Interview with Shashank Kumar
Shashank Kumar
Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation Specialist using Typhoon HIL
Kanpur Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, India
Q1. Please share your educational and professional journey with us?
My educational as well as professional life is full of ups and downs, well I like to start from very beginning, after 10th it took three years to complete my 12th. I studied twice in 11th because I denied for tuitions from my class teacher which force me to repeat my class 11th therefore I switched to another school then completed my 12th.
In same year I qualified IIT pre and UPTU entrance exam, unfortunately not qualified IIT mains, for saving year taken admission in Newly open Engineering College in same city in which I was living, which I had to do because of lack of money for expenditure of hostels and others but within a year I leave that college and again started preparing for IIT but in next 2 years I thought it was delaying my Graduation.
Therefore I had taken admission in B.Tech in private Engineering College in my favorite Electrical Engineering branch and any how completed B.Tech in 4 years and also qualified GATE 2007 and in year 2008 taken admission in M.Tech. course in Electrical Machines and Drives at IIT BHU and completed in 2 yrs. After that I tried for to take admission in PhD at IIT Kanpur only which was my dream still not completed.
In year 2010 my professional carrier started as an Assistant Professor in same College from where I did my B.Tech. and worked there for next five years then I planned to go for PhD from MNNIT Allahabad for which I joined MNNIT as an Visiting Faculty but in within a year my decision become wrong and I leaved my job from there. I remain jobless for next 9 months during this period I got frustrated and started looking for any job but luckily I got chance to work in Quarbz Infotech Pvt Ltd, Kanpur Indian partner of Typhoon HIL Switzerland as an Application Engineer.
I worked very hard to get expertise on the products, and with regular promotions after 4 years held post of Senior Application Engineer. In these four years I got chance to visit Head Office of Typhoon HIL at Serbia, also delivered lectures at several IITs, NITs, Central. State Government and Private Engineering Colleges.
Q2. What exactly is Typhoon HIL Real Time Simulators and where it is used in real world?
Typhoon HIL Real-time Simulators are used in Electrical Engineering Research like Power Electronics, Drives, Electric Vehicle, Renewable Energy, Microgrid, Smart Grid, AI and a lot more. This tool is used by Educational Institutions as well as Industries.
Before knowing about Typhoon HIL, I like to tell about real-time simulation which is actually a process takes same time taken by actual process i.e. if a fan takes 10 seconds to reach it maximum speed then if in simulation a fan is modeled using same data and takes same time to reach on its maximum speed then it is called Real-time Simulation, and simulation is nothing but the imitation of real-world process or system over time.
Actually if you want to define same fan with its characteristic and properties on paper then you can define by its characteristic equations and time taken to reach on solution of those equations is the most important, with physical system it is going to be actual but in simulation if it is equal to actual time then it is Real-time Simulation otherwise it remains Simulation only.
For Simulation only Simulation Software required like MATLAB/Simulink, PSIM, PSCAD, Virtual HIL Device etc. for Real-time Simulation with Simulation software Real-time Simulator required, which is nothing but a multiprocessor Multicore architecture based system specially designed for Simulation. If we talk about technology then it has two types one is Serial processing which is based on CPU + FPGA setup and another is Parallel processing which is based on FPGA + CPU architecture.
Typhoon HIL Real-time Simulators are based on parallel processing. It comes with their own Simulation software also can be used with mostly all other Simulation software’s directly or indirectly. The reason is giving Simulation software and Real-time Simulator together is to make things easier for Electrical Engineers to accomplish their research, it is really easy to easy work with Typhoon HIL.
Q3. You are skilled in Data Analysis. How it is useful in your domain?
Now a day’s Data Analytics is hot topic; advancements in internet technologies give’s data analytic multiple options in various domains. If we talk about Electrical Engineering there are three major sections Generation, Transmission and Distribution and in every section data analytics plays a vital role.
Now a day’s researchers and Engineers using smart devices in their research like Smart Grid, Smart Metering, PMU and Synchrophasor, Demand and Response, Energy Management etc. are the major areas where data analytics finds major uses. AI and Machine Learning also used in various advanced techniques.
Q4. Which one thing do you want to change in yourself and why?
I am thinking from my heart, due to which sometimes I find myself in trouble.
Q5. You had both academic and engineering experience in your career. Which one do you like most and why?
I enjoyed both; this is just matter of time in fact I am doing same with some advancements, Still I am teaching people about Real-time and HIL Simulation Technology and Solving their queries. One thing I let you know both the field required a lot of patience.
Q6. What are your Research Interest? Do you like online study method for your research?
I am doing research on wire-less charging for Electric Vehicle and its impact on Grid. Yes of course, I like to use online study method which gives freedom to use presentation with smart tools also gives freedom to use multiple tools, we can interact one to one basis also
Q7. What kind of problems have you faced in your Industry and how did you remove it?
Every Technology having its pros and cons, I am afraid about Real-time Simulation and HIL Simulation Technologies people are confused regarding the concept; making them correct is tough job.
Initially I faced a lot of issues to learn about this technology because I was the first core technical person who was going to represent Typhoon HIL technically in India.
Q8. Tell us about one of the moments which changed your perspective towards life?
I always remember those nine months when I remained jobless, I was losing myself but in those tough days responsibilities taken by my wife helped me a lot to recover and she always tried to boost me.
Q9. Which one skill do you like most about yourself?
Presentation and problem Solving. I don’t like to remain answerless.
Connect with Shashank Kumar at:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shashank-kumar-9404439b/
Skype: live:shashank.kumar.eee08
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kumar07shashank
Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Shashank-Kumar-7
