Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V.

DLR is the German National Aerospace Research Centre as well as the German Space Agency.
DLR’s mission comprises the exploration of the Earth and the Universe, research for the conservation of the environment, for environment-compatible technologies, for promoting mobility, communication, and safety. DLR operates major research institution facilities for DLR’s own projects and as a service provider for clients and partners. Approximately 8000 people are employed in total in DLR’s 31 institutes at 16 locations distributed over Germany, including Cologne (Headquarters) and Stuttgart. The Institute of Solar Research has over 20 years’ experience in both national and international co-operative RTD projects concerning the application of solar radiation. The RTD work followed in all segments of the use of concentrated solar energy for power production, solar chemistry, solar materials research, techno-economic system analyses including feasibility and market studies, engineering, plant operation simulation and performance prediction as well as for solar field design. The Institute of Combustion Technology is using synergies from the groups ‘Advanced Diagnostics’, ‘Chemical Kinetics’, ‘Numerical Simulation’ and ‘Multiphase Flow and Alternative Fuels’ all working on research spanning from fundamental to technical combustion.

Role in the project

DLR – Institute of Solar Research leads the WP5 aiming at a conceptual design study of a Mega-Watt scale high-flux solar plant. For that purpose DLR will provide the necessary flow-sheets, system modelling and integration and efficiency analysis. Besides that DLR will contribute to the qualification of the solar field and to the development of the control of the process.
The simulation platform used by DLR – Institute of Combustion Technology in the frame of the FP7 project SOLAR-JET will be used as a basis in SUN-to-LIQUID to contribute to the development of a thermal management concept for the solar thermochemical reactor and to perform a numerical study aiming at scale-up of the technology to the megawatt scale.

Personnel involved

Dr. Stefan Brendelberger obtained a PhD in mechanical engineering at the RWTH Aachen and joined the Solar Research Institute of DLR in 2007. His work is focused on solar driven redox cycles for solar fuel production. He has gathered several years of experience as project and work package leader in national and international projects. In 2014 he went as a visiting scientist to CSIRO Australia supporting the elaboration of an Australian solar fuels roadmap.
Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Martin Thelen M. Eng. studied mechanical engineering at the Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg and obtained his master degree in automatization at the Rheinische Fachhochschule Köln. He joined the Solar Research Institute of DLR in 2014. He provides measurement and control systems for solar facilities. His main field of activity is the development of high-resolution flux measurement devices. For the project SUN-to-LIQUID, he adapted the Flux Mapping Acquisition System "FMAS" to the 50 kW solar tower at IMDEA in Móstoles.
Dr. Patrick Le Clercq is head of the department Multiphase Flow and Alternative Fuels at the DLR Institute of Combustion Technology, Stuttgart. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 2000 from SUPAERO (ISAE), France. He was a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology from 2001 to 2003. In 2004, he joined the DLR in Stuttgart.