PhD High Speed Generator Design

How to design a high speed generator driven by a small modular nuclear reactor connected to ship board electric power system? MeGa-Drive stands for Maritime Electrical Generator Atomic Drive. The MeGa-Drive project is funded by the subsidy schema maritime innovation projects. The project leader is Advanced Electromagnetics BV. We also collaborate with Allseas, who are developing an SMR for maritime applications.

The aim of the project is to research and develop a high speed generator system that converts the mechanical power coming from the thermal cycle of a Small Modular Reactor into electric power for the electric power system. To make the thermal cycle compact, the thermal cycle that drives the turbine-generator combination is a cycle with super critical CO2, which results a high speed compact turbine-generator combination.

The challenges of high speed electrical machine design are a combination of Electromagnetic design, Thermal design, and Mechanical design. The power electronics connecting the generator to the electric power system will probably be commercial off the shelf. However, the power electronics determine the current waveforms, and therefore influence the electromagnetic design.

The electric power of such an SMR will probably be in the order of 20 MW. Within the project, the project partners are planning to build and test a demonstrator with a power level in the order of 1 MW.

The research will be carried out in close cooperation with national academic and industrial partners working on the NWO-funded project Survivable DC Systems for Ships. The industrial partners will provide excess to use cases and recorded data of state-of-the art zero-emission ships. The zero-emission laboratory of MARIN can be used for validation of the control strategies with real components.

The candidate will be part of a large team of PhD students working on different aspects of energy transition in the maritime sector. The candidate will work at the Delft University of Technology, in the Department of Maritime & Transport Technology, in the Group Sustainable Drive and Energy Systems under the supervision and guidance of Henk Polinder.

Job Requirements

We are looking for an outstanding and enthusiastic PhD candidate who has expertise and/or interest in modelling and design of electrical machines and drives, with an MSc degree related to this areas: electrical power engineering, mechanical engineering. Other characteristics of a suitable candidate: Proactive, Independent, Able to interact with different stake holders, Good communication skills (in English).

Conditions of Employment

Doctoral candidates will be offered a 4-year period of employment in principle, but in the form of 2 employment contracts. An initial 1.5 year contract with an official go/no go progress assessment within 15 months, followed by an additional contract for the remaining 2.5 years assuming everything goes well and performance requirements are met. Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, increasing from Promovendus gross per month from the first year to the fourth year based on a fulltime contract (38 hours), plus 8% holiday allowance and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%.