Visiting Scholars are back…
One of the things we sorely missed during the pandemic was the in-person collaboration with scholars from around the world. We are thrilled that these exchanges resumed this past summer and are continuing through the schoolyear!
The summer kicked off with visits from and to Europe:
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Lennart Jünemann, PhD Student from Institute for Drive Systems and Power Electronics (IAL) at the University of Hanover, Germany, visiting Prof. Bulent: “At WEMPEC I worked on my PhD topic High Frequency Modeling of Drive Systems. The discussions with the other students and the WEMPEC staff had an outstanding added value for my thesis and my personal development.” Left: Lennart with Prof. Bulent at the Annual Review |
| Julius Wiesemann, PhD Student from Institute for Drive Systems and Power Electronics (IAL) at the University of Hanover, Germany, visiting Prof. Bulent: “During my time at WEMPEC, I tied up a lot of loose ends for my dissertation in the field of active gate drivers for EV drive inverters. Discussing my ideas with my colleagues at WEMPEC was very helpful and opened up new perspectives.” |
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Rafael Castillo Sierra, WEMPEC PhD Student, visiting Prof. Dionisio Ramirez at the Universidad Politéchnica de Madrid (UPM) in Spain: “In Madrid I worked on laboratory activities related to my doctoral work on low-frequency AC transmission. The discussions with Prof. Dionisio Ramirez on control schemes and converter commissioning were valuable for my progress as a Ph.D. student.” |
Currently, we have visiting PhD students from Asia and South America staying with WEMPEC for six months:
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| Takahiro Noguchi, PhD student from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, has joined Prof. Severson’s group to collaborate on the design and control of bearingless machines. | João Henrique de Oliveira from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil, joined Prof. Giri to work in the area of Microgrids for remote communities in the Amazon. |
… and inter-university collaboration continues!
As part of a project sponsored by NASA, Ohio State University and WEMPEC are collaborating on the development of a high-performance 1 MW integrated modular motor drive (IMMD) for electric aircraft propulsion. OSU designed the modular SiC-based inverter, while WEMPEC developed the PM machine and controls. After 4+ years designing and building the components, both teams recently met at WEMPEC for several weeks to integrate the IMMD and verify its operation. The prototype was then shipped to NASA’s NEAT facility in Ohio for final testing up to 1 MW.
WEMPEC PhD students Ken Chen, Wenda Feng, James Swanke, Hao Zeng, and Xiaoyuan Zhang with OSU Research Associate Rob Borjas (3rd from left) during IMMD integration tests on WEMPEC’s 170 kW dynamometer