Successful disputation by Daniel Schlosser in energy process engineering

The dissertation addresses a central challenge of modern production technology: the energy-efficient design of deburring processes for elastomers, fiber-reinforced plastics and non-ferrous metals. In industrial practice, manual processes or cryogenic jet deburring processes have been used up to now. Although the latter work precisely, with a thermal efficiency of around 15 % they are considerably inefficient in terms of energy.

The aim of the work was to evaluate a newly developed deburring concept with significantly improved energy efficiency. The core of the innovation is an alternative cooling strategy that dispenses with the use of liquid nitrogen. Instead, a compression chiller is used, which supplies cryogenic thermal oil via a double-walled screw housing and thus enables targeted heat dissipation in the process.

Following a theoretical analysis of the required cooling capacity, the concept was tested experimentally on a specially developed test system. The results show that a sufficient cooling capacity is achieved during processing; only the initial cooling requires additional time. In contrast, a parallel cooling system using Ranque-Hilsch vortex tubes proved to be insufficiently efficient.

Additional economic feasibility studies show that the new cooling method can be operated profitably with an 80% reduction in specific liquid nitrogen consumption - a target that is considered achievable based on the experimental results. In addition, the potential for reducing wear on the blasting medium was investigated.

With this work, Dr. Schlosser has made an important contribution to the sustainable and economical further development of energy-intensive manufacturing processes. We would like to congratulate Dr. Schlosser on this outstanding scientific achievement and wish him every success in his future career and continued innovative impetus in research and practice.