Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISENews #16
Two Young Scientists at Fraunhofer ISE Distinguished for Outstanding Master and Doctoral Thesis
The Fritz Hüttinger Foundation awarded the Gerda Ruf Prize and the Dr. Fritz Ruf Prize for outstanding degree theses at the Department of Engineering at the University of Freiburg for the first time. Anna Rothenhäusler received the Gerda Ruf prize for her master's thesis on the potential of deep reinforcement learning-based battery management for companies. Dr. Patrick Schygulla was awarded the Dr. Fritz Ruf prize for his doctoral thesis on silicon-based multi-junction solar cells in which he managed to increase the efficiency from 33.3 to 36.1 percent, currently the highest value ever achieved for this solar cell technology. Both prizewinners conduct research at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE and at the University of Freiburg. The prize was initiated to mark the first anniversary of death of Dr. Fritz Ruf, chemist and founder of the Fritz Hüttinger Foundation.
"We are very pleased that two young scientists whose research reflect the close cooperation between the University of Freiburg and Fraunhofer ISE have been awarded this prize the first time it," says Stefan Glunz, Head of the Photovoltaics Division at Fraunhofer ISE and Professor at the University of Freiburg. "The two awardees are active in completely different fields yet the both were able to benefit from the close networking taking place in active research community in Freiburg."
In her master's thesis entitled "Control of Battery Systems with Reinforcement Learning", Anna Rothenhäusler investigated the potential of deep reinforcement learning as a battery control strategy for companies when parallel activities, for example, energy arbitrage and atypical grid usage, are considered in the optimization. Since completing her master’s degree, Rothenhäusler has been employed at Fraunhofer ISE in the Department of Smart Grids.
Patrick Schygulla's dissertation is entitled "III-V Semiconductor Subcell Absorbers in Silicon-Based Triple-Junction Solar Cells". To successfully achieve the world's highest efficiency of a silicon-based multi-junction solar cell, he deposited III-V compound semiconductor materials such as gallium indium arsenide phosphide epitaxially in a crystal growth system and examined them electrically and optically. In addition to materials research, he developed methods for optical modeling that allow the thicknesses and band gaps of the III-V sub-cells to be optimally adjusted to each other. Patrick Schygulla works as a postdoctoral researcher in the field of photovoltaics at Fraunhofer ISE.
Further information
Website of the Fritz Hüttinger Foundation:
https://en.leibinger-stiftung.de/berthold-leibinger-stiftung/fritz-huettinger-stiftung
Gerda Ruf Prize and Dr. Fritz Ruf Prize (in German):
Press news on the most efficient silicon-based multi-junction solar cell
"Silicon-based Multijunction Solar Cell Reaches Record Efficiency of 36.1 Percent":
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