About the position

A 100 % position is available at the University of Agder, Faculty of Engineering and Science as a PhD Research Fellow in Mechatronics, affiliated to the Department of Engineering Sciences, for a period of three years. The position is located, at the present, at Campus Grimstad. The starting date is negotiable with the Faculty.

University of Agder

The University of Agder has more than 1400 employees and 13 000 students. This makes us one of the largest workplaces in Southern Norway. Our staff research, teach and disseminate knowledge from a variety of academic fields. Co-creation of knowledge is our common vision. We offer a broad range of study programmes in many fields. We are situated at two modern campuses in Kristiansand and Grimstad respectively.

We are an open and inclusive university marked by a culture of cooperation. The aim of the university is to further develop education and research at a high international level.

Responsibilities

Estimating remaining useful lifetime of critical components, e.g. bearings, stator winding, aims to avoid sudden shutdowns and plan maintenance in advance, thereby improving reliability and availability of rotating machinery. Remaining lifetime prediction methods have been intensively developed in both industry and academia for decades based on diagnostic measurements or expectancy analysis. The remaining lifetime of a component can be analytically estimated by the measured quantities and analytical models, e.g. Arrhenius equations, or Paris-Erdogan law. Alternatively, artificial intelligent data-driven models have recently gained a great attention in diagnosis and prognostics of rotating machinery. Most existing methods require failure historic data from observed sensors, which are very hard to obtain, especially in such a system without a previous failure or in regular maintenance. Therefore, new methods or techniques need to be developed to address the challenges of limited data, accuracy and robustness in prognostics of machinery.

The objective of the research is to find new methods and improve the state-of-the-art for estimating remaining useful lifetime of critical components in rotating machinery. The proposed methods must be robust against noise, high accuracy, and applicable with no or limited historic failure data. Further, the proposed solution must be reliable in a harsh working environment, low-cost by using common sensors integrated in machinery.

The potential tasks or topics for the PhD research fellow include, but are not limited to:

• Target faults: bearings, stator windings, gearboxes and broken bars.
• Advanced signal processing: spectrograms extraction, adaptive filtering, particle filtering.
• Machine learning algorithms: CNN, Support vector machines, etc.
• Modelling and identification: cracking and degradation process.
• Development of a standardized experimental setup equipped with reasonably priced and reliable sensors: vibration, current, temperature, speed and other sensors.

Required qualifications

Provisions relating to the positions as PhD Research Fellows can be found in the Regulations Concerning Terms and Conditions of Employment for the post of Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Research Fellow, Research Assistant and Resident.

The applicant must have:

• A solid academic background with a master’s degree within Mechatronics or Mechanical Design or electromechanics or a similar/related field. This year’s candidates/candidates who are in the closing stages of their master’s degree can also apply.
• Good experience and/or background in signal processing, fault diagnosis and prognosis, applied mathematics and machine learning
• Programming in Python, Matlab, C++
• Strong writing skills for research paper

The working language at the University of Agder is Norwegian. The successful candidate is highly expected to be proficient in Norwegian or another Scandinavian language, both written and oral.

Good knowledge of English, both written and oral, is also required.

A prerequisite for employment is that the candidate is to be admitted to UiA’s PhD programme in Engineering and Science, specialisation in mechatronics.

Personal qualities

The Faculty is seeking candidates with good communication skills for communication both with the industry, research partners and PhD colleagues. In addition the candidate must have the ability to work independently and with a critical attitude.

Personal qualities and suitability for the position will be emphasised.

We offer

• Professional development in a large, exciting and socially influential organisation
• A positive, inclusive and diverse working environment
• Modern facilities and a comprehensive set of welfare offers
• Membership of the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund

More about working at UiA.

The position is remunerated according to the State Salary Scale, salary plan 17.515, code 1017 PhD Research Fellow, NOK 479 600 gross salary per year. A compulsory pension contribution to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund is deducted from the pay according to current statutory provisions.

General information

A good working environment is characterised by its diversity. We therefore encourage all qualified candidates to apply for the position, irrespective of gender, age, disability or cultural background. The University of Agder is an IW (Inclusive Workplace).

Women are strongly encouraged to apply for the position.

The successful applicant will have rights and obligations in accordance with the current regulations for the position, and organisational changes and changes in the duties and responsibilities of the position must be expected. Appointment is made by the University of Agder’s Appointments Committee for Teaching and Research Positions.

Read more about the employment process.

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act § 25 (2), applicants may request that they are not identified in the open list of applicants. The University, however, reserves the right to publish the names of applicants. Applicants will be advised of the University’s intention to exercise this right.

Application

The application and any necessary information about education and experience (including diplomas and certificates) are to be sent electronically. Use the link "Apply for this job".

The following documentation must be uploaded electronically:

• Certificates and certified transcripts for bachelor's-, master's degree. Applicants with foreign higher education must attach an official description of the grading system used at the issuing institution
• List and links of the applicant's scientific publications, if any
• A summary of Master’s thesis
• References (referee names and contacts)
• A short tentative research proposal of not more than 2 pages, including reference list, highlighting the background and research for the intended study that meets the research topic

Please do not submit large documents, like thesis or publications. If any additional information is required, the applicant will be informed later.

The applicant is fully responsible for submitting complete digital documentation before the closing date. All documentation must be available in a Scandinavian language or English.

Application deadline: 10.08.19

Contact

For questions about the position:

• Professor Kjell G. Robbersmyr, tel. +47 37 23 32 79, mobile +47 994 61 613, e-mail kjell.g.robbersmyr@uia.no
• Assistant Head of Department, Tom Viggo Nilsen, tel. +47 37 23 32 55, e-mail tom.v.nilsen@uia.no

For questions about the application process:

• HR Advisor Nina Rønningen, tel. +47 38 14 20 16, mobile +47 48 15 77 61, e-mail nina.ronninge@uia.no

Apply for this job