This is a past event.

MAE Graduate Seminar Speaker Series

proudly presents

Tim O'Connell, PhD

Electric Power Systems Hinetics, LLC 

Abstract

Aerospace concepts that were strictly the subject of science fiction only a few decades ago are now becoming reality, and the investments and research today into electrified aircraft propulsion (EAP) technologies may make it possible for us to take a commercial flight powered completely electrically by 2035. In the coming decades, EAP has the potential not only to drastically reduce aviation fuel and energy use – reducing harmful chemical and greenhouse gas emissions – but also to enable novel propulsion architectures and airframes. To illustrate how we got here, and what might come next, Dr. O’Connell will discuss the concepts of the more-electric, hybrid-electric, and all-electric aircraft, as well as electrified aircraft propulsion (EAP). He will highlight how advances in motors, converters, batteries, circuit breakers, and cooling systems all play keys roles in enabling EAP. ARPA-E has determined that a fully integrated all-electric powertrain with at least 12 kW/kg specific power density and at least 93% efficiency is required to enable EAP for a 150-200 passenger commercial aircraft. Dr. O’Connell will present Hinetics’ efforts to meet this challenge with its 10 MW fully superconducting 40 kW/kg electric machine currently being manufactured in Champaign, Illinois.

Bio

DR. TIM O’CONNELL is a Principal Engineer at Hinetics, Inc. where he has worked since May 2024, and an Adjunct Research Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), where he has lectured on green electric energy technologies since 2012. He earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from UIUC in 2005 and 2008, respectively.

At Hinetics, Dr. O’Connell leads the powertrain integration efforts, developing hardware-in-the-loop and simulation infrastructure for HInetics’ advanced electric machines. From 2009 to 2024, Dr. O’Connell was a Senior Lead Engineer at P.C. Krause & Associates (PCKA). From 2019 to 2024, he served as Systems Modeling Engineer supporting a major airframer’s effort to design, verify, build and test flight-worthy hardware for deployment on an active DoD air platform. From 2009 through 2017, he led a multi-member industry modeling and simulation team for an Air Force next generation more electric aircraft program. For over fifteen years he has supported numerous aircraft electrification-based projects and developed and taught short courses and webinars in this area.

Dr. O’Connell has co-authored over 20 technical papers and three textbooks on electric machines and co-edited a book on electrified aircraft propulsion. He received the 2019 Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Premium Award and the 2010 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Charles M. Manly Memorial Medal Award (both Best Paper awards for work in aircraft electrification).

Dr. O’Connell is a member of IEEE (Senior), AIAA and SAE and is currently Senior Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems.

Invited by: Wayne W. Weaver