Graduation: Battery Simulation Model

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About us

The Research, Development & Innovation department is indispensable in the realization of Damen’s ambition to become the most sustainable and digitally connected shipyard in the world.

We give support to the business in the development of an innovative product portfolio and offer pro-active advice with the aim to further improve the quality and performance of the Damen products and services.

The RD&I department is divided in three functions, i.e. Research, Development and Enabling Technologies. The Development teams support the business with technical consultancy and expert advice and acts as technological conscience in commercial projects. Therefore, they build on the technical knowledge developed by the five Research teams that focus on strategically relevant technology domains.

Damen invests substantially in its own internal R&D programs to develop the required knowledge and technology. Moreover, to enhance our knowledge, skills and capabilities beyond the state-of-the-art, we are very active in collaborative R&D projects with other industry stakeholders as well as academia and knowledge institutes, both nationally and internationally.

The Role

Batteries on board ships have several applications, such as ramp support, spinning reserve, peak shaving or fully electric power. Depending on the application, required optimal battery chemistry may also be different. As an example, full electric ferries often have several charge/discharge cycles in just one round trip or a Dynamic Positioning system on offshore vessels may have to deal with large peaks of discharge power in a very short time.

Thus, battery selection is very important. Over the last years Damen have build about 90 ships with large lithium-ion battery systems onboard. From some of these ships operational data is available. This data can be used for evaluating the operational use and performance of the battery systems. Based on these evaluation we can close the loop by improving the battery selection during the ship design.

In this assignment you will develop battery operational analytic methods. Data sets of real battery systems installed on ships will be available. These data sets are large in size and the quality will be variable. The following questions needs to be answered:

• Which statistical battery performance indicators reflecting the operational battery use and the battery performance
• How to align the performance indicators for design and operation
• How to derive the above indicators from large real data sets
• Evaluate the operational use and performance of batteries for at least two ship types, and compare the results with the design profiles
• Can the battery selection method be improved, in that case: how?

Key accountabilities

As a Master’s student at Electrical department of Damen RD&I you will face multiple aspects of applying advanced measurement and simulation methods in various phases of electrical integration of battery systems of a ship. To carry out these measurements and simulations various tools and equipment are available to achieve your research goal. You will be responsible from day one for the planning and execution of your thesis. You are expected to deliver a detailed in-depth analysis of your research problem and meanwhile be able to communicate the results and conclusions to other departments.

Skills & Experience

• Masters student with a good basis on Li-ion batteries
• Proficient in simulation skills of Python or MATLAB and Simulink
• System modeling and data analytics knowledge
• Good command of English, especially in writing

What we offer

• A monthly allowance will be paid for the duration of the assignment.
• Flexible working hours can be discussed!
• Proper mentoring at academic level will be available throughout the internship.