Scott Pish

Function: Senior Engineering Scientist

Biography

Mr. Pish has participated and/or led in the production and test of prototype electrical machines and associated technologies at CEM for close to thirty years. Mr. Pish is currently the principal investigator for several research programs for the US Department of Defense evaluating the use of rotating machines, energy storage, and renewables to improve performance, reliability, and operational efficiency of shipboard power systems and tactical microgrids while powering transient mission systems. This research involves the development of physics-based power system models, study of shipboard mechanical integration issues, controls optimization, flywheel sizing, design and analysis, and safety and containment.

Mr. Pish helped lead the development of two high speed rotating machines for the US Army’s Electric Gun Program. The effort included assembly of two actively cooled pulsed alternator rotors utilizing advanced composite structures. Composite cylinders with engineered ply directions provided growth matching, radial stiffness, and retention for electrical windings in the rotor rim. Composite hubs or arbors provided a compliant and light-weight connection the rotor shaft while reinforced composite arbors supported cooling and power connection hardware to the rotor rim.

Mr. Pish led the mechanical design of a component validation spin test article for a permanent magnet based power supply for the Navy. This project included design of the composite structures which serve as inertia to store energy and support the mass loading of the permanent magnets. An important feature of the test article was to demonstrate a safety feature called the ‘mechanical fuse’. In an overspeed condition, this feature leads to a predictable and well-characterized partial delamination between the rotor’s outermost composite layer and the rest of the rotor. Initiation of the delamination leads to a mechanical imbalance that can be detected and used to initiate a safe rotor shutdown.

As a member of the Navy’s Electric Ship Research and Development Consortium, led large-scale power transfer experiments to study important aspects of electric ship architectures on UT-CEM’s representative 1MW distributed microgrid. Mr. Pish’s research activities have included the development and testing of advanced converters and interconnections for pulsed high power rotating machines and a representative lab based distributed microgrid. He designed a 1 MJ capacitor bank for testing power electronics including 1200 µF capacitor modules, two variable 17.5 µH pulse-shaping inductors, and associated bus work; developed the mechanical design of prototype switch packages using large diameter semiconductors and triggered vacuum switches for device development testing; and designed mechanical packaging of converters and buswork for high energy pulsed power rotating machines.

Professional Experience 

2018-present, Senior Engineering Scientist, UT-CEM
1996-2018, Research Engineer, UT-CEM
1992-1993, Undergraduate Researcher, UT-CEM

Education
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 1996