Staff Profile - School of Engineering

Professor Volker Pickert

Professor of Power Electronics

Email: volker.pickert@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 6684
Fax: +44 (0) 191 208 8180
Address: Newcastle University
School of Engineering
Merz Court
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU, UK

Prof Pickert studied Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Science and Technology (RWTH) Aachen, Germany and the University of Cambridge, UK. During his study in Aachen he worked for three years as a student assistant at the Institute of Automotive Systems (IKA), working in the field of hybrid electric vehicles. After the completion of his studies Prof Pickert received a three year PhD scholarship from the Research Committee of Newcastle University for research in the field of power electronics. Following his PhD, he spent six years in industry before returning to academia. From 1998 to 1999 he worked as an application engineer and later as product manager for Semikron GmbH, Germany. From 1999 to 2003 he worked in the research and development department within the Volkswagen Group, Wolfsburg, Germany. As the group leader for electric power drive trains for electric vehicles he was responsible for power electronics systems, electric drives and vehicle electrical systems for electric and fuel cell vehicles. In October 2003 Prof Pickert was appointed as Senior Lecturer at Newcastle University and he became Professor of Power Electronics in 2011. In 2012 Prof Pickert became the Head of the Electrical Power Group. Within eight years he managed to grow the size of the group to above 100 researchers, doubled the number of awarded projects, doubled the number of articles and quadrupled research income. In 2020 Prof Pickert became the Director of Discipline for Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) coordinating all research and teaching activities relevant to EEE. In 2020 Prof Pickert also became the Director of the EPSRC Doctoral Training Centre in Sustainable Electric Propulsion which will train over 50 PhD student over the next 5 years.

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS

Summary:

Value of total directly awarded grants and contracts: £20M
Number of received funded projects: 62
Number of publications and presentations: 180
Number of past/active supervised Research Associates & PhD students (main): 42

Major Management Roles:

8 years - Head of Electrical Power Group (14 academic staff, 34 Research Associates, 65 PhD students).

1 year - Director of Discipline for Electric and Electronic Engineering.

Leadership:

I established that Newcastle University has become a leading academic centre for electric vehicle research in the UK. In 2013, 50% of the group project income was on electric vehicle related research.
As Degree Program Director, I grow the MSc program Electrical Power from 8 students in 2003 to 62 students in 2011 bringing in significant income to the School
Editor-in-Chief of the IET Power Electronics (highest IF3.7). Manage 70 Editors and Associate Editors.
Director of the EPSRC CDT in Sustainable Electric Propulsion. The Centre will train over 50 PhD students.

Research Impact:

I developed a new chip temperature estimation technique that is implemented in all Control Techniques (now Nidec Co.) high performance electric drives (produced 250,000 units).
In 2017 I started working in a new research area called dynamic conductive road charging. This topic has generated publicity in terms of press releases, public affairs and broadcastings.
I established a novel method in health monitoring of power converters that has been fully accepted as the leading standard within the academic community. The key article has a citation rate of 25 citations per annum since 2013. I have over 40 publications in the field of health monitoring and I received the innovation award from the Faculty of Science and Engineering for my work.

Teaching:

In 2011 and in 2017 I was nominated for the “Best Lecturer of the Year” award within the Faculty of Science and Engineering.
I wrote the Industrial Project Guideline Handbook that has become the master template for all Schools within Newcastle University raising teaching standards.

Esteem:

In 2010 I was the Chair of the bi-annual international IET Power Electronics, Machines and Drives Conference in Brighton.
Advisory panel of the IET flagship event: World first TTXGP electric motor bike racing at the famous TT racing event.
Selection of keynote speeches: (ITEC), Dearborn, Michigan, 2015, (ITEC-Pacific), Bangkok, Thailand, 2018. (CIPS), Berlin, Germany, 2020.

MAJOR AWARDS AND PRIZES

01/1994 I was the 1st exchange student between the Institute of Power Electronics and Electric Drives (Prof. Skudelny), RWTH Aachen University and the Department of Electrical Engineering (Prof Williamson), Cambridge University.

09/1994 Received a full PhD studentship from the Newcastle University Research Council.

11/2011 Denny Medal Award for most worthy paper published in the Journal of Marine Engineering and Technology. The Denny Medal is awarded annually since 1893 from the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology (IMarEST).

09/2013 Innovation of the Year Award for “Intelligent Gate Drive Design for High-Reliability Power Electronic Devices” from SaGE Faculty.

07/2018 My research team won the European Siemens Power Electronics Tapas Challenge competing against 230 other institutions in Europe.

08/2018 Best Paper Award at IEEE International Conference on Computing Electronics & Communications Engineering (iCCECE), Essex, UK.

