Subject Area A investigates future energy markets and specifies criteria combinations with inverse energy system modelling methods as well as their combination and robustness with respect to future demand under varying market conditions.  Such criteria may include, among others, overall efficiencies, storage periods, costs or robustness under partial load or fluctuations.

In Subject  Area B, the thermodynamic and  thermo-economic inverse design of Carnot battery concepts will be pursued, which can fulfil the combinations of criteria selected in Area A, and in doing so, also uncover the need for new research in Area C with respect to the most relevant properties of the components. In Area B, either entire Carnot batteries or coupled sub-processes (heat pump with storage, heat engine with storage) are investigated theoretically or experimentally as a function of components and fluids taken as variables. In addition to considering actual working fluids, approaches adopting optimal fluids or fluids defined abstractly by model parameters are desirable.

In Subject Area C, fluids, storages, heat exchangers and fluid energy machines are investigated according to the specifications of the criteria and required properties derived in Area B. Component models as well as new methods of analysis and design are developed, which, in addition to good predictive power, also allow their implementation in optimisation procedures employed in Area B.