Sweden: PhD Student Position in Power Electronics

Deadline: 15 May 2013

Application

1. Full curriculum vitae including your relevant academic, professional, and other achievements, experience and knowledge.

1. Copy of the degree certificate(s) and transcripts of records from your previously attended university-level institutions, with certified translations in English (unless provided so by the issuing institution)

1. Statement of purpose: Why the applicant wants to pursue a PhD, what are your academic interests, how they relate to your previous studies and future goals; maximum 2 pages long.

1. Representative publications or technical reports: Up to 2 documents, no longer than 10 pages each. For longer documents (e.g. theses), please provide a summary (abstract) and a web link to the full text.

1. Letters of recommendation or contact information for two reference persons.

Please write the reference number E-2013-0348 on the subject line of your email.

The student will be part of the high power electronics group, which currently involves four senior researchers and six PhD Students.

The main objectives of the project are equipment cost reduction and power loss reduction in high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) and static VAr compensation (STATCOM) installations. This will result in life cycle cost reduction for the installations, making the technology more commercially attractive and reducing energy waste. In the project this should be achieved by radically increasing the operating voltage of the power semiconductor devices. This will reduce the number of cells required to sustain a certain grid voltage whereby the amount of hardware required is lowered. Furthermore, with fewer cells, there will be fewer points of failure, thus increasing reliability and reducing maintenance cost. A number of prospective tracks will be pursued to be able to operate with devices with higher blocking voltage. Thematically, the project will involve several fields, spanning from semiconductor technology to converter control and modulation.

The student will be expected to present her/his work at international conferences and publish it in leading scientific journals.

The successful applicant is expected to hold or to be about to receive an MSc degree in electrical engineering, engineering physics, or a related area.

Applications via e-mail are to be sent to 0348@ee.kth.se