Optical/laser diagnostics have the amazing ability to make the invisible visible and incomprehensible comprehesible, all without disturbing the experiment.

Conrad Hessels is an Assistant Professor at the Power and Flow group in the Mechanical Engineering Department of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). He developes and employs optical/laser-based diagnostics for multiphase reactive flows. His expertise lies in development and application of in-situ spectroscopic techniques (e.g. Raman) and ex-situ material characterization (e.g. SEM, XRD, µCT). His current research focuses on experimental techniques for the metal energy carrier cycle, in which metal powders (typically iron) are employed for renewable energy storage by cyclic oxidation (combustion) and reduction (regeneration). Together with students and colleagues he investigates the use of various feedstocks, powder explosion safety, and different reactor types.

Conrad Hessels obtained his bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in 2015. Afterwards he started his masters in the group of Power & Flow. For his internship he went to the Volvo Car Corporation in Gothenburg, Sweden, where he worked in the Advanced Engine Development group on the post-processing of metal and optical petrol engine test data. When he came back to the Netherlands he started his master thesis under supervision of associate professor Nico Dam, working on using Raman spectroscopy for quantitative analysis of non-premixed flames. Hessels' thesis was awarded the TU/e MSc Thesis Award 2018 within the graduate program Mechanical Engineering as well as the 2nd prize of the "KHMW Nederlandse Gasindustrie Prijzen". After finishing his master in 2017, he joined the Power & Flow group as a Doctoral Candidate under the supervision of professor Niels Deen and assistant professors Yali Tang and Tess Homan. His research focussed on the reduction of combusted iron powder using green hydrogen, as part of the metal energy carrier cycle. He finished his PhD in May 2023. In his subsequent Postdoc he developed characterization techniques for iron(-oxide) powders.