Research Assistant within Intelligent Reversible CO2 Heat Pumps at SDU

The Faculty of Engineering of the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) invites applications for a 2-year Research Assistant position within sustainable cooling and heating technologies. The candidate will be offered the exciting opportunity to make reversible CO2 heat pumps “intelligent”. All the activities will be carried out within the ULTRA project in close collaboration with relevant Danish industrial partners. The application deadline is 28 June 2024 at 11.59 PM/23.59 (CET/CEST)
The Faculty of Engineering of the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) invites applications for a 2-year Research Assistant position within sustainable cooling and heating technologies. The candidate will be offered the exciting opportunity to make reversible CO2 heat pumps “intelligent”. All the activities will be carried out within the ULTRA project in close collaboration with relevant Danish industrial partners.

The application deadline is 28 June 2024 at 11.59 PM/23.59 (CET/CEST)

Unique opportunity
The SDU Cooling and Heating Research Group is a recently established investigation unit in the lately founded Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (IME). IME is building up a Mechanical Engineering Degree and laboratories to support the educational activities as well as its research and commercial activities. Therefore, the candidate will have the unique opportunity to influence the further development of both the research group and IME.

Workplace description
IME covers innovation, research, and education spanning from fundamentals to applications of engineering science. All our courses are taught in English reflecting the fact that more than half our students and staff are internationals. The Cooling and Heating Research Group is located at SDU's beautiful campus in Sønderborg, in the inspiring building of Alsion, which is a centre for science, culture and learning in the heart of Sønderborg and perched on the strait of water separating the island of Als from the mainland. The university has very close relations to the industry in Sønderborg, Southern Denmark and Northern Germany, among others. A significant fraction of the projects in the centre are conducted in close cooperation with the industry, which count world leading companies in crucial fields, such as e-mobility and energy efficiency.

Research project
The ULTRA project aims at making reversible CO2 heat pumps “intelligent”, i.e. being capable of performing with very high efficiency all year round thanks to their advanced control system, through:

• demonstration of a dedicated control algorithm for ejector-equipped reversible CO2 heat pumps,
• demonstration of an energy optimizing algorithm to guarantee that reversible CO2 heat pumps operate efficiently all year around,
• demonstration of a control algorithm to optimize the maintenance schedule and thus further reduce their energy consumption.

The three algorithms will target from small domestic reversible heat pumps to large scale heat pumps for industrial and district heating/cooling applications. At present, in fact, R&D and commercialization activities in the whole heat pump industry have almost completely focused on the performance enhancement of the overall heat pump and their components. Thus, none of the control algorithms is currently available on the market.

All the tasks involved in the ULTRA project will be conducted in close collaboration with AIT Varmepumper ApS and Bitzer Electronics A/S. The ULTRA project has received funding from Fonden for Retfærdig Omstilling.

Job description
The successful candidate will:

• carry out the technical, dissemination and management activities related to the ULTRA project,
• be involved in the daily supervision of Master and Bachelor students working on similar scientific topics,
• publish her/his work in scientific journals with high impact,
• assist in teaching activities,
• engage in funding applications.

Profile and requirements
The successful candidate should have:

• a BSc and MSc Degree in mechanical engineering (or within energy or mechatronics or electrical engineering or similar),
• a strong background in Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, Control Engineering and Energy Conversion Systems,
• experience in implementing advanced simulation models of energy systems (preferably of vapour-compression heat pumps) by using Simscape and/or Simulink and/or OpenModelica and/or Dymola/Modelica,
• experience in experimental activities,
• great capacities to work both in team and independently,
• strong communication skills in English, both spoken and written.

Contact information
For further information, please visit www.sdu.dk/dme and contact Associate Professor Lars Duggen, (Head of Centre for Industrial Mechanics, tel. +45 65501640, e-mail: [email protected]) or Associate Professor Paride Gullo (tel. +45 65507314, email: [email protected]) or Associate Professor Hossein Ramezani (tel. +45 65509217, email: [email protected]).

If you experience technical problems, please contact [email protected].

Application procedure
Before applying the candidates are expected to read the SDU information on how to apply and specific faculty information for application at the Faculty of Engineering.
The application shall include the following documents in English:

• Letter stating the interest, motivation, and qualifications for the ULTRA project (max. 2 pages).
• Detailed Curriculum Vitae, including personal contact information and a description of your research as well as any other relevant qualifications, e.g. teaching experience, computational skills, experimental experience, etc.
• References (names and emails) and/or reference letters may also be included.
• Verified copies of Certificates/Diplomas (Bachelor and Master) – Danish and/or English transcripts with full list of exams graduated during both BSc and MSc programme.
• Complete list of publications (if any).
• Publications most relevant to the position if you have any. Please attach as one PDF-file for each publication (only full text publications (i.e. no links).

UPLOAD GUIDE: CV shall be uploaded as ‘Resume’, Letter stating the interest etc. shall be uploaded as ‘Cover letter’. All additional documents shall be uploaded as ‘Micsellaneous documents’ when applying.

Assessment and selection process
Read about the Assessment and selection process.

Applications will be assessed by an assessment committee or an expert. Shortlisting may be applied. Only shortlisted candidates will receive a written assessment. Read about shortlisting at SDU.

Interviews and tests may be part of the process.

Conditions of employment
Appointment as a research assistant is temporary and for an initial 2-year period. Given appropriate finances, the possibility for contract extension is available depending on the candidate’s performance and available funding. Starting date is expected to be September 2024.

Employment as research assistant requires educational qualifications at minimum master’s level (equivalent to a Danish master’s degree) at the time of employment.

The successful applicant will be employed in accordance with the agreement between the Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. Further information on salary and taxation.

The application deadline is 28 June 2024 at 11.59 PM/23.59 (CET/CEST)

Formalities

• According to the University of Southern Denmark’s internal guidelines, there must be at least three qualified applicants to a position before it can be filled.
• Documents should not contain a CPR number (civil registration number) – in this case, the CPR number must be crossed out.
• The application and CV must not exceed 10 MB.

The University of Southern Denmark wishes to reflect the surrounding community and therefore encourages everyone, regardless of personal background, to apply for the position.

Further information for international applicants about entering and working in Denmark. You may also visit WorkinDenmark for additional information.

Further information about The Faculty of Engineering.

Placering: Sønderborg, Denmark