Robert Gordon University, through the School of Engineering is offering a PhD studentship, within the Energy Research Group.
Hydrogen a multi-use energy carrier is a leading fuel required to play a key role in the sustainable transformation of the energy, mobility systems and low carbon economy. While many hydrogen production methods exist, hydrogen production via water electrolysis has gained the most attention and has been successfully demonstrated in Proton Exchange Membranes (PEM) fuel cells and Solid Oxide fuel cell (SOFC) systems.
At elevated temperatures above 800 K, a combination of favourable thermodynamics and kinetics improves the efficiency of high temperature electrolysis and makes hydrogen production via electrolysis cost effective and competitive. However, increasing operational temperatures is associated with high energy consumption and high internal temperatures, where any power variations would induce thermal variations and gradients (particularly for renewable energy sources) which can lead to system inefficiency and failure.
The objective of the study is to apply CFD to investigate the heat transfer and thermal management in HTE hydrogen production systems using liquid metals to enable isothermalisation to eliminate adverse thermal gradients, extend the power range and increase durability using high temperature Liquid metals.
Different thermal management strategies concepts have proposed by various researchers on thermal management strategies, convective cooling via air/coolant and heat pipes in HTE Fuel cells. For operational temperatures of around 1073 K, power range restriction of 60-100 % has been demonstrated to be required to minimize thermal gradients (and induced thermal stresses. Understanding the heat transfer and Thermodynamic state of greatest importance in designing a efficient and cost effective thermal management controls and HT electrolysis (HTE) hydrogen production systems exploiting a wider range of material and more cost-effective fabrication methods.
Desirable skills and knowledge: Knowledge or experience in thermodynamics and CFD is advantageous.
Applications should be emailed to Dr Ityona Amber at [Email Address Removed] The applications should consist of a covering letter or personal statement of interest, academic transcripts and a CV.
It is expected that candidates are available to register and commence study on 01 Feb 2023. In addition, the successful candidate will be expected to submit publications to refereed journals and to present their findings at international conferences.
Questions should initially be addressed to:
Dr Ityona Amber
School of Engineering, Robert Gordon University, Sir Ian Wood Building, Garthdee Campus, Aberdeen, AB10 7GJ United Kingdom
T: +44 (0) 7547335804
E: [Email Address Removed]
W: https://www.rgu.ac.uk/
Entry Requirements
Applicants should have a First- or Second-Class UK honours degree, or equivalent, in a relevant discipline such Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Chemical Engineering. An MSc in a relevant subject is highly desirable. Knowledge or experience of CFD modelling & simulations in ANSYS, COMSOL OPEN FOAM or SU2 is an advantage.
Keywords: Hydrogen, energy, low carbon economy, Thermodynamics, renewable energy, Computational Fluid Dynamics, heat transfer, thermal management, HTE Fuel cells.
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