Energy profile and Improvements in the electronics Industry

Semester project

Open position

Type: Semester Project (10 credits)

Period: Autumn 2017

Assistants: Ivan Kantor

Context

To pursue the goals of an energy-efficient and low-carbon future, it is necessary to understand the needs of industry. Material and energy flow data are often not available for specific plant sites but more generic industrial data are publicly available in journal articles, reports, books and others. The project will make use of such generic data, supplemented with expert knowledge, to create the generic profile of the electronics industry in Switzerland from which to identify opportunities for process improvements.

Objectives

The goal of this semester project is to understand the electronics manufacturing sector and to create a generic profile of the process needs and identify potential improvements using process integration techniques. This profile will include the heat, electricity, water and material demands for the different products in the industry with careful documenting of the information sources for possible publication and later use within the IPESE group. Models will be constructed using the tool of the IPESE group, OSMOSE, to describe the industrial case for use by colleagues.

Tasks

Building on what has already been done, your main task will be to:

  • Carrying out a thorough literature review on the indusry, especially in the context of Switzerland
  • Based on the literature review, create a model which represents the sector in the Swiss context
  • Thoroughly document all data sources to ensure reproducibility
  • Identify opportunities in the industry through process integration

Requirements

Desired hard skills are:

  • Energy conversion systems knowledge (EPFL courses: Thermo I/II, Energy conversion, Advanced Energetics, or equivalent)
  • Programming skills: MATLAB, Lua or similar languages
  • Optimization (EPFL courses: Modelling and Optimization of Energy Systems or equivalent)

Other soft skills which are highly appreciated:

  • Autonomy and self-organisation
  • Ability to communicate results
  • Good English writing skills

How to apply

If interested, please take contact with Ivan Kantor, attaching your CV, Cover Letter and transcript of records (Bachelor’s and Master’s).

Compensation

As the IPESE research group is now located in Sion, students will need to commute. A travel expense compensation of 600 CHF will be given to students for semester projects. The days of presence in Sion will be agreed with the project supervisor.