09/2019 Received The IET Outstanding Editor-in-Chief Award for excellent management of the IET Power Electronics journal.

ORGANISATION OF CONFERENCES, SYMPOSIA, COLLOQUIA AND TUTORIALS

A. Conference chairman

IET Power Electronics, Machines and Drives Conference (PEMD), Brighton, April 2010 (320 delegates from 32 countries).
IET conference workshop on “Electric Vehicles – the journey from power station to wheel“, Birmingham, August 2011 (90 delegates from 11 countries)

European Centre for Power Electronics (ECPE) on Availability on Power Electronics in Automotive and Aircrafts, Stuttgart, July 2019 (expect over 100 delegates from over 10 countries)

B. Keynotes

More Electric Transport – Activities in the UK, IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference & Expo (ITEC), Dearborn, Michigan, 14-17 June 2015
Tracked Electric Vehicles (TEV) Project, IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and Expo Asia-Pacific (ITEC Asia-Pacific), Bangkok, Thailand, 06-09 June 2018
Present and Future of Fault tolerant Drives applied to Transport Applications, IEEE International conference on Integrated Power Electronics systems (CIPS), Berlin, Germany, 24-26 March 2020 (postponed due to Covid-19)

C. Session chair

Power Electronics, Machines and Drives Conference (PEMD), Dublin, April 2006.
2^nd European Ele-Drive Transportation Conference (EET), Brussels, May 2007.
Power Electronics, Machines and Drives Conference (PEMD), York, May 2008.
Power Conversion Intelligent Motion, (PCIM), Nuremberg, May 2009.
Power Conversion Intelligent Motion, (PCIM), Nuremberg, May 2011.

14th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications (EPE), Birmingham, August/September 2011.

Power Electronics, Machines and Drives Conference (PEMD), Birmingham, May 2012.

IET Hybrid and Electric Vehicles Conference 2013 (HEVC), London, November 2013.

Power Conversion Intelligent Motion (PCIM), Nuremberg, May 2015.

Power Electronics, Machines and Drives Conference (PEMD), Liverpool, April 2018.

IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and Expo Asia-Pacific (ITEC Asia-Pacific), June 2018

IEEE MTT-S Wireless Power Transfer Conference (WPTC) and IEEE PELS Workshop on Emerging Technologies: Wireless Power (WoW), London, June 2019

D. Organising and Steering Committees

18^th International Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exhibition (EVS18), Berlin, October 2000.
IET Power Electronics, Machines and Drives Conference (PEMD), Dublin, April 2006.
2^nd European Ele-Drive Transportation Conference (EET), Brussels, May 2007.
Power Conversion Intelligent Motion, (PCIM), Nuremberg, May 2007.
IET Power Electronics, Machines and Drives Conference (PEMD), York, May 2008, (Conference Vice Chairman).
Power Conversion Intelligent Motion, (PCIM), Nuremberg, May 2008.
3^rd IET Hybrid and Eco-Friendly Vehicles Conference 2008, Warwick, December 2008.
Power Conversion Intelligent Motion, (PCIM), Nuremberg, May 2009.
_{IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference, (VPPC), Dearborn, Sep. 2009.}
Power Conversion Intelligent Motion, (PCIM), Nuremberg, May 2010.
6th International Conference on Integrated Power Electronics Systems, (CIPS), Nuremberg, March 2010.
Power Conversion Intelligent Motion, (PCIM), Nuremberg, May 2011.
14th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications (EPE), Birmingham, August/September 2011.
7th International Conference on Integrated Power Electronics Systems, (CIPS), Nuremberg, March 2012.
IET Power Electronics, Machines and Drives Conference (PEMD), Bristol, April 2012 – International Advisory Panel
Power Conversion Intelligent Motion (PCIM), Nuremberg, May 2013.
NMI workshop, Power Electronics for the smart home, Newcastle, July 2013.
IET Hybrid and Electric Vehicles Conference 2013 (HEVC), London, November 2013.
PLECS workshop, Modelling and simulation of power electronic systems, Newcastle, March 2014.
Power Conversion Intelligent Motion (PCIM), Nuremberg, May 2014
Power Conversion Intelligent Motion (PCIM), Nuremberg, May 2015
8th International Conference on Integrated Power Electronics Systems (CIPS), Nuremberg, March 2014
Power Conversion Intelligent Motion (PCIM), Nuremberg, May 2016
9th International Conference on Integrated Power Electronics Systems (CIPS), Nuremberg, March 2016
Power Conversion Intelligent Motion (PCIM), Nuremberg, May 2017
11th International Conference on Integrated Power Electronics Systems (CIPS), Stuttgart, March 2018
3^rd International Electric Vehicle Technology Conference & Exhibition (IEVTech), Bangkok, June 2018
IEEE International Transportation Electrification Conference and Expo (ITEC), Bangkok, June 2018
IEEE MTT-S Wireless Power Transfer Conference (WPTC) and IEEE PELS Workshop on Emerging Technologies: Wireless Power (WoW), London, June 2019

