Intern, Medium Voltage Test Engineering

Job Overview

You will build and operate the high-voltage test infrastructure we use to characterize and qualify insulation systems in medium-voltage power electronics. This role owns a real piece of the reliability validation loop: test bench setup, dielectric characterization campaigns, degradation analysis, and structured failure mode documentation.

How You Will Contribute

• Design, build, and operate medium-voltage test benches: HV power supplies, measurement dividers, partial discharge detection systems, protective earthing schemes, and safety interlocks.
• Own bench system design: HV clearances, grounding architecture, protection strategy, measurement integrity, and safe operating procedures.
• Build and document test fixtures for cable assemblies, busbars, insulation specimens, and HV subcomponents—to a standard someone else can operate safely.
• Learn and strictly enforce MV lab safety protocols: electrical clearances, interlock design, lockout/tagout, and safe approach procedures.
• Execute dielectric strength tests—AC/DC withstand and impulse—against defined acceptance criteria; own data collection and reporting.
• Perform insulation resistance, polarization index, and dielectric loss (tan δ) measurements using HV megohmmeters, LCR bridges, and dielectric analyzers.
• Run partial discharge (PD) measurements end to end: system setup, acquisition, PRPD pattern generation, and first-pass interpretation.
• Execute accelerated aging and environmental stress campaigns on insulating materials under thermal, humidity, and combined stress conditions.
• Track and analyze degradation trends across test campaigns: capacitance drift, tan δ evolution, PD magnitude and repetition rate, breakdown statistics.
• Build structured data workflows and visualizations that clearly show baseline, stressed, and failed states—and make the trajectory actionable.
• Produce failure mode documentation: what failed, what the failure mechanism was, what the precursor signals were, and what changed.
• Partner with design and materials engineering to translate test findings into corrective actions and design improvements.
• Support post-failure analysis: specimen dissection, cross-section preparation, visual and microscopic inspection, comparison against reference specimens.
• Maintain sample tracking logs, calibration records, and test procedure documentation to production-quality standards.

What You Will Bring

• Pursuing a BS or MS in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or Materials Science.
• Coursework in electromagnetics, dielectrics, or high-voltage engineering—or demonstrated independent study in this area.
• Genuine technical interest in high-voltage physics, insulation behavior, and failure mechanisms.
• Strong debugging instincts: ability to isolate failure modes, design targeted experiments, and close findings into documented root causes.
• Detail-oriented and safety-conscious—MV lab work demands rigor and discipline.

Nice-to-Haves

• Exposure to partial discharge theory, dielectric spectroscopy, or high-voltage lab techniques.
• Familiarity with IEC or IEEE dielectric testing standards (IEC 60243, IEC 60270, or similar).
• Experience with data analysis and visualization in Python or MATLAB.
• Prior lab research in materials characterization, high-voltage systems, or power electronics.