Power Plant Engineer

Xavier Ollat

**** ****** ** ****: 951-***-****

Norco, CA 92860 ********@*******.*** Work: 951-***-**** ext 247

OBJECTIVE SR. PROJECT ENGINEER / PRINCIPAL ENGINEER / R&D ENGINEER

EXPERTISE

Research & Development

Classic Control Theory

Advanced Control Theory

Process Simulation

Process Optimization

Cost/Benefit Modeling

Process Control Design, Development

Control Implementation and Programming

Signal Processing

Fan Design

Brake Design

EDUCATION

PhD Mechanical Engineering, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, TN

Thesis: Multivariable Controllers for Power Plants, May 1992.

MS Mechanical Engineering, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, TN

Thesis: Simulation Comparison of Control Systems for Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, August 1988

Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering, Ecole des Hautes Edutes Industrielles, Lille, France 1986

Thesis: Developed production prototype of an automatic machine to test new-born blood samples.

EXPERIENCE

Meggit Airdynamics, Corona, CA October 2012 – Present

Principal Development Testing & Control Engineer

Lead development & qualification test campaigns for the Embraer Legacy 450/500 pneumatic

system controller. Resolve Vibration issue of the controller. Performed and successfully

completed qualification test campaign.

Develop fans and induction motors design softwares in visual Basic for Meggitt engineering

group.

Responsible for electro-mechanical simulation and transient analysis for product developed at

Meggitt. Use Matlab/Simulink and Ansys Simplorer modeling tools.

Develop real time monitoring and diagnostic algorithms for Meggitt industrial product line.

Hamilton Sundstrand, San Diego, CA January 2012 – October 2012

Senior Program Engineer

Lead engineer for fan product line for the Boeing 787-9 Airplane. Supervised qualification test

program for the Low Pressure System ventilation Fans for the 787-9 aircraft. Interact daily with

customer to resolve technical issues. Technical lead for the Boeing 787-9 Fan qualification test

campaign.

Meggit Airdynamics, Corona, CA July 2007 – January 2012

Principal Control Engineer

Lead engineer for the engineering analysis group. The responsibilities include the designs and

analysis of fans, pumps and electric motors in order to support technical customer proposals and

programs.

Design cooling fans for the following programs: Stryker Engine Bay Cooling Fan, M1 Tank Power

Pack Upgrade Oil Cooler Cooling Fans, and CH53-K Nose Gearbox Cooling Fan.

Develop technical proposal for the following programs: Eurocopter X2 Upper Deck Fan, Agusta

AW169 Main Gearbox Cooling fan, Turbomeca Oil Cooler Fan Assembly, Liebherr Bombardier C-

Series Avionics Fans.

Responsible for the developing control system for research and development and customer

projects.

Develop and simulate control system logic for 3 phase’s induction motors for fan application and

traction motor application. Support the software group in the implementation of the control law into

the controller board.

Responsible for the design and analysis of the spring applied electro hydraulic release low power

consumption brake system. The brake is a service brake for the vehicle and it double as an

emergency brake. Define the concept of the brake caliper, the actuator, and the control logic for

the brake system to respond to the vehicle brake commands.

Capstone Turbine Inc., Chatsworth, CA January 2003 – July 2007

Senior Control Engineer

Responsible for the development of control systems for all microturbine engine generators

manufactured by the company. Develop the control systems to guarantee the safe operation of

the microturbine over its entire range of operating conditions. Develop and maintain all

documentations related to the system architecture, control algorithms, development and

qualification tests procedures and reports. Use Matlab/Simulink software tool to develop and

maintain a simulation model of the microturbine system to perform control logic, algorithm

development and validation.

Supervise troubleshooting of microturbine generators during production; develop and maintain all

documentation related to engine and system acceptance test requirements.

In the process of developing a real-time engine simulation platform, use Labview and

Matlab/Simulink to enable the engineering department to test/simulate control hardware/software

without using a real engine.

Power Plant Laboratories/Alstom Power, Windsor, CT April 1994 to January 2003

Principal Engineer

Started as project manager for development of an advanced control system for the Carolina

Power & Light Roxboro Power Station. Developed/implemented an advanced steam temperature

control base on a state variable controller. This control system reduced temperature deviation,

allowed a higher temperature set point and improved the efficiency of the boiler. Used Matlab

Advanced control system toolbox to design the advanced temperature controller; final controller

was implemented into the power plant main controller.

Developed a simultaneous controller for power (megawatts) and steam pressure for a twin boiler

power plant at the same Roxboro Power Station. This new control system allowed the plant

operator to double the power rate of change and improved the plant’s ability to respond to load

variation of the electrical grid. Used MatLab Advanced control system toolbox to design the power

and pressure controller; the final controller was implemented into the power plant main controller.

Developed a 3-D vision system to identify the geometry of an object illuminated by an interference

light source. Developed two new algorithms: One to automatically detect an object of unknown

shape in the picture; the other to automatically detect the interference light pattern in the picture.

Developed an advanced pulverized coal delivery system based on a new sensor technology and

new actuators. Developed the market study and return on investment (ROI) analysis for the

potential customer and the company. Developed and successfully tested preproduction hardware

which included the mechanical actuators and all the control algorithms. The control algorithm was

developed using the MatLab fuzzy logic toolbox and was implemented in Labview to interface with

the sensors and actuators.

Developed a prototype ultra-precision vision base motion sensor for an industrial robot.

Managed/developed a control system process for a new chemical looping process developed at

Alstom. Responsible for selecting the control hardware/software, defining the control algorithms,

testing/commissioning, training process operators and providing support for the improvement

efforts as the chemical process was optimized by the Alstom research team. All the control logic

was developed in a Siemens PLC.

Developed a multiple specialized data acquisition system for the Alstom research facility which

interfaced with multiple different instruments (pressure transducer, level sensor, temperature

sensors, specialized control systems, etc.); used Labview.

Tennessee Technological Univ. January 1987 to December 1991

Research Assistant/Center for Electric Power

Provided research assistance to Dr. Robert A. Smoak, who was applying modern control theory to

power plants. He achieved a nuclear plant simulator and tested different control systems for

Tennessee Valley Authority. Assisted with the development of a new control system for a fossil

fired power plant using advanced control theories by use of a new regulator to solve the plant’s

temperature problems and make it possible to raise the rate of change in power from 4 MW/min.

to 20 MW/min. Seven different articles related to this work were published for American power

conferences.

Teaching Assistant/Mechanical Engineering Department (Winter & Summer semesters 1988)

Taught the graduating senior control system laboratory course. Responsible for all aspects of the

control laboratory including the experiment program.

Societée des Produit du Maïs, Haubourdin, France Summer 1985

Development Engineer

Developed a database for the maintenance of an electric motor and valve for a food processing

plant.

CONFERENCE INVITATION

“Advanced Control Application in the Power Industry”

ISA/96 International Conference, Exhibition & Training Program, Chicago, Illinois, October 6-11,

1996.

PATENTS

1. “Apparatus for Continuously Monitoring Liquid Level Condition in a Liquid Vapor

Separation Device”, US Patent 6,510739, January 28, 2003

2. “Adjustable Flow Vectoring Splitter”, US Patent 6,811,358, November 2, 2004

3. “Electro-Hydraulic Brake Actuator for Vehicle Brake”, US Patent 8,104,589, January 31,

2012

PUBLICATIONS

1. “Pulverized Coal Dynamic Balancing-Actuator and Control Strategy”, Proceedings joint

45th EPRI/ISA Conference on Instrumentation and Control in Power Industries, San Diego,

California, June 2002.

2. “Demonstration of Advanced Model Based Control Applications for Improved

Efficiency, Emission, and Availability for Utility Fossil Fired Boiler”, PowerGen,

November 1997.

3. “Improved Steam Temperature Transient Performance using State Variable Control at

Roxboro Unit One”, Proceedings joint EPRI/ISA Conference on Instrumentation and Control

in Power Industries, Knoxville, Tennessee, pp 323-331, June 1997.

4. “Robust Control and Power Plant”, Proceedings joint EPRI/ISA Conference on

Instrumentation and Control in Power Industries, Vol. 36, pp 465-483, June 1993.

5. “Multivariable Robust Control for the Drum Boiler Level of a Power Plant”, Proceedings

joint EPRI/ISA Conference on Instrumentation and Control in Power Industries, Vol. 35, pp

207-221, June 1992.

6. “Tieback and Hand/Auto Station for Multivariable Controllers”, Summer Simulation

Conference, July 1991.

7. “Simultaneous Control of Throttle Pressure and Megawatts for a Power Plant”,

Proceedings joint EPRI/ISA Conference on Instrumentation and Control in Power Industries,

June 1991, Vol. 35, pp 27-40, June 1992.

8. “Construction of Control Design Models form Engineering Simulation Model”,

Proceedings Seventh International Conference on Mathematical and Computer Modeling,

Chicago, Illinois, pp 415-418, August 1989.

9. “Multivariable Control Design for Boiler Furnace”, Proceedings 21st Southeastern

Symposium on System Theory, FAMU/FSU College of engineering, Tallahassee, Florida, pp

93-97, March 1989.

10. “A simplified Approach to Feedwater Train Modeling”, Proceedings EPRI Conference on

Power Plant Training Simulator and Modeling, June 1988.

SKILLS

French (fluent)

SolidWorks

Matlab/Simulink

Mathcad

Labview

LMS AMESim

Ansys CFX

Ansys Maxell

Ansys Simplorer

CD-Adapco Star-CCm+

Microsoft Office Suite

PLC Programming

Visual Basic

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