Dr. Kimball’s expertise spans a wide range of power electronics topics, as evidenced by his publication record. Specific areas of interest include:
- Power systems for nanosatellites, such as the spacecraft being built by the Missouri S&T Satellite Team
- Ground-support equipment for aircraft, both military and commercial
- Power converters for solar energy, both off-grid and grid-tied
- Microgrid studies
In addition to performing design and analysis of power converters and systems, Kimball is available for design reviews and troubleshooting. He is familiar with standards such as UL 508C, EN 50178, and EN 61800-5-1. His background includes industrial motors and drives up to 450 hp, 575 V. He also has experience as an expert witness in this area. He is a Professional Engineer in the State of Illinois, license 062-057980.
Tools commonly used in design and analysis include:
- Matlab/Simulink
- PLECS, including PIL
- Octave
- Mathematica
- PSIM
- EAGLE
In addition, Kimball has embedded programming experience in C, emphasizing the following platforms:
- Texas Instruments C28x family (TMS320F28377S), using Code Composer Studio
- Texas Instruments MSP430 family, using Code Composer Studio
- Microchip PIC16, PIC18, and dsPIC33, using MPLAB X
- Some Arduino
He has used both C28x and dsPIC33 processors for processor-in-the-loop simulation in PLECS.