to teach students at the European Study Academy (ESak) in the Refrigeration Systems and Air Conditioning Systems Engineering programmes. The years there showed me that I wanted to give teaching more space in my life and professional activities, which is why I took the step towards a professorship.
The fact that very different disciplines such as mechanical engineering, physics, chemistry, electrical and environmental engineering interact with each other in energy technology and form a big overall picture is what drew me to study energy technology. The opportunity to consider industrial, social and environmental aspects (keyword: energy transition) still has a special appeal for me today. Thermodynamics is a connecting link between many of the disciplines mentioned.
Editorial team: What skills and interests do you think students who decide to study "Energy Technology" should have?
Prof Göpfert : Interest and prior knowledge, particularly in the STEM subjects, are a good basis for the degree programme. Curiosity and openness to new approaches and technologies are just as advantageous as a willingness to engage with the pros and cons of different technologies. A willingness to self-study and engage in open dialogue with other students is certainly also helpful.
Editorial team: What new projects would you like to realise in the future?
Prof Göpfert: From my professional background, there are three topics in particular that are close to my heart. Firstly, I am interested in simplifying the properties of working fluids, especially in the "discovery phase" of projects, by developing simple tools for calculation approximation. This allows errors in the development of new working fluids to be avoided at an early stage and development processes to be accelerated. Another aspect is the interplay between "economic and technological requirements" in material value thermodynamics. Increasing cost pressure and the demand for rapid results are having an impact on both industry and science. New approaches must be developed as to how this cost and time pressure can be taken into account and how the necessary knowledge can be channelled back into industry and science. As a third focus, I would like to take a closer look at complex material systems and how these affect the design of processes and plants. Even small uncertainties in the calculation of the properties of working materials have a considerable effect on complex systems as a result of error propagation. Here it is necessary to sensitise both students and industry and to be able to better estimate these uncertainties.
