Thesis work Fault current simulations in DC power systems

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This Position reports to:

R&D Team Lead

Your role and responsibilities

With the increase of both DC energy production and DC energy consumption, the interest in DC systems for electric power distribution is increasing. The behavior of the system when a fault occurs will differ fundamentally depending on the design of the system, e.g. voltage level, presence of energy storage, and how the system is fed. For a safe operation, the energy dissipated into faulty equipment needs to be known and possibly limited to acceptable values to minimize damage to the equipment and people.

Details:

The work will be conducted as a master thesis (30 hp) during the spring 2027 at ABB Corporate Research facilities in Västerås, Sweden, with proposed start in January.

Tasks

The proposed master thesis will aim to, in a structured way, evaluate the behavior and fault currents in a DC network and the dependence on how the network is designed and powered. The work will be based on electric system simulations in suitable software, e.g. PSCAD or Simulink/Simscape.

• •Summarize the state of the art and currently ongoing activities in the field
• •Summarize possible converter topologies for feeding a DC network
• •Evaluate fault current shapes and levels with different converters and control
• •Evaluate the requirements for current limitation or interruption where necessary

Preferred background

• •Master’s program in Electrical engineering or Electrical power systems or similar
• •Curious and interested in the subject of future power systems
• •Experience in electrical simulations, e.g. Simscape or PSCAD
• •Knowledge in power converters or power electronics is a benefit

More about us

Jesper Magnusson, ABB Västerås, jesper.magnusson@se.abb.com

Elisabeth Lindell, ABB Västerås, elisabeth.lindell@se.abb.com

A future opportunity

This role is part of our talent pipeline, which means it’s not currently open, but we’re always looking for curious minds, bold thinkers, and people who want to make an impact.

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