World leading expert joins TTPi advisory board

Prof Clare is recognised in academia and industry as an international authority in power electronics, a field in which he has worked for over 40 years, authoring more than 400 scientific papers in 150 prominent international journals.

Formerly head of both the Power Electronics Machines and Control Research Group, and the Department Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Nottingham, Prof Clare retired earlier this year. He is now Emeritus Professor of Power Electronics.

Prof Clare has a wealth of industry experience as a former Director of the GE Aviation Strategic Partnership in Advanced Electrical Power and Actuation; Director of the Alstom Grid (now GE Grid Solutions) Centre of Excellence in VSC-HVDC at Nottingham , and he has held research contracts with Boeing, US Army Research Labs, e2v Technologies, GE Power Conversion, Nissan among many others.

His appointment to The Thinking Pod innovations (TTPi) advisory board comes as the company prepares for further investment and expansion to support further development of its ground-breaking compact power converter solutions, which have applications in all transport and industrial sectors.

“We are delighted to welcome Prof Clare to our advisory board,” said Dr Liliana de Lillo, co-founder and company director of TTPi.

“He has been at the forefront of the revolution in power electronics over the last four decades. And he is recognised and respected around the globe for his understanding of power electronic converters. We are very grateful to him for sharing with us his unrivalled knowledge.”

Dr de Lillo first met Prof Clare in Nottingham 25 years ago as an Erasmus student. He was the first academic she met upon her arrival in the city. Following Dr de Lillo’s graduation from the Politecnico di Bari in Italy, she returned to Nottingham, where Prof Clare became a co-supervisor of her PhD.

“For me, personally, it is wonderful to continue a lifelong collaboration,” added Dr de Lillo. “And for the company, he brings so much technical knowhow, which will be invaluable at a very exciting time for TTPi.

“He will push us to deliver the full potential of our ground-breaking technologies as we prepare our compact power converter prototypes for third party testing.”

TTPi, which was incorporated in 2017 and spun out of the University of Nottingham in 2020, has developed innovative technologies, which have been applied in high power, yet small, light ultra efficient motor drive systems and power converters.

These proven technologies will be vital in the transition to NetZero carbon emissions. They create much more compact solutions compared to current ‘best-in-class’ devices, and they can yield significant savings in terms of raw material usage, energy and cost.

The next application for these products will be in electric vehicles (EVs), which will benefit from reduced running costs and increased range.

TTPi’s power-dense converters, which are up to four times lighter than existing products, are already in prototype testing. TTPi are now working towards Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6 and samples will be ready for third-party testing in 2025.

Prof Clare, who is a Fellow of both the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and Institution of Engineering and Technology, said: