Instituto de energía solar

PhD position – Industrial doctorate
Thermophotovoltaic batteries

Thermophoton, a spin-off company of the Solar Energy Institute (IES-UPM), is looking for a candidate willing to follow the PhD to develop a novel battery that stores surplus renewable generation and produces combined heat and electricity on demand. This innovation has recently been awarded by the European Commission with the Innovation Radar Prize.

The PhD work will be aligned to a recently granted EU project (THERMOBAT) where a “latent heat thermophotovoltaic battery” will be co-developed by five companies and research institutions in the EU. The final goal of the project is to scale up the R&D findings of a recently finished EU project (AMADEUS) and build a 100-kWh demonstrator that will be tested in real conditions.

The candidate will contribute to the development of the battery prototype, in the activities related to the design and implementation of the control system to develop a fully operative prototype, as well in the instrumentation needed for the characterization of the system.

The activities will be carried out in a collaboration between Thermophoton and the Instrument and Systems Integration research group of the IES-UPM. The PhD candidate will have full access to the IES-UPM laboratories. 

REQUIREMENTS 

• Master’s degree in industrial electronics/ electrical / control and automation engineering or similar.
• Hands on experience on control systems and automation will be a plus.
• Knowledge of technical software and programming languages (CAD, Labview, Matlab, PLCs, etc.) will be a plus.

GENERAL CONDITIONS

• Gross salary equivalent to official Spanish PhD fellowships,
• Incorporation: April 2023 (could be flexible) 

APPLICATIONS 

Candidates should send his/her resume and transcripts to Ignacio Antón 

Download the pdf document here.

Research Position Available at the Group of III-V Semiconductors on 

Flexible and light weight III-V multijunction solar cells enabling high power density applications

The use of photovoltaic solutions in large greenhouse gas emitters such as the transport sector remains incidental. Technological alternatives are needed that provide solar cells adapted to these markets demanding PV devices with high efficiency, low mass and flexible to be able to line curved surfaces. Applications such as electric vehicles, wearables and some unmanned aircrafts (i.e. drones, stratospheric balloons, pseudo-satellites,.) represent a great opportunity to expand photovoltaic solutions, but require power to mass ratios equal to or greater than 1 kW/kg, unreachably by todays mainstream crystalline silicon photovoltaic technology. This project will develop III-V semiconductor multijunction solar cells to achieve power-mass ratios of till 3 kW/kg.
The III-V Semiconductors Group at the Solar Energy Institute of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid is a world leading research group in the field with an experience of more than 20 years. The activity of the III-V Semiconductors Group covers the whole value chain of the flexible solar cells (design, manufacturing and characterization) and also their integration in flexible modules.

SCOPE

The work proposed will be framed within the “State R+D+I Program Oriented to the Challenges of Society” funded by the Spanish Research Agency. The tasks to accomplish will be focused on the development and manufacturing of flexible solar cells together with the formation of flexible modules and it includes the design, experimental manufacturing and electro-optical characterization.

REQUIREMENTS

• A degree plus a master in Physics, Electronic Engineering or Materials Science
• Basic knowledge on semiconductor physics, device physics and electronic materials.
• Good academic record (above 7.5/10)
• Great motivation for scientific work and ability for team work
• Full proficiency in English and basic knowledge of Spanish (or commitment to get it!) for foreign students. The full proficiency in English also applies for Spanish native speakers.
• Starting date in November of 2022.

GENERAL CONDITIONS

• The selected candidate would start the work in our group with a contract within the frame of a project of “State R+D+I Program Oriented to the Challenges of Society”.
• The research work could crystalize in a doctoral thesis
• Excellent experimental infrastructure with unique facilities in Spain and international atmosphere.
• Attendance to scientific conferences worldwide
• Research stays in partner labs in Europe and/or the USA

APPLICATIONS
Interested candidates should send his/her CV and transcripts of all graduate and master coursework to Prof. Carlos Algora.

Deadline: 20 October 2022

Click here to download the pdf file

PhD position 

Thermophotovoltaic batteries

The Solar Energy Institute at Technical University of Madrid (IES-UPM) is looking for a candidate willing to follow the PhD to develop thermophotovoltaic (TPV) devices. The PhD work will be aligned to a recently granted EU project (THERMOBAT) where a new kind of energy storage device will be developed. The system is called “latent heat thermophotovoltaic battery” and will be co-developed by five companies and research institutions in the EU. The final goal of the project is to scale up the R&D findings of a recently finished EU project (AMADEUS) and build a 100-kWh demonstrator that will be tested in real conditions. Read more

REQUIREMENTS

• Master’s degree in mechanical / electrical / materials engineering, or similar.
• Hands on experience on electron devices (soldering, assembly, etc) will be a plus.
• Knowledge of technical software and programming languages (CAD, Labview, Matlab, etc.) will be a plus.
  

GENERAL CONDITIONS

• Gross salary equivalent to official Spanish PhD fellowships (FPU): 18,200 €/year
• Incorporation: June 2022 (could be flexible)

APPLICATIONS

• Candidates should send his/her resume and transcripts to Alejandro Datas [a.datas (at) upm.es]

REFERENCES TO THE TEAM AND PROJECT

• IES-UPM - Silicon and New Concepts for Solar Cells Research Group 
• AMADEUS project (Euronews report)
• AMADEUS (Project video)
• Latent heat TPV batteries
• Press release

Published: April 4th, 2022