Inventor 2011: Dr. Harald Landes - Successful Struggle for Increased Energy Efficiency

How do I get more power out of this? This question frequently occupies the minds of researchers working on electricity generating processes. Dr. Harald Landes (57) specializes in answering it. He analyses physical processes occurring in the materials used in order to determine, for example, exactly where power losses arise. He has also developed a range of processes that recover heat in industrial processes. That’s why his invention applications are classified as green technologies.

Inventions for the ceramic structures used in high-temperature fuel cells are also regarded as green technologies. Landes, who studied physics at university in Erlangen, Germany, started his professional career at Siemens after completing his doctorate in 1985. Since then he has boosted the performance of fuel cells with several inventions. These include cathodes with a multi-layered structure, and contact layers and evaporation protection layers on the current collector plates. Landes analyzed which compositions and which dimensions of the various material layers were necessary in order for electrical energy to be released from the cell with the lowest possible losses. He also collaborated on the development of new types of anode that are not only capable of directly converting natural gas into hydrogen — the actual fuel — directly within the cell, but also exploit the cell’s waste heat to do so. This increases the efficiency of the fuel cell considerably; normally, converting natural gas into hydrogen requires a substantial amount of additional energy. High-temperature cells fuelled with natural gas and designed so that they can supply combined heat and power can be utilized in decentralized energy supply systems. Systems of this type in the kilowatt to megawatt range achieve higher efficiencies than are possible using conventional plants.

Landes’ inventions in the field of blast furnace operation could also make a major contribution to environmental protection. Smelting ore in a blast furnace produces slag that is further processed into granulated blast furnace slag — a starting product for cement manufacture. In the conventional method, the molten slag is quenched in water in such a way that it solidifies and shatters into granules. This process is referred to as wet granulation. It suffers from the disadvantage that the high-temperature waste heat from the smelting process remains unused. In addition, the resulting granulate must also be dried, which requires additional energy. Landes’ inventions are relevant to the further development of a dry granulator that utilizes waste heat. In this way, the granulator can be constructed in such a compact form that it can be installed directly adjacent to the blast furnace. This is essential if the granulator is to be suitable for practical use. The operating settings of the machine must also be adapted to the current state of the blast furnace slag in order to prevent crusts forming. For these reasons, the system requires a non-contact process for measuring the physical properties of the slag online and controlling the machine.

The latest inventions from Landes, who is employed in the Global Technology Field Energy Conversion and Environment at Corporate Technology in Erlangen, involve electrochemical processes that enable energy to be stored in the megawatt-hour range. The products range from especially long-lived double-layer capacitors to environmentally friendly large-scale batteries. Landes has made a total of 38 inventions, which to date have led to 32 granted individual patents and 34 patent families.

The inventor’s work has come a long way from his original research area at the university, where he worked on the theoretical physics of neutron stars. “I realized that there were only a few places where I could carry out work in that field, and changed to research into catalysis,” says Landes. His doctorate was concerned with physical-chemical processes at surfaces. “I enjoy puzzling out physical problems. I’ve also had the good fortune to be able to fulfill this interest in the fields of energy and environmental technology — areas which are very important to me personally.”

Landes also works on difficult terrain in his leisure time. One of his hobbies is looking after a mountain forest. He finds that work outside in nature provides a relaxing contrast to the mental struggle that often accompanies an invention. He lives near Nuremberg with his wife and daughters, who are about to become adults.