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Expand your engineering horizons

Get background information about our latest activities, and benefit from TLK Energy Team’s experience with helpful theoretical insights for your daily work.

Latest blog posts

Heating pipes waste heat recovery industry
Energy Efficiency

Energy Efficiency Act EnEfG – New obligations for companies

The EnEfG requires energy management systems, efficiency measures and waste heat recovery. Find out here what companies need to do now!

Franz Lanzerath

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Jul 3, 2025

Simulation Stiff System
System Simulation

Efficient simulation for stiff equation systems

The model runs, but the simulation is slow? Dymola warns of stiffness? This blog explains what stiff equation systems are, how to recognize them and which approaches can be used to make the simulation more stable and efficient.

Thomas Blum

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Jun 5, 2025

electrolysis of hydrogen
Energy Efficiency

Waste Heat in Germany

The platform for waste heat makes unused industrial heat potential publicly accessible for the first time. Our geographical visualization shows where opportunities for use are concentrated - and opens up new perspectives for energy efficiency and the local heat transition.

Franz Lanzerath

|

Mar 26, 2025

Time Constant
System Simulation

Time Constant - Understanding and simulating Dynamic Systems

How can a constant describe a complex system? Despite the diversity and complexity of many systems - whether in nature, technology or business - there is one particular constant that can do just that: the time constant. It allows dynamic behavior to be predicted precisely.

Ina Machleid

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Dec 6, 2024

electrolysis of hydrogen
Research

PEM Electrolysis: Basics and Simulation

PEM electrolysis is a technology for producing hydrogen. The article explains how it works, its advantages over other electrolysis technologies, technical challenges and how system simulation can be used to optimize the process and the plant.

Yann Pellny

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Sep 27, 2024

Water molecules as a symbol for Adsorption
Research

Simulation of Adsorption Processes – Modeling Basics

Adsorption processes are well-established methods for gas separation, gaining increasing importance for direct air capture of CO2 and air drying in battery production. These processes can be dynamically simulated with TIL Adsorption. Here, we present the basics of the modeling.

Helena Vorspohl

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Feb 22, 2024

battery cooling in electric vehicles
Automotive

Battery cooling in electric vehicles

There are many concepts with advantages and disadvantages for battery cooling in electric vehicles. Here we provide an overview of cooling systems, their application and interfaces to thermal management and control.

Andreas Varchmin

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Feb 21, 2024

design of experiments TLK on the test bench
System Simulation

Design of Experiments

Statistical design of experiments is a valuable tool for engineers and other users. We give an overview of the most important basics without diving too deeply into mathematics and explain how a good experimental design can be created in practice.

Manuel Gräber

|

Sep 1, 2023

Heat pump
Refrigeration

What is a heat pump?

It is difficult to understand intuitively why a heat pump pumps heat at all. Thermodynamic concepts such as heat and energy cannot be directly experienced in everyday life. Therefore, we explain the basic principle of a heat pump with an analogy to the much more tangible water pump.

Manuel Gräber

|

May 17, 2023

Modelica vs Simulink
System Simulation

Modelica vs Simulink

When it comes to physical modeling and simulation of technical systems, the question often comes up: Modelica or Simulink? We want to answer this question by looking at the basic differences and by using a simple example.

Felix Brandl

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Mar 27, 2023

Be-Safe: Sketch of industrial energy systems
Research

Be-Safe: Reliable design of industrial energy systems

The KMU-innovativ research project "Be-Safe" focuses on resource and energy efficiency as well as climate protection. Together with partners from industry and research, methods and a webtool are being developed that enable the safe design of energy systems according to these principles.

Lina Rosenthal

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Feb 27, 2023

ThermoSim meeting Modelica and FMI users
Research

ThermoSim – Modeling and simulation of thermal systems

Every second year, a network meeting of Modelica and FMI users takes place in Germany: ThermoSim – Modeling and Simulation of Thermal Systems. Developers from industry and research meet to exchange ideas and get up to date with the latest technology.

Lina Rosenthal

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Feb 16, 2023

FMU for Linux
Research

Compiling Linux FMUs with Dymola

FMUs are ideal for performing large-scale simulation studies on computing clusters. Since computing clusters usually run on Linux, the FMUs must also be compiled for Linux. We show you how to generate cross-compiled Linux FMUs with Dymola.

Stefan Rauscher

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Dec 12, 2022

Icing of evaporator heat pump
Refrigeration

Reversing Valve in Heat Pumps

In many heat pumps 4-way reversing valves are used to reverse the refrigeration cycle for evaporator defrosting or cooling mode. How does this switching work? What happens with the cycle during reversion? And why is this an energy-efficient defrosting method?

Manuel Gräber

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Oct 30, 2022

Debugging Dymola Procedure
System Simulation

Debugging in Dymola – Get the best out of your model

The simulation in Dymola does not run, stalls, is slow or even aborts? - A common cause: nonlinear systems of equations. Learn how to avoid them to save simulation time and make your simulation model numerically robust.

