PhD Studentship - Process Industries: Net Zero 3D Heat Pipe Technology

Award summary

The studentship provides 100% fees (Home), a minimum tax-free annual living allowance of £19,237 (2024/25 UKRI rate), and a research training support grant of £20,000. 

Overview

This PhD project will develop next generation 3D Heat Pipes, to maximise thermal transport efficiency within advanced electronics for space and terrestrial applications.

Vapour chambers and loop heat pipes are proposed for development into a 3D format. Vapour chambers are ultra-thin heat pipes used to rapidly spread heat in the x-y plane. They have various applications in electronics cooling/heat spreading. 3D vapour chambers are a recent advancement combining a state-of-art 2D vapour chamber with a traditional heat pipe structure to allow heat spreading and dissipation across all 3 dimensions. Loop heat pipes incorporate a complex evaporator with flexible transport lines, that require development for utilisation in a 3D environment. This project will focus on the advancement of vapour chambers and loop heat pipes into 3 dimensional environments.

Potential applications include in-orbit satellite applications, where maximising thermal performance of waste heat transport from discrete, high heat flux heat sources is paramount, and aerospace applications where the geometry between the heat dissipating source and the heat sink may be tortuous. Other applications include battery pack cooling, cooling of PEM fuel cells and various other key enabling technologies in the drive to net zero.

This PhD project within the PINZ CDT will work closely with Boyd Ashington Ltd to develop the next generation of 3D cooling technologies.

Number of awards: 1

Start date: 15^th September 2025

Award duration: 4 years

Sponsor: EPSRC

Supervisors

Dr. Richard Law

Dr. Jonathan McDonough

Dr Ryan McGlen (Industrial Supervisor)

Eligibility criteria

You must have, or expect to gain, a minimum 2:1 Honours degree or international equivalent in a subject relevant to the proposed PhD project (usually chemical or mechanical engineering, or a related area). Enthusiasm for research, the ability to think and work independently, excellent analytical skills and strong verbal and written communication skills are also essential requirements.  

This studentship is available for home students only.

How to apply

You must apply through the University’s Apply to Newcastle Portal. Once registered select ‘Create a Postgraduate Application’.

Use ‘Course Search’ to identify your programme of study:

• Search for the ‘Course Title’ using the programme code: 8856F
• Leave the ‘Research Area’ blank
• Select ‘PhD in Process Industries; Net Zero (PINZ’) as the programme of study

You will then need to provide the following information in the ‘Further Details’ section:

• A ‘Personal Statement’ (this is a mandatory field) - upload a document or write a statement directly in to the application form.
• The studentship code PINZ01-25 in the ‘Studentship/Partnership Reference’ field.
• ‘Research Proposal’ - when prompted for how you are providing your research proposal – select ‘Write Proposal’. You should then type in the title of the research project from this advert. You do not need to upload a research proposal.

You must submit one application per studentship, you cannot apply for multiple studentships on one application.

Contact details

General enquiries: Richard.law2@ncl.ac.uk or pinz.cdt@ncl.ac.uk

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