Hussain successfully defended his PhD thesis in Spring 2017. He joins Kuwait University as an assistant professor. EMPE lab wishes him best of luck in his career.

Amir defended his Master’s thesis titled “Modeling and Experimental Verification of Adaptive 100% Stator Ground Fault Protection Schemes for Synchronous Generators” on May 3, 2017. He is currently continuing as PhD student at EMPE lab.

Hussain successfully defended his dissertation titled “Linear Permanent Magnet Machines for Oil Pumping Systems” on Jan 18th, 2017. He worked on the replacement of the sucker rod pumping system with a permanent magnet linear motor which drives the reciprocating pump directly. In this system, the motor drive is placed on the surface and connected through a long cable to the downhole linear motor which drives the reciprocating pump. This system is intended to extend the use of sucker rod pumping systems to off-shore applications and deviated wells.
He discussed the new system challenges such as the high temperature downhole and the long transmission cable and proposed a DC system where the inverter is integrated with the motor downhole while the rectifier remains on the surface. Moreover, he developed a sensorless algorithm to drive the PM motor without downhole position or current sensors.
Finally, he built a pump monitoring system to detect the common pump faults.

EMPE lab congratulates Dr. Hussain for his successful defense and wishes him best of luck with his professional career.

Abdulkadir successfully defended his dissertation, titled “A System-Based Modeling and Simulation of a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) Electric Power Systems and Core Loss Analysis of Synchronous Generator and Induction Motor” on December 12^th, 2016. His research focused on harmonics effect on the core losses in machine caused by variable frequency drives. He made detailed analysis on different level of harmonics and showed their effect on the core losses. He also evaluated some experimental studies based on core losses in a synchronous generator.

Matthew successfully defended his dissertation, titled “Design and Analysis of Axial and Radial Flux Magnetic Gears and Magnetically Geared Machines,” on October 24^th, 2016.  His research focused on the design and analysis of magnetic gears and magnetically geared machines as potential compact, reliable, and cost-effective alternatives to mechanical gears and conventional direct drive machines for high torque, low speed applications.  During the course of his work, he developed an extensive MATLAB-based infrastructure for controlling various simulation models and analyzing their results.  He used these tools to investigate key magnetic gear design trends and construct multiple magnetic gear and magnetically geared machine prototypes, including a new patent pending compact axial flux magnetically geared machine.  He also created and evaluated generalized, parametric 2D and 3D magnetic equivalent circuit (MEC) magnetic gear models as significantly faster, but still extremely accurate alternatives to finite element analysis (FEA) models.

EMPE lab congratulates Dr. Johnson for his successful defense and wishes him best of luck with his professional career.

Prof. Toliyat and Matthew Gardner were awarded by Prof. Andy Knight Chair of the IEEE Industry Applications Society Electric Machines Technical Committee the 2016 Second Prize Paper Award for the following paper during ECCE 2016 in Milwaukee.

M. Johnson, M. Gardner, and H.A. Toliyat, “Analysis and Development of an Axial Flux Magnetically Geared Generator”, Proceedings of the ECCE’15, Montreal, Canada, Sept. 20-24, 2015.

More info

Dr. Toliyat recently visited Power Converters, Electrical Machines and Drive lab of Politecnico di Torino

From left to right: Dr. Radu Bojoi, Dr. Toliyat, Prof. Aldo Boglietti

    Khaled successfully defended his dissertation titled “Stator Windings Ground Fault Detection in Synchronous Generators” on May 31^st, 2016.  In his dissertation, electromagnetic analysis of the synchronous Generators stator winding ground faults is presented. Mathematical model for the synchronous generator under stator winding fault is being derived. In addition, a study is conducted using 2D FEA simulation and verified using experimental testing on the third harmonic ratio under-voltage protection scheme. Another study is conducted focusing on finding a unique signature for the stator ground fault in the neutral vicinity using wavelet transform. This analysis is an attempt to understand this phenomenon from the machine design point of view by looking at the generator terminal and neutral voltages. EMPE lab congratulates Dr. Khaled Ali Al Jaafari for his successful defense and wishes him best of luck with his professional career.

Vivek successfully defended his dissertation titled “Reliable Multiphase Induction Motor Drives” on Februaruy 5th, 2016.  As a part of his research, he investigated fault detection methods in 5 phase induction machines and optimal operation under a faulted condition.  EMPE lab congratulates Dr. Vivek Sundaram for his successful defense and wishes him best of luck with his professional career.

Jae-Bum successfully defended his dissertation titled “Multi-Phase Fault Tolerant PMSM Drive Systems” on March 3^rd, 2015. As a part of his research, he designed a 5 phase interior PMSM machine. He also evaluated, through simulation and experimentation, various control methods as part of closed loop speed control for a 5 phase, 10 lead interior PMSM.  EMPE lab congratulates Dr. Jae-Bum Park for his successful defense and wishes him best of luck with his professional career.

