The use of conventional air conditioning and refrigeration technologies causes global warming through the emissions of greenhouse gases. This research addresses a real societal problem: Supply of cooling/heat pumping with low environmental impact (no use of fluids with high global warming potential). Here, the operation is based on magnetocaloric effect (MCE). The MCE is a physical phenomenon occurring in magnetic materials (MM) under the effect of a varying magnetic field. For normal MMs, magnetization leads to heating of the material whereas the demagnetization causes cooling of the material. The novelty and originality of this proposed system is by using magnetocaloric nanoparticles suspended into a base liquid in a thermosiphon-like system. Unlike the common AMRs, this system does not include a separate solid-magnetocaloric-regenerator and therefore does not need to be coupled to any other secondary fluids. Furthermore, this system will benefit from the buoyancy effect, which makes it more energy-efficient. Use of MNF in the system leads the absence of moving parts necessary to make the fluid to flow in cooling devices. It gives also the possibility to tune thermophysical properties of the MNF through the change in the external magnetic field. There will be two PhD students working closely together on this project, providing a state - of - the - art infrastructure (both experimental and numerical).

Candidates will have to spend some time abroad with one of the industrial partners to have initial training. In the course of the research candidates will be encouraged to tutor MSc students who do their final assignment on sub projects pertaining to their PhD research.

Requirements:

• Master degree in Mechanical Engineering, Metallurgy, Chemical engineering, Applied Physics or similar subjects;
• A thorough knowledge of fluid mechanics (including multiphase flows) and heat transfer.
• Candidates should have either proven relevant expertise in CFD modelling particularly programming with c++ or a strong background in experimental techniques (e.g. LDA or PIV)
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to work independently as well as in a team.
• Good communication skills and fluency in both written and spoken English: Candidates with a non-Dutch qualification and who have not had secondary and tertiary education in English can only be admitted with an IELTS-test showing a total band score of at least 6.5, internet TOEFL test (TOEFL-iBT) showing a score of at least 90, or a Cambridge CAE-C (CPE).
• An affinity for writing in scientific journals and giving presentations at scientific conferences.

Information

Questions regarding these positions can be directed to Mina Shahi, PhD (Assistant Professor), phone: +31-53-4892362, email: m.shahi@utwente.nl 

Application

The application should comprise a letter of motivation, a curriculum vitae, a list with grades of courses attended, contact information of 2 referees and – if applicable – a list of publications. Applications should be sent before July 10th , 2017, through the link below.

We offer a challenging PhD position in an inspiring multidisciplinary environment. As a PhD candidate you will be appointed in a full-time position for a period of 4 years at the University of Twente (UT), The Thermal Engineering (TE) research group. In accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, a PhD salary starts at € 2.222,- gross per month in the first year and extends to a maximum of € 2.840,- gross per month in the fourth year. The University of Twente provides excellent facilities for professional and personal development, a holiday allowance (8%) and an end-of-year bonus (8.3%) and a number of additional benefits.

The University of Twente. We stand for life sciences and technology. High tech and human touch. Education and research that matter. New technology which drives change, innovation and progress in society. The University of Twente is the only campus university in the Netherlands; divided over five faculties we provide more than fifty educational programmes. The University of Twente has a strong focus on personal development and talented researchers are given scope for carrying out pioneering research.

The Faculty of Engineering Technology (ET) is one of the five faculties of the University of Twente. ET combines Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Industrial Design Engineering. Our faculty has approximately 1800 bachelor and master students, 400 employees and 150 PhD candidates. The departments of the faculty cooperatively conduct the educational programmes and participate in interdisciplinary research projects, programmes and the research institutes: MIRA, CTIT, SBE  and IGS.