Doctoral Defense in the Electrical Engineering Department

On Thursday, April 6, 2017, the Electrical Engineering Department hosted a doctoral defense for Mr. Fadhel Abbas Hassan at 9:00 AM in Dijlah Hall. His dissertation, titled “Design and Analysis of Traveling Wave Induction Heating Based on Artificial Neural Network,” was presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering.

The defense panel consisted of the following members:

1. Prof. Dr. Mohammed Zaki Al-Faez – Chair
2. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Amjad Jalil Hamid – Member
3. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Suad Ibrahim Shahl – Member
4. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abbas Hussein Issa – Member
5. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmed Rasheed Al-Rikabi – Member
6. Prof. Dr. Ali Kamil Maki – Supervisor
7. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abdulrahim Dhiab Hamoud – Supervisor

Mr. Hassan proposed a novel method for excitation in induction heaters using a five-phase source instead of the traditional three-phase or six-phase sources. This approach ensures a balanced load, reduces the cost and weight of the heater, and improves performance. Simulations revealed higher power transfer, better heat distribution, and improved power factor compared to three-phase systems, and matched the efficiency of six-phase systems while achieving a 16% reduction in copper losses, a 1.2% increase in power factor, and a 20% boost in transferred power. Additionally, the system offered reduced size, cost, and weight.

After the discussion, Mr. Hassan was awarded a Doctorate in Electrical Engineering with a grade of Very Good.