Special Session

SS 04 - Advanced Electric Machine and Drive System Technologies for Flying Electric Vehicles

SS 04 - Advanced Electric Machine and Drive System Technologies for Flying Electric Vehicles

Organizers

Chunhua Liu, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong and Zaixin Song, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong and Christopher H. T. Lee, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and Wei Liu, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Session Focus

Flying electric vehicle (FEV) is an innovative and potential solution for future point-to-point transportation and urban air mobility. The propulsion system and relevant technologies are the keys for FEV realization. As the core components, novel FEV propulsion electric machines and drives are to propose a few high demands, such as high specific power, high efficiency, high reliability, and efficient cooling condition. The design and manufacturing of novel machine and drive topologies will be quite different. In order to match the convertible scenarios both on road and in the air, the electrical power-split devices are preferred for different hybrid propulsion powertrains, which are supposed to involve multi-mechanical-port and multi-electrical-port machines. The limited space in FEV system promote compact designs including reduced weight, reduced size, or high integration. Also, the shared cooling system for machine and drive is highly preferred and has distinct merits.

Session Topics

  • Novel high-power-density & high-efficiency propulsion machine topologies
  • Multi-mechanical-port and multi-electrical-port machine topologies for power split
  • Field analysis and design optimization for novel machine topologies
  • Fault-tolerant machine design and experimental evaluation
  • Integrated motor drive design
  • Modeling and calculation of thermal issues in propulsion machine
  • Effective cooling strategy for highly compact motor systems

Bio of the organizers

Chunhua Liu (M’10–SM’14) received the B.Eng., M.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees in Automatic Control, Beijing Institute of Technology, China, and in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, in 2002, 2005 and 2009, respectively. Currently, he serves as Associate Professor with the School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. His research interests include electric machines and drives, electric vehicles and aircrafts, electric robotics and ships, renewables and microgrid, and wireless power transfer. In these areas, he has published over 200 refereed papers. Dr. Liu is currently an Associate Editor of IEEE Transaction on Industrial Electronics, Editor of IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, and Editor of IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion. Also, he is an Editor of Energies, Subject Editor of IET – Renewable Power Generation, respectively. In addition, he is Chair & Founder, Hong Kong & Guangzhou joint Chapter, IEEE Industrial Electronics Society.
Zaixin Song (S’19) received the B.Eng. and M.Eng. degrees in electrical engineering and automation from Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), Harbin, China, in 2016 and 2018, respectively. He received the Ph.D. degree in School of Energy and Environment from City University of Hong Kong (CityU), Hong Kong SAR, China, in 2021. Currently, he is working as a postdoctoral fellow in CityU. He has been working on electric machine for years. His research interests cover the design, analysis, optimization and control of emerging permanent magnet machines particularly the high-speed types and multi-phase types, propulsion motors for automotive and aerospace applications, multi-physics modeling, simulation, and tests.
Christopher H. T. Lee (M’12-SM’18) received his B.Eng. (First Class Honours) degree, and Ph.D. degree both in electrical engineering from Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, in 2009 and 2016, respectively. He currently serves as an Assistant Professor at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, a Visiting Assistant Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States, and also an Honorary Assistant Professor at The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. He is an Editor for IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, and Associate Editor for IEEE Access and IET Renewable Power Generation. He is a Chartered Engineer in Hong Kong. His research interests include Electric Machines and Drives, Renewable Energies, and Electromechanical Propulsion Technologies. In these areas, he has published 1 book, 3 books chapters, and over 80 referred papers. Dr. Lee has received many awards, including NRF Fellowship, Nanyang Assistant Professorship, Li Ka Shing Prize (the best Ph.D. thesis prize) and Croucher Foundation Fellowship.
Wei Liu (S’17–M’21) received the B.Eng. and M.Eng. degrees in electrical engineering from China University of Petroleum, China, in 2014 and 2017, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical and electronic engineering from The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China, in 2021. He is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong. He was a Visiting Researcher with the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, in 2019. His research interests include power electronics, wireless power transfer techniques, and electric vehicle technologies. Dr. Liu is a Guest editor of Energies. He was the recipient of Power Engineering Prize 2020–2021 from the alma mater and Excellent Paper Awards from international conferences in the area of Electric Vehicles.