E. Selected invited presentations at universities outside UK
China: Zhejiang University, Dalian University of Technologies, Xiuha University, North
China Electric Power University, Harbin Institute of Technologies, Nanjing Normal
University, Chongqing University
Malaysia: The National University of Malaysia
Germany: RWTH Aachen
Canada: Mc Master University
Japan: The University of Tokyo
USA: Massachusetts University of Technology (MIT)

SERVICE AS A REFEREE FOR CONFERENCE PAPERS, JOUNALS AND BOOKS

I regularly serve as a reviewer for the following journals and conferences:

Springer Publishing House --- IET Circuits, Devices & Systems --- IET Electric Power Applications --- IET Power Electronics --- IET Electronic Letters --- IET Power Electronics, Machines and Drives Conference (PEMD) --- IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II --- IEEE Vehicle Power Propulsion Conference (VPPC) --- IEEE Industrial Electronics Society Conference(IECON) --- IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Electronics Conference (ISIE) --- IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics --- IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics --- Power Conversion Intelligent Motion (PCIM) --- International Universities' Power Engineering Conference (UPEC) --- Conference on Power Electronics and Applications (EPE) --- The International Journal for Computation and Mathematics in Electrical and Electronic Engineering (COMPEL)--- Institution of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST) --- International Journal of the Federation of European Simulation Societies (EUROSIM) --- International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education (IJEEE), Elsevier Journal of Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory --- Elsevier Journal Applied Energy.

SERVICE AS A REVIEWER FOR GRANTS AND PROPOSALS

Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Qatar National Research Foundations (QNRF)
Business plans from industries asking for financial support from regional development agencies or other funding organisations.
Singapore National Research Foundation (SNRF)
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Energy Innovation Programme Office (EIPO-Singapore)
Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft mbH (FFG-Austria)
Irish Research Council

SERVICE AS EXAMINER

External examiner for the MSc programme Automotive Technology Management at Cranfield University 2011-2014

External examiner for the MSc programme Electrical and Electronic Engineering at University of Sheffield 2014-2019

External examiner for the UG programme Mechatronic at University of Nottingham (China & Malaysia) 2018-2021

Number of internal Ph.D. examinations: 3

Tushita Abeyasekera, Max Parker, Warren Blewitt

Number of external UK Ph.D. examinations: 13

Ciprian Antaloae (Cranfield University), Dave Williams (Sheffield University), Peter James (Manchester University), Ponggorn Kulsangcharoen (Nottingham University), Dirk Kok (Sunderland University), Jonathan Davidson (Sheffield University), Ahmed Badawy (Strathclyde University), Xin Zhang (Sheffield University), Attahir Murtala Aliyu (Nottingham University), Jose Ortiz-Gonzalez (Warwick University), Ahmed Al-Karakchi (Northumbria University), Quirin Kellner (Warwick University), Kee B Nam (Sheffield University), Shangjian Dai (Sheffield University).

Number of international Ph.D. examinations: 3

Mika Ikonen (Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland), Annegret Klein-Hessling (RWTH Aachen, Germany), Otto Kreutzer (Friedrich Alexander Universiteat, Germany).

ADVISORY PANELS

2002 Member of the European Standardization Group for emissions measurements of hybrid electric vehicles.

2005 Royal Society of Chemistry, White paper on future power drive trains.

2008-2010 One North East think-tank group for future regional development.

2009 IET Technical Advisor for TTXGP - World's First Zero Carbon, Clean Emission Electric Bike

Grand Prix.

2009-2012 Performance Test Track Steering Committee.

2010-2013 IET Power Generation, Conversion and Utilisation (PGCU) professional network Executive Team.

2010 IET Safety Aspects of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Steering Group.

2010-2011 NMI Power Electronics Strategy Group on the White paper “Power Electronics – The UK

Strategy” for Mark Prisk, Minister of State for Business and Enterprise.

2011 North East representative for the Automotive Interest Group at Business, Innovation and

Skills/Local Enterprise Partnerships (BIS/LEP).

2012-2014 International Advisory Board for “Encyclopaedia of Automotive Engineering” book from Wiley

Online Library, Online ISBN: 9781118354179.

