MCI student receives Austrian State Award

Florian Entleitner, a master's student in the Environmental, Process and Energy Engineering program, has received the 2020 Federal Minister's Award of Appreciation.

With his master's thesis 'Simulation and validation of heat transfer in fin pack evaporators with propane as refrigerant', Entleitner succeeded in significantly improving the heat transfer in the evaporator and thus the energy efficiency of air-source heat pumps compared to the current industry standard by using a novel process concept. The results of his master's thesis even led to the founding of the technology start-up 'LAMBDA', which develops and produces highly efficient heat pumps using natural refrigerant.

His scientific supervisor, MCI Professor Ing. Dr. Aldo Giovannini emphasizes: "Mr. Entleitner has chosen a particularly exciting and current subject. The results of his work make an important contribution to improving the ecological and cost-effective heating of buildings."

The appreciation award of the Federal Minister of Education, Science and Research was established in 1990 and is of the rank of a state award. This award, which is financed by student grants, is awarded annually to the best 50 diploma and master's degrees of all Austrian colleges and universities of applied sciences, selected out of a total of about 16,000 degrees.