History

In December 2001, I started to conceptualize my design of a Hybrid-Electric Vehicle. At the heart of this system is the 3-Phase Sinusoidal Variable Frequency & Voltage Inverter. After putting all the blocks together, I immediately started the design of this inverter.

One year later, I was confident that the inverter was doable, and would be compatible with the total system.

It was then that I approached Fr Jose Ramon T. Villarin, S.J., of the Manila Observatory and currently the President of the Ateneo de Manila University, and Dr Rosula Reyes, the Chair of the Electronics, Computers, and Communications Department, and Dr Fabian Dayrit, the Dean of the School of Science and Engineering, about undertaking this research with the Ateneo de Manila University and with the Manila Observatory. It would be me on one side and the Ateneo/Manila Observatory on the other.

I would provide the ideas and Ateneo would allow me to use some laboratory space. In exchange, I would provide the staff and the students with exposure to this type of technology and will guide them in their research on the various aspects of the project. A Steering Committee was formed for the project.

This arrangement gave birth to six research projects. Mr Niño Uy did a Master's Thesis on hybrid-electric vehicles, simulating them on the roads of Metro Manila. One was in the mechanical area, and the contact faculty there was Mr Ivan Culaba. I was adviser to the third (PC-based Controller/Dispatcher Module) and the fourth (High Voltage Intelligent Charger) theses. The fifth thesis dealt with the Controller/Dispatcher Module being performed by a Z8 microcontroller. Prof Carlos M Oppus advised the student, who performed this research. 

In its early stages, Dr Reyes hired an assistant, Mr Edsel Uy, to assist me with the work on the Inverter. After the commissioning of the Inverter Motherboard with its 3-phase sinusoidal power output driving a small 3-phase induction motor, Edsel took a job outside the Ateneo. The Manila Observatory assigned Mr Niño Uy to replace Edsel and to continue the work on the Inverter with me. This constitutes the sixth research project.

All the research activities were directed towards compliance with the set of specifications that I have drafted and is contained in this link (CLICK HERE)

Dr Gregory Tangonan procured the initial sets of IGBT's (insulated gate bi-polar transistors), and the Manila Observatory and I shared the other expenses.

In September of 2005, I funded my trip to the Illinois Institute of Technology to present a technical paper to the IEEE 2005 Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference. Fr Villarin, Dr Tangonan, and Mr Niño Uy co-authored the paper with me. The paper could be viewed at the IEEE Xplore site at:

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=1554606

The Prototype was able to carry load on the ground. I have compiled a short video on YouTube to provide a short brief of this project at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvJ4NhUYr2U

Full-time work on the project was not possible because of many parameters, including other commitments, and the inadequacy of locally available components contributed to the delays. The major delay was the reassembly of the whole circuit after we transferred the prototype from the Physics Laboratory to the Manila Observatory. Finally, I had to take a leave of absence from the Ateneo de Manila University in 2009 to relocate to the United States.

The Manila Observatory was very kind as to house the Prototype at its premises. And I wish to express my deepest gratitude to the Manila Observatory and to the Ateneo de Manila University.