BIOGRAPHY

Mr. Thompson joined UT-CEM in 1989.  His main area of focus is on investigations in support of advancements for hybrid electric vehicles, with emphasis on more efficient energy storage, such as chemical batteries, capacitors, flywheels.  He also conducts applied research to advance composite material properties for improved high-speed composite rotor design for both energy storage and power generation systems.  He has completed concept studies on multi-functional composite-based materials with both structural and soft/hard magnetic properties for space-based energy storage and attitude control and has investigated design methods and process methodologies for certification of composite rotors for space applications which lead to committee participation for an AIAA standard.

Prior to joining UT-CEM, Mr. Thompson was lead engineer for the Structural Analysis Group at Tracor Aerospace Austin in the area of structural dynamics and modal testing on the Peacekeeper missile program funded by the Air Force.  His responsibilities included dynamic loads definition, stress analysis, and modal testing of prototype missile payloads.

RECENT PROJECTS

• USDOT Hybrid Vehicle Program: Conducting research on advanced hybrid electric technologies for heavy trucks and buses.  Program focus includes evaluations of both conventional and hydrogen-powered hybrids utilizing advanced technologies.  These advanced technologies include both improved energy storage approaches (flywheel, chemical batteries, capacitors) and novel hybrid electric architectures (electric power control algorithms, motor/generators, power electronics, hydrogen-powered energy sources, drivetrain, and vehicle design) that best utilize the energy storage approaches for improved vehicle performance.

RESEARCH AREAS/AREAS OF INTEREST

• Hybrid electric vehicles using advanced energy storage systems
• Design and fabrication of composites with multi-functional properties
• Composite materials research, including high performance, high temperature applications coupled with low cost processing techniques
• Electromechanical energy storage and power generation systems

ABOUT ME (Awards, Memberships, etc.)

• Registered Professional Engineer since 1992
• Associate Member of American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) since 1978

EDUCATION

• M.S. Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 1990 – topic was the dynamic characterization of hydrostatic bearings for supercritical rotor applications
• B.S. Mechanical Engineering with Honors, University of Texas at Austin, 1977

PUBLICATIONS

• Filatov, P. McMullen, K. Davey, and R. Thompson, “Flywheel energy storage system with homopolar electrodynamic magnetic bearing,” Proceedings of the 10th International Symposium on Magnetic Bearings, Martigny, Switzerland, August 21-23, 2006 (PR 445).

• R.C. Thompson, J. Kramer, R.J. Hayes, “Response of an urban bus flywheel battery to a rapid loss-of-vacuum event,” SAMPE Journal of Advanced Materials, vol 37, No. 3, July 2005, pp. 42-50.

• M.M. Flynn, J.J. Zierer, and R.C. Thompson, “Performance testing of a vehicular flywheel energy system,” SAE 2005 World Congress, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A., April 11-14, 2005 (PR 379).

• K.R. Davey, A. Filatov, and R.C. Thompson, “The design and analysis of passive homopolar null flux bearings,” IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 41, no. 3, March 2005, pp. 1169-1175 (PR 366).

• J.J. Zierer, et al., “Design and proof testing of a composite containment system for mobile applications,” Paper #2004-01-0005, 2004 SAE World Congress, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A., March 8-11, 2004 (PR 335).

• K.E. Konno and R.C. Thompson, “Composite arbors built and tested to improve the specific energy of flywheel batteries,” NASA Research & Technology 2003, NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field, NASA/TM-2004-212729.

• J.L. Strubhar, et al., “Light-weight containment for high energy, rotation machines,” IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 39, no. 1, January 2003, pp. 378-383 (PR 312).

• R.C. Thompson and T.T. Pak, “Advanced flywheel technology for space applications,” Proceedings, 37th Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference (IECEC 2002), Washington, D.C., U.S.A., July 29-31, 2002, pp. 153-156 (PR 330).

• J.H. Beno, R.C. Thompson, and R.E. Hebner, “Flywheel batteries for vehicles,” Proceedings, 2000 Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Workshop, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A., June 20-21, 2002, vol. 6, pp. 4014-4018 (PN 271).

