| NSF Org: |
EEC Division of Engineering Education and Centers |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | January 26, 2022 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | January 26, 2022 |
| Award Number: | 2137241 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Crystal Leach
EEC Division of Engineering Education and Centers ENG Directorate for Engineering |
| Start Date: | February 1, 2022 |
| End Date: | January 31, 2023 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $19,990.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $19,990.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
5000 FORBES AVE PITTSBURGH PA US 15213-3815 (412)268-8746 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
5000 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh PA US 15213-3890 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | IUCRC-Indust-Univ Coop Res Ctr |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.041 |
ABSTRACT
Trends towards electrification are driving the needs for improved soft magnetic materials that can operate at unprecedented combinations of switching frequencies and power levels, as well as engineered components which are highly power dense yet extremely efficient. These trends are also creating major new economic opportunities for the domestic US, through anticipated growth in electric vehicles, hybrid-electric aircraft, and distributed renewable generation amongst others. The primary emphasis of the proposed Center for Advanced Magnetics for Power and Energy Development (AMPED) will be the critically important area of high-power magnetics and the optimization of interfaces with both established and emerging electrical machine topologies and designs within this application class. Successfully tackling challenges and exploiting these opportunities as a nation and an economy requires interdisciplinary skills spanning materials science, applied physics, and electrical engineering, as well as collaborations between end-users of components (motors, transformers, inductors, etc.) and the materials and manufacturing community. The proposed AMPED center seeks to address this need for a new generation of an interdisciplinary workforce of the future that is prepared and eager to take on the new challenges presented by widespread adoption of electrification and growth in electric power conversion technologies.
Primary research thrust areas included within the AMPED portfolio include: (1) new magnetic materials and manufacturing for wide bandgap and ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors, (2) advanced electric machine design concepts, (3) new design and optimization techniques for magnetic components, (4) interactions between wide bandgap power electronics converters and magnetics, (5) advanced power electronics converter topologies enabled by and leveraging next generation magnetics, e.g., multiport power conversion, and (6) tunable and variable magnetics technologies and their applications in advanced power conversion schemes. Strong collaborations between sites are planned, with unique capabilities residing at each institution: Carnegie Mellon University - amorphous and nanocrystalline magnetic materials and manufacturing, North Carolina State University ? wide bandgap-based semiconductor power electronics and high-speed motor controls and testing, University of Pittsburgh ? ferrite based soft magnetic materials and electromagnetic field assisted advanced manufacturing, component design strategies, and magnetics / power electronics interfaces. Carnegie Mellon University will leverage research expertise in amorphous and metal amorphous nanocomposite (MANC) materials. The CMU site has unique capabilities for (1) Planar flow casting of amorphous magnetic ribbon (AMR) and (2) its annealing and/or strain annealing to produce MANC ribbons and impregnated cores. (3) CMU has extensive facilities for magnetic characterization (SQUID, PPMS and vibrating sample and AC magnetometry); (4) for thermal characterization (Differential scanning calorimetry) and (5) for structural and microstructural characterization (X-ray powder diffraction, Transmission and High-resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM/HRTEM) with electron diffraction). CMU also has several Comsol Multiphysics modules used for the modeling of magnetic, thermal and mechanical properties of devices including inductors, transformers and high-speed motors.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
IUCRC Planning Grant University of Pittsburgh: Center for Advanced Magnetics for Power and Energy Development (AMPED) Planning Grant -12 month Program Outcomes
Since 2011, regionally centered efforts in the Greater Pittsburgh area (personnel at Carnegie Mellon Univ. (CMU) and Univ. of Pittsburgh (Pitt)) coupled with strategic national partnerships with the FREEDM and Power America Center at North Carolina State Univ. (NCSU) led research in novel magnetic materials and devices for large-scale power magnetics applications. These regional efforts have attracted significant funding from programs across DOE offices spanning the Office of Electricity, Solar Energy Technology Office, Advanced Manufacturing Office, Vehicle Technology Office, and ARPA-E.
Building on this success, faculty members from Pitt, CMU, and NCSU developed the Advanced Magnetics for Power and Energy Development (AMPED) consortium focusing, technically, on R&D for magnetic materials science, including manufacturability and scalability to electrical components like inductors, transformers, and electric vehicle motors and associated power electronic systems that use these components like power converters and motor drives. The center supported a community-based innovation ecosystem with representatives from government, industry, and academia having a technical focus spanning fundamental materials science and manufacturing to full-scale optimized component design.
Intellectual Merit: CMU?s contributions to AMPED and the IUCRC provide a core competency focusing on basic materials science spanning to component fabrication, NCSU provides an emphasis on system, converter, and motor level requirements and innovations, and Pitt (site leader) capabilities bridge the gap from fundamental materials research to converter and motor optimization. Complementary facilities, expertise, and partnerships enable a strong foundation for AMPED. Multidisciplinary talent is also critical for training diverse, undergraduate, and graduate students to address weaknesses in the talent pipeline for industry and national lab partners. Primary research thrust areas within AMPED, suggested by AMPED?s industry advisory board, include: (1) new magnetic materials and manufacturing approaches for wide bandgap and ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors, (2) advanced electric machine design concepts, (3) new design and optimization techniques for magnetic components, (4) interactions between wide bandgap power electronics converters and magnetics, (5) advanced power electronics converter topologies enabled by and leveraging next generation magnetics, e.g., multiport power conversion, and (6) tunable and variable magnetics technologies and their applications in advanced power conversion schemes.
Broader Impacts: Every large electric power engineering manufacturer (ABB, Curtiss-Wright, Eaton, GE, Siemens, Mitsubishi, etc.) is within a 20-mile radius of the Pittsburgh universities. This is also true of Raleigh, NC with the additional Power America center and contacts as wide bandgap semiconductor research coupled with magnetics is a growing topic in the community. In addition to Pitt centers and regional manufacturers, all universities host national events on their campuses to bridge community between the university and corporations. Hence, outreach and program sustainability is natural for all faculty members heavily engaged with industry as we seek their guidance on interests. Finally, no industry is sustainable without the next generation of talent. With strong programs in electric power engineering, materials science, and engineering science programs at the universities, cross pollination of students between universities has been accomplished through multidisciplinary course development and projects.
In the course of the IUCRC planning grant CMU researchers found value with various interactions with the AMPED participants but ultimately decided the IUCRC framework for the Center would not be of future interest to them for a variety of internal reasons. Nevertheless, interactions in the planning stages did provide valuable outcomes summarized here. CMU completed a DOE Vehicle Technology Office (VTO) project demonstrating High Efficiency, High Speed Motor Designs showcasing CMU patented material: M. E. McHenry, "Amorphous and Nanocomposite Magnets for High Efficiency, High Speed Motor Designs". USDOE Technical Report. (2021). https://doi.org/10.2172/1828188. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1828188. The results were communicated to the AMPED consortium. These materials are licensed to a CMU startup, CorePower Magnetics. CorePower Magnetics has recently employed Kyle Schneider, a 2023 CMU Ph.d in Mechancal Engineering (M.E. McHenry and Maarten DeBoer, advisers) as Design Engineer and Brett Riale former CMU staff as an Electro-Mechanical Technician. James Egbu, a 2023 CMU Ph.d in Materials Science and Engineering, has been hired by Raytheon.
Last Modified: 10/26/2023
Modified by: Michael E Mchenry
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