Power Electronics Test Engineer

Power Electronics Test Engineer

GigaGrid has an exciting opportunity for a Power Electronics Test Engineer. In this position you will work directly with the research and development team and be responsible end-to-end lifecycle development for GigaGrid’s cutting-edge power electronics product suite. We are looking for an innovator and leader who will help influence the clean energy landscape. As a Power Electronics Test Engineer, you will directly contribute to the clean tech landscape by testing GigaGrid’s product suite against a rigorous specification and test/compliance suite, thus supporting distributed solar and battery storage applications.

Key Responsibilities

Include but are not limited to:

• Develop test protocols, procedures, fixtures and stations to qualify and validate the functional design and specifications of GigaGrid’s prototypes, sub-assemblies, and final products.
• Hands-on execution of hardware in the loop and firmware in the loop tests for various sub-systems (power electronics, battery, master controller, cloud).
• Translate test results and key findings into design recommendations or updates and work with the R&D/Product teams to implement them.
• Develop firmware and configurations for power converters (DC/DC, bi-directional DC/AC, battery charging) modules that support GigaGrid’s and Endeavour’s evolving needs.
• Integrate, test and validate new firmware releases in coordination with the software team for feature releases.
• Board bring up, documentation, coordination of re-work/hardware fixes for new iterations and prototypes.
• Participate in the certification, compliance, and qualification process for GigaGrid’s product lines.
• Work and support cross-functional teams of hardware, firmware, and software/platform engineers throughout the engineering and system integration efforts.
• Understand schematics, system interfaces and architecture and develop test scenarios and qualification processes according to the system requirements.
• Work with vendors to develop assembly procedures, end of line testing/validation processes during manufacturing and scale up phase.
• Participate in engineering design reviews before releases at various stages.
• Take ownership of code base, hardware design repository, and manage individual tasks, deadlines, and deliverables.
• Travel up to 5-10% of the time.

Education and Experience

• Minimum B.S. in Electrical/Computer Engineering, or equivalent. Master’s or other advanced degrees preferred.
• 2-5 years of experience in developing firmware for power electronics used in industrial, automotive/traction or utility scale applications.
• Hands on experience with –
• Power electronics converters ranging from 2 to 20 kW systems
• Power hardware in the loop setups, best practices etc.
• DSPs, Microcontrollers, FPGAs, Micro-Processors, and standard peripheral components
• Integrated peripherals like PWM, ADCs, DACs used to implement control functions.
• SPI, CAN, RS-232, EMIF, EDMA, HPI, I2C, serial UART, and similar protocols
• Embedded peripherals like Programmable Real-Time Unit and Industrial communication subsystems (PRU-ICSS), RTC, etc.
• Experience in testing and compliance in different phases of the product life-cycle for the power conversion unit (e.g. – first boot up, factory testing, in-field commissioning/installation, user/system interaction and decommissioning).
• Experience in developing boot manager and boot loader systems.
• Experience in developing test scenarios for functional testing, corner cases, and documenting fixes.
• Hands-on experience with EE lab equipment like O’scopes, logic analyzers, spectrum analyzer, signal generators, power supplies, grid simulators, load banks etc.
• Hands-on experience with battery-based systems, Li-ion chemistry, battery management systems etc. is a plus.
• Familiarity with TI CCS Platform and similar IDEs.
• Familiarity with Altium PCB designer.

Specific Skills / Abilities

• Prior experience in hardware architecture, board design, board bring-up and prototype and new product experience is a plus.
• Working experience with different topologies used for isolated and non-isolated power converters, inverters, DC/DC converters, MPPT algorithms etc.
• Strong skills in real-time, embedded firmware implementation, testing, validation experience on DSP and FPGA platforms using C/C++/VHDL/Verilog.
• Experience with multi-core systems, ARM-Cortex A series Micro-Processor units (MPUs) and TMS320 series DSPs is a plus. Deep understanding of real-time operating systems on multi-core platforms, inter-core communication, data exchange and interrupts.
• Experience with hardware in the loop systems like Opal-RT, RTDS, Typhoon, dSPACE etc.
• Strong understanding of principles behind soft-switching, resonant power conversion, their control techniques as well as concepts like MPPT for PV, isolation monitoring etc.
• Strong understanding of grid-code and compliance with standards like IEEE 1547, UL 1741, UL9540 etc, fundamental concepts behind grid-forming, grid-following inverters etc.
• Collaborate and communicate complex technical concepts.
• Proficient in documentation of test results, findings, and reports/recommendations.
• Work in a dynamic, diverse, and multicultural, and cross-functional team.
• Knowledge of version control (Git or equivalent) and hardware/software feature releases.

About GigaGrid

The GigaGrid product team is developing a plug-and-play framework for monitoring and controlling the power grid. The GigaGrid framework consists of low-cost edge-computing nodes that can interface with geo-dispersed assets and work autonomously. The smart nodes can work in bandwidth constrained environments, using flexible communication pathways to the GigaGrid backend. The GigaGrid product lines revolve around solutions for grid monitoring, control and automation that can help to optimize grid operations as the adoption of distributed energy resources, such as solar, batteries, and electric vehicles, grows dramatically. The GigaGrid product team consists of engineers who are seeking creative, motivated team members to help them take innovative ideas and turn them into tangible solutions.