Prof Yves Perriard from the Microengineering Institute EPFL of Switzerland shared with CEE students his lecture - Advanced Mechatronics: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach and a Strong Link with Industry on Apr 26.
According to Prof Perriard, the evolution of what was called advanced mechatronic system took a more and more important dimension for these last ten years. Nowadays, the number of actuators, sensors increased fast in a lot of fields. The development of these future systems required a sustained research of high level to allow a miniaturization of these elements for one thing and an increased autonomy by means of "smart" electronics on the other hand. Energy saving was also a key issue for our future which was also strongly dependent of devices efficiency, even for small power consumption. Connections with material science and information technology were the key for innovation in this topic. Existing technologies must be used in an unconventional use to create innovations. To make it clear, he demonstrated some examples of multi-disciplinary projects and showed how to combine some exiting technologies in a smart way. The link with industries was highlighted as a common thread in all breakthrough innovations. Haptic devices, sensorless electronic for brushless motor, MEM’s electromechanical motor as well as liquid actuator were meanwhile highlighted during this presentation.
Prof Yves Perriard obtained his Master in ‘Microengineering’ from EPFL in 1989 and his PhD from the Electrical Department in 1992. He became cofounder of the company Micro-Beam SA and had the lead of the company until 1998 doing special electric drives. In 1999 he joined EPFL as Senior Lecturer and in 2003 he was appointed Titular Professor and leader of the Integrated Actuators Laboratory. In 2009 he is also appointed Vice-Director of the Microengineering Institute EPFL Neuchâtel and is responsible of the transfer of the 180 persons from the Neuchâtel University to EPFL. Senior member IEEE and Member EPE, he is also member of the EPE (European Power Electronics) society board in Brussels. Prof Yves Perriard is interested in innovating, analyzing and creating new actuators associated with their electronic devices. The multi-disciplinary work of his research makes him strongly in contact with industries in Switzerland and abroad. Yves Perriard has published over 125 papers, 5 patents and is co-author of one book. He is associate editor of the IAS IEEE transactions journal and vice-president of the Electrimacs society. Teacher at the Bachelor and Master level, he received twice the best teacher award of the Engineering Faculty in 2005 and 2007. More information can be found on the Integrated Actuators Laboratory web site http://lai.epfl.ch
