A Circular Approach to Manufacturing Sustainable Powertrains for Wind Turbines

The School of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment, “SCEBE”, at Edinburgh Napier University, “ENU”, is a portal for research and knowledge transfer that has contributed extensively to develop and promote renewable and sustainable energy devices in the UK and abroad over the last 30 years. Through the expert services that the School offers industry has been supported in meeting the demanding energy challenges and government requirements.

A fully funded 3-year PhD position is available in "SCEBE" to work with a team of experienced researchers. Multi-MW electrical machines for renewable energy devices are currently facing a series of issues that can be solved if they are considered at an early stage of the design process. “If we know the requirements, we can design for them”. Those issues are as follows,

- An increase in turbine size has lead to significant increases in material usage and manufacturing lead times. This increase in size also introduces evident logistical challenges.

- An increasing requirement for the service life to be extended.

- Finding reuse and recycle viable options is a must in order to reduce the assets carbon footprint.

Advances in the manufacturing sector will enable changes to the design, manufacture and assembly of powertrain components, which will in turn help address the issues mentioned above. Due to an increase size and an increase in volume of wind turbines, manufacturing routes will need to be optimised in order to meet demand. From a sustainability viewpoint, exploring the options for the reuse of different components will be essential, and can be achieved by defining the requirements for each component, including equivalent stress, thermal loading, etc,. through the life and calculating the projected life cycle. Reuse of materials and components is an important goal within the sustainability discipline, but can only be optimised at the design stage.

This PhD topic will bring together key aspects of manufacturing research and circular economy principles to design sustainable future powertrains. This will include techniques such as Design for Manufacture, Life Cycle Analysis and Life Cycle Costing.

Three different institutions will collaborate in this project led by "ENU" - Edinburgh Napier University, the National Manufacturing Institute of Scotland and the UK Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult. This collaboration will ensure the alignment of the project with the sector necessities and will open the door to explore further opportunities with key private organisations. 

Applications should make it clear the project you are applying for and the name of the supervisors.

Academic qualifications

A first-class honours degree, or a distinction at master level, or equivalent achievements ideally in Mechanical engineering, Structural engineering, Manufacturing engineering, Aeronautical engineering.

English language requirement

If your first language is not English, comply with the University requirements for research degree programmes in terms of English language.

Application process

Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact the supervisor, Dr Pablo Jaen-Sola ([Email Address Removed]) to discuss the content of the project and the fit with their qualifications and skills before preparing an application. 

The application must include: 

Research project outline of 2 pages (list of references excluded). The outline may provide details about

• Background and motivation, explaining the importance of the project, should be supported also by relevant literature. You can also discuss the applications you expect for the project results.
• Research questions or
• Methodology: types of data to be used, approach to data collection, and data analysis methods.
• List of references

The outline must be created solely by the applicant. Supervisors can only offer general discussions about the project idea without providing any additional support.

• Statement no longer than 1 page describing your motivations and fit with the project.
• Recent and complete curriculum vitae. The curriculum must include a declaration regarding the English language qualifications of the candidate.
• Supporting documents will have to be submitted by successful candidates.
• Two academic references (but if you have been out of education for more than three years, you may submit one academic and one professional reference), on the form can be downloaded here.

Applications can be submitted here .

Download a copy of the project details here.