Magnus Lenger

My name is Magnus Lenger, I studied aerospace engineering at TU Braunschweig and now work on exergy utilisation of liquid hydrogen at the Institute of Thermodynamics of TU Braunschweig.

Can liquid hydrogen exergy utilisation reduce fuel demand of liquid hydrogen based aircraft?

Thermodynamics in general I find is an inspiring field to work in, because it connects physics and real world problems. Thermodynamics offers tools to improve energy systems relevant to society, e.g. before the background of climate change.

Fuel cell propulsion with effective contrail management can drastically reduce the climate impact of aviation. There are challenges, i.a. as fuel cell systems are comparatively heavy, and hydrogen still rather expensive. Possibly high energy efficiency is therefore important to implement this technology. Converting hydrogen exergy to work aboard the aircraft could (1) supply auxiliary useful energy and (2) absorb parts of fuel cell system waste heat already within the aircraft. Utilising liquid hydrogen exergy enables a number of synergetic effects all contributing to decrease fuel consumption if exergy utilisation system complexity is tolerated and the system is sufficiently light.

The interdisciplinarity of SE²A and aviation allows to meet with people from all different fields, cities and countries and make many interesting encounters.