McCluskey Co-PI on NSF Partnership for Innovation Grant on Electric Vehicle Technology

National Science Foundation

Professor Patrick McCluskey (ME) is a co-principal investigator of a new 18-month, $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. “PFI: AIR-TT: Integrated Bidirectional Power Electronic Charger/Converter for Plug-in Electric Vehicles” focuses on translating an integrated bidirectional onboard charger and DC/DC converter technology to fill the need for compact and efficient power converters for plug-in electric vehicles.

McCluskey (ME) joins principal investigator (PI) Associate Professor Alireza Khaligh (ECE/ISR), and co-PI Steven Rogers, co-founder, president and CTO of Genovation, a green technology automobile company based in Rockville, Md.

The Maryland and Genovation researchers will design, develop and validate technology to reduce the weight, volume and cost of onboard converters, while enhancing their efficiencies, and enabling bidirectional operation.

The project will result in a prototype of an integrated charger/converter with enhanced efficacy, greater power density, and considerable cost savings over the conventional method of using an individual charger and auxiliary load converter. The research will contribute to the eventual widespread adoption of electric vehicles.

Published March 25, 2016