MechSE professors plan new NSF energy research center

While the MechSE Department has several faculty members involved in new ways of generating energy, two MechSE professors are now making strides toward improving systems for delivering energy to end-users.

Professors Iwona Jasiuk and Martin Ostoja-Starzewski are proposing a National Science Foundation supported Industry/University Cooperative Research Center called the Center for Novel High Voltage/Temperature Materials and Structures (HV/TMS), along with researchers from the University of Denver and Michigan Technological University. The NSF granted them funding for their pre-proposal, so they are now finding additional collaborating partners before heading to the full proposal stage.

The center's primary aim is to find the best structures, materials, and methods for replacing the nation's system of electrical power lines.

"The demands for electricity are increasing by businesses and consumers alike, and the current power lines are becoming inadequate to meet these demands," Jasiuk said. "There is an urgent need to transport more electrical power more efficiently."

The combination of aging lines and outdated technology has resulted in significant energy losses in the electricity sent through most current power lines. Another problem is that the current all-metal, high-voltage conductor materials suffer from line sag, which becomes a safety hazard, particularly in high winds and other inclement weather.

"We are looking for companies to join us in this effort," Ostoja-Starzewski said. "We’re looking for not only companies in the power industry from various states and other countries, but actually for aerospace companies, too. Strong connections exist between the power industry’s high-voltage electrical and the aerospace industry’s materials and structures."

Member companies from industry will join universities, federal laboratories, and the NSF in a four-pronged approach to creating the HV/TMS Center. The initial research goals are being defined now and at a planning meeting scheduled on December 3-4, 2012. Further goals will be defined by what the center’s industry members identify as vital problems the center’s research can solve.

For an annual membership fee of about $40,000, companies will not only gain full access to all of the research done by the center, but they will help determine what research projects are undertaken. Annual conferences will provide forum for presentation of research findings and will give opportunity for interactions between industrial members and university researchers.

"The needs in a given sector are identified by a number of companies," Ostoja-Starzewski said. "The research portfolio is shaped and the direction of the research is aligned with their needs and financially subsidized by the NSF."

The planned HV/TMS Center has interest of several U.S. corporations. Jasiuk and Ostoja-Starzewski said they hope more companies step forward before the December planning meeting, and that even more join before the final proposal to the NSF is delivered in March 2013.

"An added benefit for companies is that an expanded pool of students working on this research will be trained for potential employment by industry," Jasiuk said. "The value across the portfolio is greater than the sum of the projects."

Interested companies, faculty, and students may contact Iwona Jasiuk at ijasiuk[figure="" class="align-center" width="10"]illinois [dot] edu or Martin Ostoja-Starzewski at martinos[figure="" class="align-center" width="10"]illinois [dot] edu for more information.