Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

ECpE’s Aliprantis Receives NSF CAREER Award to Optimize Electric Machine Performance

 

Contacts:
Dionysios Aliprantis, ECpE Assistant Professor, (515) 294-7387, daliiastate.edu
Dana Schmidt, communications specialist, (515) 294-3071, schmidtdiastate.edu

Ames, Iowa -- Electric machines as they currently exist may never be the same again if Dionysios Aliprantis has his say about it.

Aliprantis, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, recently won a National Science Foundation CAREER Award to research methods to decrease the weight and size of motors and generators, as well as improve their efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

“The vast majority of electric machines rotate in a single direction over their lifetime,” Aliprantis says. “This fact is not currently taken into account during the design process, which is essentially based on century-old concepts. Improved designs will lead to enhanced performance for the preferred direction of rotation. This research will initiate the systematic study of unidirectionally rotating electric machines.”

Aliprantis hopes to achieve improved performance of these machines by precisely sculpting the stator and rotor surfaces, thus affecting the electromagnetic field in the machine’s air gap. This will increase the production of electromechanical torque without compromising the machine’s electrical operational characteristics.

For comparison, think about how a ceiling fan operates. A ceiling fan’s blades are angled slightly so that as the fan rotates around in the same direction, the air is pushed down where you want it. In electric machines, Aliprantis seeks to alter the shape of the teeth in the stator and rotor to one that creates the best performance possible as the machine rotates in the same direction throughout its entire life.

Aliprantis’ methodology would allow wind turbine engineers to modify their generator designs to handle the most power possible using the least amount of materials. Similar design techniques also could be applied to machines in hybrid-electric vehicles, hybrid trains, aircraft, and ships.

“In particular, electric vehicles will benefit tremendously from this since they will be able to carry more lightweight motors on board, improving their fuel efficiency,” Aliprantis says.

Previous studies by European and U.S. researchers estimate that the use of high-efficiency motors in motor-driven systems—like the electric machines Aliprantis aims to develop—can lead to billions of dollars in overall economic operational savings and millions of tons of carbon dioxide emissions reductions worldwide.

And what’s especially unique about Aliprantis’ work is that he is developing a framework to find optimal designs that can be applied to nearly any rotating electric machine type.

“I’m trying to revitalize education and research in electric machines, which has seen a decline in interest in recent years,” Aliprantis says. “This is timely and important because electric vehicles use electric motors and wind turbines use electric generators, and the industry is desperately trying to recruit engineers with the appropriate skill set to design those machines.”

As part of his research project, Aliprantis also will reach out to local high school students and become a mentor for kids interested in becoming engineers. Additionally, he plans to create a college course on electric machine operation and optimization, as well as establish virtual communities about power engineering careers on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

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