Electrical Thermal Characterisation Tools for Integrated Power and Thermal Management Modelling

Thermal management becomes increasingly critical for the performance of future high power density electric machine and power electronics for aerospace applications moving towards more electric. The increased electric power generation and utilisation as moving towards the ‘more electric’ vision in aerospace industry and together with the requirements for compact, energy efficient and highly integrated system as well as to fully exploit new architectures and materials have demanded the integrated thermal and electrical design optimisation. This project seeking to develop a characterisation tool, and/or extend existing tools, for the characterisation of the entire engines electronics systems within a single modelling tool. The ultimate goal is that a holistic approach towards modelling will results in optimisation routines that consider the engine as a whole rather than discrete components.

The studentship is being jointly undertaken by the University of Oxford (Department of Engineering Science, Prof. Walsh) and Rolls Royce (Dr. Lixin Ren).

The student will be a member of the Osney Research Group and will be supervised by Professor Walsh (Osney Laboratories). Further information on the group can be found at http://www.eng.ox.ac.uk/thermofluids


Candidate Requirements
Prospective candidates will be judged according to how well they meet the following criteria:

• A 1st/2nd class honours degree in an Engineering related discipline.
• Excellent English written and spoken communication skills.

The following skills are essential/desirable:
• A strong interest and knowledge of fluids and thermal engineering is necessary.
• Knowledge of electrical machines and possibly power electronics would be desirable.
• Proficient in Matlab.