Alan Mantooth
Researchers at the University of Arkansas will help lead a new $18.5 million engineering research center to design and develop vehicle electrical systems that are more powerful, efficient and heat-resistant.
Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the Power Optimization for Electro-Thermal Systems center, or POETS, will focus on improving current thermal and electrical limits in vehicle designs to make cars more fuel efficient and extend the range of electric cars.
Alan Mantooth, professor of electrical engineering at UA, will be deputy director of the research center and Andrew Alleyne, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will serve as director.
“POETS has assembled a great team of engineers and scientists poised to have a substantial impact on power electronics technology, transportation systems, the workforce and the economy,” Mantooth said in a news release.
In addition to the UA, partners include Howard University, Stanford University, the University of Sao Paolo in Brazil, the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which will serve as the lead institution.
The partners will work on new technologies such as three-dimensional thermal circuitry for cooling, next-generation power converters and algorithms for coordinating the technologies automatically.
“We are extremely excited to have the opportunity to help drive the boundaries of high-power density technologies into systems for the next decade and beyond,” Mantooth said.
Alleyne said the goal is to increase the power density in vehicles by 10 to 100 times.
Mantooth is executive director of the National Center for Reliable Electric Power Transmission, a 7,000-SF, $5 million power electronic test facility at the UA. He is also executive director of the university’s Grid-Connected Advanced Power Electronic Systems, a National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center that works to improve the power grid.
Sign up for Daily E-news
