Dr. Balarama Murty received his M.Tech., and PhD Degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology (I.I.T.), Kharagpur, India in 1962 and 1967. He held various faculty positions in Electrical Engineering Department at the same I.I.T during a distinguished academic career from 1960 to 1978, the last one being a Full Professor.  He was a visiting Scientist at the University of Manitoba, Canada for one year during 1978- 1979.  During his academic career he conducted research and offered courses in Electrical Machines, Power Electronics, Drives and Energy Conversion.

 

He joined General Motors Research Labs in 1979 where he is now a Technical Fellow leading research in Power Electronics, Drives Systems and Control.  He has published several papers in IEEE & IEE and holds a dozen patents. He initiated many research projects in different areas:  Brushless Motors, DC/DC Converters, Active Suspension Systems, and Automotive Sensors. He was awarded GM special achievement and McCuven awards for his work in the development of a finite element program to analyze time dependent electromagnetic fields and 42V belted alternator starter.  He led the development of alternative propulsion systems for hybrid electric vehicles under the GM/US Department of Energy programs and FreedomCAR.  He was a member of several panel discussions on hybrid vehicles both in USA and Japan.  He was also a member of the National Research Council committee on combat hybrid power systems. 

 

He has been made a Fellow of IEEE for his contributions to automotive power electronics systems and electrical drives.  He led the effort of establishing an IEEE PELS technical committee for automotive power electronics and organized 9 workshops starting with the first one in 1989 till the last in 2004. He was the technical committee co-chair for the IEEE PEDES 96 First International conference held in New Delhi, India in 1996.  

Electric & Hybrid Electric Vehicles- Fundamental Challenges

 

Electric and hybrid electric vehicles are being considered to reduce the pollution in the inner cities of the world at large.  There are a variety of powertrains based on ‘Mild Hybrids’, ‘Strong Hybrids’, ‘Plug-in Hybrids’ and ‘Fuel Cell Hybrids’.     Although these powertrains offer many advantages they do pose several fundamental challenges.  In this talk a short overview of different powertrains will be presented along with their advantages and fundamental challenges.  The main challenges that will be addressed are the electric drive optimization, the battery requirements, cost and safety issues of high voltage power electronics and drives.   Principles of developing series hybrid powertrain requirements will be stressed leading to the discussion on the challenges of plug-in hybrids.

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