Master Thesis – Keep it cool! Optimize the thermal management of magnetic components in power electronic applications (f/m/d)

YOUR FUTURE RESPONSIBILITIES

Between 2019 & 2022, SAL & industry partners developed the world’s most compact onboard charger in the Tiny Power Box project. New records will be broken in the follow-up “Tiny Power Box 2.0”. 

You will collaborate with leading EU industry partners and be supported by the scientific team at SAL alongside your academic supervision at your university. The topic of this Master's Thesis investigates the effectiveness of various design strategies to reduce "hot spots" in magnetic cores operating at high switching frequencies while dissipating rated power for high-power-density On-Board Charger including following aspects:

• 3D Modeling of cores and windings with high fidelity details.
• Analyze different magnetic materials shapes and sizes for optimal cooling concepts.
• Simplified CAD Models for thermal simulation using FEA and CFD.
• Design of data driven, and analytical models based on the gathered results.
• Documentation of research outcomes.
• Work with other students & scientific staff in the same project. Together, the team will use your research & designs to build and evaluate an optimized onboard charger demonstrator for the next generation of electric vehicles.
• Scientific publication at relevant conferences would be supported & encouraged.

YOUR PROFILE

• Enrolled Master student in Electronic Engineering or Computer Science or Physics (or similar / equivalent).
• Basic knowledge of power electronics (basics of power devices, simple converter topologies, inductors and capacitors).
• Experiences with power electronic circuit simulation tools (e.g., PLECS, LTspice) is a plus.
• Experience with PCB and/or CAD design software is a plus (e.g., Altium Designer).
• Experience with Multiphysics simulation, FEM and CFD simulation tools (e.g., Ansys, COMSOL) is a plus.
• Basic experience with electronics laboratory equipment (e.g. oscilloscopes, soldering etc.).
• Applied experience in power electronics is optional but would be a strong plus.
• Eager to learn new things and deep dive into niche technical topics.
• Work as part of a larger scientific team, good communications skills.
• Fundamental knowledge of power electronics (basics of semiconductor devices, power converter topologies).
• Highly enthusiastic and motivated, willing to learn new technologies.
• Self-organized and target-oriented working style.
• Good communications skills, fluency in English, both written and spoken.

IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT SAL

• Start of your employment as soon as possible.
• State-of-the-art lab facilities and instruments.
• Home Office possible.
• € 4.- /day food allowance in restaurants / € 2.- /day in  supermarkets.
• Family-  & kids friendly.
• Free coffee/milk/tea & fresh fruits.

This position is subject to the Collective Agreement for employees in non-university research (Research CA). For this position, we offer a competitive gross salary of EUR 1.713, paid 14 times a year.