Keynote Speakers

Abstract: This talk provides details of the conceptual design of a couple of short- to mid- range hydrogen fuel cell powered commercial aircraft. First, details of a hydrogen fuel cell powertrain are provided in which the design of each individual component is analyzed. A battery-fuel cell hybrid mode of propulsion is also presented in which a battery array supplements the fuel-cell power during the increased power requirements at takeoff and climb. An automated process is presented in which the fuel cell stacks are sized based on the power requirements of the propulsion system and the components of the powertrain. The aircraft is sized considering the required components and fuel tanks. A numerical code has been developed in Python to automate this process in conjunction with an analysis code which uses various empirical and numerical methods to estimate the overall range and performance of a given aircraft configuration. Using this combined code called WUADS (Washington University Aircraft Design Software), two hydrogen fuel cell powered aircraft configuration closely based on the Bombardier CRJ200 and Boeing 717-200 are analyzed. Several aircraft component performance values are used to represent the different technology levels. It is found that the hydrogen fuel cell propulsion would be technologically feasible by the year 2030 and will be highly efficient by 2035 or later. In addition, a couple of ~100 passenger configurations are tested for different mission ranges and are compared to the efficiency of a hydrogen combustion powered aircraft configuration. These configurations include both a standard cantilever wing configuration and a truss braced wing configuration. It was found that the truss braced wing significantly increased the efficiency for range above 1000 nmi; however, it did not provide much benefit at shorter range. Also, it was found that approximately 2000 nmi range seems to be the point at which the hydrogen fuel cell powered aircraft configurations cease to be competitive in efficiency as the hydrogen powered gas turbine combustion configurations.

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Professor Ramesh K. Agarwal is the William Palm Professor of Engineering in the department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Washington University in St. Louis. From 1994 to 2001, he was the Sam Bloomfield Distinguished Professor and Executive Director of the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University in Kansas. From 1978 to 1994, he was the Program Director and McDonnell Douglas Fellow at McDonnell Douglas Research Laboratories in St. Louis. Dr. Agarwal received Ph.D in Aeronautical Sciences from Stanford University in 1975, M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1969 and B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India in 1968. Over a period of forty years, Professor Agarwal has worked in various areas of Computational Science and Engineering - Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Computational Materials Science and Manufacturing, Computational Electromagnetics (CEM), Neuro-Computing, Control Theory and Systems, and Multidisciplinary Design and Optimization. He is the author and coauthor of over 500 journal and refereed conference publications. He has given many plenary, keynote and invited lectures at various national and international conferences worldwide in over fifty countries. Professor Agarwal continues to serve on many academic, government, and industrial advisory committees. Dr. Agarwal is a Fellow eighteen societies including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), American Physical Society (APS), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Royal Aeronautical Society, Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics (CSAA), Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). He has received many prestigious honors and national/international awards from various professional societies and organizations for his research contributions.

Abstract: Energy management in electric and hybrid vehicles, is a multifaceted challenge that requires a combination of model-based control, system identification, and the consideration of various trade-offs and constraints. Effective thermal management, including the design optimization and control of thermal systems, plays a crucial role in ensuring the  performance and efficiency of the vehicles and is key performance criteria in electric vehicle energy management  strategy.

The thermal system is vital for maintaining the appropriate operating temperatures for various vehicle’s subsystems, including the cabin and the powertrain. Decisions regarding the control, components sizing, and the topology (layout and architecture) must be made early in the vehicle design process to ensure effective thermal management.

Future-ready approaches are essential to accommodate evolving technologies and regulations in the vehicle design.

Supervisory thermal management system (TMS) is a critical component in battery or fuel cell electric vehicles, providing advanced control and optimization of thermal aspects. It improves the energy efficiency, enhances the vehicle performance, and provides accurate range predictions. TMS plays a pivotal role in incorporating heat recovery concepts and making vehicles more energy-efficient. A review of hybrid vehicle thermal system is discussed and the model-based design of the thermal system for virtual prototyping  and component selection is presented.

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Kambiz Ebrahimi is a chartered mechanical engineer and Professor of Advanced Propulsion in the department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering at Loughborough University, in UK. He obtained his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Plymouth Polytechnic and MEng in Systems Engineering and Robotics from University of Wales, UWIST followed by spending a year in the industry and completing a PhD in the field of machine tool modelling and simulation from Cardiff University, UK. Previously he was professor of mechanical engineering in the University of Bradford and director of hybrid powertrain engineering and research center (HYPERC). His main area of research is in the dynamics, control and monitoring of mechatronic system. He was the recipient of the Ford Motor Company award for Web based condition monitoring of engine transfer line in 1999, which was one of the earliest digital twin applications for machine fault diagnosis using model based prognosis. He was the principal investigator in number of industrial research projects developing Validation Platform for Engine Calibration (Ford) 2016-2018, Advanced Combustion Turbocharged Inline Variable valvetrain Engine, (Ford) 2014-2017; design and prototyping of power generators for remote valve actuation; Turbo-charger Blade Deflection Monitoring System using tip timing for Cummins Turbo Technology; 2012-2015; Data Acquisition and processing for rotating shaft telemetry system, (ARAMCO) 2013-2016; CO2 Reduction through Emission Optimisation. 2011-2014 (Jaguar and Land Rover). He is the Chair and organizer of Powertrain Modelling and Control Conference from 2012 to 2024. He has over 200 scholarly contributions, including nearly 100 peer-reviewed research papers.

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