Experience · H3X Technologies
Mechanical Engineering Intern
At H3X Technologies, I designed a range of mechanical systems for their ultra-high power density motor/inverter units for aerospace, subsea, industrial and defence applications.
- Dates
- Sep 2025 – Dec 2025
- Duration
- 4 months
- Location
- Colorado, USA
- Focus
- Inverter integration
About this reflection
My work at H3X Technologies is covered by a non-disclosure agreement, so this page has no designs, drawings or data. It describes the work at a high level and what I took away from it.
HPDM-500 inverter integration
I owned the mechanical design of the HV-DC and inverter integration area of the HPDM-500. It was a smaller “system” than many of my projects at other companies, but there was a drive to create the best possible solution. I spent hours in Ansys analyzing parts to remove grams from the system, and just as much time on extensive creepage and clearance analysis of the inverter area so we could keep compressing its form factor.
Because the constraints on the system were extremely tight, I spent a lot of time working through acceptable MMC and LMC conditions of parts for assembly analysis. That analysis drove the drawings for every part I released at H3X.
I also designed a high-speed rotating assembly for lifetime analysis of bearings and seals, and for testing the critical thermal performance of those systems. Throughout this work I used Ansys extensively for mechanical and vibration simulation, and I completed and released GD&T drawings for every part I owned during the internship.
Team & reflection
I absolutely loved the sense of ownership I had over the parts I designed at H3X. I had really strong mentorship, and because these are ultra-high-performance, aerospace-grade motors, the expectation of quality was very high. That limited how much scope a younger engineer could take on, but I left with the deeply satisfying sense that my designs would work as intended and be reliable for the company in the future.