Yateendra successfully defended his dissertation titled “Automated Design Optimization of Synchronous Machines: Development and Application of a Generic Fitness Evaluation Framework” on September 29th 2014. As a part of his research, he studied machine design optimization problems for several different types of applications. He developed an integrated machine design optimization approach that was harnessed for development of novel PMSM constructions.  EMPE lab congratulates Dr. Yateendra Deshpande for his successful defense and wishes him best of luck with his professional career

Siavash successfully defended his dissertation on September 10th. His dissertation, entitled “Trans-Rotary Magnetic Gear (TROMAG) for Wave Energy Application” proposes a magnetic device (TROMAG) that transforms work between linear and rotary motion with a gearing action. In addition to founding the principles and studying the aspects of design, he performed analysis of the dynamic interaction between a buoy capturing wave energy, a TROMAG, and a rotary generator. Furthermore, Siavash designed, fabricated, and tested a prototype TROMAG. The EMPE lab congratulates Dr. Siavash Pakdelian for his successful defense and wishes him the best of luck with his professional career.

Robert successfully defended his dissertation on June 11^th. His dissertation, entitled “Permanent Magnet Assisted Synchronous Reluctance Machine (PMa-SynRM) Design and Performance Analysis for Fan and Pump Applications” proposes an optimized PMa-SynRM design which improves performance and efficiency for these electric machines. Additionally, through analysis and experiments, he verified the superiority of his design with respect to performance and cost savings as compared to traditional induction machines. EMPE lab congratulates Dr. Robert Vartanian for his successful defense and wishes him best of luck with his professional career.

Babak successfully defended his dissertation on May 5^th. His dissertation is about vehicular power conditioners. A novel experimental modeling method for multiwinding transformers, novel integrated coupled ac inductors, and extending the vehicular power conditioning concept to multiport vehicular integrated power systems are among his major contributions. EMPE lab congratulates Dr. Babak Farhangi for his successful defense and wishes him best of luck with his professional career.

Dr. Hamid Toliyat, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been selected an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Industry Applications Society (IAS) Distinguished Lecturer.

The Distinguished Lecturer Program provides a means for IEEE Chapters and other organizations to identify and arrange lectures by the world’s renowned authorities on IEEE IAS topics. To be elected to the Distinguished Lecturer Program, the nominated candidates must demonstrate excellence in a field of specialty of interest to IEEE IAS.

EMPE Lab gathering for Hamidreza’s farewell dinner

Hamidreza successfully defended his dissertation on November 22. His dissertation is about fault-tolerant partial-resonant high-frequency ac-link converters and their applications. EMPE lab congratulates Dr. Hamidreza Keyhani for his defense and wishes him best of luck with his professional career.

Mahshid successfully defended her dissertation on June 14. Her dissertation is about a family of high frequency ac-link universal power converters. She has developed new topologies within this family of power converters and evaluated the applications of these topologies in wind, photovoltaic and energy storage systems.  She is joining the University of Illinois at Chicago as a tenure track Assistant Professor from fall 2013. EMPE lab congratulates Dr. Mahshid Amirabadi for her successful defense and wishes her best of luck with her professional career.

The Outstanding Dissertation Award of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University was given to Mahshid Amirabadi for the academic year of 2011-2012.

The Outstanding Dissertation Award was recently established to recognize the contributions of a Ph.D. student who has excelled in research conducted as part of their Ph.D. dissertation. Graduate students who expect to graduate by Summer 2013 were eligible for this award and nominations were accepted from the thesis advisors of graduate students. The award recipient was chosen by the departmental awards committee.

Amirabadi’s thesis advisor is Dr. Hamid Toliyat. Her dissertation focuses on a new class of power converters called “ac-link universal power converters,” in which the inputs and outputs can be dc, ac, single phase or multi-phase. Therefore, they can be employed in a wide variety of applications including Photovoltaics and wind power generation.

Yateendra Deshpande, graduate student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and a member of EMPE lab won a Best Presentation Award in the PM Machine Drives Track at the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) IECON 2012 conference in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Deshpande, along with his adviser Prof. Hamid Toliyat and Xiaoyan Wang from Texas Instruments, won the award for their paper, “Standstill Position Estimation of SPMSM — Robustness to Manufacturing Tolerances.” In their paper the researchers present a calibration method to overcome phase unbalance and eccentricity effects in zero-speed position estimation of surface-mount permanent magnet synchronous motors

Dr. Hamid Toliyat, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been selected an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Vehicular Technology Society (VTS) Distinguished Lecturer.

The Distinguished Lecturer Program provides a means for IEEE Chapters and other organizations to identify and arrange lectures by the world’s renowned authorities on IEEE VTS topics. To be elected to the Distinguished Lecturer Program, the nominated candidates must demonstrate excellence in a field of specialty of interest to IEEE VTS. more