THIRD Michael Sfantzikopoulos Award

Award Ceremony

3rd Michael Sfantzikopoulos Award

MD-Lab hosted the third Michael Sfantzikopoulos Award ceremony, recognizing the best diploma thesis in mechanical design for the academic year 2024-25. The award was presented to Athanasios Akrivosi for his work on the analysis and design of a hydrogen fuel tank with cellular structure for the automotive industry.

In addition to the distinction, the awardee received a brand-new Neptune 4 Max 3D printer, generously offered by 4th Dimension Technologies.

Award Recipient Athanasios Akrivosi Mechanical Engineer Graduate NTUA

Prof. Vasilios Spitas presenting the third Michael Sfantzikopoulos Award to Athanasios Akrivosi.

About the Award

The Michael Sfantzikopoulos Award is dedicated to outstanding diploma-thesis work in the field of mechanical design. It is awarded annually to the best diploma thesis in this area, highlighting rigorous engineering design, clear modeling work and practical contribution to mechanical engineering research and practice.

The third ceremony brought together MD-Lab members, students and guests for the award presentation, discussion of the winning thesis and the handover of the 3D-printer prize offered by 4th Dimension Technologies.

Audience during the third Michael Sfantzikopoulos Award ceremony at MD-Lab — MD-Lab members, students and guests gathered for the third award ceremony.

Awarded Diploma Thesis

The third award was presented to Athanasios Akrivosi for the diploma thesis Analysis and Design of a Hydrogen Fuel Tank With Cellular Structure for the Automotive Industry. The work examines vehicle hydrogen-storage packaging and proposes a low-height, flat tank concept intended to improve use of available space inside automotive architectures.

The proposed tank concept is based on repeating cellular units formed by thin-walled intersecting spheres. This geometry supports a flat multi-sphere pressure vessel layout, while keeping the design connected to realistic packaging constraints and structural loading requirements.

Thesis focus: flat hydrogen-tank packaging, cellular pressure-vessel geometry, structural design under high internal pressure, equivalent material properties through homogenization and simulation of the proposed tank structure.

Cellular hydrogen fuel tank concept from the awarded diploma thesis — Representative figure from the PDF poster: the thin-walled intersecting-spheres structure concept proposed for the hydrogen fuel tank.

Design Highlights

Study of hydrogen-storage limitations in passenger vehicles, where conventional cylindrical tanks can reduce passenger and luggage space.
Development of a low-height, flat tank geometry using repeating thin-walled spherical cells.
Vehicle packaging study based on the Toyota Mirai, with a proposed flat multi-sphere tank layout integrated into the available vehicle space.
Homogenization of the cellular geometry to obtain equivalent material properties and enable efficient structural simulation.
Structural evaluation of the proposed pressure-vessel concept under yielding and high internal-pressure loading.

Prize Offered By

We were delighted to welcome Stefania Tzouga from 4th Dimension Technologies, who joined the ceremony to present the brand-new Neptune 4 Max 3D printer offered to the awardee.

Athanasios Akrivosi with Stefania Tzouga during the third Michael Sfantzikopoulos Award ceremony — Stefania Tzouga was personally present to hand over the 3D-printer prize to the winner.

Ceremony Photos

Prof. Vasilios Spitas speaking during the third Michael Sfantzikopoulos Award ceremony — Prof. Vasilios Spitas speaking during the ceremony, with the awarded thesis poster displayed in the laboratory.

Athanasios Akrivosi during the third Michael Sfantzikopoulos Award ceremony — Athanasios Akrivosi during the presentation of the third Michael Sfantzikopoulos Award.

Athanasios Akrivosi holding the award certificate in front of the awarded thesis poster — The awardee with the diploma-thesis poster and certificate.

Athanasios Akrivosi with the awarded thesis poster during the ceremony — Photo with the awarded thesis poster during the ceremony.