2012 Wireless Charging Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles (Technical Insights), D2EA—TI, Frost &

Sullivan.

2012 Study on Disruptive Innovation in eMobility, PRO-INNO Projects (http://grips-

public.mediactive.fr/).

2014 Founding member of the IET Power Electronics, Machines and Drives (PEMD) technical and

professional network.

2018 Supporting founding member of the Faraday Institution.

2019 Contributing Author for the Wireless Power Transfer for Electric Vehicles Task 26 Report written

for the Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Technology Collaboration Programme funded by the

International Energy Agency IEA.

Research activities published in newspapers/podcast/television (selections)

24.9.2009: Smoothing drive to green motoring, The Journal

25.6.2013: Avid hoping to quadruple its manufacturing capacity, The Journal

11.6.2014: Support available for business innovation, The Journal

11.5.2015: Journal Vision 2020, The Engineer

01.7.2017: UK needs better charging network for electric vehicles, Engineering & Technology

19.5.2017: TEV Project teams up with Newcastle University to create highways of the future, Scottish

Business News

26.7.2017: Diesel Patrol Ban, BBC News at Five

08.5.2018: New motorways could see vehicles driving in platoons at 125mph, Design, Products &

Applications

05.2.2019: Café Scientifique: The Electric Car Revolution, how will it transform our lives? (Podcast)

07.3.2019: AVID Learning: Electric Vehicle Technology Podcast, Episode 24, Interview with Prof Pickert

(Podcast)

Research

Volker is Head of the Electrical Power Group and his profile can be viewed on Google Scholar.

Value of Total Awarded Grants and Contracts: £11,993,323

Attributable value of Total Awarded Grants and Contracts: £4,002,017

RESEARCH FUNDING EPSRC

FUNDING SOURCE	START DATE OF GRANT (DD/MM/YYYY)	END DATE OF GRANT (DD/MM/YYYY)	INVOLVEMENT (e.g. SOLE INVESTIGATOR)	NAME OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR†	NAMES OF CO-INVESTIGATORS	VALUE OF AWARD	VALUE ATTRIBUTABLE TO CANDIDATE	% SPLIT TO CANDIDATE
EPSRC	01/03/2001	31/10/2004	PI	V Pickert		£200,869	£200,869	100%	Real time power electronic device junction temperature estimation and control
EPSRC	19/01/2007	18/01/2010	PI	V Pickert		£120,550	£120,550	100%	A novel generator system for series hybrid electric vehciles
EPSRC	01/08/2008	31/07/2013	CI	BC Mecrow	V Pickert, B Zahawi, A Jack, D Giaouris, DJ Atkinson, M Armstrong, AB Horsfall	£762,626	£76,263	10%	High efficient electric converters
EPSRC	01/04/2006	31/10/2009	CI	BC Mecrow	V Pickert, D Giaouris, DJ Atkinson, J Finch, A Jack, C French, B Zahawi	£200,003	£20,000	10%	Test facility for high speed, high power drives
EPSRC	01/10/2008	30/09/2012	CI	GY Tian	V Pickert	£236,600	£118,300	50%	A collaborative Sino-British project: future reliable renewable energy conversion systems & networks
EPSRC	01/10/2011	30.09.2015	PI	V Pickert		£409,202	£409,202	100%	Vehicle electrical system integrations
EPSRC	21/01/2013	20/01/2016	CI	W Cao	B Mecrow, J Widmer, V Pickert	£367,225	£55,083	15%	Novel calorimeter for developing high efficiency permanent magnet machines and power converters
EPSRC	01/07/2013	30/06/2017	CI	BC Mecrow	V Pickert	£2,884,382	£288,438	10%	Underpinning Power Electronics - Integrated Drives
EPSRC	01/04/2016	31/03/2019	CI	N Baker	V Pickert	£319,862	£63,972.40	20%	EDRIVE-MEC: All Electric Drive Train for Marine Energy Converters
EPSRC	01/10/2017	30/09/2020	PI	V Pickert	M Dahidah	£231,796	£162,256	70%	Novel Condition Monitoring and Health Management Technologies for WBG Power Modules
TOTAL						£5,733,115	£1,514,933

