PhD position on Fail Operational Powertrain in Electric Vehicles

Functieomschrijving

Introduction

Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) is a young university, founded in 1956 by industry, local government and academia. Today, their spirit of collaboration is still at the heart of the university community. We foster an open culture where everyone feels free to exchange ideas and take initiatives.

Eindhoven University of Technology offers academic education that is driven by fundamental and applied research. Our educational philosophy is based on personal attention and room for individual ambitions and talents. Our research meets the highest international standards of quality. We push the limits of science, which puts us at the forefront of rapidly emerging areas of research.

Eindhoven University of Technology combines scientific curiosity with a hands-on mentality. Fundamental knowledge enables us to design solutions for the highly complex problems of today and tomorrow. We understand things by making them and we make things by understanding them.

Our campus is in the centre of one of the most powerful technology hubs in the world: Brainport Eindhoven. Globally, we stand out when it comes to collaborating with advanced industries. Together with other institutions, we form a thriving ecosystem with one common aim – to improve quality of life through sustainable innovations.

The Electromechanics and Power Electronics group is one of the nine research groups of the Department of Electrical Engineering at TU/e. The group is the main centre for research in electromechanical power conversion and power electronics in the Netherlands. The research is aligned with the three main strategic research themes of Eindhoven University of Technology,
i.e. Energy, Health and Smart Mobility.

Position

This PhD position is part of the HiEFFICIENT Research and Innovation Action, an interdisciplinary European Joint Undertaking project with 21 involved companies, 3 research institutes and 9 academic institutions. Within HiEFFICIENT the project partners will work towards the goals of the European “Green Deal” initiative that strives for sustainable mobility and efficient use of resources. The goal is to develop the next generation of wide bandgap semiconductors (WBG) in the area of smart mobility. The partners will work in industrial use cases to demonstrate key achievements of using WBG semiconductors and the progress that goes beyond state of the art in automotive applications. This includes, amongst others, modular inverters with different voltage levels, multi-purpose DC/DC converters and test systems for power electronics’ lifetime testing.

TU/e will be involved in Use Case 2a (Multidrive e-powertrain). The scope of this use case is the development of an integrated smart modular electric drive system for a multi-motor battery electric vehicle (BEV) and plug-in hybrid EV (PHEV) up to 400V battery voltage, able to satisfy the application requirements. Different system options will be evaluated with the aim to balance overall architecture optimization and subsystems level of integration. The development objectives are aimed at the improvement of the efficiency, the reduction of the dimensions and improvement of the thermal behavior to reach the largest power density as possible, and maximize powertrain reliability.

The focus of TU/e in Use Case 2a is on single-point failures caused by WBG semiconductors
(and their ancillary circuits) in the integrated Powertrain. The candidate will develop a method to quickly detect and identify failures, and a subsequent strategy for circuit topology reconfiguration and fail-operational control leading to  fault-tolerant operation of the remaining healthy motors.

Your main research directions will be:

• Analysis and development of innovative methods for fast switch-fault detection and identification strategy for WBG-based converters.
• Powertrain reconfiguration control algorithm to cope with fail operational features.
• Build and test the designed solutions.

As a PhD student, you will be working in the Electromechanics and Power Electronics (EPE) group in the Electrical Engineering department. Weekly meetings will be held with the direct supervisors, and regular meetings will occur with the academic and industrial project partners.

Functie-eisen

The PhD candidate for the NEON project should fulfil the following requirements:

• MSc degree in Electrical Engineering
• Strong affinity and experience with power electronics
• Affinity with the following topics: circuit lay-out technology, magnetic design,
  state-of-the-art digital control, electromagnetic compatibility and thermal performance for power electronics
• A knowledge of electric drive systems
• Strong analytical and research skills, both regarding theoretical work and experimental validation
• Excellent communication skills
• Ability to independently organise his/her own work, to solve problems, to set and achieve goals and to cooperate with others
• Willingness and ability to participate in the education in BSc and MSc programs
  (both taught in English)
• Good scientific writing and documentation skills
• Strong command of the English language, both spoken and written.

Arbeidsvoorwaarden

• A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university with the possibility to present your work at international conferences.
• A full-time employment for four years, with an intermediate evaluation after one year.
• To support you during your PhD and to prepare you for the rest of your career, you will have free access to a personal development program for PhD students (PROOF program).
• A gross monthly salary and benefits in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities.
• Additionally, an annual holiday allowance of 8% of the yearly salary, plus a year-end allowance of 8.3% of the annual salary.
• A broad package of fringe benefits, including an excellent technical infrastructure, moving expenses, and savings schemes.
• Family-friendly initiatives are in place, such as an international spouse program, and excellent on-campus children day care and sports facilities.

Informatie en sollicitatie

More information

Do you recognize yourself in this profile and would you like to know more? Please contact
dr. Jorge Duarte, j.l.duarte[at]tue.nl.

For information about terms of employment, click here or contact HR Services Flux, hrservices.flux[at]tue.nl.

Please visit www.tue.nl/jobs to find out more about working at TU/e!

Application

We invite you to submit a complete application by using the 'solliciteer nu'-button on this page. The application should include a:

• A cover letter explaining your motivation and suitability for the position;
• A detailed Curriculum Vitae (including a list of publications and key achievements in research project(s);
• Contact information of at least two references;
• Copies of diplomas with course grades;
• Graduation thesis.
• If your degree is not from an English-spoken program, a proof of proficiency in English must be included in your package (such as IELTS or TOEFL).

We look forward to your application and will screen it as soon as we have received it. Screening will continue until the position has been filled.

We do not respond to applications that are sent to us in a different way.

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