Liquid Metal Experimentalist - Stabilization

FuseNet; Grenoble; On-site; EUR 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

FuseNet in Grenoble is seeking a talented Experimentalist for Flow Control and Actuation to design and stabilize liquid metal flows in innovative fusion technology. This role involves hands-on experience with flow control systems, programming, and collaboration with engineers and scientists.

The ideal candidate holds an MSc in a relevant field and has experience with electrical actuators and flow diagnostics. Join a pioneering team dedicated to commercializing advanced fusion solutions.

Qualifications

• MSc in electrical, control, or mechanical engineering or equivalent.
• Hands-on experience in implementing flow control systems.
• 2+ years programming experience in Labview, Python, MATLAB Simulink.

Responsibilities

• Identify relevant flow instability scales in liquid metal experiments.
• Demonstrate open loop stabilization and design closed-loop feedback systems.
• Contribute to the experimental demonstration of stabilizing LM flows.

Skills

Flow control systems implementation

Programming in Labview

Signal processing

Hands-on experience with electrical actuators

Education

MSc in engineering (electrical, control, mechanical)

Tools

Labview

Python

MATLAB Simulink

Job description

Renaissance Fusion is the first Magnetic Confinement Fusion company in the EU.

We are building the first net-energy producing stellarator by combining proprietary innovations in the manufacturing of next-generation High-Temperature Superconducting (HTS) magnets and liquid metal (LM) walls.

In addition, these technologies can find applications in several other industries, including medical imaging, energy storage and "big science". We are forming a team of the smartest, most driven engineers and business persons to realize and commercialize our non-fusion products within 2 years and our fusion solutions within 10 years.

What we are looking for

Imagine gravity-defying free-surface liquid metal layers, 0.5 m thick. Imagine them to coat the inside ("ceiling", walls and "floor") of the fusion device, and flow at several m/s. Can you picture that? Good. Now imagine being the leader of the Department that will make this a reality. Such heat-removing, neutron-shielding layers will be key to the commercial success of fusion with our approach and, we believe, with any other sensible approach. Excited? Keep reading.

We are looking for a talented EXPERIMENTALIST in FLOW CONTROL and ACTUATION to design, implement and run the control loops used to STABILIZE gravity-defying layers of flowing liquid metal.

Responsibilities

Individual responsibilities

• Identify the relevant length-scales and time-scales of the flow instabilities taking place in in-house liquid metal (LM) experiments.
• Make or buy suitable hardware and software to control instabilities. Demonstrate open loop stabilization.
• Build and improve space- and time-resolved diagnostics of LM thicknesses and flowrate (resistive, capacitive, etc.).
• Design, build and successfully test the closed-loop feedback system.
• Scale up sensing, actuating and feedback solutions from small demonstrators to large industrial facilities in harsh environments. Maximize Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Inspectability (RAMI).

Responsibilities as a team member

• Contribute to the experimental demonstration of stabilizing gravity-defying LM flows.
• Contribute to the scale-up of Renaissance Fusion’s integrated HTS-LM demonstrator to industry-relevant scales.
• Work with in-house material scientists and experimentalists to optimize the sensing and actuating electrodes, substrates, inlets, outlets, diagnostics ports and other parts in terms of wettability, resistance to corrosion, electric and thermal conductivity, flow perturbation etc.

Qualifications - essential

• MSc in electrical, control, mechanical engineering (fluid mechanics/hydraulics) or equivalent.
• Hands‑on experience in implementing and running flow control systems, especially with electrical actuators.
• 2+ years of programming experience in Labview, Python, MATLAB Simulink or equivalent.
• Real-time signal processing.
• 1+ years of experience in handling low voltage, high current actuation systems.

Qualifications - desirable

• PhD in electrical, control, mechanical engineering (fluid mechanics/hydraulics) or equivalent.
• Knowledge of hydrodynamic and magnetohydrodynamic flow instabilities.
• 1+ years of theoretical understanding of and experimental experience in surface physics (wetting, contact resistances, etc.).
• 1+ years of experience in setting up, calibrating and interpreting flow diagnostics (ultrasound velocimetry, electric potential measurements, etc.).