Electrical Machines and Drives Group holds first ever on-campus Symposium

The University of Sheffield’s Electrical Machines and Drives (EMD) Research Group, alongside the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Sheffield Student Branch, recently hosted their first ever in-person symposium.

Photograph taken at the Electrical Machines and Drives Symposium, 2022. Photograph from left to right includes Counsellor for IEEE Student Branch, Dr. Xiao Chen, PhD candidate and IEEE Student Branch Chair, Yinka Leo Ogundiran, and University of Sheffield Professor Zi-Qiang Zhu who delivered a keynote speech at the event
Photograph taken at the EMD Symposium - Photograph from left to right includes Counsellor for IEEE Student Branch, Dr. Xiao Chen, PhD candidate and IEEE Student Branch Chair, Yinka Leo Ogundiran, and Professor Zi-Qiang Zhu who delivered a keynote speech

The Electrical Machines and Drives (EMD) Symposium was hosted in Sheffield’s Mappin Hall on the 15th September 2022 - the event was attended by around fifty members of academic staff, Postgraduate research students, and Postdoctoral Research Associates. Alongside the Research Group, the event was organised with support from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Sheffield Student Branch - a group who regularly run events on campus and online to benefit students in the department. The group were also recently ranked as one of the two highest performing groups in the UK.

Photograph of Dr Xiao Chen opening the EMD Symposium event
Photograph of Dr Xiao Chen opening the EMD Symposium event

The event was opened by counsellor of the IEEE Student Branch and Lecturer in Electrical Machines in the Department, Dr. Xiao Chen. Speaking after the event, Dr Xiao Chen said of the EMD Symposium:

It’s great to see an event with so many students and colleagues attending from our department after we’ve not been able to hold such events during and after the pandemic. I personally benefited from the keynote speeches and the research presented in students’ posters. Hopefully other attendees share similar feelings! Thanks to all the colleagues and students who made this happen.

-Dr Xiao Chen

Counsellor of the IEEE Student Branch and a member of the event’s organising committee

After a moment of silence from attendees to pay respects after the recent passing of Queen Elizabeth II, a keynote speech was then delivered by Professor Zi-Qiang Zhu, Professor at the University of Sheffield and Head of the EMD Research Group. The presentation focused on electrical machines in electric vehicles. Various types of torque production mechanisms were reviewed, before an exciting discussion around how to generate ideas for new machine topologies.

Photograph of Professor Zi-Qiang Zhu, Professor at the University of Sheffield and Head of the EMD Research Group, speaking on stage at the EMD Symposium
Photograph of Professor Zi-Qiang Zhu, Professor at the University of Sheffield and Head of the EMD Research Group, speaking on stage at the EMD Symposium

 Professor Geraint Jewell, Professor in the Department and Director of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Future Electrical Machines Manufacturing (FEMM) Hub, followed Professor Zhu with a second keynote speech on a review of advances and challenges in electrical machine manufacture. Against the background of limited breakthrough in materials for the active parts of electrical machines in recent decades, the presentation reviewed the potential for increasing machine power density by improved thermal performance and light-weighting of structural elements. 

Photograph of Professor Geraint Jewell, Professor in the Department and Director of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Future Electrical Machines Manufacturing (FEMM) Hub speaking at the 2022 EMD Symposium
Photograph of Professor Geraint Jewell, Professor in the Department and Director of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Future Electrical Machines Manufacturing (FEMM) Hub speaking at the 2022 EMD Symposium

 Yinka Leo Ogundiran, Chair of the IEEE University of Sheffield Student Branch, delivered the final presentation of the day. He introduced symposium attendees to the wide range of events and activities held by Sheffield’s IEEE student branch, including academic seminars, industrial visits, and networking events. 

As one of the organisers, it’s been great to witness how successful the EMD Symposium has turned out, and how well attended it was by staff and students of the EMD Research Group. Kudos to all members of the organising committee for their time and effort in the planning of the event, and to our keynote speakers who graciously shared the latest advancements in electrical machine research with us.

Yinka Leo Ogundiran

Chair of the IEEE University of Sheffield Student Branch and PhD Candidate, Electrical Machine and Drives (EMD) Research Group

Photograph of Yinka Leo Ogundiran, Chair of the IEEE University of Sheffield Student Branch, speaking about the branch's work at the EMD Symposium
Photograph of Yinka Leo Ogundiran, Chair of the IEEE University of Sheffield Student Branch, speaking about the branch's work at the EMD Symposium

The Symposium also included a poster competition run among Postgraduate Research students and Postdoctoral Research Associates in the EMD group. The award committee (Prof. Zi-Qiang Zhu, Dr. Antonio Griffo, and Dr. Jonathan Davidson) marked all the posters based on their clarity, methodology, technical content, and overall presentation. The best posters in each year group were selected:

  • Best Poster in PGR - Year 1: Han Wu, Relationship between the manufacturing process and the resulting in-service properties of soft magnetic cores.

  • Best Poster in PGR - Year 2: Wenjun Zhu, Modelling of Bearing Current in PWM Drives.

  • Best Poster in PGR - Year 3: Didi Istardi, Decoupled Control for Grid Side Modular Multilevel Converter Integrated Energy Storage (MMC-IES) in Offshore Wind Turbine.

  • Best Poster in PGR - Year 4: Shubham Sundeep, Peak Voltage Stress in Inverter-Fed Machines and its Mitigation Measures.
     
  • Best Poster in PDRA: Dr. Ximeng Wu, Comparative Study of Rotor Initial Position Estimation Techniques.​​​​​​
Photograph of attendees at the EMD Symposium discussing the posters presented
Attendees at the EMD Symposium Poster Presentation

 Speaking on the results of the poster competition, IEEE Student Branch Chair Yinka said:

“I am also delighted for the winners of the poster competition, as well as for all those that participated. After the success we have achieved with the EMD Symposium, IEEE Sheffield Student Branch will continue to work with the EEE Department and EMD Research Group to organise future events which will aim to be beneficial to the students academically, professionally, and socially". 

IEEE University of Sheffield Student Branch would like to give thanks to Prof. Zi-Qiang Zhu for his sponsorship, the keynote speakers (Prof. Zi-Qiang Zhu and Prof. Geraint Jewell), the award committee (Prof. Zi-Qiang Zhu, Dr. Antonio Griffo, and Dr. Jonathan Davidson), the organising committee (Ian Parmenter, Keith Dean, Dr. Mahmoud I Masoud, Dr. Xiao Chen, and Yinka Leo Ogundiran), the photographers (Bethan Thomas and Yang Chen), all Postgraduate Research Students and Postdoctoral Research Associates who submitted their posters, and to all attendees for being part of the EMD Symposium 2022.

Photograph taken of attendees at the Electrical Machines and Drives Symposium, organised with the IEEE Sheffield Student Branch
Photograph taken of attendees at the Electrical Machines and Drives Symposium, organised with the IEEE Sheffield Student Branch

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