Highlights 2007-2008

Our New Professor: Alejandro Domínguez-García

We welcome our new Assistant Professor, Alejandro Domínguez-García. Dr. Domíınguez-García is a native of Spain and has been living in the United States for the last six years. He received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2007, and the degree of Electrical Engineer from the University of Oviedo (Spain) in 2001. After finishing his Ph.D., he spent some time as a post-doctoral research associate at MIT’s Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems. Before his Ph.D. studies, he worked in the Department of Electrical Engineering of the University of Oviedo where he held the position of Assistant Professor.

Dr. Domíınguez-García’s research lies at the interface of system reliability theory and control theory, with special emphasis on applications to power electronics, electric power systems, and safety-critical/fault-tolerant aircraft, aerospace and automotive systems. His three new graduate students will be doing research on the following topics: “A MATLAB/SIMULINK Tool for Set-Membership Reliability and Performance Analysis of Fault-Tolerant Systems,” “A Design and Validation Methodology for Fault-Tolerant Power Electronics Systems,” and “A Set-Membership Framework For Dynamic Security Assessment of Power Systems.” This fall he is teaching ECE 430: Power Circuits and Electromechanics, and in Spring 2009 he will teach a new course, ECE 598: Dynamic System Reliability.

Undergraduate Grainger Center Research and Leadership Program

This new program supports students with a CEME Undergraduate Research and Leadership Award of $10,000 per academic year. Awardees work an average of ten hours per week on research projects in CEME laboratories during the academic year, successfully complete CEME-related courses, and actively participate in a leadership role in a range of CEME programs. Involvement in research enhances classroom experiences and helps develop creativity and engineering leadership skills. Awardees work on the cutting edge where new discoveries are being made, with the chance to contribute to innovations, scientific explorations, and inventions intended to bring revolutionary change to energy. They participate in a community of graduate students, faculty, and staff who learn, create, and serve together. Awardees are supported throughout their undergraduate career—provided they remain active in the CEME, successfully complete the associated curriculum, and maintain high academic standards. In spring 2008, Samatha Gunter and Taylor Wu were selected. Samantha will be a senior in fall 2008 and Taylor a junior.

Electric Machine Design Research Grant funded by the Office of Naval Research

Professors Krein and Chapman received funding in May from the Office of Naval Research to further investigations dedicated to improving electric machine design, a key focus of the Grainger Center since its formation in 1999. They are collaborating with Georgia Institute of Technology and Purdue University. Georgia Tech, one of the few institutions teaching a course on motor design, is home to Professor Ron Harley, an expert on the design of electric machines. Purdue has worked with the Office of Naval Research and other organizations interested in updating machine design for many years. The three institutions will each look at different angles of electric machine design.

The Office of Naval Research is interested in converting the Navy’s diesel engines into electric motors. However, Professors Krein and Chapman expect the research to be generally applicable. They are considering transportation applications, including hybrid electric cars and airplanes, as well as home appliances and small motors. Eventually, they hope to produce tools that will enable a competent engineer to design electric machines that are light and inexpensive, with improved performance.

Research will take place on each campus and in the Fourth Naval District in Philadelphia. Professors Krein and Chapman want students involved with this consortium to work as a group rather than try to reinvent research at each individual school. Such an arrangement allows students at all three universities to learn the same topics, while teaching one another new things along the way.

“We need not only the research, but we need the students that come out of that research who go out there and establish the benefits,” Professor Chapman said. “Industry right now can’t hire people with that knowledge because it hasn’t been taught for a long time. We need to reestablish that... We have the opportunity to be one of the only universities in America teaching the subject. It will give us very good positioning for the area of electric machine design.” To that end, Professors Krein and Chapman are continuing work on their textbook for undergraduate education entitled Electromechanics: The Science and Engineering of Electrical Forces and Motion. It is scheduled to be available in late 2009.

Information for this news item was taken from an article written by Bridget Maiellaro and published on the ECE Illinois Web site on June 26, 2008.

New Research Engineer: Kevin Colravy

Kevin Colravy, the research engineer for the power and energy group, has been installing a new Magna-Power 240 V dc power rectifier system (±120 V dc at 160 A from 480 V ac 3-phase) to send dc power to the undergrad lab benches in the Grainger Electric Machinery Lab and the grad lab benches in the Advanced Power Applications Lab. It is also accessible in other specified labs in Everitt Laboratory. The two new dc power supplies, ready for installation, are shown in the figure.

He has also been loading and testing two new power supply boards for the modular inverter. The modular inverter for advanced control applications was designed from the collaboration of nine different Ph.D. candidates from the Grainger CEME group over many years. The new power boards are loaded with insulated gate bipolar transistors allowing up to four phases at 400 V and 40 A per phase.

The group has purchased a second Magtrol dynamometer, which will be set up with a new CEME modular inverter. A modification to the power board includes five newly installed isolated power supplies. The dynamometer is used in the testing of a variety of motors and generators, including torque and speed curves.
Kevin has also assisted many students using the Grainger Electrical Machinery Lab for their Senior Design Projects (ECE 445), for Independent Study (ECE 397), and to create or repair Engineering Open House demonstrations.