INTERNSHIP DETAILS

Internship or Graduation: Thermal Battery Model

CompanyDamen
LocationGorinchem
Work ModeOn Site
PostedMarch 20, 2026
Internship Information
Core Responsibilities
The intern will improve and validate an existing thermal model for an air-cooled battery pack using measurement data, system identification, and optimization techniques. Key tasks involve processing data, developing thermal/electrical models, fitting parameters, and simulating temperature evolution for future vessels.
Internship Type
full time
Company Size
6019
Visa Sponsorship
No
Language
English
Working Hours
40 hours
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About The Company
Oceans, seas, lakes and rivers offer growing possibilities in the areas of trade, food, energy and recreation. To ensure global prosperity for next generations and keep the earth habitable with an ever-increasing population, it is essential to utilise and protect these possibilities as efficiently and responsibly as possible. Damen provides unprecedented maritime solutions for this, through design, shipbuilding, ship repair and related services. We offer versatile platforms that enable our customers to be successful and that raise the standard in terms of safety, reliability, efficiency and sustainability. We want to become the most sustainable shipbuilders in the world. In the previous century, we revolutionized shipbuilding. Thanks to standardisation, we were able to supply our customers with better ships, faster. More than 90 years and 6,500 ships later, the importance of standardisation is only increasing in the light of zero-emissions and digitalisation. We do not build our ships alone, but together with an extensive network from the international maritime cluster. We firmly believe in the power of sharing. It means that we also use our craftsmanship to build platforms on production facilities that are not ours. In this way, through knowledge transfer, we not only contribute to better, safer and more eco-friendly ships, but also to sustainable local development and prosperity. We are a family owned business and stand for fellowship, craftsmanship, entrepreneurship and stewardship. Our playing field is the world. Our horizon is the long term. We firmly believe in our team, but also in the strength of the individual. Each colleague is an entrepreneur, focused on ensuring truly satisfied clients and making our contribution to a better world. In every aspect of our business the next generation is our starting point.
About the Role

We offer you an Ocean of Possibilities. Join our family.

About us

The Research, Development & Innovation department of Damen helps the company to become the most sustainable and digitally connected shipyard in the world. We give support to the business in the development of an innovative product portfolio and offer pro-active advice with the aim of further improving the quality and performance of the Damen products and services. The RD&I department is divided into Research, Development, and Enabling Technologies branches. You’ll join the RD&I Workboats team at Damen Gorinchem Development, working on an exciting range of vessels such as tugs, multipurpose workboats, high‑speed craft, and city ferries. Our team of 10 colleagues with diverse backgrounds offers a supportive and energetic environment where you can learn, contribute, and make real impact. 
 
The role

Within Damen, we are supporting the transition toward low and zero emission shipping by heavily investing in electrification. This includes developing modular battery systems, hybrid propulsion solutions, and efficient charging concepts. A key challenge is ensuring that battery systems are safe, reliable, and optimally sized for different vessel types and operational profiles. Accurate thermal modelling plays a central role in achieving this. 

Your mission is to improve and validate an existing thermal model for an air-cooled battery pack using measurement data together with system identification and optimization techniques. The project focuses on three research themes: 

  • Lifetime: Higher average temperatures accelerate degradation, reducing capacity and increasing lifecycle cost. 
  • Safety: Poor thermal control can lead in extreme cases to thermal runaway, a selfaccelerating chemical reaction that can propagate to other cells or modules. 
  • Battery Selection: Temperature predictions determine required cooling capacity, power limitations and guide decisions on battery type and overall pack size for a vessel. A reliable thermal model is essential to avoid over and under-design. 

Key accountabilities
As an intern, you will: 

  • Process and clean raw measurement data 
  • Analyze thermal behavior  
  • Develop a thermal/electrical battery model  
  • Apply system identification to determine dynamic thermal parameters 
  • Implement and test an appropriate optimization method for parameter fitting 
  • Validate predicted module temperatures against experimental data 
  • Use the model to simulate temperature evolution for future vessels and operational profiles 
  • Provide insights into optimal battery usage to extend lifetime and improve safety margins 

Skills & experience

At least several skills/experiences from the following list are required to be considered:

  • Bachelor or Master student in Mechanical Engineering, Systems & Control, Applied Physics, Electrical/Maritime Engineering, or similar
  • Affinity with modelling, system identification, and data analysis 
  • Proficient in Python or MATLAB 
  • Interest in battery systems, thermal management, and sustainable technology 
  • Communicates fluently in English 

What we offer

  • Academic level mentoring throughout the internship 
  • Internship compensation and travel allowance in line with company policy 
  • Hands on experience with enterprise AI adoption in a high impact environment 
  • A project with direct relevance to multiple business functions and future digital products 
  • Potential for internal rollout, and possibly a publication or conference contribution depending on results 

Other

Are you ready to sail into your new adventure at Damen? Don’t hesitate, send us your motivation letter and resume here.

Due to housing issues we cannot accept international students that do not have accommodation in the Netherlands yet.


Recruiter:

Liselotte van Veenendaal

Email:

liselotte.van.veenendaal@damen.com

Please apply through the Apply Button. Due to GDPR reasons we cannot accept applications by email.

Key Skills
ModellingSystem IdentificationData AnalysisPythonMATLABBattery SystemsThermal ManagementSustainable TechnologyMechanical EngineeringSystems & ControlApplied PhysicsElectrical EngineeringMaritime EngineeringOptimizationParameter FittingSimulation
Categories
EngineeringScience & ResearchEnvironmental & SustainabilityEnergyData & Analytics