INTEGRATED GAS-TURBINE DRIVEN GENERATION - a career-refresh opportunity for early-career mechanical/electrical engineers.
Applications are sought for an engineering role at the University of Nottingham in integrated gasturbine driven power generation. The role is funded as a PhD studentship and should result in the award of a PhD from the University following three years of work. The successful candidate will have a first-class (or upper second-class) honours degree in either electrical or mechanical engineering and will be required to demonstrate at least some knowledge of the other field and willingness to expand knowledge in that area. This role may be especially suited to practising engineers who graduated since 2010 and who feel they would like to re-energise their career trajectory.
Because this is an “Industrial CASE” studentship, the position is open to UK nationals only and it will attract a stipend of £18K per annum for three years. PhD stipends are not taxable and there are other small financial compensations to the status of registered research student. The position arises from a collaboration between the University of Nottingham and SIEMENS – a world-leading manufacturer of gas turbines for power generation with a manufacturing base in Lincoln.
Traditionally, gas-turbine powered generators utilise a gearbox to reduce the speed of the gas turbine drive shaft down to a speed where a synchronous generator can produce the required 50Hz (60Hz in the USA) frequency of the electricity grid. Fundamentally, this study will explore the viability of a set of new configurations of gas turbine generator sets where the power shaft of the gas turbine is coupled directly to a generator so that they spin at the same speed. The gearbox is then removed. Because the generator will then be spinning at a speed much higher than synchronous speed, it is necessary to use a set of power-electronics to convert the power from the generator to synchronous frequency. This PhD will address the complete set of considerations involved in making an engineering judgement for what arrangements of integrated gas-turbine generation will be commercially viable in the near future – and what will subsequently be possible in the future.
The PhD will be hosted in the Faculty of Engineering at Nottingham and the successful candidate will be based in the Gas Turbine Transmission Systems Research Centre but will also interact with the Power Electronics, Machines and Drives research group. He/she will also have the opportunity to spend some short periods at SIEMENs itself in Lincoln.
Application is by CV plus a short (maximum one-page) statement and they should be sent to Seamus.Garvey@nottingham.ac.uk before Dec 18, 2017 with the word “iCASE” in the title. Any additional information can be had by sending specific questions to the same Email address.