Fossil fuels and renewable energy resources are growing rarer and rarer these days, which is why automotive engineers have been focusing on building hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs), that don’t rely on these materials but instead wok on high-voltage battery solutions, electrified power train connectivity, and high-current charging infrastructure.
For over 25 years, TE Connectivity engineers like George Chow and Scott Philips have been working with top automotive engineers to build better hybrid-electric vehicles. Their work with battery packs has allowed for the development of technology that will drastically reduce the emissions and C02 output of these HEVs. The expertise of TE engineers partnered with automaker engineers has led to the development of smart charging systems that protect people from high-voltage power sources, ways to connect and seal lithium-ion cell connections within battery packs that eliminate dangerous short-circuit conditions that result from humidity or moisture, and a cost-effective way solution to moisture that works under the most extreme conditions, improvements which have undeniably contributed to making HEVs safer and more fuel efficient vehicles with less CO2 emissions than ever before.
In an interview with Philips and Chow, the two experts talk about their engineering careers, their motivations, and how their work with battery pack connectivity has eliminated numerous problems that had previously stumped HEV automakers (video below). Both Philips and Chow are exceptional electrical engineers, whose deep passion for their wok leads them to push the boundaries of existing technologies.
“Ah, when I first knew I was an engineer…well, I was eight years old and I just wanted to tinker and play with a lot of different things, electrical devices,” says Philips, a Detroit, Michigan native who works as the Global Program Manager for hybrid and electric mobility solutions. “So I would just take apart everything that I could think of taking apart, like video game handheld devices, and see how they work, and I just fell in love with electronics and engineering. At that point I knew I wanted to be an engineer.”
Unlike Philips, Chow did not immediately know he wanted to be an engineer. “My bachelor’s degree was in physics, but I took a mechanical course when going for my masters,” he says of what inspired him to pursue an engineering degree at the University of Michigan. “I found that I am very good at engineering, because I can design something that can solve some issue in a tricky way, a subtle way. So I chose mechanical engineering as my major.”
Both Philips’ and Chow’s work deals with battery packs for HEVs, but they have each focused on and improved specific problems with the batteries. Philips focuses on the battery’s connectivity issues, while Chow woks on their high-voltage cell to cell and internal connections, electrification systems that have innovated the HEVs.
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