The University of Bath is inviting applications for the following PhD project commencing in October 2021.
Funding is available to candidates who qualify for ‘Home’ fee status. Following the UK’s departure from the European Union, the rules governing fee status have changed and, therefore, candidates from the EU/EEA are advised to check their eligibility before applying. Please see the Funding Eligibility section below for more information.
Project team: Professor Peter Wilson
Informal queries should be directed to Prof Peter Wilson - [Email Address Removed]
Project:
Modern wide bandgap power electronic devices require custom packaging and layout design to ensure that the maximum performance can be extracted from the devices in an application such as electric vehicle propulsion systems.
In order to achieve this a critical aspect of any power electronics system is the thermal design and using additive manufacturing opens the potential for efficient and light structures to be implemented in cold plate and packaging not possible using conventional methods.
This project will therefore undertake fundamental research into the effective thermal design of Aluminium cold plate and bus bars for high power density and high-performance inverters for electric vehicles requiring liquid cooling. The design will not only consider the efficient removal of heat from power electronic devices, but also the optimization of material usage to reduce the weight of the packaging, and also to integrate custom bus bars using additive manufacturing to provide the most compact and thermally efficient design.
A key aspect of the work will be to develop a design methodology to allow designers to follow a series of rules and techniques to develop 3D structures and assembly that will have the optimal weight, power density, electrical performance and thermal efficiency for the specification required. In order to demonstrate this, a practical technology demonstrator of a 150kW inverter using Silicon Carbide (SiC) Power MOSFET devices to drive a brushless DC electric motor to be used in an electric vehicle will be designed and implemented to validate both the design methodology and the packaging design resulting from this process.
Candidate Requirements:
Applicants should hold, or expect to receive, an undergraduate Masters first class degree or MSc distinction (or non-UK equivalent). English language entry requirements must be met at the time of application to be considered for funding, see Postgraduate English language requirements for international students (bath.ac.uk)
Application:
Formal applications should be made via the University of Bath’s online application form for a PhD in Electronic & Electrical Engineering. Please ensure that you state the full project title and lead supervisor name on the application form.
https://samis.bath.ac.uk/urd/sits.urd/run/siw_ipp_lgn.login?process=siw_ipp_app&code1=RDUEE-FP01&code2=0015
More information about applying for a PhD at Bath may be found here:
http://www.bath.ac.uk/guides/how-to-apply-for-doctoral-study/
Expected start date: 4 October 2021
Funding Eligibility:
In order to be considered for a studentship, you must qualify as a ‘Home’ student. The UK Government has not yet published the relevant Fee Regulations for courses commencing in 2021/22; however, our current understanding is that the main categories of students likely to qualify for ‘Home’ fees are (subject to confirmation by the UK Government):
· UK nationals (meeting residency requirement*)
· Irish nationals resident in the UK/Ireland since at least September 2018
· EU/EEA applicants with settled or pre-settled status in the UK under the EU Settlement Scheme (meeting residency requirement*)
· Applicants with indefinite leave to enter/remain in the UK (meeting residency requirement*)
*Residency requirement: in most cases applicants must have lived in the UK, EU, EEA or Switzerland continuously since September 2018.
EU/EEA citizens who live outside the UK are unlikely to be eligible for ‘Home’ fees and funding.
Up-to-date information may be found on our fee status guidance webpage and on the UKCISA website.
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