RESEARCH FUNDING Others

FUNDING SOURCE	START DATE OF GRANT (DD/MM/YYYY)	END DATE OF GRANT (DD/MM/YYYY)	INVOLVEMENT (e.g. SOLE INVESTIGATOR)	NAME OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR†	NAMES OF CO-INVESTIGATORS	VALUE OF AWARD	VALUE ATTRIBUTABLE TO CANDIDATE	% SPLIT TO CANDIDATE
DTI	04/12/2006	04/06/2009	PI	V Pickert	DJ Atkinson	£158,878	£142,990	90%	Power management systems in electric and hybrid vehicles
TSB	10/10/2008	09/04/2011	PI	V Pickert	BC Mecrow, M Armstrong	£254,484	£152,690	60%	Second generation hybrid truck
EngD Comesys	15/06/2007	30/10/2010	PI	V Pickert	BC Mecrow	£32,500	£29,250	90%	Advanced thermal management
EngD CT	01/10/2005	30/09/2009	PI	V Pickert	DJ Atkinson	£8,000	£7,200	90%	IGBT thermal management
EngD Hiltech	01/09/2008	31/08/2012	PI	V Pickert	M Armstrong, K Scott	£40,000	£13,600	34%	Virtual fuel cell
EngD CT	22/09/2008	30/09/2012	CI	M Armstrong	V Pickert, AB Horsfall	£8,000	£6,000	75%	High efficient driver circuit for IGBTs
EngD Dyson	06/05/2005	03/02/2009	CI	BC Mecrow	V Pickert	£19,333	£1,933	10%	Sensorless control of switched reluctance machine
EngD Sevcon	01/02/2004	01/04/2007	PI	V Pickert	BC Mecrow	£23,666	£14,200	60%	Optimisation for an electric power drive train
EngD Sevcon	01/10/2003	30/04/2008	CI	A Jack	V Pickert, BC Mecrow	£34,000	£13,600	40%	Control of power electronics
Siemens	12/10/2006	31/01/2007	PI	V Pickert	AG Jack, N Wright	£6,000	£2,400	40%	JFET devcies in drives applications
ECPE	26/09/2006	15/12/2006	PI	V Pickert	Ag Jack	£5,000	£2,750	55%	Fault tolerant drives
Henry Lester Trust	16/06/2011	12/07/2011	PI	V Pickert		£2,500	£2,500	100%	Lifetime estimator for power modules
TSB	05/09/2011	04/06/2012	PI	V Pickert	T Roskilly	£45,135	£36,108	80%	Free piston engine power drive train generator
TSB	01/11/2011	01/09/2014	CI	J Widmer	V Pickert, B Mecrow	£287,805	£57,561	20%	High torque density switched reluctance drive system for low carbon vehicles
KTP Hyperdrive	01/04/2012	31/03/2014	PI	V Pickert		£154,257	£154,257	100%	Development of a highly integrated power pack
Innovate UK	01/12/2012	31/05/2015	PI	V Pickert	B Zahawi	£192,102	£115,261	60%	Highly integrated power DC/DC converter
Innovate UK	01/01/2013	31/12/2015	CI	J Widmer	V Pickert, B Mecrow	£749,685	£149,937	20%	Low cost electric drive train
FP7	01/09/2012	31/08/2016	CI	W Cao	V Pickert	£78,285	£3,914	5%	Evaluation and development of wind turbine generator technologies
Innovate UK	01/012014	30/06/2015	PI	V Pickert	B Ji, B Zahawi	£136,345	£81,807	60%	DiSoHM : Direct State of Health Measurement for Power Devices
Innovate UK	01/11/2013	30/04/2018	PI	V Pickert	G Atkinson, J Widmer	£562,121	£281,061	50%	48v Town & Country Hybrid
BIS Regional Growth Fund	01/07/2013	31/05/2015	PI	V Pickert	C Morton, J Widmer	£51,336	£28,235	55%	Development of high efficiency DC fan and Water Pump
Innovate UK	01/10/2015	30/09/2017	PI	V Pickert	S Lambert	£195,140	£117,084	60%	Integrated EV Charger and BMS with Fully Active Balancing (iEV CaB FAB)
PhD Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult	01/11/2015	31/10/2018	PI	V Pickert		£42,000	£42,000	100%	Healthmonitoring
APC	01/02/2016	31/01/2018	CI	S Lambert	V Pickert, M Armstrong. P Christenson, S Mc Donald	£511,764	£127,941	25%	High Energy Density Battery (HEDB)
Institute for Sustainability	01/04/2016	23/09/2016	CI	R Law	V Pickert, AP Harvey, I Ditchburn	£10,000	£2,000	20%	Development of new cooling technologies for high power electronics by adaptation and miniaturisation of novel concepts from process intensification and utilization of advanced manufacturing techniques such as selective laser melting (SLM)
PhD Changan	01/09/2016	31/08/2019	PI	V Pickert	M Dahidah, D Giaouris, D Atkinson	£30,000	£7,500	25%	Power Electronics & Control Technology Applicable to Hybridisation of Transmissions for Passenger Car & Small Commercial Vehicle
Innovate UK	01/03/2018	28/02/2019	CI	N Wade	V Pickert	£151,362	£75,681	50%	Infrastructure Systems 2 - DC-DC Rapid Chargers
Faraday Institution	01/03/2018	28/02/2021	CI	U Stimming	V Pickert, P Cumpson, Mamlouk	£1,616,282	£274,768	17%	Degradation detection for Li-ion batteries
PhD Philadelphia Scientific Ltd	01/06/2018	31/05/2021	PI	V Pickert		£99,086	£99,086	100%	Charging System for a Tracked Electric Vehicle System
Horizon 2020	01/06/2018	01/12/2021	PI	V Pickert	N Wade	£393,938	£275,757	70%	E-LOBSTER: Next generation innovative technologies enabling smart grids, storage and energy system integration with railway
KTP TPS	12/11/2018	11/11/2020	CI	D Mohamed	V Pickert, M Elgendy	£160,378	£24,057	15%	SiC devices for power grid applications
PhD TMD Technologies Ltd	26/11/2018	25/11/2022	PI	V Pickert	M Elgendy	£85,398	£59,779	70%	Smaller, lighter high voltage converters for Microwave Power Modules (MPMs)
TOTAL						£6,144,780	£2,402,906

