Award winners 2024: M.Sc. Paul-Maximilian Otto, B.Eng. Moritz Bühl and B.Eng. Karl Marbach
The Verein Deutscher Ingenieure (VDI) Bezirksverein Leipzig e.V. awards annual sponsorship prizes for outstanding achievements in the field of engineering. Students can apply with their final thesis and school pupils with a work in the field of engineering. The VDI Bezirksverein Leipzig e.V. primarily honours work that is characterised by a distinctly innovative character, interdisciplinarity and the idea of economic efficiency.
The 1st prize, worth 1,200 euros,was awarded to M.Sc. Paul-Maximilian Otto for his Master's thesis in information and electrical engineering entitled "Dimensioning and design of a universal divider for the medium-voltage modular system". The Master's thesis was supervised by Prof. Dr Carsten Leu and Michael Weise from the Faculty of Engineering, Institute of Electrical Power Engineering.
As part of his thesis, Master's graduate Otto is working on the highly innovative realisation of a high-voltage divider with properties that commercially available devices do not combine in one device. The device to be built was to correspond to the basic dimensions of the component of a new 30 kV modular system, which is being developed and continuously expanded for research and teaching at Prof Carsten Leu's institute. The created divider speaks for itself. In particular, it will contribute to research into the effect of superimposed voltages.
Michael Weise, Prof. Leu's supervising research assistant, emphasises: "The implementation of the Master's thesis is characterised by a remarkably innovative character and demonstrates an impressive interdisciplinarity that encompasses the broad spectrum of engineering sciences. [...] The result is a highly modern voltage divider for the 30 kV modular system and thus for use in research and teaching. [...] Thanks to his work, we as an institute can continue to research the efficiency, safety and reliability of future energy supply systems".
The 2nd prize, endowed with 800 euros, went to B.Eng. Moritz Bühl for his Bachelor's thesis on "Experimental investigation of fibre architecture and multi-scale damage analysis using the example of an end-of-life E40 rotor blade structure". The bachelor thesis was supervised by Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Robert Böhm, Chair of Lightweight Design with Composite Materials and M.Eng. M.A. Philipp Johst from the Faculty of Engineering.
As there is currently no industrially established method for the recycling of thermoset fibre composites at the end of their useful life, Moritz Bühl has taken on this task and carried out experimental tests on an end-of-life rotor blade structure of an Enercon E40 wind turbine as an example for his Bachelor's thesis. The results of his bachelor's thesis will be incorporated into a dissertation prepared in the research group and into the European research project EuReCOMP.
Since April 2024, Moritz Bühl has been continuing his research at the AIMEN Centro Technologico institute in Vigo (Spain) as part of an internship.
The 3rd prize, worth 600 euros, was awarded to B.Eng. Karl Marbach for his bachelor's thesis "Conceptualisation of the inbound processes in the rear unloading area of the DRÄXLMAIER battery plant in Leipzig". The thesis was supervised by Prof. Dr rer. nat. Martin Gürtler, Chair of Production and Logistics Systems at the Faculty of Engineering and M.Sc. Marcel Wieland from Dräxlmaier.
In his thesis, Marbach analyses the boundary conditions for material delivery and onward transport in a highly automated production environment. Various solution approaches are formulated and tested for their feasibility, taking into account the complex, multi-dimensional and, as usual, competing requirements with regard to the transport and storage of high-voltage battery systems. The results of the work make a well-founded contribution to the improvement of work organisation and work processes in the area under consideration, always taking into account the scientific aspects.
The Faculty of Engineering congratulates all three prizewinners and wishes them every success in their future careers.
