About the Project
Duration of contract: 3 years
Anticipated interview date:May 12, 2017
Anticipated start date: 15 September 2017
To tackle the global challenges of climate change and environmental pollutions due to extensive consumption of fossil fuels, decarbonisation of the whole energy system from top to tail has attracted substantial interests worldwide in recent years. Electrification of the transport sector becomes a fast growing area, aiming to improve the vehicle efficiency and reduce carbon emissions to meet more and more stringent legislations. As a result, electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles have been gaining rapid popularity. Even for heavy duty vehicles like buses and freight vehicles where pure battery power supply is unlikely feasible in the short and medium terms and IC engines are still required, the trend to electrify more and more mechanical and thermal actuators like steering, ventilation, and suspension, has imposed significant challenges on the batteries used in the vehicles, in terms of deep charge/discharge, thermal management, and in particular service life.
This PhD project aims to research the lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries and other battery types used in vehicles, their aging mechanisms under different operating conditions and scenarios, and develop battery online management and control algorithms in order to improve battery efficiency and prolong the service life, in collaboration with Wrightbus group. The research will cover battery experimental characterization, modelling (electrical model and in particular aging model), online state estimation (e.g., state of charge and state of health) and charging/discharging controller optimization. Battery module/pack level system design optimization such as cell balancing, and hybrid battery power system (e.g., battery + supercapacitor configuration) will also be covered by this project in order to fulfil high power and high voltage need for heavy duty vehicles. The proposed methods will be tested and validated in Wrightbus micro hybrid vehicles.
Academic Eligibility: Applications are invited from candidates who hold or expect to hold a minimum degree of a 2:1 (or equivalent) in one of the following areas: Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or any other appropriately related engineering or science disciplines.
Some understanding and knowledge in the areas of electrical engineering, control engineering, battery technology.
IT skill and software requirements: Matlab and Simulink, C programming.
Applications are invited to be made electronically through the Queen's online application portal, at http://go.qub.ac.uk/pgapply.
Informal inquiries may be addressed to Professor Kang Li at [Email Address Removed], or Professor Roy Douglas at [Email Address Removed]
Funding Notes
This DEL studentship covers the full university fees and includes a fixed yearly stipend of GBP £14,553 per annum for up to 3 years. Through the collaboration with Wrights there is an additional top-up to the stipend of £3,500 per year. In addition to this, the successful candidate will have an opportunity to undertake teaching and demonstration duties to further increase their income.
Funding Eligibility: This funding is only available to UK nationals or EU nationals who have lived in the UK for over 3 years (EU nationals not resident in the UK are only eligible for the fees element). Further information regarding DEL studentship eligibility criteria can be found at: http://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/graduateschool/PostgraduateFunding/UKEUProspectiveResearchStudents/
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