Ph.D at AVN Energy
Søren Stubkier, January 2011
As I ended my studies at Aalborg University as a Master of Electro-Mechanical System design after 5 years of studying I wanted to see “the real world” and start working as an engineer. However, I soon realized that combining every day work with theory, experiments and concentrated research would be a tough job. So when I was given the chance to work for AVN Energy as an industrial researcher, also known as an industrial Ph.D, there was no doubt in my mind.
Employed as an industrial Ph.D at AVN Energy I get the better of two worlds; the contact, feedback and knowledge exchange from a normal R&D department and the theoretical challenges, network and TIME to do the necessary research from the university environment. AVN Energy is the perfect partner for an industrial Ph.D due to their over 25 years of experience within the wind turbine industry. This means that I can draw a lot of knowledge and knowhow from their team of engineers and technicians.
The research program was initialized by AVN Energy and The department of Energy Technology at Aalborg University. The research program includes me dividing my time between working at the university, writing articles, teaching and supervising master students and the actual research at AVN Energy.
My project at AVN Energy was very clear straight from the beginning; developing a new hydraulic yaw drive for multi-MW wind turbines. This meant starting from scratch,
finding information on what has been done before, what are the demands for such a system and of course designing, developing and testing a prototype of such a hydraulic yaw system.
The research work divided between AVN Energy and Aalborg University means that the network on this project includes professors, associate professors supervising the project and several students working alongside me with problems regarding the hydraulic yaw system. Working together with the university also means that I have access to several other resources than just the human knowledge and expertise. I have access to advanced software, literature and workshop assistance.
