Team

Michel De Paepe

Michel De Paepe (°1972) is professor of Thermodynamics in the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture at Ghent University.

He graduated as Master of Science in Electromechanical Engineering at Ghent University in 1995. In 1999 he obtained the PhD in Electromechanical Engineering at Ghent University, graduating on ‘Steam Injected Gas Turbines with Water Recovery’.

His research is focusing on heat transfer in heat exchangers, two-phase refrigerant flow, electrical drives and thermal energy storage (TES). He is also interested in energy efficiency in buildings and industry, by using heat pumps (for domestic applications), fuel cells, ORCs and other small scale energy conversion systems. 

Michel De Paepe is president of EnerGhentIC, the interdisciplinary community of Ghent University researchers working on the energy challenge. He is also member of Flanders Make Motion Products core lab EEDT-MP.

michel.depaepe@ugent.be

09 264 32 94

Publication and projects

Steven lecompte

Steven Lecompte (°1988) is an assistant professor on the topic of Thermal Machines in the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture at Ghent University.

He obtained his Master of Science and PhD degrees in Electromechanical Engineering at Ghent University in 2012 and 2016, respectively. His PhD thesis was titled ‘Performance evaluation of organic Rankine cycle architectures: Application to waste heat valorisation’.

His research focusses on thermal machines (heat pumps, organic rankine cycles, refrigeration cycles), including thermo-economic optimization, renewable energy integration, multi-phase processes, expanders and compressors. Between 2016 and 2018 he was a recurring visiting researcher at Imperial College London, doing research on multiphase flows. In 2017 he obtained a postdoctoral fellowship of the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO).

Steven Lecompte is secretary of the KCORC board, chair of the Koelplatform and member of EnerGhentIC and Machineries & Factories.

steven.lecompte@ugent.be

09 264 33 55

Publications and projects

Wim Beyne

Wim Beyne (°1993) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture at Ghent University, specializing in two-phase numerical heat transfer.

He obtained his Master of Science in Electromechanical Engineering at Ghent University in 2016 and completed his PhD in Electromechanical Engineering in 2021, with a thesis titled ‘The development of a charging time energy fraction model for latent thermal energy storage heat exchangers.’ His research primarily focuses on the numerical modeling of two-phase heat transfer, including both solid-liquid and liquid-gas phase change phenomena.

Since 2024, Wim Beyne has been appointed as an Assistant Professor, where his work continues to explore phase change processes and their applications in thermal energy systems. Wim Beyne is a member of EnerGhentIC, the interdisciplinary energy research community at Ghent University, and a member of the Flanders Make core lab MIRO, where he collaborates on advanced research in thermal systems and energy efficiency.

wim.beyne@ugent.be