Eric Severson received the 2020 National Science Foundation CAREER award! He and his research group are developing bearingless motors that will lead to new types of more efficient, more adaptable motor systems.
From NSF: https://www.nsf.gov/career
CAREER: The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a Foundation-wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious awards in support of the early career-development activities of those teacher-scholars who most effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their organization. Such activities should build a firm foundation for a lifetime of integrated contributions to research and education. NSF encourages submission of CAREER proposals from junior faculty members at all CAREER-eligible organizations and especially encourages women, members of underrepresented minority groups, and persons with disabilities to apply. As part of this endeavor, the Severson Research Group is working with 4-H to create open source lab kits that will allow middle and high school youth to do their own motor and magnetic bearing investigations.
The award will fund the following project
Exact Actuation of Magnetic Field Forces Across All DOF in Electric Motors
The objective of this research is to overcome fundamental challenges of both conventional motor bearings and magnetic bearings. While today’s electric motors utilize and control only one degree of freedom (rotation) this project will develop a new generation of electric motors that are precisely actuated in all six degrees of freedom. These new motors will utilize magnetic field forces that are already present within the motor to create a completely bearingless motor that levitates its own shaft.
This award has been featured on the UW-Madison College of Engineering’s website
Read the full article at: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1942099