Interview with Dr. Ahmed Sayed-Ahmed

Featured Engineer

Dr. Ahmed Sayed-Ahmed

Dr. Ahmed Sayed-Ahmed - Senior Control Engineer at Rockwell Automation

How did you get into electronics/ engineering and when did you start?

I started when I chose my graduation project to be “ an electronic soft starter for three phase induction motor” this project required knowledge and skills in both low level electronics and also motor control. This technical area is known as power electronics. At that time, my knowledge was mainly focused on the area of electrical power. I can not deny that I was kind of scared and nervous because the area was new to me and I was very worried that I don’t do well and this might affect my grade. On the other hand, I was very excited and enthusiastic towards this research area. So, I decided to take the risk!

What are your favorite hardware tools that you use?

Of course, the oscilloscope is my favorite hardware tool. To me, it is like another eye that I can see the electricity with

What are your favorite software tools that you use?

I work with several software tools; the most important one is Matlab Automatic code generation, Control Design, Simulink, and Simpowersys Toolboxes. I use other circuit simulators as well such as Simplorer. This is in addition to finite element analysis packages for motor analysis, and power structure design for industrial drives.

What is the hardest/trickiest bug you have ever fixed?

Well, it was not really a bug. I was working in a research project for a hybrid power generation research project, and we had a sustained low frequency oscillation in the system which we struggled to get ride of. We spent a lot of time on this issue and we had to come up with a new control structure to solve this problem

What is on your bookshelf?

Several books that are centered on the area of electrical machines and power electronics for example Power Electronics by “Mohamed Rashid” and Power Electronics by “Ned Mohan”, PWM for power converters by “Holmes and Lipo”, Instantaneous power theory and applications to power conditions” by “Akagi”, Electrical Machinery by “Fitzgerald”, and Design of AC machines by “Say”

Do you have any tricks up your sleeve?

I don’t have special tricks, but I do have a problem solving strategy, which is first understand what is my final target or required functionality, Carry out in depth simulation analysis and then build it and test it in the lab. This strategy saves time, money and effort

What has been your favorite project?

I like all projects I have worked on, each one has its own challenges and its own taste, so it is very difficult to pick a favorite. However, the one which is really engraved in my memory is the one I started with my current employer “Rockwell Automation, Standard drives business”. In this project, I was still studying my Ph.D. and I was working part time for my current employer. I did invent/ design a test fixture to emulate several grid disturbances. By the way, this is the test fixture in the picture. I worked as a project planner as I have designed the roadmap for this project. I designed and implemented the control algorithms so I worked as a control/software engineer; I designed the DSP control board so I worked as a hardware control engineer. In addition, I designed the power circuitry and filtering as well as the power interface so I worked as power electronics design engineer. You can say that I was in charge of the project from A to Z. The project was very successful and we had several patent applications from this work. Of course, this doesn’t contradict with the fact I strongly believe in the team work and tend in my career to be specialist in a certain area which is the real time control, but this project gave me strong background knowledge in several disciplines and gave me the chance to interact and learn from several highly experienced engineers in my group and in other groups as well.

Do you have any note-worthy engineering experiences?

Yes, early in my career, I was working in Oil & Gas industry. I was assigned on a project to commission and start up 500 KW electrical generator in a remote offshore platform. We were under great pressure to finish the Job as soon as possible and start the production. We had frequent tripping of the unit and we couldn’t understand why? Several individuals strongly suggested changing the setting of the protection system as a temporary fix without getting to the bottom of the problem. I strongly objected and refused that concept. After exhaustive analysis, It turned out that the root of the problem was a fundamental design mistake that might have led to a disaster should we just followed the quick fix rule without understanding the problem.

The take away is NEVER follow a quick fix without understanding the root cause of the problem as this might lead to catastrophic consequences especially in critical applications.

What are you currently working on?

Well, I can’t disclose in details what I am currently working on as this is restricted information by my employer, but in general I am currently engaged in several investigations and practical control topologies that are related to high power grid power converters under abnormal conditions.

What direction do you see your business heading in the next few years?

The areas of electronics and power electronics in general are growing very fast from research and market point of view. The main focus is enhancing system reliability, improve efficiency, and power density and ultimately reducing cost.

What challenges do you foresee in our industry?

I think the main concern now is improving system efficiency and power density from the technical point of you. The other challenge is to attract young generations to the field of electronic engineers to secure the supply of skilled engineers in the future.

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