Helena Vorspohl

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May 5, 2022

Dymola and Modelica
System Simulation

Dymola and Modelica

Dymola and Modelica are often used as synonyms or mentioned in the same breath. Depending on the context, this is misleading or even wrong. We explain the differences and connections between the Modelica language and the Dymola software.

Manuel Gräber

|

Feb 11, 2022

Electric bus heating winter
Research

Electric bus heating: heat storage for range extension

The use of thermal storages can reduce the load on the battery of electric buses in winter and thus increase their range. As part of the LatHe.GO research project, we are investigating the use of metallic latent heat storages as heating system for electric buses.

Stefan Rauscher

|

Jan 20, 2022

Adsorption plant
Research

Design of adsorption columns

In the MoGaTEx research project, we are investigating the model-based design of adsorption columns for gas separation based on small-scale experiments.

Franz Lanzerath

|

Dec 25, 2021

Energy balance of thermodynamics formulars
System Simulation

Energy balance of thermodynamics

When modeling thermal systems, there is no way around it: the energy balance, also known as the first law of thermodynamics. Most engineers are familiar with the energy balance from their studies, but we use an alternative formulation in the TIL Suite.

Stefan Rauscher

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Dec 22, 2021

Modern sustainable buildings
Energy Efficiency

When is thermal building simulation useful?

Static calculations are often sufficient for the energy design of buildings. But in some cases, dynamic thermal building simulations are of advantage.

Lina Rosenthal

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Sep 30, 2021

Work on the HiL simulation model
System Simulation

HiL testing for thermal systems

Hardware in the Loop (HiL) testing is not just for the automotive industry! Our experience with simulation-based control development for thermal systems such as heat pumps, refrigeration plants or fuel cells.

Manuel Gräber

|

Sep 24, 2021

Process streams Industry Pinch
Energy Efficiency

Pinch Analysis

Pinch analysis, also known as process integration, is used to systematically link process streams to reduce energy demand.

Franz Lanzerath

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Sep 23, 2021

Boat steering as an example of control loops
Control Technology

Intuitively understand feedback control systems

Feedback in control loops is the basic concept of control engineering. We explain this concept without mathematics, only using illustrative examples. Gain an intuitive understanding of why control loops can become unstable. And learn what is crucial for good control design.

Manuel Gräber

|

Sep 3, 2021

Renewable energies and CO2 neutrality industry
System Simulation

Reduce CO2 emissions in your company

Measures to reduce CO2 emissions in companies - learn more about the general levers in the TLK Energy Blog. Reduce CO2 emissions through decarbonization, energy efficiency and compensation.

Franz Lanzerath

|

Aug 17, 2021

heat pump
Refrigeration

Heat pump refrigeration cycle – Function and basic principle

It sounds contradictory: What does a refrigeration cycle do in a heat pump? Resolving precisely this apparent contradiction is the key to understanding the fundamentals and functioning of refrigeration cycles – and heat pumps.

Manuel Gräber

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Jun 30, 2021

Control of an industrial machine
Control Technology

PID Tuning Guide

PI and PID controllers are the most frequently used controllers in practice. Even though the actual control law is very simple, the selection of suitable parameters is not trivial. We present a practical and well-proven step-by-step method to determine good PID parameters for a given application.

Manuel Gräber

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Mar 16, 2021

Simulation in the cloud with a computer
System Simulation

Web-based simulation for engineering, sales and marketing

How are individual apps for the simulation of technical processes developed? What additional value can simulation with an online tool offer in the fields of engineering, sales and technical marketing? We show you which steps are necessary to transfer complex models into an intuitive app.

Pascal Padberg

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Dec 4, 2020

Abstract visualization parameter study
System Simulation

Simulation studies with Modelica and Python

When is a parameter study appropriate? And how should one proceed? We present a tool chain from the simulation model in Modelica, FMU export and the use of Python scripts to visual data exploration.

Franz Lanzerath

|

Oct 22, 2020

receiver and accumulator for refrigeration cycle
Refrigeration

Why receivers and accumulators in refrigeration cycles?

Receivers or accumulators are often used in refrigeration cycles. They are basically very simple components, but their function in the overall system is quite complex. We want to take a closer look at them and understand the effects on the overall refrigeration system.

Manuel Gräber

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Sep 4, 2020

Electric car heating system
Automotive

Heating load calculation of a vehicle cabin using simulation

How can the heating capacity of a car be calculated with the help of simulation? Why is this interesting for electric cars that suffer from a loss of range in winter? We show you how to determine the heating power under various boundary conditions using a physical vehicle cabin model.

Franz Lanzerath

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Jul 8, 2020

Water to illustrate dynamic and steady-state behavior
System Simulation

Steady-state and dynamic simulation

Computer simulations often differentiate between steady state and dynamic simulation. We want to define these terms more precisely and explain the differences.

Manuel Gräber

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Apr 30, 2020

Icing evaporator heat pump
Refrigeration

Heat pumps in winter: evaporator frosting

In this post we use a simulation model to analyze the influence of frosting on the cycle and the performance. The knowledge gained forms the basis for the development of defrosting strategies.

Stefan Rauscher

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Apr 27, 2020