Obituary Privatdozent (PD) Dr.-Ing. habil. Helmut Löbl

Obituary
Privatdozent (PD) Dr.-Ing. habil.
Helmut Löbl

On April 09, 2025, PD Dr.-Ing. habil. Helmut Löbl at the age of 81 in Dresden.

Born in Aussig in 1943, he spent his childhood as a refugee in Germany in the first post-war period, marked by hunger, violence and expulsion from his Bohemian homeland. He spent his youth in the district of Prignitz/Brandenburg in very simple circumstances. These first twenty years had a significant impact on him as a person and left an unmistakable mark on his character. A single-minded and optimistic view of the future, demanding performance from others, but first performing himself, rigor and justice, diligence and ambition, work and sociability were characteristics that were inherent in him throughout his life.

In 1963, Helmut Löbl completed vocational training as an electrical fitter at the Reichsbahn-Ausbesserungswerk (RAW) Dessau before beginning a degree in "Electrical Railways and Systems" at the Friedrich List University of Transport in Dresden, which he successfully completed in 1968. This was followed by a move to the TU Dresden in the scientific field of electrical power engineering in Section 11 Electrical Engineering. In 1972, he defended his dissertation together with Hans-Jürgen Stoye at the Faculty of Energy Economics. It was entitled "Contribution to the optimization of electrotechnical switching and distribution systems with regard to their thermal continuous current stresses" (supervisors: Prof. Schultheiß, Dr. Kindler, Dr. Zeisberg). His scientific focus was on the generation of heat loss, the processes of heat transfer and the calculation of thermal processes using the heat network method.

As Senior Academic Associate, he was able to gain four years of experience in teaching, research and management of young scientists. In 1977, structural changes led to Helmut Löbl moving to the High Voltage Engineering department of the Electrical Engineering section in the Binder Building. Under the direction of Prof. Dr.-Ing. sc. techn. Helmut Böhme, Chair of High Voltage Devices, he was able to contribute his excellent knowledge to the teaching and research areas of heating of electrical equipment, electrical contacts and connections and mechanical-dynamic behavior of devices and systems. Notable milestones included the scientific and technical supervision of the construction of the Markersbach pumped storage plant in the Erzgebirge. This included heating calculations for the one hundred meter long, vertical generator discharge from the cavern into the machine switchgear, the integration of short-circuit rings into the building structures, as well as a series of laboratory tests on the current carrying capacity and heating of the switchgear. The concept, planning, construction supervision and commissioning of the TUD high-current laboratory, as well as the constant expansion, modernization and extensive scientific use of this test field were also unforgettable achievements of the scientist, engineer and teacher Helmut Löbl.

With the dissertation "B" for "doctor scientiae technicarum" "Zur Dauerstrombelastbarkeit und Lebensdauer der Geräte der Elektroenergieübertragung", defended on 11.01.1985 (reviewers: Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. H. Böhme, Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. J. Maksymiuk/PW Warszawa, Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. G. Alexandrow/LPI Leningrad and Prof. Dipl.-Ing. F. Schultheiß/TUD), Helmut Löbl set another milestone in his scientific career. His scientific focus included the extension of thermal network models to encapsulated switchgear, optimization calculations to extend the transferable power with statistical design of experiments, the interactions between current carrying capacity, heating of the current path and insulating capacity of metal-encapsulated systems and the long-term behaviour of electrical connections. The title "Dr. sc. techn." was changed to "Dr.-Ing. habil." in February 1991.

Subsequently, under the guidance of Helmut Löbl, the Institute of Electrical Power Systems and High Voltage Engineering (IEEH) succeeded in creating complex heat networks for entire compact stations or encapsulated medium-voltage switchgear and validating them experimentally. This made it possible to obtain certification from the VDE testing institute in Offenbach. In this way, the Chair's financial backbone was strengthened by third-party funding from industry.

Questions from industrial practice on contact and connection technology for high-current arrangements increasingly became the focus of scientific and technical considerations. Helmut Löbl proved to be an excellent bridge builder between industry and sophisticated science. In doing so, he laid the foundation for this topic to develop into an internationally unique core research area at the IEEH.

Helmut Löbl shared his knowledge and skills unreservedly with interested students and doctoral candidates, with specialists from industry and the energy sector, with course participants at the Technical Academy in Essen and in VdS courses on physically correct infrared thermography in Munich and at countless national and international meetings and conferences.

With due rigor and discipline, he always taught young scientists to publish new findings to a high standard without ever expecting recognition for them. For him, publishing was essential for science, but not important for his own career. In addition to his duties at the Institute, he found a professional and collegial home in VDE Dresden e.V. and the German Commission for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies (DKE).

Helmut Löbl worked as Managing Senior Academic Associate at the Chair of High Voltage and High Current Technology and "father of the assistants" until his age-related retirement at the end of 2008. He will be remembered with great gratitude as a teacher, engineer, scientist and kind-hearted person.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Steffen Großmann (retired), Chair of High Voltage and High Current Technology

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Maria Kosse, Chair of Components of Intelligent Energy Networks

PD Dr.-Ing. habil. Stephan Schlegel, Chair of Components of Intelligent Energy Networks

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Schegner, Institute of Electrical Power Systems and High Voltage Engineering IEEH, Director of the Institute of

Dresden, April 2025