JiangBiao He, assistant professor and L. Stanley Pigman Faculty Fellow in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has received a new award from the US National Science Foundation (NSF). The project is titled “Collaborative Research: Smart Coils for AC Motors,” and will be a collaboration with Kansas State University. It will be funded in the total amount of nearly $500,000 over three years. In this project, UK serves as the lead organization and He serves as the PI at UK.
Electric motors, generally powered by variable-speed drives, have been broadly used in electric vehicles, airplanes, robotics, industry automations and others. The new generation of fast-switching variable-speed drives induce significant insulation stress on the motor windings due to impedance mismatch and the associated high-frequency surge voltages. This project aims to develop smart coils’ technology for AC motors, which adaptively changes the winding surge impedance by manipulating the high-frequency components of the line voltages output from the drives. This collaborative research can significantly impact mobile energy technologies such as electric vehicles, electric aircraft, and robotics, where high reliability and high energy efficiency of electric motor-drive systems is the high priority.
He joined the UK Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in January 2019 after multiple years of industry R&D experience at GE Global Research and Rockwell Automation. His research interest includes power electronics, motor drives, renewable energy and smart grid.
Learn more about his research at his lab website.
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Science Foundation under Award Number 2135543. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.