Research.

Most of my research results can be applied to the industry. I have not only developed the new theory in vehicle system, energy systems, control, and power conversions, but also transferred the technology into industrial products. My research has already knowledge-transferred into various products. A number of renowned industrial projects are derived from my researches. i.e. My researches are of high scientific and industrial values and they are all important to as well as highly applicable to society. The following are 10 representative areas:

Electric vehicles (EV) –

I developed the first commercial electric vehicles (Trademark: MyCar) in Hong Kong, and it received the commercial certificates with license and has been launched and on sale since 2007. This breakthrough was much earlier than most countries in the world. The technology has subsequently been acquired by a US company called GTA in 2010.

Electric vehicle parts and technology – I subsequently developed a number of electric vehicle technologies including active suspension, battery chargers, in-wheel motors, and linear compressors. The research of vehicle to X has been examined extensively. Most of them either received international awards or high citation in Google or Web of Science.

Energy storage –

I developed different types of energy storage power conversions including super-capacitors, Li-ion batteries, and hybrid energy storage. The development of new battery technology using fuel cell including metal-oxide, Li-S and Li-O types are proposed. The battery management system and the super-capacitor energy management system are two recent major activities. They have been licensed to industries for energy storage and processing for use in mobility, renewables, and buildings. I am now also working power battery includes aluminium –oxide fuel cell, hydrogen fuel cells, nano-based Li-NMC battery.

Power distribution and charger–

I have developed new methods in magnetic power distribution, power stability, voltage dip restorer, interruptible power supply, distributed power generations, various type of charger, high power wireless charger, electric vehicle charger to grid and smart grid.

Power converters –

This is the first area of research I conducted since 30 years ago. I am excellent in most of the power converters, in particular, the resonant power converter and the switched-capacitor power converter for the application to DC-DC, DC-AC, multi-level inverter, chargers, AC-DC rectifier. They are all important technology for electric vehicle power train.

Solar energy–

Since 2009, I started working with the industry to develop the photovoltaic application to electric vehicles. We have successfully developed the solar air conditioning for vehicles and now more than 100 vehicles have been installed. Seven Coca-Cola beverage vehicles have been installed with the technology. Recently I have also been developing seawater floating solar systems. The present design is of 375kW located in Northwest of the Hong Kong Sea and it is one of the largest seawater floating solar systems in the world.

Electrical machines –

I started my machine research onwards from 1997. My work focuses on switched-reluctance types because it is fault tolerant and permanent magnets are not needed. I have also developed rotational, linear and rotary-linear machines for application to the actuator, wind power, solar power, compressor, and electric boats. This is an important technology for electric vehicle.

The following areas are also part of applications in Power electronics and energy systems. I conducted the research to support the industry and achieved good results.

Electric vessels –

I recently started to convert my EV research experience to the electric vessel. I have proposed a number of projects and now I am working on two projects on electric vessels. One is rescuing electric boat and another one is an electric boat using an electric jet engine. I am also developing the wireless power charger for the electric vessel which the challenge is the various displacements between the moving vessel and the shore.

Water wave and ocean power –

I am now examining the design of the water wave power. The method is to use a linear to rotational converter to capture the energy of the wave. The research also includes the design of the mechanical subsystem of the wave power generator. A single phase, 3 phase and 4 phase units are under development. This piece of work has received the Gold medal of an international competition iCAN in 2018.

Wind power generation–

The research is to develop a vertical axis wind turbine. The electrical generation is based on a multiple phase generator that is to allow direct drive without lossy gear to increase the rotational speed of the generator from the relatively low speed of the wind. The research is based on a switched-reluctance machine and it is highly fault-tolerant and low cost because no permanent magnet is used.

Wireless power transfer-

I like the explore an alternative direction of power distribution and transmission. The electromagnetic power through radio, near-field or air-gap field will be further developed for high power applications. For example, using long-distance magnetics, we can provide magnetic coupling to users everywhere without risk of electric shock, arcing or electrocution. The future electric vehicle charging is seriously depending on this technology. High power wireless changer also includes the variable separation and non-parallel separation. The associated electromagnetic field and compatibility must be examined.

My future research

In the coming decades, electric mobility and renewable energy have become major power engineering developments. They are also part of the major contribution in smart cities. Through my last many years’ high level and industrial research experience in these two technologies, I would like to propose a number of new research directions and strategies.

Smart Mobility:

Besides the existing EV technology, the future EV research will be limited to smart vehicles, smart charging, high power density energy storage and high security in EV, but that is subject to change. The connectivity of the electric vehicle will be extended to different domain. The V-to-X will be a future development for smart cities. New energy storage including new version of fuel-cell, flow-battery and Li-ion battery are my next key research work. Apart from the EV development, the next challenge will be surrounding electric vessels. Zero-emission Vessel should be sued in all types of lakes, canals, rivers and all type of inland water areas and near the coast. Electric vessels requires various technologies in renewables, electrical machines, power electronics and energy storage. It also allows a larger area of solar power systems and larger spaces of energy storage. The technologies in electric vessels should tackle the high-level development in high-power conversion along with motor, drives, energy storage and wireless water-proof and variable–displacement charging. The power charging in vessels is more of a challenge than vehicles because of the movement of the vessels in the water.

Robot:

Another development I am currently researching is what you could call a robotic flying animal. The flying animal includes the development of super-high density energy storage, high power density actuation, and miniaturized motors. A number of electric actuations that are both capable of linear and rotational with motor bases are being developed. It uses micro-motor and piezoelectric motors with high power density power processing. The 3-D wireless power charging is the next era of wireless power transfer. An electric vehicle is a robotic car that is a self-contained self-living entity. Robotic vehicle is a future development for smart living and cities

Energy storage (Battery) :

It is a sustainable research activity as all electrical and renewable systems need them. Besides my present research on this area, the hybrid energy storage using different types will also emerge. The integration of the power electronic devices with energy storage is also needed. The energy management system must be present to monitor and supervise all these energy activities and to provide an optimized energy process and usage. Different new types of chemicals and nano coating of battery are part of my research study.

Infrastructure:

Electric vehicle, energy storage, power distribution and travel control will define the future infrastructure. The Vehicle V-to-X must be studied with different scenarios and city parameters. A future smart city will depends of V-to-X. Research and development in these area are integrated and combined with the smart cities development.

Renewable energy:

The future renewable energy is not just the research on photovoltaic, but also in large scale photovoltaics system. I have been working on the largest sea-water floating solar system in the region and the work includes the power conversion and smart distributed power generation. Related technophiles with solar and wind generations are also interesting works. The vertical axis wind power generation is to be developed and integrated with distributed power for alternative smart energy system.

All the above proposed works are highly relevant to smart cities. With my excellent research record that can be seen from my CV, I am clearly capable to propose large research projects, secure funding, collaborate with overseas institutions and industries, and conduct the future research to benefit the university, students, industry and the society.