RESEARCH FUNDING Consultancy

Total value of awards: £115,428. Funding sources: Grundfos, Control Techniques, IMRA Europe, ITI Scotland, South East DoE, Hil Tech Ltd. Emerson, Amantys.

RESEARCH FUNDING Received Abroad

Seasky Project funds my research activities in China as Visiting Professor at Dalian University of Technology
Collaborative teaching engagement with Universidade Federal de Goiás – UFG, Brazil

RESEARCH SUPERVISION

As the main supervisor I have successfully supervised 2 MPhil students, 18 Ph.D. students, 2 KTP Associates and 9 Research Associates (RA). I supervised the following students/staff during their Ph.D. studies / RA activities.

Supervised (2) MPhil students to completion:

Mr M. Varughese (2017) MPhil on Control of Dual Active Bridge Converter for Battery to Battery Charging Application

Sponsor: Innovate UK

Partners: Lotus, Turbo Power Systems, Hyperdrive, Dynex, Hiflux, Wrexham Capacitors, International Transformers

Now KTP Associate with Warwick University

Mr P. Allan (2018) MPhil on Active voltage balancing

Sponsor: KTP

Partners: Hyperdrive

Now Engineer at Hyperdrive Ltd.

Supervised (20) PhD students to completion:

Dr M. Musallam (2005) PhD on real time power electronic device junction temperature estimation and control

Sponsor: EPSRC

Partners: Semelab

Now RA at Nottingham University

Dr. A.O. Elbkosh (2009) PhD on nonlinear analysis and control of DC-DC converters

Sponsor: Lybian government

Now Lecturer at the Higher Education in Libya.

Dr. K. Ambusaidi (2010) PhD on fault tolerant multilevel step-down DC/DC converters

Sponsor: Government Sultan of Oman and ORS

Now Lecturer at the Nizwa College of Technology, Oman

Dr. D. Kalpaktsoglou (2010) PhD on power factor correction for stand alone wave energy converters

Now servicing in the Greek army.

Dr. C Huifeng (2010) PhD on correcting the effect of thermal ageing for real-time power device temperature estimators

Now with Siemens Ltd., China

Dr. G. James (2010) EngD on thermal protection of power electronic switching devices

Sponsor: EPSRC

Partners: Control Techniques

Now with Control Techniques Ltd.

Dr. A. Ayob (2010), PhD on the assessment of single-phase SRM converters for low power applications

Sponsor: Malaysian Government

Now Lecturer at the Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia

Dr. A. Al-Busaidi (2011) PhD on a generator-set for series hybrid electric vehicles operating at high output voltages

Sponsor: EPSRC and Government Sultan of Oman

Partner: Hiltech

Now Lecturer at Nizwa College of Technology, Oman

Dr. J. Bing (2012) PhD on on-line lifetime estimator for power semiconductor devices for electric vehicles

Sponsor: ORS

Partners: Semikron

Now KTP Associate at Newcastle University

Dr. S. Lambert (2012) PhD on voltage equalisation techniques for high capacitance device modules

Sponsor: EPSRC

Partners: Tsinghua, Zhejiang, Chongqing, Nanjing, Sichuan, Durham, Warwick, Nottingham and Edinburgh Universities

Now Research Associate at Newcastle University

Dr. C. Morton (2014) PhD on Self-Alignment Torque as a Source of Energy Recovery for Hybrid Electric Trucks

Sponsor: TSB

Now Engineer at Avid Ltd.

