LEC

The Large Engines
Competence Center

About usThe Large Engines Competence Center, LEC for short, is one of the world’s leading research institutions for large engine technologies and develops innovative solutions for sustainable energy and transport systems. Since 2015 we have been a funded COMET K1 Center (LEC EvoLET). With our research, our unique infrastructure and our international network of partners, we make a significant contribution to massive emission reductions and efficiency improvements.

Our vision & mission Our vision is to create the basis for the next generation of environmentally sound, efficient and robust large engines and to become the world’s leading research institution in the area of combustion technologies for large engines.
We aspire to achieve this vision by pursuing the following goals:

To optimally describe the overall system

and all combustion-related components by bringing together the competences of national
and international technological leaders in this area.

To expand from a purely thermodynamics-oriented methodology

to a multidisciplinary approach to research which describes the overall system.

To continue to expand the superior large engine research infrastructure

and to enhance the simulation-based development methodology.

To conduct extensive basic experiments

that support the development of simulation models by taking relevant physical effects into account.

To improve analysis concepts

for reliable evaluation of experimental results.

To recognize future trends

in the area of engine technology, fuels and lubricants for large engines.

To function as a trendsetter

in the enhancement of methodology with a view to optimizing the overall system.

To derive innovations

and development tools that can be implemented by the company partners.

To define challenging topics

for scientific research.

To create jobs

for highly qualified researchers with long-term prospects by providing suitable structures.

To set up

an excellent and internationally oriented research center in Austria.

CEO

Ao. Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing.
Dr. Andreas Wimmer

The internal combustion engine will continue to play a decisive role in the coming decades – especially for the transport of goods. Research will focus on reducing pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions.

Struktur

The organizational structure
of the LEC GmbH

The CEO of LEC GmbH is responsible for the scientific and financial management of the COMET-K1 center. The Supervisory Board (which also constitutes the Strategy Board), the Program Committee and the International Scientific Advisory Board advise and support the management. Internally, the CEO is supported in managing the center by specific administrative units.
Areas A, C, D and S are concerned with implementing technology-related topics in the research program. Area X spans the other areas and supports their research.

Stories

RECAP-HYMETHSHIP FINAL STAKEHOLDER EVENT

Around 100 participants took the opportunity to get to know the results of the HyMethShip project. The event was announced by the project partners to their business contacts and was conducted online.
Registrations came from 18 countries and 4 continents, which shows how far the project has spread.

The business sector from which the audience came was also broad: The majority were researchers, with shipping companies, builders and operators accounting for the next largest share. Engine manufacturers and other industries were also well represented, as were consultants and engineering firms, classification societies and administrations.

Four expert presentations gave authentic and detailed information about all involved technologies, how these are working in combination to ensure an efficient propulsion system and driving the carbon capture and storage components with the waste heat of the engine (Dr. Nicole Wermuth, LEC). The HyMethShip concept was evaluated to be particularly suitable for Passenger and cruise ships on travels up to 600 nautical miles and for bigger ships (tankers and Ro-Ro cargo ships on high sea voyages (Dr. Joannes Ellis, SSPA). Promising are also the results of the environmental and the cost assessments by means of a LCA- and a LCC-study (Dr. Selma Brynolf, CTH) as well as the safety assessment (Dr. Alex Pedgrift, Dr. Abhijit Aul, Lloyds Register).

The tenor of the discussion was that the HyMethShip system could prove its feasibility and represents an attractive way to achieve far-reaching decarbonization of the shipping sector. The elegance of the system is especially reflected in the closing of the carbon cycle which is achieved by incorporating a pre-combustion carbon capture process.

The interest of the participants was high, and was also demonstrated by the fact that all stayed until the end of the event.

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Mehr erfahren

Save the Date! International Symposium for Sustainability in Mobility, Transport and Power Generation, Sept 23-24

A comprehensive program with the pioneers and visionaries of the global Mobility, Transport and Power Generation ecosystem will focus on sustainable solutions in these fields. Excellent networking opportunities with an estimated 300 experts, opinion leaders and policymakers from all over the world will round up the two-day programme. As always, a separate section will be devoted to the topic of large engines, focusing on:

Efficiency Improvement, Emission Reduction and Overall System Optimization
Future Fuels and Decarbonization
Intelligent Engine Components and Digitization

The scope of the symposium is to underline the necessity and importance of sustainable solutions in the areas of Mobility, Transport and Power Generation and to network relevant stakeholders towards an emission-free future.

To register visit: www.ivt.tugraz.at/en/conference/registration

The program can be downloaded in PDF format and it is available on the following link: www.ivt.tugraz.at/en/conference/program

Program download