• B.M. Rech, R.C. Thompson, T.T. Pak, G.A. Wedeking, “Test methods for composite structures for pulsed power, rotating machines,” poster presented at 11th EML Technology Symposium, Saint-Louis, France, May 14-17, 2002 (PR 309).

• R.C. Thompson, T.T. Pak, and B.M. Rech, “Hydroburst test methodology for evaluation of composite structures,” 14th Symposium on Composite Materials:  Testing and Design (ASTM), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., March 11-12, 2002 (PR 323).

• R.C. Thompson, B.M. Rech, and T.T. Pak, “Hydroburst testing for filament wound composites,” Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Composites Engineering, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, August 5-11, 2001, pp. 925-926.

• J.H. Beno, R.C. Thompson, M.D. Werst, S.M. Manifold, and J. Zierer, “End-of-life design for composite rotors [flywheel systems], IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 37, no. 1, January 2001, pp. 284-289 (PR 282).

• G.Y. Baaklini, K.E. Konno, R.E. Martin, and R.C. Thompson, “NDE methodologies for composite flywheels certification,” 2000 Power Systems Conference, San Diego, California, U.S.A., October 31-November 2, 2000, SAE Document Number: 2000-01-3655 (PN 251).

• R.J. Hayes, J.P. Kajs, R.C. Thompson, and J.H. Beno, “Design and testing of a flywheel battery for a transit bus,” 1999 SAE International Congress and Exposition, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A., March 1-4, 1999 (PR 265).

• K.A. Dulaney, J.H. Beno, and R.C. Thompson, “Modeling of multiple liner containment systems for high speed rotors,” IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 35, no. 1, January 1999, pp. 334-339 (PR 255).

• R.C. Thompson, W.G. Brinkman, J.R. Kitzmiller, W.A. Walls, and J.H. Beno, “Viscoelasticity of composite structures for compulsators,” 9th EML Symposium, Edinburgh, Scotland, May 1998 (PR 247).

• J.D. Herbst, et al., “Design, fabrication, and testing of 10MJ composite flywheel energy storage rotors,” Proceedings, 1998 SAE Aerospace Power Systems Conference, April 21-23, 1998, pp. 235-244 (PR 262).

• M. Pichot, J. Kramer, R.J. Hayes, R.C. Thompson, and J.H. Beno, “The flywheel battery containment problem,” 1997 SAE International Congress and Exposition, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A., February 24-27, 1997 (PR 225).

• J.D. Herbst, B. Rech, R.F. Thelen, and R.C. Thompson, “Status of the 9 MJ range gun system,” IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 31, no. 1, January 1995, pp. 540-545 (PR 192).

• J.D. Herbst, et al., “9 MJ range gun compulsator stator design and fabrication,” IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 29, no. 1, January 1993, pp. 986-991 (PR 166).

• A.W. Walls, et al., “A field based, self-excited compulsator power supply for a 9 MJ railgun demonstrator,” IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 27, no. 1, January 1991, pp. 335-349 (PR 100).

• W.A. Walls, et al., “Design of a 20 GW, self-excited, air-core compensated pulsed alternator railgun power supply,” International Conference on Electrical Machines, 1990 (PR 126).

• R.C. Thompson, “The Effects of Severe Shaft Tilt on the Performance of Hydrostatic Journal Bearings for a Field Based Compulsator Power Supply, Master’s Thesis, The University of Texas at Austin, December 1990 (TD 52).

PATENTS

Filed as Records of Invention

• Direct Drive Drawworks System with Integrated Energy Storage, (with Kent Davey, John Herbst, and Robert Thelen), UT Tech ID OTC-5038-DAV, submitted May 2005.
• Cylindrical super-capacitor using ink jet technology deposition and thermal expansion for consolidation, (with Kent Davey and Robert Hebner), UT Tech ID OTC-5193-DAV, submitted October 2006, pending.
• Flywheel Motor Generator with Power Electronics for the Formula One Kinetic Energy Recovery System, (with Hamid Ouroua, Richard Hayes, Brian Murphy, Steve Manifold, Mark Flynn, and Clay Hearn), UT Tech ID OTC-5260-THO, submitted March 2007, pending.