Dr. S. Naylor (2014) PhD on the development of power drive trains for hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles

Sponsor: DTA

Now self employed

Dr. R. Taylor (2014) PhD on Virtual Fuel Cell System

Sponsor: EPSRC

Partners: Hiltech

Now Manager at PX Ltd. Teesside Oil and Gas Refinery

Dr. D. Winterborne (2015) PhD onReal-Time Model-Based Loss Minimisation Control for Electric Vehicle Drives

Sponsor: DTA

Now Research Associate at Newcastle University

Dr T. Al-Mhana (2016) PhD on optimization of switched variable capacitors for voltage and frequency fluctuations

Sponsor: Iraqi Government

Now Lecturer at Misan University

Dr B. Hassan (2016) PhD on multilevel current source inverters

Sponsor: Malaysian Government

Now Lecturer at University Putra

Dr H. Wu (2016) PhD on DC/DC converter with reduced inductor size

Sponsor: EPSRC

Now Research Associate at Newcastle University

Dr M. Besharati (2017) Phd on Design of a High Speed High Power Switched Reluctance Motor

Sponsor: EPSRC

Now Engineer at Dyson

Dr H Zhang PhD on active voltage balancing circuits

Sponsor: self funded

Now engineer at Dyson

Dr R Mabasa (2018) PhD on in-situ health monitoring for multi-chip power modules

Sponsor: DTA

Now engineer with National Grid

Supervised (10) KTP Associates, Research Assistants and Research Associates:

Dr. L. Pritchard RA on heatsink designs for automotive applications

Sponsor: TSB

Partners: Prodrive, Hiltech, International Transformers, Evo, Manchester University

During the project Len become critically ill and unfortunately passed away

Dr. C. Morton RA on high voltage auxiliary drives for hybrid trucks

Sponsor: TSB

Partners: Leyland Trucks, Eaton Power Drive Train

Now Research Associate at Newcastle University

Prof S. Xueguan RA on lifetime enhancement of power modules using active heatsinks

Sponsor: EPSRC

Partners: 10 academic and 20 industrial partners

Now Professor at Dalian University

Dr. J Bing (2013) KTP on Switched Reluctance Drive

Sponsor: KTP

Partners: Hyperdrive

Now Research Associate at Newcastle University

Dr. J Bing (2014) RA on Direct State of Health Measurement for Power Devices (DisHom)

Sponsor: InnovateUK

Partners: Dynex, GE, Amantys

Now Lecturer at Leicester University

Dr. E. Pinguey RA on 48V Town and Country 48V Vehicle

Sponsor: InnovateUK

Partners: RDM, Infineon, Productive, Tata Steel, Libralato, Loughborough Uni.

Now Agriculturalist in Cumbria

Dr M Al-Greer RA on 48V Town and Country 48V Vehicle

Sponsor: InnovateUK

Partners: RDM, Infineon, Productive, Tata Steel, Libralato, Loughborough Uni.

Now Lecturer at Teeside University

Dr D Winterborne RA on 48V Town and Country 48V Vehicle

Sponsor: InnovateUK

Partners: RDM, Infineon, Productive, Tata Steel, Libralato, Loughborough Uni.

Now RA at Newcastle University

Mr M. Varughese RA on Highly Integrated Power DC/DC Converter (Hico)

Sponsor Innovate UK

Partners: Lotus, TPS, Wrexham Capacitor, HiFlux, ITS, Dynex

Dr M Mohammad RA on lifetime enhancement of power modules using active heatsinks

Sponsor: EPSRC

Partners: 10 academic and 20 industrial partners

Now Research Associate at Newcastle University

Dr H. Wu RA on Integrated EV charger and BMS with fully active balancing (iCabFaB) RA on healthmonitoring for WBG devices

Sponsor: InnovateUK

Partners: Hyperdrive, Amethyst, Opsol, Northern Grid

Now Research Associate at Newcastle University

I was also second supervisor for the following 18 PhD students: Saleh Babaa, Chris Bateman, Liang Cheng, Ibrahim Daho, Richard Gibson, Simon Graham, Otman Imrayed, Saleh Elkelani, Colin Cerexhe and Saleh Hassen.

