The Power Electronics Group within the Department of Electrical Engineering has a vacancy for a PhD researcher (fully funded, 4 years) to work in the European Partnership on Metrology joint research project ENSURE - Metrology for Electric energy and supply reliability. The focus of the ENSURE project is to perform the metrology research necessary to support the reliability of our electricity grids.
Power transformers and other grid components are suffering from the lower grid power quality caused by renewable generation. In strong collaboration with utilities and power transformer manufacturers, you will research the impact of grid harmonics on the losses of power transformers. Through your research, new insights in harmonic losses of power transformers should be achieved, that will support manufacturers to design and build the next generation of low-loss power transformers.
The goal of the PhD position is to model, measure and analyze the impact of harmonic losses in power transformers. Your R&D work involves the development of a frequency-dependent analytical model for harmonic losses in power transformers with different core magnetic materials (CRGO steel, amorphous metal core, etc.) and different winding configurations. This model should consider the total losses including the copper (load loss) and core (no-load loss) losses. To verify and improve the modelling, you will build lab-scale transformers and perform extensive systematic experiments on the total harmonic loss of the constructed transformers. ML/AI tools such as KANN (knowledge-aware artificial neural networks) will be used for model improvement as well as for proposing scaling laws for real power transformers.
Information and application
Are you interested in this PhD position? Please apply before March 15, 2025, and include:
* A motivation letter, emphasizing your specific interest and motivation to apply for this position in our group;
* A detailed CV (resume) incl. a publication list;
* Contact details of at least two references;
* An academic transcript of B.Sc. and M.Sc. education incl. grades.
The selection procedure includes an interview and a short presentation.
For more information about the position, please contact Prof.dr.ir. Gert or Dr. Prasanth Venugopal (vacancies-pe-eemcs@utwente.nl).
About the organisation
The faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) uses mathematics, electronics and computer technology to contribute to the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). With ICT present in almost every device and product we use nowadays, we embrace our role as contributors to a broad range of societal activities and as pioneers of tomorrow's digital society. As part of a people-first tech university that aims to shape society, individuals and connections, our faculty works together intensively with industrial partners and researchers in the Netherlands and abroad, and conducts extensive research for external commissioning parties and funders. Our research has a high profile both in the Netherlands and internationally. It has been accommodated in three multidisciplinary UT research institutes: Mesa+ Institute, TechMed Centre and Digital Society Institute.
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