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Hinetics and the University of Illinois Awarded US Air Force Agility Prime STTR Contract

December 18, 2020, Champaign, IL — Hinetics LLC and the University of Illinois’ Power Optimization of Electro-Thermal Systems (POETS) Engineering Research Center have been selected by the US Air Force for an STTR project on modeling tools and controls for boosting electric powertrain performance. The new control scheme will be used to safely extract the transient capability of high-power electric powertrains used in e-VTOL aircraft to provide operational flexibility under short term duty and emergency conditions. Within the six month, $149,890.00, Phase I project, the team will characterize the transient performance of the electrical components with multi-physics models, formulate a model-based control scheme, and perform computer simulations to establish the value added by the proposed method.

The Air Force recently launched Agility Prime, a non-traditional program seeking to accelerate the commercial market for advanced air mobility vehicles. Agility Prime aims to bring together industry, investor, and government communities to establish safety and security standards while accelerating commercialization of this revolutionary technology (https://agilityprime.com/).

The POETS Engineering Research Center’s innovative approach to improving the power density of next generation electro-thermal systems involves integrating traditionally separate research efforts in mechanical, electrical, and materials engineering across different technical domains. POETS also has extensive development and testing capability for high power electrified aircraft systems. HineticsLLC, based in Champaign, IL, is part of the POETS Innovation Ecosystem.

Hinetics is developing a line of light weight, high efficiency motors for electrified aircraft by leveraging the full capability of modern power electronics. Designed for reliability from ground-up, these motors utilize ‘form-wound’ coils assembled in high frequency, slot-less armatures with integrated cooling, to meet stringent aerospace requirements.