ONGOING PhD/Research PROJECTS

I am currently the main supervisor for:

4 Research Associates
10 PhD students

working on the following projects:
PhD on in-situ health monitoring for SiC devices – Xiang Lu
- Sponsor: self-funded
PhD on grid connected PV converter – Hamza Khalfalla
- Sponsor: Libyan Government
PhD on health monitoring of power devices for off-shore applications – Cuili Chen
- Sponsor: Offshore Catapult & DTA
- Partner: Offshore Catapult
PhD on novel cooling heatsinks for power modules – Yerasimos Yerasimou
- Sponsor: EPSRC DTA
PhD on optimised power electronics simulation software – Hamidreza Gashtil
- Sponsor: Changan & DTA
- Partner: Changan
PhD on health monitoring for wide bandgap devices – Xiang Wang
- Sponsor: CSC
PhD on dynamic road charging - Saleh Ali
- Sponsor: Philadelphia Scientific
PhD on high power dense dc/dc converter for pulse power applications using GaN devices – Joel Holland
- Sponsor: TMD
PhD on health monitoring for press-packs – Bowen Gu
- Sponsor: EPSRC
PhD on degradation in Li Ion batteries – Heqing Liu
- Sponsor: DTA
RA on health monitoring applied to wide bandgap devices – Dr Haimeng Wu
- Sponsor: EPSRC
- Partners: Warwick, Nottingham, Bristol Universities
RA on E-lobster: Grid connections between supply grid and railway grid – Dr Mansoureh
Zangiabadi
- Sponsor: Horizon 2020
- Partners: Madrid Metro, RINA, RSSB, Lithium Balance, FFE, UITP, Birmingham University
RA on degradation in Li Ion batteries – Dr Muez Shiref
- Sponsor: EPSRC
- Partners: Cambridge, Imperial , Strathclyde, Manchester, Nottingham, UCL
RA on degradation in Li Ion batteries – Dr Musbahu Muhammad
- Sponsor: EPSRC
- Partners: Cambridge, Imperial , Strathclyde, Manchester, Nottingham, UCL
  
  I am currently co-supervising one Research Associate and eight PhD students:

Research Associate: Stephen McDonald

PhD students: Chenming Zhang, Jiankai Ma, Handong Li, Giorgos Gkizas, Dennis Chan, Mohammad Alharbi, Mahfuz Kamal, Bortecene Yldirim.

Teaching

Undergraduate Teaching

• EEE3003 Introduction to the Basics of Modern Power Electronics (Undergraduates)
• EEE4091 UG individual projects
• EEE4008 ECAD
• EEE4095 Study projects

Postgraduate Teaching

• EEE8012 Power Electronics - Design & Implementations (MSc)
• EEE8074 MSc individual projects

GENERAL STATEMENT ON TEACHING

Since the beginning of my academic career I have been lecturing “Introduction to the Basics of Modern Power Electronics” for the Undergraduate Programme and “Power Electronics – Design & Implementations” for the Master Programme. For 9 years I was also module leader of the MSc coursework module and I was running the e-learning module MSc “Advanced Power Electronic Devices” for 4 years. The MSc coursework module is a laboratory based teaching module and the e-learning module was designed for distance learning. All modules are annually revised and some of them have been completely changed over years in order to increase students’ learning outcomes and to make subjects more exciting. For example the lecture “Power Electronics – Design & Implementation” formerly called “Power Electronics” did not include any practical design aspects. Over a two year period topics of the module were changed and two new sections discussing design methods and selection criteria for power components have been included. The name of the module was also changed in 2013 to reflect the radical changes made. The new sections provide students with the tools required by industry to design power converters. The old lecture material did not reflect this requirement. In addition handouts are now available and tutorial questions have been generated, helping students to measure their progress. In the future I will introduce self-learning study material based on PSPICE. With the help of the simulator students can learn more in-depth the material that has been lectured to them. The PSPICE material has been developed over the last three years using MSc project students and undergraduate students and the material is tested at the moment prior the launch. The success of constantly changing lecture material and changing teaching methods is reflected in the student feedback I receive. I am consistently achieving high overall ratings in my modules: e.g. in 2018 my average score was “4.4”, in 2012 I achieved “4.5” and in 2016 it was “4.3” (“5.0” is the maximum).

I taught for 9 years the MSc coursework module that has seen the most radical changes. This module is not a taught lecture. All activities are taken place in the laboratory. When taking over the module I scrapped all experiments and replaced them with experiments which now link with the contents of ongoing lectures. In addition each experiment has become more challenging and fulfils now latest Health and Safety standards. Finally the course structure and the marking scheme were changed. Students are now working in either groups or individually depending on the experiment. A port-folio assessment allows a faire marking scheme. I was able to convince the School to invest in new equipment (~£50k) in order to make these changes happen. The outcome of the module change is reflected in the attendance number from 75% (before the changes) to now 99% and in a new bespoke laboratory.

Professor Volker Pickert

Professor of Power Electronics

Background

Undergraduate Teaching

Postgraduate Teaching