Hanz Richter, Ph.D., a professor in Cleveland State University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering (MCE), has received a three-year $400,000 award from the Dynamics and Control Division of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to further engineering research opportunities for undergraduate researchers and Ph.D. students.
In a recent press release, CSU said that Richter “seeks to revolutionize control of hybrid powered vehicles, microgrids and turboelectric propulsion” through the exploration of fundamental engineering principles and the development of new methodologies for the design and optimization of power networks.
With applications in electrified aircraft propulsion, microgrids and electromechanical energy conversion, his research largely focuses on a new understanding of thermodynamic principles, particularly the law of entropy and exergy.
Richter will work with a group of students to “extend the applicability of classical tools, such as entropy generation minimization to extended physical domains, with a focus on mechanical-electrical power conversion.”
The Toolbox for the Modeling and Analysis of Thermodynamic Systems (T-MATS), a public-domain engine simulation platform created by NASA, will be used to test the impact of Richter’s new methodologies “with a combination of gas turbine computer models and physical electromechanical components in the laboratory.”
Richter has conducted a wide range of research, from biomedical robotics to aerospace control systems. His research has received funds from NASA, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and more. Before joining CSU faculty, he worked as a National Research Council Research Associate at NASA John C. Stennis Space Center for two years.
He is also the author of Advanced Control of Turbofan Engines, published by Springer in Oct. 19, 2011.
